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The Skagit County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the latest in a string of break-ins, thefts and vandalism coinciding with the COVID-19 pandemic. The most recent target was the Town utility drop box on Washington Street near the post office. It was forcibly pried open last weekend. “Customer utility payments appear to have been stolen,” Town Finance Director Maria DeGoede said in an email issued on Monday. “It was pried open and was empty inside,” confirmed Town Public Works Director...
Remember September? It was cooler than normal, the sun blocked by California and Oregon’s wildfire smoke. Maximum temperatures averaged 3.8 degrees below the century’s 71.4 monthly average high from the 12th through the end of the month. Recall that warm was the norm the first 10 days. Temperatures topped 80 degrees three of four days starting the 7th. Half of those days saw highs above 75 degrees. That changed abruptly on the 12th, when the high was 59 degrees. Only two days rose above 72 degrees the rest of the month, while on 13 days it sta...
The Board of Skagit County Commissioners will award a total of $989,000 to schools and districts serving Skagit County students to assist with costs of distance learning and safe reopening during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act passed by Congress earlier this year provided funding to the County to assist with COVID-19 related concerns and expenses in the community. The County has awarded funding to public and private schools serving Skagit County students based on student headcounts...
No waves are being made in the latest round of updates to the La Conner Shoreline Management Plan. Town Planning Commissioners enjoyed smooth sailing during their first review of proposed changes to shoreline guidelines here during a briskly paced video-conferenced meeting Oct. 20. “There are no major changes,” Town Planner Marianne Manville-Ailles confirmed, “just updates to reflect state law.” The local shoreline management plan outlines land use policies and regulations developed to guide activities along the town’s waterfront. It was last...
COVID-19 has forced Washington state schools to repeatedly shift gears, and for a time last spring it even put the brakes on driver’s education. But with new health and safety guidelines issued for driving lessons and classroom instruction now conducted remotely, the road to getting a driver’s license at La Conner High has re-opened. State officials cleared the way in June to resume student driving sessions. La Conner High driver’s ed teacher Scott Novak then began moving his in-person instruction to an on-line format in advance of fall semes...
Much of the coverage of Pope Francis’ expansive encyclical Fratelli Tutti, released Oct. 4, focused on its feel-good themes of unity, dialogue and peace. Who can argue against the notion that we are “brothers and sisters all?” But this document, the pope’s third encyclical and clearly a summary of his papacy so far, is no rote call for prayers and best wishes in the face of the pandemic. It is, foundationally, a pointed critique of nationalistic populism, of economic systems that exploit the poor and indeed, of democracy itself, as least a...
Autumn has been a time for the newly minted Shelter Bay Garden Club to spring into action. Consider that club members hosted a garden tour and dedication ceremony Oct. 16 that highlighted the revival of a dozen community garden beds adopted by a corps of volunteers. This is no short-term volunteer project, either, said club spokesperson Karen Mason. “These volunteers,” Mason said, “have agreed to maintain and enhance the gardens for the coming year.” All were given Adopt-A-Garden signs to place in their beds in recognition of their efforts...
Timing in life is everything. Before the COVID-10 pandemic led schools, colleges, and universities to shift courses to on-line instruction, a trio of La Conner High students were able to use the State Capitol as their government classroom. MacQuaid Hiller and siblings James and Mia Carlton served as legislative pages in Olympia, filling wide-ranging roles vital to making the lawmaking process more efficient. Hiller and the Carltons each spent a week last winter helping distribute legislative amendments and related material throughout the...
Greater La Conner residents are probably in the center of the surge of early Skagit County voters. Six days before election day over 50% of county residents have voted, by far a record. It is similarly likely that the percentage of registered voters casting ballots this election will be the highest in history, exceeding the 87% who came out when Barak Obama was first on the ballot in 2008. Skagit County and our state will almost certainly choose former Vice President Joe Biden, based on historical vote counts. But no matter who wins the...
I have known Mick Rosenthal since the day he came from the hospital after his birth. His parents are my close friends and they are political activists. His mother Nancy Stephens Rosenthal actually spent a Christmas with the Obamas. Born with Cerebral Palsy, Mick grew up with many challenges but instead of curbing his enthusiasm, they actually inspired him to do everything in his power to open doors for people like himself. Since the 2016 election, Mick has worked on a mobile voting app called...
Beginning in 2015 county taxes in the La Conner area increased by an average of $300.00 per tax parcel. This was caused by a tax shift generated by the Great Wolf decision. Shelter Bay and Pull & Be Damned, part of levy code 1580, were exempted from the tax rolls and their taxes were shifted to other levy codes in the La Conner School District. This was done by the County Assessor, without a vote of the people. The court gave taxing authority over Shelter Bay and Pull & Be Damned to the Swinomish Tribal Community. In 2020 the Tribe levied $2,12...
I remember a time when attack ads in political campaigns were not so commonplace that we failed to notice them. We have reached a point in our world that decency and restraint seem to be, at least in the world of politics, no longer virtues but rather liabilities. Last week while running errands I heard a radio spot attacking the character of a political rival. It would not have bothered me so much, except that I know and admire the individual under attack. For years I have worked alongside Mark Lundsten on various projects and have found him...
October 7 paper, A citizen’s view, by Maryon Attwood’s “A citizen’s view: Washington’s GOP is now the Party of Trump,” Oct. 7 Weekly News) was – very interesting. So, am I supposed to vote for Dems , or just not vote at all, if I live in the 10th district, and give credence to Ms. Attwood’s opinion and advice? Hmmm. When did the writer change from Republican to Democrat, and why? Personally, I was neither, and voted both sides until Bill and Hillary Clinton showed up. I then had to search the platforms of both parties to discern which...
I was impressed by Ken Stern’s excellent article about Bill Bruch. It was well researched, accurate, and documented. Keep up the good work Ken. Rick Dole La Conne...
Elections have consequences, the coming election more than any time in recent history. All of the country down to local levels will have a choice whether to continue on the same course or try something different. We know what the current majority of politicians want to do, continue spending, taxing, growing government, regulating (more bureaucracy). There is an alternate choice: turn the government back over to each one of us to run our own lives as we see fit. Nowhere is it more obvious than the current candidates in the first example:...
I have recently started reading the La Conner Weekly News and am very impressed by the editorial content, local news and letters to the editor. It is too bad the paper is not named the Skagit Valley Weekly, so more people would understand they too can read it. I am guilty of ignoring it for a long time because I thought it was written only for La Conner news. Your paper is doing the Skagit Valley a real service by publishing “the news” – like the article on the Republican candidate Bill Bruch stealing $1.7 million from unsuspecting eld...
The COVID-19 pandemic has created a new normal over the past seven months. But for the first time since March, the old normal has returned to Fire District 13 – at least in terms of its monthly call log. Each month during the virus crisis district service calls and transports trailed where they had been in 2019. Until September. The local fire district fielded 102 calls for service last month, one more than a year ago, with three more transports than last year. “It’s the first time since the beginning of COVID that we’ve had more calls...
But not as lengthy as the campaign to secure for women the right to vote, a decades-long fight whose leadership ranks in Washington state included the daughter of a pioneer La Conner family. Linda Deziah Jennings, 1869-1932, is being honored now for her many contributions to the women’s suffrage movement, which ranged from speaking engagements, authorship of persuasive magazine articles and the editing of a thematic cook book whose popular recipes shared pages with voting rights essays. In o...
Thomas Atwood Bowman was born in Berwyn, Illinois on 5/28/1928, the only child of Lacy and Lucile Bowman. He passed away 9/29/2020, suffering from dementia and recently, congestive heart failure. Tom was always curious and innovative. He built his first car when he was a teenager and continued as a skilled woodworker to build and create as long as his abilities allowed. An engineer by trade he worked for Boeing while raising his three daughters, Lori Kraft (Robert), Carol Bellon (Randy) and... Full story
Karla Jean Lillquist, loving sister, wife, mother, mother-in-law, grandmother, great grandmother, and friend, died peacefully on October 24, 2020. Karla lived a long, rich life. She was a kind, supportive, hard-working, strong-willed, positive, and independent person who was the family “glue”. Karla was born January 12, 1935 to Art and Erma Ring in the LaConner “hospital” later occupied by Tillinghast Seed Company. She was the great granddaughter of LaConner pioneers Isaac and Susan Dunlap,... Full story
Monday, October 19 10:19 a.m.: Catch this guy – Caller reported her husband had found that their three vehicles had been prowled sometime overnight. Some small tools and a purse were taken. Bay View Edison Rd., Bay View. 10:38 a.m.: 20 minutes later – Caller reported her unlocked vehicle had been entered and rummaged through. The caller reported this two days after it had happened, requesting extra patrols. Bay View Edison Rd., Bay View. 5:01 p.m.: Gas and a jump – Deputies responded to a disabled motorhome. A passerby assiste...
Initially I was going to prepare this recipe in my large, heavy Dutch oven. But the 5.6 pound bone-in pork butt would not fit in the Dutch oven with large chunky vegetables. So, I prepped everything in a large stainless steel skillet and then transferred it all to a large oval slow cooker. For the ratatouille, I used a large Asian eggplant I bought at the small Asian Market on Riverside in Mount Vernon. Plus, I added the last medium size zucchini from our garden. Ingredients Pork roast Garlic cl...
Moonlight and pumpkins set the stage for the first-ever Locals Night at Gordon Skagit Farms last Thursday. A first-quarter moon loitered over the barn. Tea lights illuminated a display of green speckled swan gourds. Lighted pumpkins spelled “Gordon’s”. La Conner High School graduate Parker Rivas unloaded purchases from carts in the weigh station. Georgia Johnson whipped up complimentary chocolate Cointreau crepes. Owners Todd and Eddie Gordon mingled with after-hours guests. The small but appre...
Skagit County voters are on their way to record breaking participation in the 2020 presidential election. With one week to go, the County’s election office had ballots for almost 53% of its registered voters, reported Laura Han, the County’s public information officer. On Oct. 27 elections staff had “signatured checked 29,700 ballots” and had collected approximately 15,000 additional ballots. The elections office staff estimate turnout may be as high as 90% of the 85,159 registered voters....
