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Gov. Jay Inslee visited Anacortes last week to listen to locals discuss housing supply challenges. He left saying, “I got some good ideas here today,” while also noting, “We have more work to do.” The Tenant’s Housing Roundtable, in Anacortes on Sept.26, included about a dozen community members and elected officials from Skagit, Whatcom and Island counties. Inslee heard stories of high rent increases and frustrating regulatory and permitting processes. His questions emphasized efforts the state can take to best address the housing crisis. F...
Southern hospitality La Conner-style was on the menu at the La Conner Marina Friday night. A sold-out crowd enjoyed favorite dishes from farm and sea during the inaugural Skagit Tidewater Boil fundraiser for Genuine Skagit Valley, the organization established in 2013 to recognize the area's unique agricultural heritage. Literally taking a page from the Gulf Coast's famed southern crab boils, with prawns, spicy sausage, sweet corn, red potatoes and Dungeness crab dumped onto the two dozen tables...
Skagit Habitat for Humanity recently purchased the property on the corner of Caledonia and Third streets in La Conner. The Town of La Conner plans to change its comprehensive plan to allow multifamily housing, and the nonprofit will help build six new townhomes three years from now. The project would help alleviate the housing crisis. Tina Tate, CEO of Skagit Habitat, said these homes are for people who fall on the lower end of the median income continuum. "These are hardworking families. They...
Finally, a significant rainfall at autumn’s start, 0.9 inches Sept. 23. That led six days in a row of precipitation totaling 1.4 inches for 82.8% of the month’s 1.8 inch total. The other 0.3 inches fell Sept 3-4, with a quarter inch of rain the 4th. The 1.8 inches of rain is one of four years that has occurred since 2000, making it the tenth wettest September in the last 24 years and about average for this century. The September rainfall average for this century has been pushed down to 1.9 inches. This year’s rainfall is the closest to avera...
Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy acted rightly as the mature adult in the room last weekend, taking responsibility for passing a spending bill to fund the United States government. When you read this, McCarthy has already been voted out of the speaker’s chair by a cabal of extremist right wing Republican representatives, their retribution for McCarthy committing the act of governing. The Constitution obligates the House of Representatives to initiate budget bills funding the federal government. Voters in 435 districts elect their r...
If my parents were alive, they would be stepping through their second century in America. My mom, born in 1920, would be 103. My dad would be 109. They were children of the Depression. I have long called myself a child of children of the Depression, typically recalling my mother’s insistence on buying on sale everything from clothes to Kleenex. She did not waste and collected cottage cheese container and egg cartons. The United Auto Workers on strike made me think of my dad. My family grew up in Toledo, Ohio, where Jeeps are made. Jeeps are r...
I have been a part of our local farming community for sixty plus years now. I’ve seen more than half of the farm history in the region. I was able to observe the demise of peas, sweet corn and carrots. Now I’ve seen the arrival of dry beans, peppers, specialty grains and brussels sprouts. What new crop will we someday learn to grow, perhaps a new variety of quinoa or cauliflower? We could grow fish, but we’d rather grow cows and chickens. When I was young I worked the land, planted and tended the peas until they brought the industry to its knee...
On Oct. 19 at 9 a.m. 800,000 or so folks in Washington will take part in the Great Shakeout drill to practice the steps necessary to effectively respond to a major earthquake. Unlike floods and maybe wild fires, there is no way science has discovered to prevent earthquakes. There are rumors that Italian scientists are experimenting with warning signs of oncoming earthquakes, but so far the warnings are limited to Italian earthquakes and they can’t warn more than a few minutes before the shaking starts. The only available option in W...
A friend and I had the good fortune to attend The Wayfinder Market’s “First supper club of the fall season” on Friday night Sept. 29. I say fortunate because if you missed out you are truly unlucky. We had a fabulous time. Twenty guests sat at a big L-shaped table and spent 2-1/2 hours getting to know each other over a delicious five-course meal. Food was fantastic. The company was fabulous. The staff members were wonderful. If you get the chance to make reservations for one of these supper club meals I say go for it. It was 2-1/2 hours well...
When I first started reading Mel Damski’s column today, I thought he was going to say that the Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss) estate had sued the La Conner Weekly News for plagiarizing the beloved author’s book title. Yikes! That didn’t happen, but why doesn’t Damski take this as a perfect opportunity to come up with a new name for his column? He is a writer, after all. I’m sure he could come up with something original. Annabelle Massey Malloy Shelter Bay...
Thank you for covering the Sept. 24 Fire District 13 Open House event and for consistently providing your readers with information from and about this outstanding group of firefighter/EMTs who serve the community. Your article centers on the dedication of a new residence facility that will house FD 13 volunteer first responders when they commit to a 24 hour, or perhaps 48 hour, shift and become part of a team that answers emergency fire and medical 911calls every hour, every day of the year. That residence will see to the personal care and...
Town Emergency Management Commission chair Bill Stokes spoke glowingly last week of how fast La Conner's public works department has acquired and made ready for use a variety of flood barriers ahead of peak king tide season. "Things are moving quickly, as quick as I've seen anything move around here," Stokes, a former town council member, told commission members during their Sept. 26 hybrid meeting at Maple Hall. Within days of receiving council approval, pre-filled sandbags and Ecology Blocks...
Money talks. But last week it was Town officials who did the talking – about money, it turns out. Town Council members kicked off the 2024 budget season with a special 5 p.m. Sept. 26 hybrid meeting at Maple Hall. Public works director Brian Lease and Fire Chief/Code Enforcement Officer Aaron Reinstra presented their budgets. Council is addressing two rare anticipated line-item shortfalls: the streets and facilities funds. Delaying purchase of additional speed cushions like those in use on Talbott and Center streets could reduce the streets b...
The Skagit County Fire Marshal’s Office ended the burn ban in unincorporated Skagit County Sept. 27. Residential yard and land-clearing fires are again permitted. In unincorporated Skagit County, burn permits are required for piles exceeding four feet by four feet. Burn permit requests may be phoned to 360-416-1840. Residents living in incorporated areas, or within an urban growth area need to contact their fire department for burn restriction information. In La Conner, call 360-466-3125. Contact the Skagit County Fire Marshal’s Office wit...
Darrell McCormick died peacefully with his wife by his side on Sept. 20, 2023. Darrell was born and raised in La Conner. He spent much of his youth hunting with his dad, Bruce, and brothers Larry and Gail. Darrell loved working long hours on his grandparent's farm which instilled a, "Let's make hay while the sun is up!" attitude. In school, Darrell was a stand-out athlete who helped draw town locals out to cheer on the Braves. After graduating from La Conner High, he married his high school...
Orange is a color that has long linked the La Conner and Swinomish communities, perhaps never more so than now, 66 years after the Rainbow Bridge was built. That was much in evidence Friday afternoon when La Conner students, most wearing bright orange shirts bearing the phrase "Every Child Matters," gathered at Whittaker Field to pay homage to victims and survivors of the Indian Residential School era. Superintendent Will Nelson, a member of the Blackfeet Nation, said the annual fall event...
It's often said in sports that the best defense is a good offense. For the youthful La Conner High School volleyball team, which carries three eighth graders – Nora McCormick, Abi Poulton and Reese Bird – on its nine-player roster, the opposite is the case. The Lady Braves, adjusting to heavy graduation losses from its state championship net program, have transitioned this fall from a power hitting team to relying on solid defense and crisp passing. They worked that new approach to good eff...
The La Conner High School boys’ soccer team defeated Grace Academy 3-1 Friday at home for the Braves’ second straight triumph, improving to 2-3 on the campaign going into a big match with NW2B/1B power Mount Vernon Christian Friday, Oct. 6. Coach Galen McKnight’s charges will look to square their season ledger when they host the Hurricanes in a 4 p.m. start. MVC sports a 6-2-1 mark entering this week’s play, having most recently tied St. Georges of Spokane 2-2, blanked Friday Harbor 1-0 and dropped a tough 1-0 decision to Orcas Island. Hurrica...
In the 1950s bird migration information was sketchy without a good format. Most banding research was done with metal tags as leg bands on waterfowl. Not much information was useful. The leg bands counted birds killed in the field by hunters. Passerine research was provided by field birders who knew the flight songs of Swainsons’s thrush and other more common night migrants. On full moon nights spotting scopes were used to count birds passing through more reflective light arcs. Mist nets and aluminum bands were used on smaller birds. The problem...
Over ominous music playing in a darkened theatre a scream shrieks out. When the curtains open onto an early 1950s English inn’s sitting room, the news on the radio is of a murder of a woman in London. But that is hardly background noise even after the headline in the day’s newspaper is read by an arriving guest, Mrs. Boyle (Beth Morgan-Cleland), one of an ensemble cast, each actor well defining his or her unique characters and thus standing out individually. Five guests will soon be greeted by Mollie (Amanda Wells) and Giles (Rob Hanson) Ral...
The La Conner School District and the La Conner Fire Department have each been awarded a grant from the Washington state Department of Commerce. These grants will fund work required for each to evaluate the feasibility of and complete a preliminary design for installation and use of combined solar generation and energy storage systems. Both grant applications were submitted to DOC with assistance from the Skagit Valley Clean Energy Cooperative. Co-op volunteers Mary Wohleb and Marylee...
Over 3,000 greater La Conner residents were without power for several hours Sept. 26 following a vehicle collision north of town. The areas affected by the outage was southern Fidalgo Island east across the La Conner Flats to Pleasant Ridge and the North Fork Skagit River bridge and along McLean Road to Best Road. According to the Safely HQ community health platform, electrical service was interrupted when a motor vehicle crash occurred near the intersection of McLean and La Conner-Whitney roads around 1:40 p.m. Outages were reported on Fir...
The 25th annual Festival of Family Farms free tour is throughout Skagit County this weekend, Oct. 7-8.The popular annual event offers visitors hands on experience at a wide variety of farms across the Skagit Valley. You don’t have to be a city slicker to enjoy the many activities avaialable for everyone in the family including: Educational Exhibits Farm Tours, Harvest Markets Gardening Demonstrations Free Samples Kids Activities Corn and Hay Mazes Animal Exhibits Pumpkin Patches Scenic Tours and More For complete details of the event, i...
