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The impact of budget ax reality fell sharply and heavily upon La Conner Schools Monday night. And it hurt. Projections of declining student enrollment and loss of COVID-19 emergency funding forced the school board to reluctantly agree to cut four faculty positions as part of a $1.5 million cost-saving plan for the 2023-24 academic year. "This is a very sad day for our school district," Board President Susie Deyo lamented near the end of an almost two-hour meeting, much of it public comments...
Very few people give up a desk job to work in the tulip fields – but Jeannette DeGoede did. “I was sporting goods managers at Ernst Hardware in Mount Vernon,” she remembers. “Leaving a nice warm store and coming out to a cold field with no one to chat with was a drastic change, but I grew into really loving it.” In her new book, “Tulip Town Remembered,” Jeannette tells the story behind the beloved institution that she and her late husband Tom DeGoede created. She spent eight months writing, encouraged by fellow writers in Claire Swedberg’s cr...
Cooke Aquaculture Pacific, LLC did not meet the state of Washington 's April 14 deadline to remove its Hope Island fish net pens from Skagit Bay. After the state Department of Natural Resources ended the company’s leases in November, it faced a December deadline to pull all its infrastructure. In January Thurston County Superior Court extended until April fish harvesting and removal of equipment from the firm’s Hope Island and Bainbridge Island fish farms, granting a preliminary injunction against the DNR. In a statement then, Cooke called the...
The Washington State Legislature adjourned April 23 after passing two-year budgets. It failed to approve a controversial bill setting drug possession penalties, raising the possibility of a special session in the coming weeks to resolve the issue. The state operating budget allocates $69.3 billion for areas such as behavioral health, K-12 education and more for the 2023-25 biennium. That budget includes $2.9 billion for K-12 education and $400 million for the Climate Commitment Act, which helps prepare for climate crises such as flooding and...
Ramon Hayes, mayor of the Town of La Conner for 16 years, is retiring when his term ends after the November elections. Hayes deserves a huge thank you for his steadfastness. He deserves credit for the solid staff employed in support of the town's residents and infrastructure. Hayes can be rightfully proud of the two – three, really – most visible accomplishments under his watch. He secured critical state and local funding for the downtown channel boardwalk and the La Conner Swinomish Library. And, in the dark days of the coronavirus pan...
The Seattle author Timothy Egan's latest book, “A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them,” is a riveting saga of the Klan spreading their hatred of Blacks, Jews, Catholics and immigrants. The leader was a predatory con man, the Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan, who believed he was above the law. This is the story of how the Klan held complete power over the politicians, judges and law enforcement across the state of Indiana. They then tried to spread their tentacles over the ent...
Believe it or not, I was a star athlete in high school. My senior year I was an all-county linebacker, an undefeated wrestler and a catcher in baseball who batted .517. There were scouts at all of my baseball games but I decided instead to go to Colgate University on a football scholarship but only played freshman year because I was 5’ 8” tall and weighed 175 pounds. Now at age 76, I play golf and tennis and pickleball and work out twice weekly in a gym with very healthy equipment. As a resident...
It is sad that Jack and Julie Jones moved out of Shelter Bay over misperceptions (Citizens’ View, April 19). I wish for their sake the Jones had served on the board of directors and on committees. If they had they would still be here enjoying the beauty and tranquility of our lovely community, knowing their neighbors who serve care as much about the community as they do. The Shelter Bay marina, like every popular rental property, increases in value, pays off its debt and produces cash flow. The marina pays 10% of the land lease. It would pay m...
I have always said that as long as my daughter Victoria was in La Conner schools, I was happy to be mayor. That season has come to an end, and it is time for La Conner to choose a new representative to lead the community. May 15 through 19 interested candidates will have the opportunity to file with the county’s elections office for both the mayor’s position and two other town offices. As a result, the La Conner Weekly News asked me to write a short, 500-word piece on what qualities the next mayor should possess. I agreed to provide input recog...
The Salish Sea Early Music Festival is 7 p.m. May 9 at Fir-Conway Lutheran Church at 18101 Fir Island Rd, Conway. Soprano Maike Albrecht and harpsichordist Hans-Jürgen Schnoor from Lubeck, Germany have a sold out performance May 3 at the Skagit Historical Keyboard Museum in La Conner. They may repeat the performance of songs by Joseph Haydn, Franz Schubert and Johannes Brahms on the three historical pianos May 4. Contact Cohan for details: [email protected], 360-503-8816....
The 2023 legislative session ended on April 23. Over the last four months, we developed operating, transportation and capital budgets that will help our community and our state. I'll have more to say about these budgets and what they mean for our families here in the 10th District in my next column. This week, I want to give you a snapshot of how our democracy here in Olympia works – and how local community members affect that process. Passing a single bill is like running two separate m...
The wheels of justice are said to grind slowly. But when it comes to planning for future local transportation needs, Town of La Conner officials, relatively speaking, are putting the pedal to the metal. Two years after the transportation section of the comprehensive plan was updated, Planning Director Michael Davolio, Assistant Planner Ajah Eills and planning commissioners are looking at parking in revisiting that element of the land use plan. Davolio conducted an inventory of available parking spaces on First Street and found there are 307...
The memories of severe saltwater flooding that deluged La Conner in December remain firmly etched in the minds of residents and business owners here, perhaps no more so than former council member and planning commissioner Bill Stokes. But Stokes, unanimously chosen to chair the Town’s new six-member emergency management commission at its first meeting April 19, is focused more on the future than the past. “We’ll talk about everything that can cause an emergency,” Stokes said. “That includes fires, tsunamis and earthquakes. “Our current goal,” h...
As a former La Conner High School football standout, Loran James is used to seeing the number 35 on stadium scoreboards. But not when the game being played is softball. James, coach of the high school softball team, was thrilled to see 35 posted on the Lady Braves' side of the scoreboard in a league slugfest with visiting Skagit County rival Concrete last Wednesday. James' charges came from behind to secure a wild 35-27 triumph, the youthful team's first win on the campaign. Across campus, the...
Josie Harper, a senior at La Conner High School, is the Soroptimist of La Conner Honored Student for April. Josie excels in academics and sports. She is also modest. This season Josie was twice recognized for her basketball skills statewide. She was named to the 2B all-state second team by SBLive, a sports website that tracks statistics and rankings. The other was the honor of being on the all-state team. The team played a real game, in which Josie and Ellie Marble played with girls from all...
The weather was the worst, but La Conner High School thinclads were at their best in Langley Thursday. The track teams fought off heavy rain and gusty winds to post several personal bests at a non-league invitational meet hosted by South Whidbey High School. As has been the case throughout the spring, reigning state 2B hurdles champ Tommy Murdock paced the Braves, who placed second out of seven team entries, trailing only the hometown Falcons by a 141-101.5 margin. "Tommy's been really consisten...
The annual Skagit County WSU Extension Master Gardener Plant Fair, an always exciting event, kicks off the Skagit Valley Gardener's summer with thousands of quality garden plants for sale, all locally grown and chosen for success in our Skagit Valley environment. When and where The Annual Skagit County WSU Extension Master Gardener Plant Fair is set for May 13, 8 a.m.-2 p.m. at the Skagit County Fairgrounds, 501 Taylor Street in Mount Vernon. Parking is free – admission is free and the fun a...
Eleanor Drews' strong performance as the messy Oscar Madison in the "Odd Couple," the La Conner Schools drama club's spring production, highlights this show. Jack Dougliis as neatnick and great chef Felix Unger, and Oscar's poker playing buddies make it an ensemble cast in a different odd way: the elaborate set that is Oscar's apartment living room is a feat, and accomplishment, to behold. In the opening scene it is almost another character. Try to define all the messes laid across the floor...
Spring has sprung and the tulips are blooming – well almost – but it is spring at the library! Congratulations to Mary Cayou, our lucky Winter Reads grand prize winner. Mary received a $25 gift certificate to Seaport Books. Thank you to everyone who participated and to Beaver Tales Coffee, Stompin' Grounds Coffee and Seaport books for their support, and a big thank you to the Friends of the Library for sponsoring our gift certificates. The library has a brand-new website, make sure to check it...
Seattle Times food critic Tan Vinh ate 500 tacos in Western Washington in search of the best. The chicharron taco from Tacos Tecalitlan in Burlington won the top honor "with their sparkling pork skin and their jewels of juicy belly bits." The chicharron tacos cost only $1.95 each. Visit Tacos Tecalitlan at 702 N. Burlington Blvd, Burlington. Source: Seattle Times...
I first met Guy Anderson in the La Conner post office, back when you could rent a box for peanuts. There, in the seventies, you had an equal chance of running into a local luminary, your neighbor (might be one in the same) or the person who shouted at you the night before in the bar when you spilled your drink down their back. I can’t imagine Guy spilling a drink on anyone. Or shouting. He was ever so soft-spoken. And there he was, in the post office, asking me, a complete stranger, “How are you?,” and pausing for an answer. I have no memor...
There is reason to celebrate in La Conner on May 3. La Conner Schools has set the day aside to observe the 50th anniversary of Whittaker Field and to recognize its undefeated 1968 high school football team. Its success paved the way for a lighted athletics venue on campus four years later. Whittaker Field, named for legendary one-armed coach and administrator Jack Whittaker, opened during the 1972-73 school year. It remains home to football, soccer and track and field teams. The May 3 program is at 2 p.m., prior to the league championship track...
La Conner Schools officials did more than welcome their counterparts from Conway with open arms last Monday. School board president Susie Gardner Deyo also presented the Conway contingent with floral bouquets. “She’s a garden club person,” La Conner board member John Agen explained as Conway Superintendent Jeff Cravy and board representative Amy Hughes gratefully received the flowers. Gardner and the La Conner Schools team held the nearly two-hour special dinner meeting to discuss shared educational goals and to plant seeds with Conway campu...
La Conner Schools will have to make do with less in the 2023-2024 academic year. District officials were facing that as they begin crafting next year’s budget at their April 10 board study session. Declining enrollment, a smaller than anticipated apportionment of federal impact aid monies and the loss of emergency COVID-19-related funds will result in significant spending cuts, district finance director David Cram predicted in a report to school board members. “We’re looking at a $1.5 million reduction in spending to get to a $500,000 fund...
