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A bedrock principle of our society is the rule of law. The cliches are true because they are fundamental to justice: A nation of laws, not of men. And, of course, no man is above the law. But every red-blooded American knows that everyone gets the amount of justice that they can pay for. And when you are a billionaire ex-president who has appointed three Supreme Court justices, not only are the books cooked, but the defendant has aces in his back pocket as well as up his sleeve. Last week, the Supreme Court heard arguments over former President...
Some dozen residents, primarily community elders, responded to an open invitation to walk the former Jensen property last Thursday, April 18, ahead of tomorrow's community mingle seeking discernment on its future use. Town of La Conner Planning Director Michael Davolio organized the tour. Also attending were Mayor Marna Hanneman, Planning Commissioners Cynthia Elliot and John Leaver and Assistant Planner Ajah Eillis for the 45 minute tour and discussion. "We invited you here to give you a sense...
When the U.S. House of Representative voted 366 to 58 to approve military aid to Israel Saturday, April 20, Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Arlington) voted yes. The Israel package totals $26.4 billion. It provides $13 billion to the U.S. Defense Department to replenish U.S. stocks of equipment and weapons sent to Israel’s military, support U.S. operations in the region and fund Israel’s missile defense systems and $3.6 billion for security assistance to Israel. It also includes $9.15 billion for humanitarian assistance in Gaza and worldwide. In a new...
At 1 p.m. Sunday, April 21, fields of red and yellow tulip flowers were being photographed by tourists in the field on Best Road north of the McLean Road roundabout. The Best Road field south of and across from Christianson's Nursery was flowerless, having been topped. The other field near La Conner, on Calhoun Road near Beaver Marsh Road, was topped Saturday, April 20. The show fields at RoozenGarde, Tulip Town and Tulip Valley Farms remain in bloom....
Cole Porter, Samuel and Bella Spewack were right: It pays to “Brush Up Your Shakespeare,” so you can follow all the ins and outs of a 1940s musical rendition of “A Taming of the Shrew,” at the center of their own “Kiss Me Kate,” which opened last week and plays through May 12 at Anacortes Community Theatre. Stop reading and go online now to get any remaining tickets. “Shrew” is one of William Shakespeare’s most accessible and enjoyable plays, the story that starts with the beautiful second daughter Bianca, who, while pursued by suitors, canno...
Monday was the 54th anniversary of Earth Day, organized in 1970 as a teach-in on college campuses to emphasize the harm out-of-control pollution has on human health as well as the environment. In typical homo sapiens fashion, giant inflatable earth balls got tossed around, guitars were played and laughter and music filled the air. So, for 50 years the seriousness of human-fueled devastation danced with the joy of opening our eyes to the beauty and wonders of the natural world. “It is only a little planet / but how beautiful it is” the poet Rob...
At winter's end, the North Puget Sound basin snowpack is 56% of median, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service states in its April 1 Washington Water Supply Outlook Report. This is lower than the March 1 basin snowpack measurement of 60% of median. Peak snow accumulation has passed or is near for all major basins in Washington, the report states. Snow drought conditions, even severe, is the status in the Puget Sound Basin, Olympic Peninsula, portions of the Lower Yakima and across much of n...
Remember the inch of rain in eight days at March's end? That was one-half the month's total, not enough, as the 2 inches was one-third below March' century average of 3 inches. It was the first month since November rainfall was below century averages. Only six of the 15 days of measurable precipitation were over 0.1 inch. This was the fourth driest March this century. Three have been since 2019. All four had 2 inches or less of rain. The last decade rain has been below the century's average. Of...
La Conner Town Council members and residents attending the April 9 meeting heard the down news: March's sales tax revenues are 15% below 2023. Year to date, sales tax revenue is down 15%, $124,353, from $146,681. All tourist-driven tax revenues are lower and considerably below projections, as reported to the town council in March by the state's Department of Revenue. The $33,930 collected in sales tax was 15.6% below 2023. The $3,382 for the fire department tax was 13.8% below last year and the...
The Channel Cove complex, managed by Home Trust of Skagit County, will have $336,144 in Washington state Department of Commerce Housing Preservation Program funding. Statewide, 31 low-income housing complexes were awarded $19.9 million Commerce posted on its website. Repairs will be made to 18 apartments at Channel Cove rented to people making 50% or less of the area median income. In Skagit County, $1.6 million is being invested to upgrade 113 units in three complexes. Catholic Housing Services of Western Washington was awarded $667,010 for...
Brandon and Kate Atkinson, owners of the 306 Center Street La Conner property, got the letter they have long wanted: An administrative determination on April 4 from the Town of La Conner planning department approves their application for their three-story 20-unit building with “six first- floor motel-type units and 14 second and third floor long-term residential dwelling units that may be developed as apartments or condominiums.” Planning Director Michael Davolio’s letter lists 15 conditions under which the developers can proceed to apply...
A woman is elected the new mayor of a small town on the edge of the Pacific Ocean in November 2023. “I think Langley is a very sweet, quaint town. It is not homogenous. (That’s) my experience,” Mayor Kennedy Horstman told the Weekly News in a joint interview with Director of Community Planning Meredith Penny March 21. The city’s residents “are very different people passionate about a lot of things. They are not all in agreement. … We are all one community but there is a lot of diversity on views of the future,” Horstman believes. Langley, a ci...
Town of La Conner staff are planning a community mingle about the best use for the Jenson property. The date may be April 25 but no information has been posted on the town website as of April 8. “Town officials over the next few months will begin examining potential options for the Jenson property located south of Channel Cove near the Maple Avenue approach to Pioneer Park,” Planning Director Michael Davolio wrote to the town council in their April 9 packet in his March monthly planner’s report These forums have typically started at 6 p.m....
Food co-ops in our communities offer amazing examples of thinking globally while acting locally to create a more sustainable world in people’s home towns. The Anacortes Food Co-op is doing exactly that. Come to the grand opening of their new store from 4 to 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 10, at 2403 Commercial Ave. and see – and taste – community optimism for yourself. The story, which naturally starts with a small group in late 2015 incorporating as Woven Dream Anacortes Food Coop (its legal name)...
If there is one thing that is certain in the dominant culture of the United States, it is that we are number one. The best. The greatest. Back in the halcyon days of certainty portrayed by Republican President Ronald Reagan, the metaphor was that we were the shining city on the hill, the beacon of light and hope, the place where everyone in the world wanted to be. Our citizens were the envy of mankind. We were all born with silver spoons in our mouths and our streets were paved with gold. That is why people from all over the world strive to...
Monday was the four year anniversary of Gov. Jay Inslee’s March 23, 2020 emergency proclamation in response to the emerging coronavirus pandemic. He imposed a “Stay Home – Stay Healthy Order throughout Washington state by prohibiting all people in Washington state from leaving their homes or participating in social, spiritual and recreational gatherings of any kind regardless of the number of participants, and all non-essential businesses in Washington State from conducting business, withi...
The Town of La Conner’s sales tax revenue was significantly down in December, to $47,549, the lowest since 2020, the first year of the coronavirus pandemic. The total, reported to the town council by the state Department of Revenue, is $15,554, 24.6% below 2023’s record December collection. The special-use fire tax revenues were similarly down, at $4,739, 24.5% below 2023. Tourists were spending less at restaurants and stores, but probably staying in town overnight more, or longer. The December hotel/motel tax collection was $13,915, alm...
Tulip Valley Farms proprietor Andrew Miller and Mount Vernon farmer Larry Jensen are named defendants in Skagit County Superior Court for pretrial hearings March 21 with the Skagit County Prosecutor’s Office for the August 2023 lawsuit the county filed for the lack of permits on Jensen’s Bradshaw Road property. The county restated that list: “The defendants never obtained permits for this development, even after a stop-work order was issued - no building permit, no county road access permit, no fill and grade permit, no floodplain permi...
La Conner School District Director of Finance David Cram offered a realistic assessment last summer when presenting student enrollment numbers and the year’s budget to the school board and Superintendent Will Nelson. The head count in the elementary, middle and high schools had dropped below 500, to 490 full-time students. He projected a student population of 448 in 2026-2027. Cram’s forecast is turning into reality. His mid-March estimate for September, the 2024-2025 school year, is for 30 fewer students. His larger concern is that the new...
BRIGHT SUN, BLUE SKY, YELLOW DAFFODILS, OH MY – Last weekend was a perfect trifecta for tourists to swarm the western Skagit Valley for the hundreds of acres of daffodils in bloom, as this field at Beaver Marsh and Jungquist Roads on Sunday. Tulips are being toured at Roozengarde, down the road, also. In La Conner, parking was scarce and the sidewalks were full, as were stores and restaurants. Spring is here....
On Feb. 13, the United State Senate passed a $95 billion foreign aid bill containing military aid of $61 billion for Ukraine and $14.1 billion in security assistance for Israel. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is in no hurry to take it up in the House of Representatives, but sometime this spring it is likely that it will be debated and passed in that chamber. Not many newspapers of any size around the country are editorializing to have their U.S. representatives vote against that bill, but this one is. Rep. Rick Larsen is as knowledgeable as...
The five Shelter Bay Community board directors sued by former community resident Jan Henrie almost a year ago are making another attempt to dismiss Henrie’s Skagit County Superior Court civil complaint alleging breach of fiduciary duty and malfeasance. Defendants Wendy Poulton, Monte Hicks, Louise Kari, Elaine Dixon and Joseph Hurley filed a motion for reconsideration Feb. 20, arguing she has no standing, or right to bring her claims. Their attorneys’ motion for reconsideration follows a Feb. 8 order by Judge Laura Riquelme stating “the Court...
Shelter Bay Board of Director Dan McCaughan resigned in late February. An email to residents from the Shelter Bay Community announced his resignation Feb. 28 and broadcast the “immediate board position opening” seeking applicants to replace him. The deadline is no later than May 25 for a term through June 30, 2026. An earlier deadline may be set to fill the seat sooner. McCaughan resigned for personal reasons, the email said. At its Feb. 21 board meeting, the Shelter Bay Company directors – the same as the Community’s board – sanctione...
Suddenly, the fields around La Conner are puddling up. February's 3.2 inches of rain is the third above average rainfall month in a row. There was over 2 inches of rain the last six days: 1.2 inches Feb. 28-29 after 0.8 inches Feb. 24-25. With three days of sprinkles, 2.2 inches fell Feb. 19-29, 71% of the month's precipitation, and continued March 1-3. Most of the rest, 0.5 inches, came down Feb. 11-12. Rain came down on 17 days. No measurable snow fell. This was the seventh-wettest February...
Safety. That is the number one concern for La Conner's First Street, Fire Chief Aaron Reinstra told the 40 people gathered to discuss parking and traffic patterns at last Tuesday evening's Community Mingle at the Civic Garden Club, Feb. 20. His early remarks set the tone and focused residents' attention on fire department data: La Conner's firetruck has been on South First Street for two calls per month on average over the past two years. In his opening remarks, Director of Planning Michael...
