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The U.S. Navy will “move forward” with increasing Growler airfield operations at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Navy Secretary Richard Spencer wrote in a March 8 letter to the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, a federal agency. The Navy will adopt some of the Council’s recommendation for noise mitigation while it “decline[s] to implement additional noise monitoring efforts” and declines further study and discussions with stakeholders, Spencer states in the five page letter. The Council oversees Section 106 of the Code of Federal R...
Twice last week Whitney Meissner, superintendent of the La Conner school district, enacted a cornerstone of the district’s strategic plan: communications. Last Wednesday Meissner hosted a community meeting in the district’s auditorium. Monday she spoke at the La Conner Rotary Club’s second annual Farmers-Merchant Dinner to 115 attendees, including Town and County elected officials and staff. At both events Meissner first thanked the community for the overwhelming support for the school levy,...
While I am in favor of moving Washington’s presidential primary from May to March, Senate Bill 5273 will continue the disenfranchisement of hundreds of thousands of Washingtonians who prefer not to declare an affiliation with either major party. These individuals don’t want to simply fall in line and check a box in order to participate. They want to remain independent and still have their voices heard. I stand with them, as do my colleagues in the House Republican Caucus. We introduced our own bill and an amendment to Senate Bill 5273 that wou...
During the summer of 2018 the world watched as a mother orca swam 1,000 miles with her dead calf draped across her back. For 17 long days we waited – helpless to stop her pain and worried about how long she could sustain her journey. People worldwide began to wonder if it was possible to die from a broken heart. It is eight months later, and I still cannot erase the images of Tahlequah’s “tour of grief” from my memory. This is not the reason our state should garner the international spotlight. In 1989, I lived through the Alaskan Exxon Va...
Finally, early Saturday afternoon the weather cracked: not a dramatic break to spring warmth but a glimmer that winter is releasing its unusually strong and prolonged grip on the Skagit Valley. This year snow was no brief treat but for a month a near weekly reality, making for great photos and stories, including perhaps the tragedy of the loss of this year’s daffodil crop. This was a record breaker that will be remembered by kids decades hence for the many Washington Street hill sledding days. Will non-farming adults have fond memories, too? I...
On Monday La Conner’s Rotary Club hosted their annual Farmers and Merchants night, providing dinner to these business owners and managers and a platform for area leaders to share accomplishments, hopes and plans for 2019. Last Wednesday mostly different speakers: Mayor Ramon Hayes, Town Administrator Scott Thomas, School Superintendent Whitney Meissner and Chamber Executive Director Heather Carter, spoke to 20 faithful citizens, most of them the usual suspects of community volunteers and activists, providing a similar summary. The Saturday b...
Jim Tharpe returned to La Conner March 6 to share more of the story of his remarkable collection of family quilts, “The Hartsfield Family Quilt Collection.” The 12 quilts are being exhibited as a set for the first time at the Pacific Northwest Quilt and Fiber Arts Museum. Tharpe, who has stayed often in La Conner, chose its museum for the first complete exhibit of the family collection. Tharpe praised the Museum, saying it “was the only museum that really understood what I have.” He decided...
AND THE RACE IS ON –Conner Ritchie, 7, has to hold on to his hat, he blew so hard in his effort to best his friend Elsie Goodman, 6, at last Wednesday’s very well attended Pirate Literacy Family Night at the elementary school. The kids were tricked into attending a costume party for parents and school staff. – Photo by Ken Stern...
DAFFODILS FOR SALE, YES. BLOOMING IN THE FIELDS, NO – Greenhouse-grown stems were available at RoozenGaarde’s gift store on Beaver Marsh Road Sunday. Their daffodil field on Calhoun had nary a flower in sight, alas. The brown is frost burnt leaves. Middle and late season varieties will be blooming soon. It’s been wet, and warm sunny days, what the plants need, are coming. – Photo by Ken Stern...
