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Davis will turn lights off for last time Mary Davis Vintage Lighting is the brick-and-mortar embodiment of a four decades-long passion. By day, in her younger years, Davis pursued a retail management career. By night she tracked down vintage lighting for herself and her friends from the basement of her home in Seattle. Moving to La Conner and opening her store sharpened her eye for lighting design. It is a gift she has shared with customers who want a single lamp and those who involve her in a...
They love classic cars, but when Jerry and Jeri Kaufman of Burlington go for a spin it is just as likely to be on the dance floor. The couple’s love of dancing, apparent to all during La Conner Live summer Sunday concerts at Gilkey Square, will be featured on an “Eric’s Heroes” segment airing tonight (Wednesday) as part of the KOMO-4 6 p.m. newscast. Those in Seattle who have previewed the profile say it’s much-watch TV. No surprise here, where the Kaufmans are much admired for their rare zest f...
Over 3,000 Skagit County residents tested positive for the novel coronavirus in 2020, with over one third, 1,021 COVID-19 cases in December. With the 658 reported November infections, over half, 56% of Skagit County’s COVID-19 cases, have been reported in the last two months. Last month 13 people died from COVID-19, one-third of the 40 deaths reported by Skagit Public Health. Fifty-three people were hospitalized in December, 27% of the 194 infection-causing hospitalizations last year, according to Public Health.. “The epidemiological and dea...
In his final civic contribution, Kirby Johnson assured the holiday spirit was on display here amid the COVID-19 pandemic with his donation of a striking blue spruce Christmas tree for Gilkey Square. Town employees this week removed the tree, which had drawn many admirers, signaling the end of the holiday season. But its donor, who passed unexpectedly Dec. 10, at age 79, remained much on people’s minds, among them those crediting Johnson for having made it possible to buy homes and reside in the La Conner area. A La Conner High and Stanford U...
Dear Weekly News Readers, If we were allowed to gather, and Weekly News subscribers came together in one room, there would be 135 more of you – and spouses and families – than a year ago. Bless you for taking the subscription drive to heart. Circulation is up 15%. That is truly amazing. Some 120 current subscribers renewed early, partly to beat the new year’s increase to $60 and many to show support for their community newspaper. New and old readers both made donations. Thank you for helping me to pay my taxes. But more than that, y...
I think it is safe to say that in January of 2020 none of us could have predicted a year that would fundamentally change our lives in such impactful ways. And although we are certainly not beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, we are able, at the start of 2021, to see the light at the end of the tunnel. However, the exact length of the tunnel is still unclear. We have walked this path together and we have learned a great deal through this process. I would like to highlight the La Conner Town Council, who made exemplary community decisions while struggl...
I would like to thank Linda Talman for her many, many years of service on the Town’s Planning Commission. She has been a citizen’s watchdog and a voice for keeping La Conner true to our community vision. She is smart, does her homework and tries to mobilize interested people in participating in creating the town we want to live in. Thank you Linda! And may your retirement be joyful and interesting. Joan Cross La Conner...
I applaud you for publishing Jerry Willins’ review of “Caste,” by Isabel Wilkerson, in your Dec. 23 edition. This book is riveting and a literary pleasure, both for the ease of its narrative and for its elegant thought and language. It is also hard to read because of what it reveals, page after page. From slavery to Jim Crow to Obama to Trump, Wilkerson illuminates how we have sustained an artificial construction of society that deems some of us to be favored and some of us to be stigmatized as less worthy based on the shade of our skin, white...
Although I often agree with Mel Damski’s columns, I think we need to rethink our approach to how we prioritize who gets the vaccine first. Yes to medical workers and yes to people clustered in retirement homes, but after that, should we really start with people with the least number of years left to live? Seems to me we should do the math and collectively extend life for as many years as possible. That means middle aged people would be next. Young people are unlikely to die from COVID-19, but 50-year-olds are very vulnerable. If we make 5...
One day as Jesus was preaching in Galilee to the apostles, as recorded in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 10, an unusual event must have taken place. A sparrow must have flown past or rested on the branch of a tree and drawn the attention of Jesus. He said, “Are not two sparrows sold for next to nothing, yet not one falls to the ground without your Father’s consent?” He had spoken about difficult days ahead for the apostles. They would be imprisoned, beaten and betrayed, even by family members, because of their devotion to Jesus. These words must ha...
Going digital has been the norm in public education since the COVID-19 pandemic forced classes on-line last spring. But within the La Conner Schools art department the learning curve has been less steep. District tech director Ryan Hiller brought a digital art class into the curriculum several years ago and last September veteran art teacher Patty Weber began teaching a technical art class on distance education platforms. Weber, who majored in Fine and Applied Arts at the University of Oregon,...
Residents from the La Conner, Concrete and Mount Vernon school districts have a Feb. 9 special election to renew school levies. The districts need to continue local funding for educational programs and operations (EPO). The La Conner School Board voted in November to ask voters to approve a four-year, $1.45 per $1,000 in assessed valuation, a decrease from the $1.50 per $1,000 collected under the two-year levy voters passed in 2019. The funds will pay for school programs and services and non-capital expenses not fully funded by the state,...
In his new book “Let Us Dream: The Path to a Better Future,: Pope Francis advocates a Copernican revolution in our politics. Instead of viewing politics from the places of political and economic power, he summons us to see it from the vantage point of the peripheries. For Francis, the “often forgotten people” are the true center of the political firmament. Francis addresses our culture on its own terms to point out its spiritual vacuum. Western conceptions of liberty and equality have become untethered from the idea of solidarity and a vision o...
Very few readers probably knew that we had a celebrity musician living in our midst for the past decade. Except for my own curiosity and tendency to be nosy, I would not have known either. However, one day several years ago, my interest was piqued when I noticed a house up the street in Shelter Bay had a large wooden sign saying “Kirkland” hanging by the garage door. Having been born and raised in Kirkland, I wondered why someone would display something like that from their (my) former town. After an inquiry or two, I learned that my newly dis...
Gov. Jay Inslee Tuesday announced “Healthy Washington – Roadmap to Recovery,” a regional COVID-19 phased recovery plan starting Jan. 11. The north region is Skagit, Island, San Juan and Whatcom counties. Regions start in Phase 1 of a two phase approach and must meet four metrics to go to Phase 2. Phase 1 metrics are 1. Decreasing trend in two-week rate of COVID-19 cases per 100K population; 2. Decreasing trend in two-week rate new COVID-19 hospital admission rates per 100K population; 3. ICU occupancy of less than 90%; and 4. COV...
Monday, Dec. 28 10:25 a.m.: Flocking together – Deputies responded to a report of bird watchers parking in the middle of the roadway. Dry Slough Rd., Conway. Tuesday, Dec. 29 12:24 p.m.: Cows cold – Animal Control responded to a report of neglected cows. Investigation continuing. Moore Rd., Conway. 2:02 p.m.: Federal offense? – Caller reported her neighbors had found her mail a few blocks away from her residence. Deputies will be conducting additional patrols in the area. Channel Dr., La Conner. Thursday, Dec. 31 1:30 p.m.:...
Kim’s family and my husband’s family go back generations, in terms of friendship. On a recent fall day, she quietly dropped off a loaf of her homemade zucchini bread with the recipe written in a beautiful notecard. I baked her recipe and I love the orange zest. She gave me permission to share her recipe in my column. She has been using this recipe for about 35 years. Ingredients Sugar, 1 cup Vegetable oil, ½ cup Eggs, 2 Orange, 1, peel finely grated Flour, 1 ½ cups Baking pow...
After the sink or swim year that was 2020, members of the La Conner “First on First” committee could not wait to get back in the water on New Year’s. Literally, at that. Rick Dole, Annie Taylor and Town Councilmember John Leaver of the group that promotes extended dining and shopping here on the first Friday of each month were joined by Kelly Payne for a quick morning dip in Swinomish Channel to mark the start of 2021. They were cheered on by more than a dozen onlookers. It was an eye-opening la...
Yes, December was wet. The year ended wet: six days of rain last week, 1.6”, though 0.7” was in the new year. The 4.3” of precipitation is now the fourth time over 4” fell this month this century. Rainfall was 25% above the 3.4” century average, 0.9” more. Rain fell 22 days. Rain came down 13 days straight, Dec. 7-19 and seven of the last 11 days, with almost an inch Dec. 29-31. Fourteen years there have been 3” or more of rain. Two years there was about 4.5” of rain and in 2015 seven inches fe...
