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It is summer and time to be more careful about outside burning. The Swinomish Indian Tribal Community issued a burn ban June 24, as has the Skagit County Fire Marshall. Environmental conditions are such that fires can spread out of control and impact air quality with smoke. Good air quality is especially important this year since COVID-19 affects the respiratory system, and we want to protect our lungs from any additional sources of irritation. SITC has the authority to call a burn ban independently of Skagit County, according to our own...
Sex is a hot topic in the primary election. Republican Bill Bruch, of La Conner, has made “No State Government Mandated K-12 Sex-Ed” a central issue in his campaign for the LD 10 Position 2 seat held by Rep. Dave Paul, D-Oak Harbor. In a June 10 blog, Bruch again mentioned the “terrible sex-ed bill passed by Dave Paul and State Democrats to have mandatory sex education curriculum beginning in Kindergarten.” A mailing Bruch sent to voters last week has generated strong criticism from area residents. See letters, page 2 and 3. Bill history...
Forget a La Conner Octoberfest-like street fair this fall. There will be no large public events, nor weddings nor funerals in Skagit County or anywhere in Washington state through the end of 2020. Monday the Skagit County Board of Health agreed to extend County Public Health Officer Dr. Howard Leibrand’s guidance on cancelling large scale events. These follow Gov. Jay Inslee’s July 23 announcement of a prohibition on all live entertainment – indoors and outdoors – including dri...
While it is still unclear what form school will take here in the fall, one thing is certain. La Conner Schools will operate under a slimmer, balanced budget of nearly $12.7 million, crafted in response to COVID-impacted revenues and expenditures. That is down from last year’s $12.9 million. The La Conner School Board unanimously adopted its 2020-2021 financial game plan at its monthly meeting, following a 30-minute video-conferenced public hearing Monday night. Washington state school districts must prepare their budgets in July for their n...
This year’s primary election has more candidates than can be covered in the Weekly News. Get past the 36 candidates for governor and drill down to the contested election contests close to home. You can send Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Everett, back to Washington or you can send him packing. At the other end of the ballot are three candidates for Skagit County Superior Court Judge, Position 3. The basic information here is a start for researching contenders for local and regional offices not highlighted the last two weeks. Voting can be hard work. C...
There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root . . . — Henry David Thoreau, “Walden” Our biggest historical monument, built at the birth of the nation, bridging the north and southern sections of the newly conceived and named United States, is the Electoral College. Crafted as a political deal to gain southern votes to pass the Constitution, it is our most visible heritage of racism hiding in plain sight. Our Founding Fathers were politicians, first and last. In their time, they agreed to – a...
A priest and a rabbi are sitting together in the back seat of a taxicab on the way to an ecumenical event. The taxi gets side-swiped, jumps the curb and comes to a grinding halt. The priest and rabbi each jump out of the car and cross themselves. The priest is confused. “Rabbi, YOU, thanking the Father, The Son and the Holy Ghost?” “No Monsignor, just checking.” He goes through the motions again, crossing up and down and then sideways, narrating “Spectacles, testicles, wallet, watch.” H...
“A lie told once remains a lie, but a lie told a thousand times becomes the truth.” This chilling statement has been attributed to Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s minister of propaganda. The campaign of Bill Bruch, candidate for the Washington House of Representatives in the 10th Legislative District, has evidently taken its message to heart. I realize that this is a serious charge, and I do not make it lightly. Once again, however, the Bruch campaign, in a sensationalistic, dishonest and scurrilous hit piece I received in the mail today, says of Bru...
Since when is it okay for our Republican candidates for high state office to stand by and watch while a group of their ardent supporters harass and then physically assault a member of the public attending an “all are welcome” 4th of July event in Oak Harbor? Yes, the victim Zach Wurst is a Democrat, but he was just sitting there quietly listening. What were the Republican candidates saying that was so secret – in a field next to Walmart, under a clear blue sky, with dozens of people listening – that they couldn’t let anyone recor...
In the July 22 Weekly News, I see that Ms. Stokes responded to my letter. This is getting a bit silly, but the issue of a candidate’s worthiness or appropriateness for a given political position based upon his prior performance and behavior is a very serious subject. I will state that I have no vested interest in any of the current crop of candidates, while obviously Ms. Stokes, as Mr. Bruch’s campaign manager, does! I raised the Bruch candidacy because of what I witnessed and heard a few years back, especially the incident where Mr. Bruch yel...
Dear Editor: I received a campaign ad from Bill Bruch in the mail last Thursday, which makes evident that Bruch knows nothing about the Senate Bill 3595 that was signed into law to appropriately address education for kindergarten through twelfth grade children about sex. Clearly he has not read the bill, looked at appropriate curriculum or talked with a school health teacher about it. I have. It took 30 minutes and two phone calls. This curriculum addresses areas of safety and hygiene specifically, for young children, concerns we all have for...
Tired of smear campaigns, distorted truths, and out-and-out lies? Shouldn’t we expect more of our candidates as well as our incumbents? If so, you will be troubled by the recent smear campaign against Representative Dave Paul, moderate Democratic incumbent in Legislative District 10. Recently, his Republican challenger, Bill Bruch, sent out a mailer that paints Paul, who supported SB 5395, as a “radical” who “wants graphic comprehensive Sex-Ed taught beginning as early as kindergarten.” Bruch appears either ignorant or dishonest, neither o...
Regarding the Bill Bruch ad: Dave Paul voted in favor of sex ed for kindergartners? Please. The only sex ed message a kindergartner would learn is that they should tell their parents if someone touches them inappropriately or makes them feel uncomfortable about their body. Bill Bruch has no children. I am a mother and a grandmother. I vote for Dave Paul for the sake of the children. Barbara Brunisholz La Conner...
Wood Weiss has settled into his new role as District 13 Fire Chief. Now Weiss is helping others take on new duties as well. Last Thursday he received approval from District 13 Commissioners during their monthly video-conferenced meeting for key firefighting and emergency services support positions, including a district fitness officer, wildland fire coordinator and grief counselor. “We’ve never had a fitness officer before,” said Weiss. “It’s been a big push for me for many years. This would be to promote physical fitness among our firefight...
The best things in life truly are free. Just ask members of the La Conner Arts Commission. Commissioners at their video-conferenced meeting last Thursday reviewed the proposed donation to the Town of a striking four-panel, 20-foot mural sporting a sweeping panoramic view of La Conner. The family of the mural’s creator, master artist Bob Patterson, is making the panels available to the Town, Mayor Ramon Hayes said. “It’s every bit a masterpiece, that’s for sure,” said Hayes, at the 30-minute Zoomed session. Hayes envisions Maple Hall as the lo...
Pioneering in Washington territory was no place for shrinking violets. Men and women labored side by side to take advantage of the opportunity that the new western land could offer. Self-sufficiency was the necessary characteristic for successful pioneers. Due to the prevalence of illnesses and accidents, there was a need for everyone in the family to pitch in to survive in the late 1800s Washington state. Maybe in part because of the more equal distribution of the workload, the idea of women’s suffrage was not as shocking to the pioneers in t...
Some species migrate south in late summer and fall. On a clear or partly cloudy night about a half an hour to an hour after sunset the Swanson’s thrush, a local nesting bird, will take flight going south. It will reach a height of up to 500 feet or more. The species flies south using the stars as a guide. You can hear their whistle call in flight. On a cloudy night they may not fly at all. Birds come south from as far away as Alaska. Hermit and varied thrush are vertical migrants coming down from the mountains to the lowlands. The hermit t...
Snee-Oosh area resident Sue Nagel and La Conner High alum Virginia Good-Vlahovich have invested much time and energy into helping combat food insecurity in Skagit County. Those efforts paid off in a big way – with a public tribute from former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates July 17. Gates passed out “Challenge Coins” bearing his name and a national seal to honor their volunteer work at Helping Hands Solution Center in Sedro-Woolley, the largest direct emergency food provider in Skag...
Prior to celebrating her 98th birthday last week, Jean Collins of Shelter Bay put in some laps at the La Conner High Whittaker Field track, logging a mile. Collins wasn’t alone for that early workout. She was joined by La Conner Senior Center Coordinator Margaret Hillard and several local friends, all of whom shared birthday greetings and ice cream afterward while wearing masks and practicing social distancing. Not even the virus crisis could mask their admiration of Collins. “She is gra...
