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La Conner students stepped up their support for school staff and programs threatened by district budget cuts in a most visible way Monday. About 60 middle and high school students, many of them chanting and carrying signs, walked out of morning classes and marched downtown to make public their concerns with funding shortfalls that will force layoffs and may ax popular course offerings next year. The walkout was organized by high school junior Jack Dougliss, who spoke passionately at the April...
Tulip Valley Farms operator Andrew Miller filed for dismissal of all claims made by Spinach Bus Venture Group, owners of Tulip Town, in Skagit Superior Court April 25. His 15 page memorandum of law filed in support of his motion again cites the 2019 operating agreement the then partners signed: “Any Member or Manager may engage in or possess an interest in other business ventures of every nature and description, independently or with others, including but not limited to, the ownership, financing, or management, employment by, lending to, or o...
The late Fred Owens knew he was onto something when he started publishing his quarterly Northwest Fishing Forecast in La Conner four decades ago. Owens, who died earlier this year in Santa Barbara, California, had enjoyed a loyal readership through his witty and pithy reporting for the Puget Sound Mail and Channel Town Press. Later, he would earn still more fans as editor-publisher of the on-line Fred’s Almost Weekly. But in the 1980s, prior to his move to Anahuac, Texas, Owens briefly switched gears and lent his unique wordsmithing style to a...
Photographer and writer Matika Wilbur, "Tsa-Tsique," introduced her epic photography book "Project 562: Changing the Way We See Native America" to the world before a full room of over 160 people in the Social Services Building on the Swinomish Reservation last Tuesday night, April 25. Emcee for the evening Michael. Vendiola, education director for the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, was absolutely right in exclaiming, "I am really excited to have her here. She could have done this anywhere, i...
The circumstances at our schools have me concerned, but that’s nothing new, I’ve seen these budgetary shortcomings coming for several years now. Maybe my farm was small and inconsequential, but it was a viable business for more than a quarter century. My wife and I had to manage a budget that was produced by us, had a small staff and we didn’t get a subsidy from anyone. Research projects were funded by profits, not grants and loans. Now I’m in a quandary; can public schools legally compete and make a profit from student activities? Friday...
I was lucky enough to be a raindrop in the sea of gun reform in Washington state. My husband and I attended one of the later hearings on HB 1240, the assault weapons ban, as representatives of Safe and Sane Skagit, a charter member of The Alliance for Gun Responsibility. SaSS was begun in 2015 after nine people were shot and eight wounded at the Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, OR., by one person’s sense of outrage and helplessness in the face of another gun tragedy. She sent a letter to friends saying, “Let us please do SOMETHING, joi...
A majority of the current and recently past volunteer Directors of Shelter Bay (SB) have accomplished the following over the past several years. • Voted to have the members of SB pay the fine of $92,500 imposed by the Swinomish Tribe against a now-former director, who denuded Rainbow Park for his sole personal benefit, and further, and has obligated the members of SB to pay for the reforestation and maintenance of Rainbow Park at the cost of an additional $120,000. They did not legally pursue this former Director to collect the fine and d...
The Swinomish Tax Authority used the same levy rate for 2023, 2022 and 2021: $11.98 per thousand. But, the assessed value of homes in Shelter Bay and Pull & Be Damned increased from $196,279,100 to $206,399,050 over the past year. The Swinomish government aims to collect $2,440,832 in taxes from Shelter Bay, Pull & Be Damned and Thousand Trails. Three taxing districts will receive contributions from the Swinomish. These are: Fire District 13 at $400,000 for operations and maintenance, plus $90,000 impact fees from the casino, plus a medical...
I live on Whatcom Street behind Pioneer Market. There are numerous people that walk, ride bikes and use strollers and walkers on the street to and from town. Lately, the traffic has increased and the corners of Talbot and Rainier streets are being used as a shortcut to get to Maple Avenue and to town, in order to avoid the Morris Street corner stop sign congestion. What I don't appreciate is cars speeding down Whatcom and cutting the corners and/or not bothering to even stop at the stop signs. It is only a matter of time before someone is...
Ongoing work towards both energy independence and the transition to energy sources that don’t use fossil fuels are going to create choices for energy consumers that we haven’t had in decades, or ever. If technologies in the energy field continue on their current course, buying energy is going to involve decisions we haven’t had to make before. We’re already seeing some of these changes and can expect to see more. For instance, electric utilities won’t offer just one product (now with electricity...
Shelter Bay resident Jan Henrie wants another day in court, continuing her lawsuit to stop the five Shelter Bay Community board of director officers from making financial decisions and to remove them. Meanwhile, the board approved a lease agreement with the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community April 19. Henrie’s March motion for injunctive relief in Skagit Superior Court was denied April 14. She filed a motion for reconsideration April 24, alleging Judge Laura Riquelme’s denial of her motion was “contrary to law, that substantial justice has not b...
A true original has left us. Gordon Godfrey weighed anchor and headed for the 19th hole in the wee hours of March 28th, 2023. He was surrounded by his family, and we spent his last afternoon sharing with him an imaginary round of golf that was taking place in his head, mostly at the 4th and 5th hole of the Vashon Island golf course. His wit and sense of humor were intact until the last. His wife, Jane, announced that she had just hit a hole-in-one, and he informed her that she hit the ball into...
A perennial issue topped the agenda of a rare short La Conner Town Council meeting last Tuesday. As had the town’s planning commission a week earlier, most of council’s 40-minute April 25 session emphasized downtown parking and traffic congestion. The parking topic likely would have consumed even more Council time – as it has for springs and summers over decades – were it not that many at the meeting wanted to attend the much-anticipated Matika Wilbur book launch at Swinomish at 7 p.m. Even longtime La Conner resident Linda Talman, an attende...
The permit for a 300 square foot billboard on Cedardale Road on the east side of I-5 at the Conway exit was approved by the Skagit County Planning and Development Services Department April 18. Staff found the application met all requirements in Skagit County’s code and comprehensive plan and the applicant provided “adequate analysis of and mitigation for the specific adverse environmental impacts of the project,” planner Kevin Cricchio wrote. The applicant received a SEPA Mitigated Determination of Nonsignificance. Cricchio approved an admin...
Skagit Valley Clean Energy Cooperative is hosting Skagit Solar Jam May 13 at 4 p.m. in Maple Hall in partnership with Olympia Community Solar. Learn about the Solarize Skagit 2023 campaign, meet solar installers and network with other organizations supporting the campaign and clean energy. Hear live entertainment by local musicians. Nick Vigarino plays at 5 p.m. and the A-Town Big Band follows. If you have been thinking about going solar, now is the time. The Solarize campaign ends July 4. Sign up for a free home assessment. Sign up to...
It is time to decide to run for mayor or a town council seat in La Conner or for school district director, Fire District 13 commissioner and cemetery district 1 positions. Filing by mail for elected offices has started. File online or in person May 15-19. Get a Skagit County candidates guide with information on office qualifications and candidate filing instructions at the Skagit County Elections website. Offices without a fixed annual salary have no filing fee. Voting for the primary election closes at 8 p.m. Aug. 1. Only races with three or...
La Conner High School softball and baseball teams continued to post football-type scores against Concrete last week. The Lady Braves (2-14 overall; 2-7 in league) followed up an earlier 35-27 slugfest win at home over Concrete with a 32-27 road victory Thursday to complete a two-game season series sweep of their Skagit County rivals. The Braves (4-10 in all games; 3-9 in NW1B/2B action) followed suit with a 15-11 victory at Concrete. The boys defeated the Lions 14-4 in the teams' first meeting o...
Few can run faster and jump higher than La Conner High School junior Tommy Murdock. Murdock swept the boys' hurdle events at the 115th Skagit County Track and Field Championships at Kirkby Field in Burlington last week, the latest in a string of triumphs this spring for the reigning State 2B titleholder. Murdock claimed the county 110-meter hurdles crown with a 15.77 finish. He captured the Skagit 300-meter hurdles contest by clocking a winning time of 40.10. Murdock, who also placed sixth in...
Advocates for a proposed native plant garden on the La Conner Schools campus have given district officials plenty of food for thought. Several people spoke passionately on behalf of the proposal during a lengthy public comments segment at the April 24 school board meeting. It was the third time the garden project – promoted by the Swinomish Department of Environmental Protection – has been addressed. Board members, in accordance with district policy, did not respond to the comments. “This isn’t a dialogue or question-and-answer session...
Olga has continued to provide email updates. She lives in eastern Ukraine. In mid-April no fierce battles were around her. She told me the sirens were less often as Russia concentrated on other areas. “I feel kind of weird because we have regions that suffered way more than we have – mass graves, people tortured and killed house to house, women and children raped, often by groups, animals tortured… . “… children or parents missing and probably never will be found. “In Kharkiv region in the city of Izum there’s a mass grave with over 445 civi...
Skagit PFLAG and the Skagit River Poetry Foundation present an evening of LBGTQ+ voices at the Lincoln Theatre 7 p.m. Saturday, May 13. The event is free and open to everyone. Seattle poet Luther Hughes is the featured reader. Hughes has written the BOA prize winning volume "A Shiver in the Leaves" and is recipient of the Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Rosenberg Fellowship, the 92Y Discovery Poetry Prize. He is founder of Shade Literary Arts, a literary organization for queer writers of color. Students...
The Skagit Valley premiere of "The Healing Heart of Lushootseed" a documentary, film shows at the Lincoln Theatre at 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 12. The evening starts with a red carpet reception at 6:30 pm. Feeling heartbroken by the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, Vi taqᵂšəblu Hilbert, an 83-year-old elder from the Upper Skagit Indian tribe in the Pacific Northwest, asked the spirit, "What can one person do to heal a sick world?" The answer she received was "music." "The Healing Heart of Lus...
The League of Women Voters of Skagit County invites the public to a meeting to discuss the future of local journalism and its importance to our democracy Monday, May 15, 6:30-8 p.m. at Mount Vernon High School auditorium, 1075 Fulton Street. The Mount Vernon High School debate team, who will argue the proposition "A thriving democracy is dependent on a local news source." This will be followed by a panel discussion featuring journalists Brier Dudley, Seattle Times Free Press Initiative; Jason...
Swinomish Tribal Community lands are in line for salmon habitat restoration and coastal resilience grant funds, U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Everett) and U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA.) announced last week. The federal funding support has been recommended by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as part of infrastructure and inflation reduction legislation passed to combat climate change and create green jobs. One of 14 NOAA-endorsed conservation projects is an $11.6 million Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife salmon and...
