Your independent hometown award-winning newspaper
Your independent hometown award-winning newspaper
Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 50
Students at La Conner Elementary School received a visit from U.N. Arts Ambassador Ibiyinka Alao from Nigeria on Tuesday, who gave the fifth-graders a painting lesson. The youth gathered around the table as he explained step-by-step how to draw and paint a nature scene with palm trees, a road and the sun. Alao’s easygoing, big personality made students laugh with his quick jokes, and he told the students “at all times, you must make sure you’re smiling. Smile and your work should be fine.” The f...
Nothing has dampened Bill Iffrig’s passion for running, not even surviving an event more vividly traumatic than many will experience in a lifetime—the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings. Camera footage caught the moment of explosion, recording a sea of shocked runners, including one 78-year-old man thrown down by the blast a few minutes from the finish line. That runner was Iffrig, and he will be in town later this month to run in the Smelt Derby 10K, hosted by the Rotary Club of La Conner. Iff...
Snee-oosh Beach offers a beautiful waterside view, but also carries a lingering threat of occasional flooding. In March 2016, a section of Chilberg Avenue on the Swinomish Reservation was overtaken by Skagit Bay’s tidal waters. The water flowed onto several homeowners’ yards on McGlinn Drive, damaging the properties. Five homeowners decided to build a 250- to 300-foot-long “garden wall,” spanning across their yards in hopes of preventing a repeat occurrence. However, the project has not gone sm...
The La Conner School District has recently experienced a six-fold increase in migrant student enrollment, jumping from 18 to 118. The new number accounts for about 20 percent of the district’s current 575 enrollment, giving La Conner the highest percentage of migrant students in the county. Because La Conner’s migrant student population has typically hovered in the lower numbers — fewer than 20 — the climbing numbers surprised school officials, prompting them to look into gov...
The woman found deceased on New Year’s Day on GuemesIsland’s Agate Beach has been identified as Sally Ann Stavig, 76, of Anacortes. Her body was found about 2:10 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 1, and authorities believe she had been on the beach less than 24 hours. On Monday the Skagit County Sherriff’s Office on Monday asked the public to help identify her because nobody fitting her description had been reported missing. By Tuesday, authorities believed they had determined who the woman is, but her identity was withheld until her family could be notif...
Skagit Breaking proves a point – People want news about their neighbors and they want it fast. The popular online Facebook page posts a mix of police scanner chatter and community announcements and in about three and a half years, has grown to 68,700 “likes,” the equivalent of subscribers in the Facebook world. Followers get Skagit Breaking’s updates in their Facebook feeds and can publically comment on the posts or message the page directly, where the moderators often quickly respond. Muc...
A customer found a baby left alone and strapped into a car seat in the parking lot of Pioneer Market in La Conner, prompting authorities to take the boy and his twin sister into protective custody. Skagit County Sheriff’s Sergeant Jenny Sheahan-Lee said she couldn’t release specific information, such as the identities of the parents, while the investigation is active. The children are still in custody of Child Protective Services. Barry Whipple, Pioneer Market’s store manager, said he was outsi...
It was a homeowner’s nightmare — water creeping underneath the front door, furniture, books and electronics soaked as water levels slowly rise. Carefully tended gardens were washed away in a wave. In March residents along Snee-Oosh Beach suffered thousands of dollars in damages as an unexpected tidal surge washed across Chilberg Road near Hope Island and swamped their homes. In advance of “King Tide” season coming again in a few months, five neighbors on McGlinn road pooled their money...
La Conner residents will be able to hear and see America’s national defense become more high-tech, if plans to deliver a new flock of war birds to Whidbey Island materialize. The U.S. Navy is looking to add up to 36 Growler aircraft to its collection at the Whidbey Island Naval Air Station. Public comments are now being accepted on a recently finished Environmental Impact Statement, and the Navy has scheduled five open-house meetings for people to learn about and comment on the project. The E...
The Swinomish Indian Tribal Community has brought in a veteran law enforcement officer with local ties to the Swinomish Police Department. Lou D’Amelio started on Tuesday, filling the role left open when former chief Andrew Thorne and three other officers left suddenly during a “reorganization” three months ago. Last Friday D’Amelio retired from his job as Administrative Captain for the Anacortes Police Department, where he had worked for 25 years. Since he has taught police science and adminis...
Once a year, the La Conner Middle School gym fills for a day with eighth-graders proudly displaying well-decorated poster boards, giving out freebies and facts to those who pass by their tables. The yearly culture fair’s public launch reveals the cumulative efforts of each individual student, under supervision of their teacher, Mrs. Thurmond — a teacher who is all about celebrating individuality. Veronica Thurmond has taught La Conner’s seventh- and eighth-graders for the past 16 yea...
La Conner locals who love getting free compost from the bin on Chilberg Road will be pleased to know that the program is going strong after 17 years. The Town Council recently approved a two-year contact to process yard waste from Mount Vernon at the La Conner water treatment plant. The mutually beneficial deal helps support the program that allows the public to grab some free soil amendment for their yards and gardens. “It reduces Mount Vernon’s costs and decreases what we have to spend on buyi...
A flashing yellow light that used to hang over La Conner’s Maple Avenue at the intersection of Caledonia Street could cause the town extra work, whether or not it is replaced. Town officials still haven’t figured out why it was there — the beacon had been flashing into the night as long as anyone could remember. The Public Works director was hoping that someone with historical knowledge of the artifact would come forward and, well, shed some light on it. But that hasn’t happened. The light was hit on two occasions by a truck or heavy...
One of the five people killed in the Cascade Mall shooting has connections to La Conner, and her public memorial service is at the elementary school gym on Saturday. Shayla Martin, 52, once lived in La Conner, and her children attended school here. Her daughter, Tanya Young, attended La Conner High, and her step-daughter, Pam Keller, is a La Conner graduate and the school’s assistant volleyball coach. Young said the La Conner School District was very helpful in providing a high-capacity space to hold her mother’s service. She said she’s been...
Remember that blinking yellow light hovering over the intersection of Maple Avenue and Caledonia Street? It met an unceremonious demise on Tuesday, Sept. 13, when it was knocked down by an over-height vehicle. As mysterious as its purpose, the origins of the flashing beacon called for investigative journalism. Brian Lease, La Conner’s Public Works director, said the amber light had been there as long as he could remember — and he’s worked here for over 19 years. He said the town changed the light bulb now and then when it burned out. One...
Mavrik Marine, Inc. set up shop in La Conner in 2011 with a dozen employees and has since grown to a local industry powerhouse. Their aluminum work boats include skiffs, patrol boats and gillnetters that are sent around the world after Mavrik employees carefully construct them from start to finish. Webster defines the word “maverick” as “one who takes an independent stand.” “We don’t like marching to someone else’s beat,” owner and founder Zach Battle said of his company’s name. “It can mean a l...
The La Conner School Board selected Lynette Cram as its new member, after she applied for the open position and completed a public interview on Monday. She fills the remainder of the term of Rick Thompson, who retired after serving on the board for 22 years. The search to fill his vacant seat finished with only a single applicant, but the remaining board members were visibly pleased with Cram, as they voted to approve her. She will be officially sworn in on Sept. 19 at the regular meeting. In the interview, she described herself and answered...
The 15 fidgeting and excited 5-year-olds began their kindergarten through 12th-grade journey on Tuesday with La Conner Elementary teacher Judy Zimmerman. Zimmerman, also known as “Mrs. Z,” corralled her rambunctious charges into a half circle, sitting quietly as she flipped through a picture book describing the story while animatedly explaining school rules. She covered the basics — how to use the classroom bathroom, with its high-tech light sensors and automatic soap dispensers. She told them they will have to listen attentively as the...
They’re here... See them peeking out from a windowsill, wedged into tree trunks, perched on poles. It’s the new rock painting craze that’s arrived in La Conner and other Skagit County hiding places. The game of “paint, hide and seek” leaves palm-sized creations all over the county, from artistic landscapes, to food and cartoons. Also, there is a whole lot of Seahawks pride, as the many posts on the new “Skagit County Rocks!” Facebook pages show. A handful of administers manage the active page,...
Two excavator bulldozers loomed over a slowly widening hole in the dike, as water rushed through for the first time in a century on Monday. Their powerful scoops scraped up piles of rock and dirt, clearing a new path for young salmon to enter and grow in an estuary habitat. Organizers at the Fir Island Farms Estuary on Monday celebrated the first results of the 7-year-long project to help restore the dwindling Chinook salmon population. Removing part of the 3,110-foot dike allows the juvenile...
About a quarter of the Swinomish Police Department’s officers have submitted resignations, according to the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community. Allan Olson, the tribe’s general manager, said four officers, including Chief Andrew Thorne, Assistant Chief Larry Yonally, a sergeant and a patrol officer “resigned” after the Swinomish Senate decided to “reorganize” the department following a two-month review of police department activities. The 11-member senate met last Tuesday, July 18. Its meetings are not open to the public. That same morning, this...
Officers at the Swinomish Police department wouldn’t say what was going on yesterday. Reporter questions were referred to the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community’s General Manager Allan Olson, who initially said “no comment” when asked whether officers had been disarmed, or forced to forfeit their weapons. But at about noon on Tuesday, he did say the police department was in the process of reorganizing. And, “the police department is fine,” he said. Though specific details about the reorganization were not forthcoming on Tuesday, a search of f...
The Norwester Museum Tour is now open for business, after a patriotic launch on Saturday. The John Wayne-themed museum is on his first yacht, The Norwester, anchored permanently on the La Conner waterfront. Now open to the public, the boat has retired after 84 years of a busy life that included Navy service, multiple owners and a lot of restoration. The highlights of Saturday afternoon included a well-received visit from Kim Darby, the actress who played Mattie Ross alongside Wayne in his 1969 m...
Some of La Conner’s oldest buildings have checkered pasts – and the Skagit County Historical Museum is airing their salacious secrets. With a walk down town, we can learn there used to be a grocery store with a brothel upstairs on First Street. Another landmark building was a place smugglers hid human cargo they brought in illegally from China. All it takes is a map and a cell phone to hear about La Conner’s colorful past in the museum’s tell-all walking tour. Completed in April, the p...
La Conner can now boast about being home to a high-status “floating museum,” full of Hollywood glitz and classic glamour. A boat from movie star history, the Norwester has been turned into a John Wayne museum and will display items owned by the tough-guy actor, antiques and props from his movies. The 76-foot-long boat was owned by Wayne for about 8 years and was his first yacht. The actor, nicknamed “The Duke,” was an iconic Western cowboy persona, who starred in major Hollywood films before...
