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Many La Conner School District voters and most of its students live in homes on land that the district does not tax. We were told the so-called Great Wolf Lodge decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in 2013 is why more than 930 homes, mostly in Shelter Bay, were removed from the county tax rolls in 2015. That decision applied to Confederated Tribes of Chehalis Reservation vs. Thurston County. In that case, the tribe is the majority owner of the Great Wolf Lodge buildings that sit on its land. In 2008 Chehalis sued Thurston...
We are bombarded with news on television, on our phones, our laptops and tablets, our car radios and in newspapers. But with all the messaging coming at us, there is only one place for information that is most relevant to you, your family and your community. The most vital news source is right here at home in your local newspaper. La Conner has been the headquarters for a weekly newspaper for almost 150 years. In today’s 24-hour news cycle, it’s tough for traditional newspapers to stay in publication – La Conner Weekly News is one of the...
Special to La Conner Weekly News The United States Department of the Interior on Friday approved the constitutional amendments voted on and passed in May by members of the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community. While the changes in the tribe’s constitution are mostly aimed to reduce the paternalistic federal oversight of the tribe’s day-to-day operations, the wording in one of the amendments – dealing with territory and jurisdiction – sparked an outcry from landowners and farmers as well as Anacortes and Skagit County government officia...
A federal judge has ruled that it is legal for public agencies to collect taxes from non-Indians who lease tribal land. For three years, this newspaper has been following a lawsuit in the U.S. Central District Court of California brought by the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians against Riverside County. That case closed last week when U.S. District Judge Dolly M. Gee ruled in favor of the county and a local water agency that joined the suit as a defendant. “The county is pleased that the court carefully balanced the issues and determined t...
Records now open for public viewing on the U.S. Department of Interior’s website show that the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community obtained 243 acres of land that was allotted to individual tribal members generations ago. Under the Land Buy Back Program for Tribal Nations, the federal government paid nearly $3.2 million for the land, which had 171 individual owners. The land now goes back into federal trust for the benefit of the entire tribe. The Buy-Back Program allocated $1.9 billion in federal funding for tribes to consolidate land within r...
Swinomish Indian Tribal Community members approved the 29 proposed amendments to the tribal constitution, last week. While tribal elections are private and generally do not stir controversy outside the reservation community, provisions pertaining to territory and jurisdiction in the amended constitution have inspired a flood of letters to the U.S. Department of Interior, which has until July to approve the document. County officials, landowners, the agricultural community and taxpayers worried about what appears to be a move to extend the...
Bruce Shellhamer couldn’t make it to the Fire District 13 Board of Commissioners meeting on Thursday when he was voted in unanimously to fill a vacancy on the board. Fire 13 Chief Roy Horn told commissioners Chuck Hedlund and Larry Kibbee that there had been five who expressed interest in filling the board seat left vacant last month when Commissioner Arne Fohn resigned. Horn endorsed Shellhamer, 60, for the position. A resident of the La Conner area for 2 years, Shellhamer lives in the Pull & Be Damned Road area and is a former pastor who n...
Skagitonians to Preserve Farmland has expressed its concerns regarding wording in Swinomish Tribe’s proposed Constitution. Members of the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community are scheduled to vote on the tribe’s new governing document next week. Interest in tribal elections doesn’t usually extend beyond reservation boundaries, but this one has residents, land owners, county officials and now a farm group worried that the impacts could extend well beyond land held in trust for the tribe by the federal government. A May 11 letter to the feder...
Skagit County’s Board of Commissioners and the Tesoro refinery’s company headquarters in Texas both sent letters to the federal government in bids to shield private property from tribal expansion. The county’s letter mailed Thursday was to affirm on record a response from the Bureau of Indian Affairs which stated that the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community cannot expand its boundaries without action by the United States Congress and that its jurisdiction off reservation is limited to tribal members exercising their hunting and fishing right...
Shelter Bay Community leaders gathered a panel of experts to give residents the lowdown on the “best and final” lease proposal from the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community. In short, the tribe’s proposal which would include substantial rent increases, could make homeownership in Shelter Bay unaffordable, the experts indicated. Shelter Bay consists of 870 residential lots developed on land that is held in trust by the United States for the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community and some individual tribal members. Back in 1968, the developer signe...
An attorney with the Skagit County Prosecutor’s Office sent a letter to an attorney for the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community seeking clarification on jurisdiction the tribe claims in proposed changes to its tribal constitution. An amendment to the Swinomish constitution states that the tribe will have jurisdiction “over all persons, subjects, property and activities occurring within … the Tribe’s usual and accustomed fishing grounds and stations and all open and unclaimed lands…” In other words, not just on the Swinomish Reserva...
La Conner Town Council will consider adopting an ordinance that would disband the town’s Lodging Tax Advisory Committee. The town established the advisory committee in 2009 to study and make recommendations on how the “bed tax” collected from overnight visitors in the local hotels and inns is spent. By law, the money is to go for things that accommodate activities for tourists or attract tourists to the area. But the state law governing the committee role was changed a few years ago, making it impossible for the Town Council to adjust the a...
The comment period on the proposed Tesoro Anacortes Refinery “Clean Products Upgrade Project” environmental review ends Monday and the Town of La Conner has made itself an official party of interest. Councilwoman MaryLee Chamberlain first brought the issue up early in April and garnered a consensus of support from her colleagues on the dais to study the project. At the last meeting the council voted unanimously to send its comments on the project’s environmental impact statement in the form of a resolution. Tesoro proposes to upgrade its refin...
The Shelter Bay Community has scheduled three meetings on Saturday for residents to hear information from consultants regarding the tribe’s “best and final” proposal for a new Master Lease. Nearly two years ago the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community presented its proposal to replace the present lease, which expires in 2044, with a new 75-year contract. Shelter Bay consists of about 800 homes built on land originally leased from the tribe and individual tribal families in 1968. With leases set to expire in about 27 years, it is impossible for h...
The Swinomish Indian Tribal Community’s contention that its reservation is actually a third larger than its boundaries indicate and includes thousands of acres of private property has about 350 landowners very worried, Skagit County Commissioners have said. In a letter to Swinomish Chairman Brian Cladoosby, the commissioners asked to have the matter settled in federal court for, “a binding decision on this matter.” That probably won’t happen, however. Essentially tribal governments don’t go to court unless they agree to go to court – t...
The Rotary Club of La Conner wants to bring Maple Hall’s 1990s technology into the 21st century. To do that, the club wants to contribute $12,000 for upgrades including a new router and updated wireless access and a state of the art sound system. Club president Susan Macek said the club is asking the town to pitch in around $3,000 to cover half the cost of the projector. The whole upgrade will cost around $15,000 plus town Public Works time for installation help. The La Conner Town Council on Tuesday unanimously and gratefully accepted the g...
La Conner area residents are no strangers to the notion of a tax shift. Many homeowners have seen punishing increases in their property tax bills in the aftermath of tribal lawyer and state bureaucrat rule-crafting following the so-called Great Wolf Lodge federal appellate court decision. Now property owners in the rest of the state could start to feel the same kind of tax sting. An October ruling by the state Supreme Court, the “Hirst Decision” on a case originating in Whatcom County essentially requires the state’s 39 counties to prove water...
The Galleria project on First Street has survived what could be its final challenge from local residents who were opposing it since last summer. Mike Girdner, the businessman who owns the old Lighthouse Inn restaurant building says he’s happy he can start his project moving again. Girdner purchased the old Lighthouse Inn property on First Street two years ago after it had been sitting mostly vacant since the bank took it back in 2010. Before he began renovating it, the property was deteriorating and turning into a real eyesore on the t...
La Conner’s Volunteer Fire Department was excited to learn that the town’s fire protection rating has improved. What this means for homeowners is the possibility of obtaining better rates on their homeowners fire insurance. Fire Chief Josh Morrison said that when the Washington Surveying and Rating Bureau conducted an audit earlier this month, he thought it went well. Later, he learned that the town’s fire protection rating has gone from a 7 to a 6 — in this case, the lower the number the better on a scale of 1 to 10. “I am really...
La Conner Volunteer Fire Department is one beneficiary of a federal grant that funded the purchase of the department’s 15 new breathing apparatus for firefighters. The air tanks allow firefighters to avoid smoke inhalation injuries while battling structure fires. Anacortes Fire Department was the lead agency on the grant, which according to Anacortes Fire Chief Richard Curtis, is close to $1 million to pay for 90 units to equip firefighters in four departments, La Conner, Mt. Erie, Guemes Island...
The Swinomish Indian Tribal Community excluded members of the press and local government representatives from two recent meetings it hosted on topics that could impact taxpayers. Swinomish has proposed to amend its tribal constitution in accordance with the tribe’s belief that its reservation should include thousands of acres occupied by two refineries, two car dealerships, many businesses and private homes. Press was specifically excluded from an event the tribe hosted last Tuesday for property owners in the disputed area. At the same time, t...
Voters in La Conner School District approved a $2.5 million property tax increase that will be collected over two years starting in 2018. In a special election that ended at 8 p.m. Tuesday, a levy to fund operations and educational programs was passing with more than 61 percent of the vote. The numbers in the early returns were 660 yes votes and 418 no. One of the goals of the levy is to enhance teacher pay to make La Conner Schools more competitive with other school districts in attracting and retaining good educators. The La Conner levy will...
The first in a series of eight “consultations” to be held by the Bureau of Indian Affairs on rules regarding business enterprises on reservation land will be held next Thursday at the Swinomish Casino and Lodge. While the agency is seeking comment from tribes on a variety of elements as it ponders revisions to the “Traders With Indians” rule, the issue garnering the most attention among tribes and local governments involves taxes. Essentially, some tribal officials hold that it is unfair for state and local governments to tax non-tri...
Fire District 13 Chief Roy Horn announced last week that he would submit his resignation on July 1, because his contract expires on Dec. 31. Horn told the board at the Thursday, Jan. 26 meeting that he would put in a letter of resignation only because his contract requires him to give six months notice, and he wants the board to do “succession planning.” When pressed later on whether he intends to retire, Horn said, “It depends on the board.” He said, “I want to put it in the board’s mind to have these things addressed.” When Horn made his...
Vandalism in the town’s public restrooms on Morris Streets and on First Street has prompted drastic action. The Morris Street public restroom is locked up, and the one on First Street will be open only between the hours of 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Anyone who needs a facility outside of the designated open potty hours will have to use the outhouse set up in the adjacent street-side park. The little pocket park has a drinking fountain, sculpture and the slice of old growth log and now an outhouse. F...
