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Moving downstairs is a step up for the Skagit County elections office, which has doubled its workspace, increased transparency and improved efficiency in its new digs at the county administration building in Mount Vernon, Auditor Sandy Perkins told the Weekly News last Thursday. The Skagit County Auditor's Office in September moved its elections space from a cramped cubbyhole on the administration building's second floor to first floor court hearing rooms. The county this year revamped two of...
No adage has been truer for Rocio Almaraz than the one that says home is where the heart is. Almaraz, who grew up in La Conner but now resides in Mount Vernon, drives her kids here each day to attend school because of the passion she has never lost for her hometown. "That's how much I love it," Almaraz, flanked by children Greyson and Mia Delage, stressed during emotional remarks made during groundbreaking ceremonies last Saturday highlighting Skagit Habitat for Humanity's new housing venture at...
A 48-foot sailboat at the Skagit Valley College Marine Technology Center in Anacortes is making a world of difference for SVC students. Soon it will make a difference in the world as well. The One Ocean, on display at an open house last Friday, will embark with a five-member crew next spring on a 14-month voyage around North and South America to spread awareness about oceanic health through education and the collaboration of crucial scientific research. "It's like a Jacques Cousteau floating sci...
DRESS UP AND ACT OUT – The La Conner Parent-Teacher-Student Association costume parade is Thursday on First Street, at 3 p.m., after school. Parade participants are to meet immediately beforehand at the La Conner Marina south basin parking lot....
Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5. Help get all ballots counted quickly: * Vote and return your ballot now * Sign your ballot return envelope * Mail your ballot by Oct. 30 so it’s postmarked no later than Nov. 5 Place ballots in a Skagit County drop box by 8 p.m. Nov. 5. La Conner-area election drop boxes: * 614 Morris St. (in front of the old library) * 17337 Reservation Road (Swinomish Indian Tribal Community Social Services Building) You can register to vote on Election Day. For voting information, check VoteWa.gov or call Skagit County E...
The new one-way southbound traffic pattern on La Conner's First Street remained a major talking point two weeks after its implementation. Center Street resident Mollie Rights thanked town council members during their 90-minute meeting Oct. 22 for scuttling two-way traffic. "I want to thank you for making First Street one-way," Rights told council during public comments. "It's such a pleasure to drive down there now." Administrator Scott Thomas confirmed that there haven't been "any significant...
If not heartwarming, it was at least a homecoming when the potentially painful topic of property taxes was discussed during the Oct. 22 La Conner Town Council meeting at Maple Hall. First-term Skagit County Assessor Danny Hagen, a former Shelter Bay resident who in a past life was a La Conner High School athlete and later a Braves basketball coach, provided an update on local property value changes at the outset of the 90-minute public session last week. Hagen, who played hoops for Cal Lutheran...
The Dodgers are playing the Yankees in the World Series, and this brings back wonderful memories. I was born in the Bronx, N.Y., where the Yankees were, and lived in upper Manhattan near where the Giants were. When I moved to Long Island, my Uncle Izzy from Brooklyn would always turn on Vin Scully covering the Brooklyn Dodgers games when he visited our house in Roslyn. Sandy Koufax was the Dodgers’ star pitcher and he was Jewish, so I became a Dodger fan. The Dodgers hadn’t won a World Ser...
Though Halloween is trick or treat time, La Conner School District officials aren't masking their glee that the district is enjoying more of the latter than the former this year. Superintendent David Cram cited for school board members at their meeting Monday night three examples of good news as sweet as any candy haul Halloween trick-or-treaters can expect. First, Cram announced that K-12 student enrollment, the key factor that drives state school funding, is higher than expected. Cram projecte...
La Conner High School senior C.J. Edwards reigned last week as the school’s Homecoming King, but his crowning achievement came Friday night when he led the Braves to a convincing 56-26 eight-man grid victory over Muckleshoot Tribal School at Whittaker Field. Edwards, La Conner’s dual-threat quarterback, threw for two touchdowns and ran for two more as the Braves remained unbeaten at home and pushed their season mark to 3-4 while playing an independent non-conference schedule. The versatile Edwards also returned a pass interception 80 yards for...
Working overtime didn't pay off again for the hard-luck La Conner boys' soccer team. For the second straight week, the Braves fell at home in an extra session after forging a tie in regulation. This time it was state-ranked Providence Classical Christian that escaped with a 3-2 overtime win, spoiling a spirited La Conner effort in an often-physical contest played before a supportive Homecoming crowd on Oct. 25. "It was a good match," La Conner head coach Galen McKnight said afterward. "We...
Too bad close doesn’t count in volleyball. At least that’s the way La Conner High School net fans felt after NW2B/1B rival Orcas Island, led by junior middle blocker/outside hitter Sofia Jauregui, edged the Braves in a hard-fought five set Homecoming Week match at Landy James Gym Oct. 24. Jauregui delivered a team-high 18 kills and added nine digs and three blocks as the Vikings posted a 25-20, 23-25, 25-19, 19-25, 15-8 triumph over the hosts. With the win, Orcas improved to 9-7 on the season. La Conner slipped to 11-8 going into Monday nig...
The most dramatic and, indeed, catastrophic events can begin almost imperceptibly, as a glacial ice sheet melting away or 2023 becoming the hottest year on record, adding to the list of prior years being the hottest ever. For Eilish, a scientist working for a technology company in a bit-in-a-future Dublin, Ireland, the election of rightest nationalists two years before the start of Paul Lynch’s haunting Booker Prize winning 2023 novel is that event. As “Prophet Song” opens, everything is normal for this mother of four, her oldest son a high...
Along with snow geese and trumpeter swans we have many other birds in this area that join us during wintertime. One of our favorites are the Barrow's and common goldeneyes. A white, crescent-shaped teardrop in front of the male's eyes distinguishes the Barrow's from the common goldeneye, which has a white dot in that area. The females have brown heads and greyish bodies. They like marine waters, dive for aquatic insects and small fish and also feed on mollusks on dock pilings. This photo was...
“This Machine is Made for Earth”: The Madrona Project at MoNA. Poets will converge at the Museum of Northwest Art, 121 S. First St., La Conner, from 2-4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 2, to offer a reading and discussion from the most recent issue of the anthology series, “The Madrona Project: This Machine is Made for Earth,” recently published by Empty Bowl Press in Chimacum. Free for members, $15 suggested donation for non-members. RSVP: monamuseum.org/events/madrona-project-nov2. Celtic Arts Foundation traditional Scottish breakfast, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Sa...
Crafting specialty items for yourself is rewarding. For this recipe, begin by collecting stems of fresh rosemary to dry. Ingredients Dried rosemary, 1/3 cup Olive oil, 1/2 cup Clean jar with lid Preparation Remove rosemary from stems. Place into a small jar. Fill jar with olive oil. Shelf stable. Use oil to season your pan when frying steak....
HEADS UP Saturday with the Mayor. Come to the La Conner Swinomish Library at 10 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 2, for an open conversation with Mayor Marna Hanneman. Topic: “Preparing for an Unplanned Event” by Gerry George of the town’s Emergency Management Commission. Free veterans appreciation dinner, 6-8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 8, at Camano Chapel, 867 W. Camano Drive, Camano Island. Keynote speaker Mary Pilkington will share POW/wartime experiences of her late husband, Col. Fred Pilkington. RSVP to 206-550-4409 or email [email protected]. Indicate your...
Tuesday, Oct. 22 12:06 p.m.: Maybe its ninth life – Severely injured cat brought into the pet emergency center. The cat was treated to the best of the clinic’s ability. McLean / Kamb roads, greater La Conner. 6:36 p.m.: Didn’t look all ways – Vehicle backing out of a spot hit another car. A deputy helped with an information exchange for the minor damage. Morris Street, La Conner. Friday, Oct. 25 4:04 p.m.: Hit and skipped – A vehicle driving east on Fir Island Road left the roadway and hit a utility pole and then drove across the front yar...
This is the last week of National Co-op Month. This year’s theme is “The Future is Cooperative.” Of course, the future for all of us is cooperative. Either we get along together and join hands in brotherhood and sisterhood or we will die. We can choose to make our future cooperative, or not. Without a doubt, the future is relentlessly pressing itself on us all. While many of the 1,650 agricultural co-ops with almost $300 billion in annual revenue are some of the largest of the over 30,000 co-ops nationally, even they offer the oppor...
Every year, we have a public Halloween festival – where kids parade through town in their outfits and go from shopfront to shopfront to get their candy loot. Sure, some families keep sweets at home in case anyone shows up in the evening, but trick-or-treating isn’t really a custom here. Newcomers are baffled by this. A lot of old-time residents just accept it as one of La Conner’s many quirks. Why do we have a public party instead of trick-or-treating? Only a few know the true origin story. Here it is: My grandfather and his friends got it ba...
Flabbergasted, astounded, staggered and dumbfounded, I find it hard to wrap my head around it. The privatization of war, once called the condottieri, now referred to as mercenaries, these private military companies, really hired killers is what they are. Moving on to another topic we learn of a philanthropic billionaire behaving quite neurotic, attempting to buy our vote. At a million a day he’s hoping to sway the election his way, to the candidate he promotes. AI powered by nukes seems like one for the books thought up by a bunch of kooks o...
Calling all patriots, the polls have opened, the mail in ballots are already delivered and it’s down to the wire, crunch time! My last letter established the basic criteria for selecting your representatives and now I’ll mention some tools for research: 1) Google each candidate and their statements. 2) go to Ballotpedia.org, for in depth coverage of each candidate and their responses. 3) go to Washington State Public Disclosure Commission, www.pdc.wa.gov, to which every candidate must be accountable and disclose their actual financial rec...
The choice is ours. Life or death. Freedom of religion or suppression of religion. Borders or no borders. Liberty or socialism/ Marxism/communism. The American Dream or rampant inflation. Constitutional republic or tyranny. Respected by the world powers or laughed at and used. Rule of law or lawlessness. Protection of our innocent children or brain washing our children in America’s schools and colleges. Respect for the Supreme Court or challenging the authority of the Supreme Court. Peace in our country or criminal chaos in our cities and st...
PEO Chapter JG of La Conner held “Gifts Galore,” an auction and brunch in Maple Hall on Oct. 19 to raise money to support women’s education. We offer financial help in the form of educational grants and scholarships to qualified women. We can only do this with the support of family, friends and donations from merchants. We thank the following merchants of La Conner for the donations to our auction: Red Door, Hellams, Waterfront Café, Apothecary, Skagit Cellers, Tim Winstrom, Stompin’ Grounds, Country Lady, Nell Thorn, The Stall, Ginger G...
As I’ve mentioned before, heating – including both space heating and water heating – accounts for up to two-thirds of the energy use in the average Western Washington home. If you’re trying to reduce your heating bills, start by looking at the possibility of updating your building envelope – all of the surfaces of your home, plus its insulation. Our home in Shelter Bay was insulated well in 1978, when it was built. However, today’s insulation codes, depending on the type of space (e.g., wall...
