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Dear Editor: Bravo to the La Conner Weekly News for making Norman Fischer’s wise words available to our community. Meditation and paying attention help us to see things as they are, including the mess the world is in right now. Meditation allows us to see this in a different and positive way. We thank you for your continuing to offer diverse views. Geraldine Gross Dorothy Bird...
An examination of Swinomish taxation for 2020 reveals that the levy rate remains the same at $14.3500 per thousand, but the assessed value of homes in Shelter Bay and Pull & Be Damned went up from $163,899,070 to $171,719,175. Taxes increased by 5%. Skagit County levy code 1580, which used to include Shelter Bay and Pull & Be Damned, is $11.6355 per thousand. Until last year, the Tribe used to use the same levy rate as the county. The Swinomish will collect $2,120,732 in taxes. They will contribute $974,072 to four of the nine taxing districts...
Last week, the Legislature finished the house-of-origin cutoff. This means that House bills needed to pass the House – and Senate bills needed to pass the Senate – in order to stay alive for consideration during this legislative session. There are only a few budget-related exceptions that don’t fall on this timeline. Fortunately, nearly all of the bills I sponsored this session were passed by the House and are now in the Senate. This includes the three bills I sponsored to expand veterans’ benefits and a bill to explore summer sch...
Let’s slow down and stop the name calling. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders defines himself as a democratic socialist. He respects people enough that he is not afraid of anyone looking closely at his proposals, his record and his words. His 40 year career since first elected mayor of Burlington is plain to see. So is the record of our president, Donald Trump. He is the real radical in the race. He is hiding in plain sight. By definition, radical change is fundamental and historic. That is what Trump has objectively done. His tax cuts reduced r...
Cheryl Westlake, a longtime Shelter Bay resident, passed away from complications of cancer on January 6, 2020. She will be dearly missed by her beloved pet Sarah, and her longtime friends in the community. Cheryl was an active member of the Shelter Bay Community for many years, serving on various committees and the Board of Directors. Cheryl was preceded in death by her parents Robert and Pat Westlake. In lieu of a memorial service, donations are suggested to be made in Cheryl’s honor to the S...
John A. Summers, 83, a lifelong resident of Skagit Valley, passed away in Anacortes, WA on February 19, 2020. John was born in Burlington, WA on March 22, 1936 to Margaret (Hanson) Summers and Alvord C. Summers. He graduated from La Conner High School in 1954 and then graduated from Skagit Valley College. He attended Pacific Lutheran University, a fitting choice for a young man who was active in the Salem Lutheran Church which he credited with teaching him how to live and lead a good life. He...
Dance your way into the first weekend of La Conner’s Daffodil Festival at “Jazz Valley” March 7 at Maple Hall. Three bands play from 3-7 p.m. Warm up with swing dance lessons at 2 p.m. There will be “Taste of La Conner” appetizers and beer and wine for purchase. The day is a fundraiser for La Conner Live’s Sunday Gilkey Square summer concert series. Tickets are $15. Music at Maple Hall is by Paul Sorensen and the Swing Street Jazz Orchestra and Trish Hatley bringing Hans and Phil. C., while Tuohy’s Jazz Trio will be at La Conner Channel Lodge...
In theatre, as in life, enthusiasm counts for a lot. A lot of enthusiasm is on the stage and in the music pit as META presents “Fame: The Musical” at the Lincoln. It opened last week and runs through March 7. The truth of being a teenager: one is a pinball careening between ego, fear and lust. But there is also opportunity, the hope of finding yourself and developing maturity through hard work and hard knocks. For the 97 talented new students, chosen from a pool of 4,000, chosen for New York City’s illustrious High School for the Performing Art...
Every community relies on organizers, supporters and patrons, and Betty Black was just that for the Skagit Valley during the more than five decades she lived here. She and her husband Ian Black were fixtures locally, supporting organizations, causes and artists. As a result, the Blacks had an art collection in their Mount Vernon home that represented the work of local artists as well as those around the world. The Museum of Northwest Art (MoNA) is exhibiting that collection in its first floor gallery through March 15. Betty was more than a coll...
And now there are eight. The presidential primary election guide you received in the mail last week listed 13 Democratic candidates and President Donald Trump on the Republican ballot. No minor party candidates qualified. You have 14 days to complete and turn in your ballot. If you wait till next Wednesday the list of candidates might have shrunk. Voters in 14 states will choose 1,357 delegates in the March 3 Super Tuesday primaries. California alone adds 495. Whether frontrunners are solidified, those consistently at the bottom are running...
A new farm “growing” on Best Road moved to Seattle last Friday. Hill Top Farm was delivered in five 24-foot trucks to the Washington State Convention Center, where it was reconstructed for this week’s Northwest Flower and Garden Festival. The idea for the 2020 Christianson’s Nursery garden display – its first since 2011 – began germinating 15 years ago. On a visit to the Lake District of England, John and Toni Christianson visited Hill Top, the home of author and illustrator Beatrix...
Some 75 people came out Saturday morning for the 10th Legislative District Town Hall meeting at the WSU Northwest Research and Extension Center, amidst filling the large meeting room. The district’s three state legislators, Sen. Ron Muzzall (R-Oak Harbor) and Reps. Norma Smith (R-Clinton) and Dave Paul (D-Oak Harbor) displayed their ability to get along during the 45 minute question and answer session, when they responded to a wide range of questions constituents wrote out on cards. Stanwood M...
Nicole Henriksen goes great distances to help others. Consider that the 2016 La Conner High alum spent part of last summer in Uganda as a health care volunteer and will return to Africa in June for a two-year Peace Corps assignment in Malawi. And she has done so while staying on schedule to graduate from Washington State University. Henriksen leaves for southeastern Africa in June, shortly after receiving a bachelor’s degree in psychology during spring commencement exercises in Pullman. At o...
“Tonight (Feb. 15) was so amazing! I learned much more about the homeless than what I have believed for a long time!”, is what we were hearing over and over as people were crowding the foyer of the Lincoln Theater. “There’s No Place Like Home,” performed as a reader’s theater, challenged the audiences preconceived ideas about who those people are walking around their towns, sleeping in cars and doorways. The Art Show connected to the “There’s No Place Like Home” show at the Lincoln Theater was successful for the 2nd Chance Scholarship, Skag...
The design for the new La Conner Swinomish Library was approved by the Town’s Planning Commission Feb. 18. More than 30 library supporters filled Maple Hall’s meeting room, showing their interest in the project and the design, which was unveiled by Jake LaBarre of BuildingWork, the La Conner Regional Library Board’s architect. In his presentation the Seattle architect reviewed the 5,500 square foot one-story building that will fill the 10,000 square foot lot at Morris and Sixth Streets now occupied by the Friends of the Library Thrift Store...
