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I attended a free community screening of the locally-made film “Plane Truths” on April 18th in Anacortes. The 30 minute film was of excellent quality with the filmmakers present for a post-screening question-and-answer session. It centered around the Whidbey Navy Base expansion which will increase “Growler” jet flights and takeoff/landing exercises by up to 400 percent in some areas. It presented current concerns about jet noise, water pollution and the community impact of the pending Navy expansion. It was distressing to see this fine present...
To the Editor: If the thousands of illegal aliens trying to storm our southern border were wearing MEGA hats, the Democrats would change the current immigration laws to turn them around on the Mexican side of the fence within 24 hours and you could expect your stock market shares of tear gas to skyrocket. Denny Sather Greater La Conner...
The first tulips in Skagit Valley were grown commercially on a forty-acre farm on Samish Island about 1905. Bulbs were imported from Holland to improve this crop and the valley’s bulb industry flourished. Early farmers were critical of the bulb growers for putting the rich valley land to such trivial use when it was excellent for cabbage seed, oats, hay, hops and barley. The bulb industry soon proved its value as more bulb farmers settled in Skagit County. They were an industrious and quiet b...
The Washington State House and Senate each passed $720,000 for a new La Conner Regional Library Sunday. Final passage of the $4.9 billion capital budget came in the last minutes of the last day of the legislative session. The legislature adjourned on time for their 105-day session, as mandated in the state’s constitution. “I’m happy to have helped secure $720,000 in the House proposal. This is a smart investment for the state. It leverages local dollars to help the library provide much needed resources for La Conner, like a community meeti...
However the Big One comes: earthquake, tsunami or volcanic eruption, we won’t be ready and we can’t outrun it. It may be in five days or five decades away, but geography and history proclaim its certainty. That was retired geology professor Gene Kiver’s matter of fact assessment, made Saturday at the “Anacortes Disaster Preparedness Expo: The Really Big One and You.” Kiver’s 50 minute presentation included slides illustrating fault lines in the eastern Pacific Ocean and magma flowing in...
THAT’S ME IN THE PICTURE – La Conner’s Rachael Pommols, 7, celebrated Home Trust Skagit’s auction fundraiser with her mom, Connie. They are glad and proud to live in Channel Cove. One hundred and fifty of their friends and neighbors had dinner at Maplehurst Farm last Friday night. Some $34,000 was raised to advance affordable housing opportunities in the Skagit Valley. – Photo by Ken SternHelping others help themselves....
One day an earthquake off the coast will trigger a huge tsunami that will reach into La Conner. Sometime in the next thousand years Mt. Baker will blow its top, sending a flow of lava perhaps 70 feet thick into the Skagit River, where it will makes its way to the sea. Someday, absolutely, those disasters will devastate us. Just as certainly, the effects of climate change on our environment dramatically change our lives. Do you feel adequately prepared? Are our community and state preparing? Equally close to home, in this, the best of all...
Fred Ossewarde passed away peacefully on April 22, 2019 surrounded by his loving family. Fred was born in Bellingham, Washington September 30, 1934, and adopted at three days old by Helen and Lewis Ossewarde. He grew up in Bellingham an only child, but 20-some years ago he did a search and found a half-brother, Robert Martin, who he had been in Rotary with for many years. They enjoyed their new relationship as brothers. Fred was an outstanding high school athlete. He played on the Bellingham High School (class of ’53) Red Raiders basketball a...
A setback doesn’t have to be a step back. That’s the mantra often shared by former La Conner High and St. Martin’s University student-athlete Lynette Cram, now a much in demand physical therapist who serves as a trainer for Braves and Lady Braves sports teams. Her story is a prime example. It was a sports injury while at St. Martin’s that led to her present career as co-owner with husband David Cram of Balance Point Physical Therapy Clinic in La Conner. “I got injured playing volleybal...
