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Last Tuesday, Oct. 26, La Conner’s town council and residents filling Maple Hall’s small meeting room heard from three candidates applying to fill the seat vacated by Jacque Brunisholz in August. Next Tuesday, Nov. 9, the four council members will choose between Bill Bruch, Rich De Shon and Annie Taylor. Each candidate had 15 minutes, starting with an introduction. De Shon went first. While he and his wife Terri moved here only two years ago, they want to stay here the rest of their lives, he...
La Conner once again showed that it is the little town that can – and does – when its town council last week passed a thorough and strongly worded resolution against the Skagit County commissioners allowing Fully Contained Communities to be included in the country’s comprehensive plan. Bravo for the three council members supporting the resolution. They took an important and necessary step. It does not mean the county commissioners will read the many-pointed resolution. It has 23 “whereas,” enough to choke a horse – or a devel...
Dear citizens: I want to thank everyone who has engaged in the voting process, even if you didn’t vote for me. I certainly don’t have all the answers to our problems, yet my ideas and ideologies do fit our small town. As you all well know, it’s the tourists that butter our toast. Sure, there’s our Indian Tribe, Mavrik Marine and Dunlap Towing that assist, but without our beautiful landscape, tulip fields, swans and geese, we’d not have the tourists walking our streets. We’d be beggars with a tin cup, hoping for a nickel and a dime, to pay our...
The La Conner Parent Teacher Student Association would like to extend a huge thank you to all of the organizations that helped make the annual Halloween Parade and Trick-or-Treating possible. They include: the Town of La Conner, the Chamber of Commerce, the La Conner Fire Department, the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office detachment, the La Conner High School volunteers, La Conner United, community members and, especially, the generosity of local merchants. Without you, this highly anticipated event would not be possible. As we all know, C...
I have a chihuahua, Lilly, who is now almost 17. When I rescued Lilly, she was six months old, not spayed, and chained to a tree. She weighed 5 lbs. – the chain about 10 lbs. I was able to contact the owner, who was happy to give her away. “Too much trouble,” I was told. Daily walking my dogs is a joy I miss. Due to an accident several years ago, I had to find a dog walker. I’m happy to say I found, for seven years, the most trustworthy, caring, and loving person, Linda Renae Clark. Thanks to Linda for all those years of happiness she g...
Dear La Conner residents, Thank you so much for participating in my effort for October Around Town. The fortune lady, Lolita, was a big hit. I wrote hundreds of fortunes, which was great. It meant people were taking them. Thank you to all of you who encouraged me, helped, or donated items. I also want to thank all of you who supported my honor system flower shop behind the post office – it was a great year! And, the lockbox was only broken into once this year. I look forward to reopening in March. To all businesses, I hope we all make it...
Bill Bruch is working full time. He is out and about working for the common good of his community and beyond. No time to play hide and seek! Hard work and common sense bodes well for all in this time of turmoil. Bobbi Butterworth Shelter Bay...
Pause. Can we take a pause? Maybe it is time for a pause. The joy of Halloween is behind us and the rush to the end of the year holiday season is not yet started, although a well-planned Christmas tree is twinkling in Heather Smith’s Latitude Longitude shop. Election returns, while preliminary, may be telling – or not. The first tallies came after these words were crafted. Will election results in La Conner make people cheerful? Certainly for at least the winning candidates and their families. Will Mary Wohleb wake up to find she is t...
The La Conner Town Council passed two important resolutions at its Oct. 26 meeting. On a motion by Councilmember Bill Stokes, council unanimously voted to increase the 2022 property tax by 1% after Finance Director Maria DeGoede reported there was zero banked – or extra – tax capacity this year. No one spoke at the public hearing preceding the vote. Staff and council determined the town needed an increase in property tax revenue from 2020, which brought in $339,196. The tax increase will bring in estimated new revenue of $3,387,...
With the challenges of last year, memorial services for Anita Hilde Lang, a Shelter Bay / La Conner resident since 1977 and long-time realtor, were delayed. Anita passed peacefully Nov. 22, 2020, and her memorial service will be held Nov. 6, 2021, at 3:00 pm at the North Cascade SDA Church in Burlington, Wash. To watch Anita’s memorial online, visit vimeo.com/637993164. We welcome thoughts and remembrances of Anita at https://www.lemleychapel.com/memorials/anita-lang/....
The aptly titled “Last Minute - Town Hall Meeting,” an impromptu forum for La Conner town council candidates organized and promoted by Linda Clark, organizer of Reclaim Hedlin Field, took place on a seemingly appropriate cold and rainy Thursday night in the upstairs room of La Conner Seafood & Prime Rib House. Half the candidates showed, Ivan Carlson, Glen Johnson and councilmember Bill Stokes as did Clark and six area residents. The small group had a spirited discussion, mostly around the sale of the Hedlin Maple Avenue ballfield, which was...
Anyone would love to have a dollar for every dig that La Conner High senior libero Rachel Cram has recorded during her four years with the school’s state championship volleyball program. Turns out, the Skagit Valley Hospital Foundation is in line for just such a payout. The unbeaten net team raised $1,200 for the foundation and breast cancer research as part of its annual Dig Pink-Senior Night match last Wednesday, coinciding with Cram notching her 1,200th career dig during a tense five-set n...
It’s one thing to put your money where your mouth is. In La Conner, people often put their money where their hearts are. And the most recent example of a heartfelt investment here, in this case benefiting La Conner elementary students, is one designed to foster young inquisitive minds well into the future. Responding to a request La Conner elementary dyslexia intervention specialist Jen Gudmundson posted on social media seeking donations to help purchase books for local students, area residents responded almost immediately to the tune of o...
Making the jump from high school sports to college athletics is a long shot at best. Good thing, then, that Charles Baker of Swinomish is often at his best when taking long shots. Which is just what the 2021 La Conner High grad, who turned 19 over the Halloween weekend, is doing these days. Baker, who was a top perimeter scorer on the Braves basketball team, is now a freshman at Northwest Indian College in Bellingham, where he has earned a spot on the men’s hoops roster. Standing 5’-10” and p...
In the first contested town council races since 2015, La Conner voters have spoken, re-electing MaryLee Chamberlain to Position 4 and giving challengers leads in the other council races. Ivan Carlson leads incumbent John Leaver 167 to 112 votes, a 19% advantage for Position 2. Rick Dole is 26 votes ahead of incumbent Bill Stokes for Position 3, 150 to 124 votes, a 9% margin. The 281 votes counted Tuesday in the Carlson-Leaver contest almost matches the 285 votes Leaver won in his unopposed 2017 election. In the 2020 presidential election 730...
Some La Conner midgets have done big things this fall. The La Conner youth football midget team has advanced to the league championship clash with Friday Harbor at Anacortes High School this Saturday after blanking Lakewood 6-0 in semifinal action last weekend. Duron Cayou-Clark scored the game’s lone touchdown, propelling La Conner into the 1 p.m. Nov. 6 title contest. La Conner and Friday Harbor split their two-game regular season North Cascade Youth Football League series. Friday Harbor shut out La Conner 44-0 when the teams met on San Juan...
Honesty is always the best policy, though two others that figure prominently with La Conner school officials aren’t far behind. School board members have for the past year championed the crafting and adoption of a district equity policy and at their Oct. 25 hybrid monthly meeting also took initial steps toward beefing up an existing anti-bullying measure. “I am so ready!” board member Amanda Bourgeois exclaimed as the panel inched ever closer to approving the long-sought district equity guidelines. The board in recent months has held detai...
Monday, October 25 8:40 p.m.: Left after lit – Caller reported a suspicious vehicle parked on their property. The vehicle left the area after the homeowner shined a light on it. Deputies checked the property and area for the vehicle, but were unable to locate it. Valentine Rd., Greater La Conner. Tuesday, October 26 2:18 p.m.: Prowler tracked down – Deputies responded to a report of a vehicle prowl, where a window was broken and items taken out of two vehicles. One of the items taken had a GPS tracking device in it and deputies...
Roast these with red potatoes on the side. Use a nice tangy strong cheese. You could roast a little longer if you like your bacon on the done side. With the potatoes, this became part of our meal rather than a dessert. Select firm pears. Ingredients Bosc Pears, 3, peeled and cut in half Gouda cheese, 6 small slices Thick bacon, 3 slices, cut in half Red potatoes, two Dried parsley, ¼ teaspoon Cooking oil, 1 teaspoon Preparation Lightly oil the baking dish. Carefully core the pear halves....
The happiest half hour – well, 45 minutes – in La Conner happened once again last Friday afternoon, when promptly at 3:10 p.m. a Skagit County Sheriff’s Office motorcycle deputy turned his siren and lights on and led the annual Halloween Parade of – literally – kids of all ages down First Street from Morris Street toward Maple Hall. It was hard to tell who enjoyed it more: the parents, grandparents, town residents gathered to watch on the street, the occasional tourist c...
