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Town Administrator Scott Thomas is one of five finalists for the top managerial post in Ketchikan, Alaska, the Weekly News learned on Monday. Thomas, an attorney who for more than two decades has served as city attorney for four cities in Washington state, succeeded John Doyle as La Conner’s chief administrator in January 2018. He is interviewing for the dual jobs of city administrator and general manager of the southeast Alaska community’s publicly owned utility, according to Ketchikan radio station KRBD. It posted the city’s news relea...
Swinomish master carver Kevin Paul's latest work, a carved and painted thematic totem story pole was installed near the new La Conner Swinomish Library entrance July 7. “It’s really a landmark,” said La Conner Regional Library Board of Directors Secretary Robert Hancock, who attended the hour-long installation and brief ceremony afterward. “It’s something that people coming to town will want to have their picture taken with.” The tall and graceful pole symbolizes unity and a reverence f...
Another election season – year – is underway. Ballots are in the mail for the Aug. 2 primary. Your best ballot casting options are the county drop boxes at the La Conner Regional Library on Morris Street and on the Swinomish Reservation at their social services building. Please vote. You are what democracy looks like. For that reason the Weekly News is once again endorsing you, citizens of greater La Conner, this election. Your most crucial votes are the statewide offices of secretary of state, U.S Senator and the 2nd Congressional...
I enjoyed the typewriter articles by Ken Stern and Bill Reynolds in the June 29 issue of the paper. They made me a bit nostalgic about my old Adler portable, which, having poor handwriting, I used during college but for years afterward too for letter writing. Today, it serves only as a doorstop and a memento of those long ago days. Thank you, Ken. Tim Manns Mount Vernon...
I had a conversation this week that lingers in my thoughts. It was with one of our popular local young farmers. She and her husband rent their farmland and live in a rented house that is only affordable due to family connections and the generosity of the landowners. She admitted they are vulnerable. If the owner of the land they lease for farming chose to develop or sell, they’re not sure they could afford to continue farming. They’re not in a position to purchase a home of their own because the prices in Skagit Valley have skyrocketed. Eve...
I’ve experienced some of the upsets that America faced over sixty years ago. It was 1960, a presidential election year. Richard Nixon was the Republican candidate and John F. Kennedy, a Catholic, was the Democrat. The foundation for the election and for daily life was spelled out in the preamble to the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” We mu...
Ballots were mailed today to Skagit County voters for the Aug. 2 primary elections, starting the 18-day voting period. The only offices contested by multiple candidates in Skagit County are for U.S. Senate, 2nd Congressional District and secretary of state. All candidates for the state legislature and county offices will be on the November ballot since only one or two people filed for those seats. County voters pamphlets have already been mailed. If the amount of money raised indicates the ability of a campaign to reach voters, three of the 18...
OLYMPIA – With numerous whales in poor body condition and several pregnancies reported, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife issued an emergency order June 30 requiring commercial whale-watching vessels to keep at least one-half nautical mile away from endangered Southern Resident killer whales this summer. All boaters are urged to Be Whale Wise and do the same. The emergency rule designates the whales in poor body condition and whales likely to still be in the latter stages of pregnancy as “vulnerable.” The designation off...
The prices of the 36 homes and condos sold in Anacortes in June make it again the county’s highest residential market, with the $810,000 median price close to April’s after a dip last month. The 190 homes and condos sold in June in Skagit County matches last years 189 sales, with the median price of $557,500 slightly above May’s figure and 7.8% above last year. While Anacortes’ sold median home prices were up 14% over 2021, La Conner’s seven homes sold home price of $434,000 was 8.4% under the 2021 median price and well under the $500,000 for M...
For more than a century, members of the pioneer Nelson family have been outstanding in their fields. The Nelson family has been selected as the 2022 Skagit County Pioneer Family of the Year. The Nelsons have had a significant impact on Skagit Valley’s agricultural development, from dairy and cattle operations to grain, berry and potato production. Farming is only one part of their remarkable saga, which began here shortly after the turn of the 20th century. Since then, the Nelsons and their m...
The historic Billiken Club of La Conner, founded more than a century ago, will be recognized as one of four Spirit Award recipients at the 118th annual Pioneer Picnic on August 4. As far as the Billiken Club is concerned, Janna Gage of Seaport Books, is the go-to person. She wrote the definitive history of the Billikens in a guest column for the Weekly News nearly three years ago. At that time, Gage defined the term Billiken, which also serves as the mascot for St. Louis University athletic teams and is a constant source of local inquiry....
Dustin Swanson is the new head coach of the Stanwood High School girls’ basketball team. Swanson was the La Conner High School assistant basketball coach. Swanson, from a pioneer La Conner family, was an integral part of basketball teams here for 15 years, serving on the high school boys’ and girls’ staffs and coaching youths from Little Dribblers through eighth grade. He hopes to replicate the success he had working alongside head coach Scott Novak. Swanson was courtside with Braves and Lady...
Is there any greater achievement for any of us than to become – that is, know and embrace – one’s core self? The tagline of the film “My Otherland” is “a story about being yourself.” The perhaps 400 people filling the Lincoln Theatre June 30 for the premier screening of John Bowey’s documentary heard from its leading man, Linden Jordan, and a panel of seven people who are transgender or, as parents or children, are in loving family relationships. It takes great courage, patience, perseverance and support for one to face and grow int...
In the ongoing discussion around whether and how to permit agritourism activities, Skagit County residents believe preserving the county’s rural character should be a top priority. In a spring 2022 public survey on options for agritourism, 80% of respondents called this policy goal “very important” or “important.” Other goals identified as important: that agritourism relate to onsite agriculture; that agritourism uses have adequate water, septic and parking infrastructure; and that traffic and p...
Select your steak. I chose a one pound two ounce grass-fed strip loin steak. To grill, I used an electric grill, two sided, from Pampered Chef. To oil the grill, I used a pastry brush and Safflower oil. The bottom grill oiled a bit more than the top grill. I also used a temperature probe. As we both like our steak well done, an internal temperature of 210 F was just right. I took the steak out of the freezer early in the morning, so it would have plenty of time to sit at room temperature....
Tuesday, July 5 5:02 a.m.: Toilet fireworks – Report of juveniles lighting off fireworks in a port-a-potty. Swinomish Tribal Police checked the area and they were gone. Similk Beach, Greater La Conner. Wednesday, July 6 8:04 a.m.: Sunk at marina – An unoccupied boat docked at the marina took on water and became partially submerged. Port of Skagit workers responded and handled the incident. 2nd St., La Conner. 8:53 a.m.: Graffiti – Graffiti was marked on numerous buildings and businesses in the downtown area. Commercial St.,...
Danny Hagen’s race for Skagit County Assessor is not his only pursuit these days. The Shelter Bay resident competed in this year’s Skagit Valley Highland Games at Edgewater Park in Mount Vernon on Saturday, July 9. Sport truly trumped politics last weekend for Hagen, an independent who will face Republican Karie Storle in the November general election. As evidence, Hagen donned a kilt and tee-shirt rather than a candidate’s business suit. Hagen has made the local Highland Games compe...
