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It was a whale of a turnout at Swinomish Casino & Lodge for the latest in a series of Southern Resident Orca Recovery task force meetings last Tuesday. The main conference room of the Tribal complex was filled past capacity by an audience hopeful the 44-member blue ribbon panel appointed by Gov. Jay Inslee can significantly improve the odds of saving the endangered whales and put into effect measures assuring their long-term presence in the Salish Sea region. Once home to more than 200 orcas, th...
In a recent interview with the Weekly News, District 1 County Commissioner Ron Wesen shared why he is against the ballot amendment for adopting a county charter. Home Rule Skagit, a nonpartisan citizens group, placed the referendum on the ballot by submitting 3,333 petition signatures that their volunteers collected this year up to the Aug. 3 submittal. If citizens vote to create a charter, 21 freeholders, or delegates, elected in this fall’s election from 78 candidates, will meet and draft a proposal for a new form of county government. S...
WORKERS AT WINDOWS THEN AND NOW – Sunday, Aug. 26 the top photo of La Conner teachers Aly Selin. Susanne Bruland and Suzanne Keith, contract negotiating team, was sent to the Weekly News with these words: “At the district office. Sunday 10:30am. Negotiating teacher contract. Large happy crowd of teachers. Families. Come down for the BBQ....
I have felt for a long time that we need to join our neighboring seven counties and modernize our county government. I voted for a change in 2003 and worked on two previous petitions that didn’t make the ballot. I will vote for this new charter system as well. It’s the best one. One of the characteristics of a satisfying life is having a voice in how we are governed at the grassroots level. There is risk and uncertainty in every step of progress, but seven counties have already paved the way for us. Hundreds of our neighbors have worked to giv...
The La Conner Education Association would like to offer its sincerest thanks and deepest gratitude to the entire La Conner community for their amazing show of support for our teachers during our recent contract negotiations. Our success was due in no small part to the generous display of enthusiasm and encouragement from parents, students, staff and community. We would also like to thank the district negotiating team of Superintendent Dr. Whitney Meissner, Business Director Bonnie Haley and Middle and High School Principal Todd Torgeson for...
As a retired teacher and colleague of many teachers in the ESD in Anacortes, I thank you for the content of this editorial. It is a sign of the best in the American tradition that we can talk together, share our concerns and our values, and come to a new path together in the service of educating the children of our community. I appreciate the courage to stand with professionals whose life’s work does not always bring financial security. Mary Johnson...
This is your last chance to see “Double Exposure: Edward S. Curtis, Marianne Nicolson, Tracy Rector, Will Wilson.” The museum summary: “iconic early 20th-century photographs by photographer Edward S. Curtis alongside contemporary works – including photography, video, and installations – by Indigenous artists Marianne Nicolson, Tracy Rector, and Will Wilson. Their powerful portrayals of Native identity offer a compelling counter narrative to stereotypes present in Curtis’s images. Curtis is one of the most well-known photogr...
It’s another week requiring citizens reading this paper to do the heavy lifting of noting their neighbors’ activities while keeping their cool if they don’t agree with the direction or intent. Civic responsibility means staying in the community through reading about a position or policy being championed that you don’t agree with and might vehemently oppose. As events occur that go against some people’s hopes and beliefs, it is important to not turn away from those with whom we disagree. Those disagreeing with what is in the news, of whatever...
Last Tuesday, Aug. 26, La Conner school teachers ratified a contract that had been negotiated by their bargaining team that afternoon with the school administration, averting a strike on the first day of school. At the 7 p.m. meeting, La Conner Education Association members resoundingly approved the two year agreement, which increases minimum total pay to $50,633 in year one and $51,595 in year two and maximum total pay to $106,540 in year one and $108,157 in year two. With all Skagit Valley...
Is it just me, or is summer over without it ever getting hot? It certainly never got really hot or stayed hot for any long period. It never reached the degree of “I have no choice but to wear every Hawaiian shirt I have, day after day without end and that will provide some relief.” The overcast, with or without smoke, damped down temperatures. There was no rain to speak of, but the clouds seemed all too omnipresent. It was June gloom for sure, and the gloom never really left. There were fires in 2017 and a record summer drought. But I have neve...
Frances “Elaine” Jensen, 90, passed away peacefully on August 24, 2018, with family at her side while at Mira Vista Care Center. Elaine was born at home, at the family farm, on Camano Island to Peter and Johanna (Ledal) Folden, on May 17, 1928. Being a first generation Norwegian American, her birthdate was special. In Norway this date, May 17th, is Norwegian Constitution Day, an official public holiday which began in 1814. She attended school in Stanwood, where after graduating, she met her future husband, Francis “JR” Jensen, at a dance,...
LAST DANCE AT THE LAST SUMMER CONCERT – The La Conner Live Sunday concert series ended before Labor Day as it began before Memorial Day, with Mary Ellen Lykins & the C C Adams Band belting out the blues. An energetic crowd of at least 125 folks soaked up the music and the sun. – Photo by Ken Stern...
Go and fill the seats so that the Whidbey Playhouse Community Theatre will have another smash hit on their hands with “Daddy Long Legs” on the order of last winter’s “The Producers.” This musical is a literal love affair between leads Darren and Heather Good McCoy, as Jervis and Jerusha. Off stage they are married. Heather has a stage presence that is only partially from a winning smile that she flashes before and after tears. She sings sweetly, too. The play, based on Jean Webster’s 1912 novel, has a very 21st century feel, but maybe femin...
