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The La Conner High boys’ soccer team battled a stiff headwind at Whittaker Field last Tuesday. The Braves also dueled with a physical and veteran Mount Vernon Christian Hurricanes club that broke a scoreless tie with a pair of wind-aided second half goals, the latter of which came in the final minute of the contest. MVC recorded the tidy 2-0 victory on a beautiful sunlit but gusty afternoon. Coming off a season opening shutout win over Cedar Park Christian, La Conner was unable to take advantage...
Back in March of 2020, just as the coronavirus pandemic shuttered businesses, isolated families and caused a run on toilet paper, something else a little quieter was taking shape. A group of 16 quilters from around Washington state began sewing, at home, alone. They were brought together by Stanwood resident Denise Long’s vision to create a quilt and visual story of life during this challenging time. She called it “The COVID Commemorative Quilt: piecing life together during the pandemic of 202...
What is old is new again. John Doyle has retired as La Conner town administrator and planner, but before that, starting in 1992, he was a volunteer firefighter with the then Hope Island Fire Department on the west side of the Swinomish Reservation. In 2008 he served two months as a commissioner of that fire district, which has been subsumed into Fire District 13. Now, since April 9, he is a newly appointed commissioner of FD 13, filling the seat left vacant by Larry Kibbee’s March resignation. Doyle, age 71, stressed his long involvement, i...
A weekend excursion to the San Juan Islands might be a wrap for the first yacht owned by legendary film actor John Wayne. The 76-foot Norwester, which for several years has been an iconic presence on the La Conner waterfront, ran aground and nearly sank in Prevost Harbor off Stuart Island, its eight passengers safely rescued by the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office rescue boat and Whatcom County deputies. The vessel sustained a gaping one-foot gash in the hull. Some fear it will not be seaworthy soon – if at all. The Norwester most r...
Once again the Earth has made a full circle around the sun. Tomorrow, April 22, is Earth Day, the 51st anniversary of people celebrating, first, the amazing wonder of what is truly Spaceship Earth, a frail vehicle carrying over seven billion people into the future. Second, folks gather to honor their collective power and commitment, historically, to clean up and reduce the pollution fouling our beloved Mother Earth. In the last 25 years the emphasis has increasingly shifted to reversing climate change, a task that, to date, the people of every...
It is a familiar ritual at this time of year, inspired by nature’s obvious cues: The need for Spring Cleaning. The budding flowers and greening trees of the outdoors evoke a desire to revitalize what is inside. We clean out garages and closets, defrost refrigerators, replant gardens and even delve into some cyber-hygiene of our hard and software. But with such wholesale rehabilitation of our physical spaces, our internal inventories of attitudes and behavior and the effort toward personal refinement they should inspire, often get short s...
The Kirmse’s Antiques & Curios store in La Conner was forcefully entered and burglarized over the night of April 3. The suspect broke in during the hours of darkness and took the cash box and a couple high dollar Ivory figures. One figure was an ivory eagle, with a wooden base, the other was a totem that was also ivory. Photos are on the Weekly News website. USTA Martial Arts was burglarized sometime over the weekend of April 2. The business was not forcefully entered. Cash, a Samsung tablet a...
Dear Parents of La Conner Elementary School: A letter was sent from the elementary school principal stating that La Conner School buses are at greater risk and your child could become infected with COVID-19 on the bus. Your bus drivers would like to correct this statement. We have not had a single case of COVID-19 attributed to riding our buses. We are following the OSPI (Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction) protocol. The State of Washington requires buses to separate students as much as possible, assign seating, have windows down an...
EVERETT, WA – Rep. Rick Larsen (WA-02) announced April 16 that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has begun accepting applications for funeral assistance for Washingtonians who have lost loved ones to COVID-19. Larsen helped pass the funeral assistance program as part of the American Rescue Plan, comprehensive pandemic relief legislation President Biden signed into law last month. Washingtonians who paid for funeral expenses for an individual whose death may have been caused by or was likely the result of COVID-19 can apply...
The rezone of historic Hedlin’s Ballfield and conversion of the nearly two-acre site along Maple Avenue into a subdivision and park space has been headline news here for more than a year. The land has been bought and sold, but relocating local youth sports in 2022 after Landed Gentry Homes constructs 10 residences on the baseball diamond is not resolved. The prospect of the Town, La Conner Schools and perhaps Swinomish Tribal Community applying for grant funding to light additional school athletic fields to help meet district and youth r...
The 2021 legislative session is quickly coming to a close. The intensity has ramped up as lawmakers in both the Senate and House debate and vote on the state’s three main spending plans: the 2021-23 operating, capital and transportation budgets. Both chambers have their own versions of these plans. Each budget proposal is a separate bill that must obtain approval by the full Legislature before being delivered to the governor for signature. Now that the various proposals have made it through their respective chambers, budget negotiators and l...
This time last year was a different story for our Skagit County tulip farms and gardens. The pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus prevented in person visits to these beautiful flowers, so often a very popular tourist destination. The impact was immediate. There would not be the month long infiltration of tourists visiting the Skagit Valley – the annual economic shot in the arm upon which the region depends. Due to worldwide mandates and restrictions in 2020, activities like visiting farms were taken off our “things to do” list. How...
The La Conner High football team was looking forward to avenging its 6-0 season opening overtime loss at Coupeville. Fortunately for the Braves, that opportunity came earlier than expected. And they made the most of it. The Braves blanked Coupeville 21-0 at home Saturday in a game that was moved up in the schedule mid-week due to Friday Harbor having suspended its athletics program because of increased COVID-19 test results in the San Juan Island School District. Friday Harbor was to have been La Conner’s foe last weekend. Coupeville was a...
The COVID-19 pandemic has scuttled post-season action, but the La Conner High volleyball team is playing like another state title is on the line. Lady Braves head coach Suzanne Marble, who has guided the program to five state crowns, would not have it any other way. The two-time defending state champions swept NW2B rivals Coupeville and Concrete in straight-set decisions last week. La Conner bested Coupeville 25-15, 25-7, 25-9 in a key road test last Tuesday against the former Class A Lady Wolves, who moved back to the NW2B ranks this year. It...
Driving or walking on Flagstaff Lane, off Snee Oosh Road near Kukutali Preserve, or walking the preserve, you may notice white fuzz on the underside of western hemlock tree branches, or you may not. But Mark Whitmore always notices. He has been hunting this fuzz, the hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA), an aphid-like invasive insect since January, a mission that has brought him from New York state the last 15 years. He lops and harvests infested branches and ships them back to his lab in New York. The...
Some Northwest artists have recently learned fairly new techniques to express the changing forms in nature. That means sculptors were painting, painters were sculpting and other new techniques were at work to express Earth’s ancient patterns. The results are on display at the latest art show at Edison’s i.e. Gallery through April 25. Allen Moe, Michael Clough and James Brems have all taken on a new – or relatively new – medium for their latest work. Sculptor Moe is displaying a ser...
Monday, April 12 1:36 p.m.: Witnessed getaway – Caller witnessed a hit and run non-injury motor vehicle accident. S. 1st St., La Conner. 1:43 p.m.: Speed stoppers wanted – Caller requested extra patrol on Park Street for speeding vehicles. The caller also requested speed bumps. They were referred to Public Works staff. Park St., La Conner. 3:28 p.m.: Long term parking – Caller reported an abandoned vehicle on the side of the roadway. Caller said the vehicle had been parked there for several months. Whatcom St., La Conner....
Our good friend to the north, Willie Lane, offered us fresh herring eggs from Sitka, Alaska. Willie is a tribal member of the Lummi Nation and lives in his tribal community. Willie has a generous and humorous spirit, much like my husband, Kevin Paul. Their friendship reminds me of my Inupiat culture (Northern Alaskan Eskimo). We have a laughing/joking friend, to share and laugh. Mine happens also to be my husband. Foods from the wild are a joy to share. As we traveled north to pick up a half...
