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A La Conner business owner is the victim of a cold case that is just a few hours old. The Skagit County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a “smash and grab” break-in of Mari White-Bucy’s Nissan Pathfinder near Calico Cupboard on First Street late Wednesday, Feb. 10. With temperatures plunging due to a winter blast of cold air, downtown was quiet that night – except for the sound of breaking glass from White-Bucy’s vehicle. Fortunately, White-Bucy believes nothing of value was taken. Bu...
There was plenty of love in the air – and on the ground – over the weekend here. Especially for those smitten with snow, Valentine’s Day and Monday holidays. La Conner area residents awoke Saturday to snow that would become a one-foot blanket, a surprisingly much greater accumulation than was the case that morning upriver closer to the Cascade foothills. At a site five miles south of Anacortes, a volunteer data collector measured 12.8”. The sudden snowstorm inspired galleries of win...
Having an eye for art helped Michael Davolio focus on La Conner as his latest stop in a lengthy planning career that has seen him address land use issues on both coasts. A native of central Massachusetts, Davolio has come out of semi-retirement in Bellingham to succeed Marianne Manville-Ailles as the Town’s planning director. He took part in the Jan. 9 Town Council and Jan. 16 Planning Commission Zoom meetings and has spent a couple days setting up his office at Town Hall. So far, it has been a...
The La Conner Town Council chose an unexpected path last week as it sought further direction in its quest to purchase Hedlin’s Ballfield for a mixed-use residential and public space development. The Council without dissent committed to taking out a second $37,000 one-year option on the nearly two-acre site off Maple Avenue. The Council action, coming at the close of a lengthy discussion during its Feb. 9 Zoom session, was in response to strong indications the Town would recover its option outlays when the nearly two-acre property is m...
Gov. Jay Inslee gave most residents of the state an early Valentine’s present, announcing Thursday he was moving most of the state forward to Phase 2 of the Healthy Washington – Roadmap to Recovery Plan beginning Feb. 14. On Sunday residents of Yakima County and the other five counties in the South Central region got a special gift: Phase 2 status. Data that kept the region in Phase 1 was corrected. The entire state is now in Phase 2. Skagit County residents, like North Region neighbors in Island, San Juan and Whatcom counties, are a...
Interim La Conner schools Superintendent Rich Stewart and school district voters have given a giant present to students, staff, parents and the yet-to-be-chosen new school superintendent: an overwhelming, 71% yes vote in the Feb. 9 election for a four year replacement educational programs and operations levy. Most of the remaining ballots were counted Thursday. In La Conner, 361 more yes votes were in the additional 542 ballots. The Concrete Schools renewal levy for educational programs and operations won with 57.9% of the vote, as did the two...
What do we stand for as Americans? These passages from foundational documents in our history show us our roots. The Pledge of Allegiance: I pledge Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all. Preamble of the U.S. Constitution: We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Bles...
One of the greatest stories of reverence for life is found in the Jewish scriptures, in Chapter 2 of Exodus. Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt, gave an order to all Egyptian subjects. “Throw into the river every boy who is born to the Hebrews but let the girls live.” A woman with a son hid him for three months from the pharaoh’s decree. Then she placed him in a basket, daubed with bitumen and pitch. She released him on the River Nile hoping some mother might help him. The boy’s sister remained close to the river to see what would happen. Pharaoh...
On Feb. 3 the day was crisp and sunny and what awaited was a COVID-19 vaccination for the educational staff of the La Conner School District. This opportunity was shared with our district because the Swinomish Senate had, by resolution, voted to share the Moderna vaccination with our staff. This generous offer is accepted as the gift it was meant to be. Jennifer LaPointe, health administrator invited us to the parking lot on the west side of the casino. The whole event was well organized. Everyone, and I mean everyone, was very friendly and...
HB 1519, in the Washington state legislature, is bad legislation. It addresses tax shift, but only stretches out the impact on taxpayers by imposing the increase in taxes over four years. It should make the shifting of taxes illegal, once and for all. In 2013, after the Great Wolf decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the Washington Department of Revenue decreed that improvements on Indian land cannot be taxed. As a result Shelter Bay and Pull & Be Damned were removed from the tax rolls. The Skagit County Assessor...
“Cultivating Civic Conversations (CCC): Learning to Talk about Race” is the title of the next seminar series jointly sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Kittitas and Skagit counties. The 13-week virtual discussion group is open to all beginning March 1. The one-hour group conversations use Ijeoma Oluo’s bestselling book, “So You Want to Talk About Race” paired with podcasts. Oluo responds generously and answers questions she has often been asked about race and racism, such as “Why are our students so angry?” “Is police brutality reall...
There are two important bills I would like to share with you. One involves rural broadband and the other health care. Both of these common-sense solutions do what good legislation should, they transcend party division by simply doing what is best for all of Washington. First, let us talk about rural broadband. More than any other previous generation, we have been forced to reimagine communication. Because of the pandemic, we communicate with each other with fewer face-to-face interactions. Online tools that enable individuals to meet virtually...
The Genuine Skagit Valley campaign has been granted a certification mark from the United States Patent and Trademark office Patsy Martin, executive director of the Port of Skagit, announced Feb. 9. Agricultural products and agricultural services from the Skagit Valley can now be certified as to their origin by this federally registered mark. The Port has advanced toward this goal for almost 10 years. They worked with the Washington State Department of Commerce to have Skagit Valley designated an Innovation Partnership Zone (IPZ), focusing on...
The Swinomish Tribal Senate is pleased to announce its approval of the Tribe’s 2021 voluntary contributions to the La Conner Regional Library, Fire District 13 and La Conner School District. The contributions will be paid from Trust Improvement Use and Occupancy taxes, which the Tribe collects from individual Tribal landowners and owners of homes built on leased Swinomish trust lands. Recognizing the economic challenges faced by some taxpayers from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Tribe is also pleased to announce reduction of the 2021 tax rate to $...
La Conner High sports teams and fans have long added their own twist to the lyrics when singing the national anthem prior to games. They regularly close the first verse by emphasizing and slightly altering the final lines – “O’er the land of the free and the home of the Braves” – to reflect the school’s longtime mascot. That might change going forward. State Rep. Debra Lekanoff, D-Bow, has introduced a bill that would ban use of Native American mascots for school sports teams in Washington. The proposed legislation, House Bill 13...
La Conner Schools is back on the road to in-person instruction. The proof is in the familiar yellow buses that have begun picking up and delivering students along a half-dozen routes in the school district. The buses began rolling Feb. 1 as students in lower grades returned to campus under a plan that will see older students gradually phased into La Conner Elementary by the end of the month. The sight of school buses with flashing lights on La Conner area roads is fairly common, but the COVID-19 pandemic has made necessary an even greater...
There are signs of hope in the Skagit Valley – even as COVID-19 drags into another year -- in the daffodil fields, in the partial reopening of restaurants and businesses, and at the Museum of Northwest Art. There, a Max Benjamin exhibit (“A Road Well Travelled”) transports visitors from the grays of winter with bold, colorful work spanning five decades. The iconic painter from Guemes Island rarely exhibits his work. In fact he stopped exhibiting in 2002 except for a show at La Con...
Northwest News Network Originally published Feb. 2, 2021 by Northwest News Network Leaders of seven Pacific Northwest tribes testified in January in favor of replacing a statue of Oregon Trail pioneer and missionary Marcus Whitman in the U.S. Capitol. A proposal pending in the Washington Legislature would install a statue of the late Native rights activist Billy Frank Jr. in Whitman’s place of honor. Every U.S. state gets to choose two prominent figures to put in the National Statuary Hall Collection. In the early 1950s, Washington state d...
Greg Edwards and Bruce James have always been close. It was fitting, then, that the former La Conner High teammates would see their race for a Swinomish Tribal Senate seat decided by a razor thin margin. Edwards edged James 151-146 in balloting Saturday at the Swinomish Tribal Community Social Services. Edwards and James were vying to succeed three-term incumbent Kevin Paul, who had placed third in the tribe’s January primary election. As one would expect, the Edwards-James race was strictly a positive campaign, including their post-election c...
Monday, Feb. 8 11:59 a.m.: Late prowl call – Caller reported a cold vehicle prowl. Caller said his debit card was stolen. Park St., La Conner. Wednesday, Feb. 10 4:28 p.m.: Con call – Caller reported being called by a scammer claiming to be with the sheriff’s office, saying she had a warrant. The caller gave the scammer no information and hung up. Channel Lane, Greater La Conner. 8:30 p.m.: Caller suspicious – Caller reported a suspicious vehicle in the Rexville Grange parking lot. Deputies contacted the vehicle. The driver w...
I was getting creative with a rotisserie chicken from Costco. A chile verde sauce is an easy ingredient to find at most grocery stores. We received ours as a gift from our daughter. She purchased it while on tour in the southwest with her band, Black Belt Eagle Scout (pre-COVID-19). Chicken Chile Verde Enchilada Ingredients Rotisserie chicken, 2 cups chopped Flour tortillas, 3 large Chile verde sauce, 1 jar, 16 ounces Cheese, shredded, 2 cups Margarine, 3 to 4 tablespoons Oil spray Parchment...
