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KUOW Puget Sound Public Radio Devoting your life to something that is disappearing can be tough. Portland State University professor Andrew Fountain has been researching the dwindling glaciers of the American West since the 1980s. He said for years, he studied their retreat dispassionately – as an interesting phenomenon to try to understand. Then last year, he had an epiphany. “It dawned on me that, ‘wait a minute, in 20 or 30 years, everything that I've studied is useless because there are no glaciers,’” Fountain said. The Olympic...
Today, April 27, at 5 p.m Shelter Bay Community residents can attend a Zoom candidates forum to evaluate seven candidates running to fill three positions on their board of directors. Elections are May 21, during the annual membership meeting. Board members have been criticized for their decisions to protect Director Steve Swigert after he clearcut trees in the community’s Rainbow Park in September 2020, improving his property’s view of the Swinomish Channel. The board paid the Swinomish Tribe a $92,513 fine and penalty after indemnifying him. R...
Cindy Vest was in the truest sense born with ink in her veins, to an Everett family long established in the printing business. Her own legacy would be that of serving as the lifeblood of La Conner newspapering through parts of six decades, from the 1970s until her retirement last year. The remarkable impact made in local journalism by Vest, who died April 10 after a brief illness, is best summed up by her friend and former business partner Sandy Stokes. They founded the Weekly News in 2006 with the late Wayne Everton. “There would not be a p...
Friday was Earth Day, an opportunity to share clean-ups, concerns and celebrations of our blue-blue spaceship planet home. Earth Day offers the chance to reflect on the critical changes we, the people, mostly of the United States, but truly all of us across the earth, must embrace and enact if the planet we say we love and cherish has a chance of healing. The environmental – or more properly, existential – news was not good over the weekend. In our backyard a report from scientists came out that the Olympic peninsula glaciers will f...
Late last August, this newspaper’s publisher – me – was seen by some in the community limping around the commercial district Wednesdays delivering the Weekly News to stores and red newspaper boxes. In October the pain from arthritis became so bad I recruited willing volunteers – Brad and Tony had offered to help and Rick already was – to take over the delivery route. In December I told my orthopedic doctor I needed to have my knee replaced and finally went under the knife on March 17. The next two issues of the Weekly N...
I am opposed to the same-ification of this place with placing still another selfie spot in a world full of them. Our rich foundational history is being lost. I would spend that money on engaging signs that inform our visitors, new residents, and our Town Staff of what used to be: • Tillinghast – the seed company. Located where the restaurant Seeds was. (I think even the seed bins are gone now with the newest iteration.) • Dunlap Towing – The log rafts are gone. The tugs are gone and soon the office will be gone. After...
The April 20 edition of the La Conner Weekly News had a Police Blotter report of a suspicious driver in a white pickup slowly cruising around La Conner streets. I want to put the residents of La Conner at ease about this report in the police blotter. I also witnessed this driver as he cruised through our neighborhood twice. He was driving slowly and stopping in front of some residences and typing on a laptop. This aroused my suspicions, and I managed to get the license number as well as the make and model of the pickup. I was contemplating...
Live and 24/7, you can tune into the Russian invasion in Ukraine at any time day or night and get up-to-date horrifying footage and totally depressing expert analysis of what’s going on right this minute. Unlike any war in the past, modern technology and streaming television accessibility means whenever we turn on the television we can see updated reports on the devastation that is taking place in real time. CNN, for example, has taken advantage of this and sent a steady stream of hosts and c...
Oh, what a sight, the osprey chasing that eagle away from her nest, on the tower that towers across the channel from downtown La Conner. I saw the scene on Sunday at 1:18 p.m., when I had come to a stop in the tricky spot next to the Calico Cupboard. That eagle had quite the evasive maneuvers, but that osprey was persistent, driving it lower and lower, until the eagle was forced to land on a piling near the boats by the Swinomish Shellfish Company. Olivia osprey was as happy as a clam at high tide, as she flew back to her nest like she was...
A 10-year veteran of the Swinomish Police Department, Velma Lockrem was inspired to pursue a career in law enforcement by her grandfather, Joe Bailey, a former officer who now serves as chief of Fish & Wildlife Enforcement for the tribe. Lockrem was promoted to lieutenant and second-in-command status within the department during special ceremonies at Swinomish last week. A Swinomish Indian Tribal Community member, Lockrem has risen through the ranks based upon her broad range of experience and...
Judi Slajer passed away peacefully on April 21, 2022, with her husband Tom Rosadiuk, her daughters, and granddaughter by her side.? Judi was born on July 29, 1941 in Grayling, MI to parents Horace Gray Sabine and Margaret Veronica Scherer. The U.S. Forest Service transferred her father to Leavenworth, WA where Gray worked as a forester and Margaret was a teacher at the local school. Judi and her big brother Robert spent their summers in the woods around Lake Wenatchee camping, winter skiing and... Full story
The town planning commission was awaiting the ruling by hearing examiner David Lowell on the fate of the controversial Center Street apartment project when the panel met Tuesday, April 19. A conditional use permit application to site a 20-unit building with both short and long-term condominiums on commercial property is the most recent challenge for the commission and Lowell. The property is at Center and North Fourth streets behind The Slider Café and abuts single-family homes. Town planner Michael Davolio has recommended the proposal,...
There are few things more grueling than running a marathon. One of those is battling cancer. A La Conner native knows all about the former, having previously run the Denver Colfax Marathon. Now she’s helping bring greater awareness to the latter by raising funds for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society as she trains for the Chicago Marathon in October. Morgan Harlan, a 2020 Baylor University grad now teaching kindergarten in Denver, is hoping to raise $4,000 for LLS by running the urban Chicago cours...
The La Conner High School baseball team ripped nine hits, drew 10 walks, and received solid outings from pitchers Nathan Bailey and Haydin Dinuis when the Braves hosted Orcas Island Friday afternoon. But it wasn’t enough to overcome crucial defensive lapses as the Vikings posted a 14-7 NW2B/1B victory. “We had too many errant throws at critical times,” Braves coach Jeremiah LeSourd said afterward of his young club, which fell to 1-7 in conference play. “It led to extra bases and too many earned runs,” LeSourd said. However, the Braves st...
Construction Update Construction on the new La Conner Swinomish Library is moving steadily toward an expected completion this summer! You may have noticed the large bay windows which were installed last week. They will allow natural light to pour into our sitting area as guests relax with a good book in our comfy armchairs. You may have also noticed that Tiger Construction has begun installing the siding, which will protect our new library from the elements. It is exciting to see the plans in the architectural drawings taking form. While the...
Don’t talk about the Rexville Grange in the past tense. Membership may be small and the calendar light, but this Grange is alive and well. Built in 1927, the Rexville Grange has hosted potlucks, weddings and receptions, rummage sales, art shows, dances, memorial services, service projects, polling sites and parties in its 95 years. As an official Red Cross shelter, it housed 300 people displaced by the 1990 Fir Island flood and offers its grounds to all farmers who need to keep farm machinery o...
The town planning commission met April 19 and approved a historic design review for a third lot of the proposed Greg Ellis housing development behind Pioneer Market. Two other lots have already been approved. Town planner Michael Davolio said he expects to be able to present the three remaining lots for review at the commission’s May meeting. Ellis anticipates breaking ground when he secures buyers for the lots, he added. Additionally, there might be even more housing options in town. The Port of Skagit is interested in re-zoning some of its pr...
This is a recipe I learned to prepare only after I married Kevin. It was served at a tribe’s community dinner. I resolved to cook it for us, at home. The last time I prepared this meal was eight years ago. Somehow this combination of ingredients, layered in this fashion is the best! It uses less than a bag of tater tots. I used a round, deep casserole dish. You could use a 9” x 11” dish. Baking time would be the same. The cheese, soup and Worcestershire sauce add saltiness. Ingredients Groun...
Tuesday, April 19 12:25 p.m.: Lost tire – Report of a vehicle that lost a tire and went into a field, but deputies were not able to locate anyone. Best/McLean Rds, Greater La Conner. Wednesday, April 20 2:53 p.m.: Recovered wallet – Found wallet was returned to owner. Douglas St., La Conner. Thursday, April 21 9:00 a.m.: Damaged mailbox – Report of a damaged mailbox. Best Rd., Greater La Conner. Friday, April 22 12:17 p.m.: Angry customer – A customer was being confrontational with staff. They left prior to deputies’ a...
Saturday was the most crowded day of a tourist-filled week in La Conner. By midday there was not a parking spot to be had on First Street and the public lot below Maple Hall was filled. Curbs on Morris and side streets were filled. Every day last week large tour buses turned up North Third Street to park at the La Conner Marina. But it wasn’t just retirees and seniors who came to town. Lots of bikers, both of the pedal variety in a wide array of neon colors, mostly helmeted, and gas-powered moto...
