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Ballots went into the mail Tuesday to La Conner school district residents for replacing the school levy. The proposed rate for this educational and operational programs levy is $1.50 per thousand, a reduction of almost one dollar of assessed valuation. It is not a new tax. The two-year levy will provide $1,741,210, with $870,605 collected in each 2020 and 2021. The total school tax rate is $4.25 per thousand with the current bond. Funds are targeted for safety, extra-curricular activities, food services, highly capable program, special...
Knowledge is power. For proof, one need look no farther than a La Conner High student group for which no academic test is too heavy a burden. Spencer Tripp, MacQuaid Hiller, Max Drews, Charlie Cram, Jack Tronsdal, Domenic Wilbur and Noah Lee – among the school’s brightest lights – comprise La Conner’s Knowledge Bowl team, carrying forth a campus tradition that has generated great success over the years. The La Conner High Knowledge Bowl team won a state championship in 2016, and the...
Michael Thomas Good (Mike) a lifelong resident of Skagit County passed away January 4, 2019, surrounded by loving family. Born in 1933, to Ron and Mary Good, Mike lived a quiet life on Fir Island (Conway) working the family farm. He attended elementary school in Conway. Many remember Mike, in younger days, riding around the island on his bicycle, visiting with neighbors or riding to the bread outlet to buy treats for his chickens. Mike loved the holidays, especially Christmas when he would decorate the farm with lights and a big Santa. He...
Dear Editor, I wish to express my appreciation for the investigative journalism that you put into the La Conner Weekly News. I was especially happy to read the comments of Allan Olson, lead counsel for the Swinomish Tribe [Olson is general manager – editor]. His clarifications helped un-cloud some murky waters, and for that I am happy. However, it also shed some light on some goblins in the closet. No matter how we look at us, we can see cracks in our façade, from financing our fixes, to educating our masses, to justly paying our t...
Dear Editor: I am so disappointed that Key Bank is not fulfilling their corporate responsibility here to serve the needs of this community as described in the CRA [Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 – editor] for banks which requires that banks serve lower income communities. Although Key may have banks in low income neighborhoods in cities, I am not so sure that they feel the same responsibility about small rural communities. I imagine that they are not making enough money from this location – based on the revenue expectations...
Maybe Congress and the President would be more inclined to talk, compromise and reach a deal to re-open the government, if their own salaries were withheld until they did. Lin McJunkin Conway...
What defines a patriot? Aren’t patriots champions of the ideals of their country, putting their neighbors, the entire populace, ahead of themselves, ready to defend woman and children, the most vulnerable, against all foes? The highest patriots are beyond political party and partisanship. People, then, can be patriotic, loyal to their country, the Constitution, the land, the great outdoors, all our confounded history and also be nonpartisan critics of the president of the United States. Of course, there are partisan critics, which is what it m...
The ongoing lesson that all of us need to keep in mind, even if we learned it long ago, is that life is complex. Its complexity takes a long time to figure out. That is why we have schools. Schooling cost money. Good schooling, with the administrators, teachers, computers, curricula, buses and food, requires a whole lot of money. Greater La Conner residents are fortunate that their “team school” believes in this place we all call home as much as the pioneers and natives do. Everyone working for the school district is dedicated to providing the...
Whether you want to learn more about crows or have a burning question on improving habitat for birds or you want to buy cards or art with a bird theme, Maple Hall is the place to be for the Birding Showcase organized by the La Conner Chamber of Commerce. Sixteen educational and artistic vendors will be there from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dr. Kaeli Swift speaks at 4 pm. Her research at the University of Washington is studying the foraging behaviors of Canada jays in Denali National Park. She studies...
The Pacific Northwest Quilt & Fiber Arts Museum exhibit of the Hartsfield Quilt Collection, “Caldwell, Love & Hartsfield Family of Quilters”, opens Jan. 30 The Hartsfield’s collection roots date back to the early 1850s beginning with Ms. Molly, who lived in Whitlock, Tenn. She was the slave seamstress for a plantation master. “Beholden” to her slave master’s wishes, she bore two children by the owner, one a son, Richard Caldwell. Caldwell was nine years old when he became a free person. He kept his mother’s quilts, which were passed on dow...
Tami Mason, branch supervisor at the local Washington Federal bank, heard at 7:45 a.m. Saturday, Jan 12 that the La Conner KeyBank will be closing April 12. Her comment last week was “It’s going to get busy. The line was out the door on Monday.” Area residents with KeyBank accounts were mailed a notice dated Jan. 11 informing them “KeyBank will be consolidating your La Conner Branch into the Mt. Vernon Branch on April 12, 2019.” Mayor Ramon Hayes heard about the closing secondhand Jan. 17....
MORE THAN THE NETS ARE RIPPED – La Conner artist Meg Holgate’s “Net II,” mixed media, 48 x 48 is showing at the Schack Art Center in Everett through Feb. 23. She writes: “It is an honor to be included in the Salmon School Ambassadors … . This exhibition was organized as a thank-you to the many artists who support Joseph Rossano’s launch of his traveling exhibition School, (April 12 - August 11 at the Bellevue Art Museum) a project which shines an important light on the diminishi...
The upcoming Feb. 12 levy election is replacing the two-year levy voters approved in 2017; this is not a new tax. Additionally, the rate is lower than the expiring levy by about $1 per thousand. On behalf of the La Conner School District Board of Directors, we thank you, our community, for the support you provide in so very many ways. Each item on the list of Educational Programs and Operations Levy is only partially funded by levy funds. Furthermore, each item directly supports learning, often for some of our most vulnerable populations:...
Lance Ekhart didn’t hesitate to rock the boat, creating quite a stir as he guided over 150 people through a month-long sailboat trip he took to Desolation Sound and Princess Louisa Inlet in the Strait of Georgia, north of Vancouver. Ekhart rocked the audience with a collection of photography from his journey at the Anacortes Library last Wednesday. At Prideaux Haven, a scenic anchorage in Desolation sound, Ekhart found a combination of calm weather and an uncharacteristic lack of other boats o...
