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FYI: Just returned from eastern Washington (Sept. 8). This was my first mobilization and it was an interesting experience bringing a 56,000 pound tender over Snoqualmie Pass. On Thursday night (Sept. 3) at 7:30 p.m. the call came out for the Evans Canyon fire in Naches, Washington. By 9:30 p.m., after dumping 12 tons of water (3,000 gallons) to reduce weight, fellow firefighter Bailey Hawkins and I were on our way with our wildland gear and enough clothing for 14 days, if needed. Our initial instructions were to drive through the night and...
For months, efforts have been ongoing to turn the corner on the COVID-19 pandemic. But last weekend one could hardly see around corners as thick wildfire smoke from blazes in eastern Washington and Oregon came north to the Puget Sound region, hovering over La Conner and Skagit County, and pushing air quality to dangerous levels. The local Air Quality Index (AQI) topped 250 on Sunday, the afternoon sun more resembling the moon as it tried shining through a heavy orange blanket of choking haze....
More help is on the way. It will not be part of a new federal economic stimulus package, but instead additional CARES Act funds from legislation passed last spring and which will be earmarked for support of La Conner businesses. Town officials last week said La Conner is receiving about $15,000 in added Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) monies after a previous $28,800 award. The earlier funding was dedicated to Town staff’s wages and other COVID-related items, including placement of a port-a-potty in front of the Morris S...
Friday morning forest fire smoke from as far away as California came to La Conner, merging with Oregon and Washington fire smoke and perhaps dense Pacific Ocean air to make the morning damp, gray and ominous. Warnings on the radio advised staying inside with windows closed and to avoid strenuous activity. That is the opposite promotion of get in your car, come up for the day, walk the boardwalk and shop and dine in La Conner. Neither the smoke nor the warnings kept tourists from town last weekend. Streets and sidewalks were crowded Saturday....
As I write this, my eyes are burning from the smoke of west coast fires, my daughters are planning evacuation routes in the Portland area and COVID-19 is taking a huge toll on our health and psyches. It is hard to imagine the pain of people losing their homes and all they have built up in their lives. The world’s attention is now focused on the COVID-19 pandemic as if it stands alone while climate change has faded to the back burner. But, unfortunately, climate change is still an existential threat that is increasing disease vectors such as C...
Wanting to be more politically active this year, I asked a friend if I could post a local candidate’s sign in his yard. As I was preparing to set it up, my friend pointed to a Trump sign and said, “I would love to post that one, but I am afraid of what might happen if I did.” I received the same reaction from another friend. After seeing the sign for Trump on McLean Road vandalized many times, I can understand their fears. I decided to test the “Trump Derangement Syndrome” in La Conner by placing a large Trump MAGA flag on my classic 1963 Stud...
Dear Kathy Rodenberg: Thanks for your comment on my letter (Sept. 2). It gives me an opportunity to set the record straight for you and other critical readers of the La Conner Weekly News. I believe from our past acquaintance that you are a Democrat and supported President Obama in both his victories. I suspect you believe, as I do, that he is a truly decent man but, Kathy, President Obama built the cages at the southern border and used them. You can check that fact on Snopes or just read this statement that I copied from Snopes.com: “The O...
Sunday, December 7, 1941 was my father’s 18th birthday, “a day which shall live in infamy.” That day my 16-year-old mother threw him a birthday party in the basement of her family home. The next day he registered for the draft and joined the army. Fluent in French, two years later he was secreted into Vichy France to translate between the Allies (those also secreted in) and the Resistance. He received a field commission as First Lieutenant. When he came home from the war he joined the National Guard and served for decades, ultimately attai...
As a 27-year, U.S. Navy retired Master Chief, I am completely disgusted by our so-called president and his statements disparaging the brave veterans who have fallen in service to our country. My father was a 17-year-old sailor who was wounded in World War II in the South Pacific and I have been in harm’s way while on a flight crew and working on the flight decks of aircraft carriers more times than I can remember. I have even had to carry a body bag of a sailor killed in an aircraft carrier and it is not a pleasant task. This fifth grade b...
Three Dark Clouds are hovering over the world today and this coming election should not be glibly decided by party posturing. It is time to wake up your family and friends and point to these three clouds. The First is the coronavirus, COVID-19. This is a worldwide threat to our very human existence and is mutating – indefinitely. The Second is the threat of nuclear annihilation. The U.S. alone has enough warheads to wipe out every country on the planet several times over. The Third is drifting closer and closer to silently cover all of...
We also would like to thank John Leaver and Rick Dole for taking the initiative to plan a one night non-event, and more, in order to help small businesses in La Conner! In addition we also thank Heather Carter the La Conner Chamber director, for her continued effort to support and help the business community by putting the word out through social and other media and planning special events to create more business. We also thank Ramon Hayes, our mayor, for stepping up and taking charge to make La Conner a COVID-19 free town. People got the...
Dear Buz: Thank you for your accurate summary of German history and the success of Adolf Hitler (Letters, Sept. 9). I want to add a couple things that were different then but cannot be an excuse nowadays. There was no TV or computer, only radio and newspapers, which were both controlled by Hitler. Not many cars either, to drive to other places. My mother grew up not far from Auschwitz and did not know that it existed. My father was sent to Russia to fight at age 18. Once Hitler was in complete control, nobody could be against him without...
This one is more than a bit “over the top”, even for this editor (Sept. 9 editorial). Sad that this article has no balance, no civility and no truth. I wasn’t born yesterday, so I have long experience of watching, hearing, discerning truth from error, false from genuine. A close friend recently commented to me: What the left claims the president and others on the right are doing, is instead, exactly what they are doing. I started paying attention to that claim and found it to be true. I have even heard others comment this is happening. There...
I live in an apartment up on the hill, and I am writing to find out if anyone in town would use a community garden space. If so, I am interested in making that happen. I haven’t looked for a spot or started any part of the project, but there is a well-established protocol used all over Seattle to establish these gardens, or P-Patches. It would be a big project, but it is not reinventing the wheel. I realize most folks have a yard, and we are surrounded by farms and amazing farmstands, but there are many reasons why community gardening is a h...
Outdoor education took on a whole new meaning when La Conner students and parents went back to school for Braves Days campus orientation last Thursday and Friday. The two-day event, held outside beneath canopies and shade trees, reflected adjustments being made by school officials this semester in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Families registered on-line for 30-minute outside appointments with teachers prior to the launch of distance learning instruction Sept. 14. While the coronavirus has...
auction co-chair Like many charitable organizations, the Rotary Club of La Conner has a fundraising plan that is consistent year to year, including its annual auction in August. In the fall of 2019, we chose the theme: 2020 Vision Through the Looking Glass! Who knew when we picked this theme how prophetic it would be? Through the looking glass everything seems backward. The faster you go, the more you get behind. COVID hit. Stores closed; people were suddenly out of work. Selling tulips, our next largest fundraiser, was canceled. Our auction...
The Skagit County Historical Museum in La Conner has re-opened with an exhibit that literally hits the ball out of the park. The life of Sherman Anderson, Jr., the World War II bombardier for whom the spacious baseball and fairgrounds complex in Mount Vernon is named, is the new display at the museum, which last Friday began greeting visitors again after having been closed since spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The exhibit, curated by museum archivist Mari Densmore, features a collection of...
There are few names as ordinary as Bill Smith. But it also happens to be the name of a truly extraordinary character familiar to readers of award-winning La Conner author Wayne Johnston. Johnston, a retired La Conner High English teacher and former tugboat chief engineer and mate, introduced Smith in “North Fork,” his 2016 debut novel, which has since been used in classrooms between here and central California. In “The Home Stretch,” Johnston’s new release, Smith returns as the narrator in a page-turning, emotionally gripping account that addr...
Monday, September 7 11:26 a.m.: Safe landing – Deputies were advised of a need for water rescue off Hope Island Rd. for an overturned kayaker. Deputies responded and were advised the kayaker had made it to shore and no longer needed assistance. Golden View Ave., Greater La Conner. 11:40 a.m.: Leave for good – Deputies responded to a verbal fight among several people. Deputies arrived and determined this was a trespassing issue with a prior tenant. The prior tenant was told to leave the property. Channel Dr., La Conner. 10:51 p.m.:...
Oh, the delights of summer! This is a recipe you make fresh over the summer harvest months. Finish a jar, then make another batch. Give yourself some time to prepare this recipe, as there are a few steps. Ingredients Cucumbers, 5 cups, sliced Kosher salt, 1-1/2 tablespoons Onion, 1 cup sliced White vinegar, 1 cup Sugar, 1 cup Cider vinegar, 1/2 cup Brown sugar, 1/4 cup Mustard seed, 1-1/2 teaspoons Celery seed, 1/2 teaspoon Turmeric powder, 1/8 teaspoon Preparation Soak the cucumbers in cold...
In the week since Skagit Valley Herald reporter Brandon Stone broke the story of “Republican fundraiser draws 400” to its annual Lincoln/Reagan Day Gala, held at an airplane hangar Aug. 29, numerous letters in the Herald have criticized participating elected officials. County Commissioner Ron Wesen and state LD 39 Rep. Carolyn Eslick (R-Sultan) and the appointed LD 10 state Sen. Ron Muzzall attended. County commissioner candidate Peter Browning and LD 10 state Rep. candidate Bill Bruch, chair of the Skagit County Republican Party were also tak...
