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Tuesday night’s first vote counts put Island County Commissioner Janet St. Clair in the lead for Washington’s legislative district 10 Senate seat with 50.1% of the vote. Incumbent Senator Ron Muzzall (R- Oak Harbor) trailed at 49.8%. Almost 44,000 ballots were counted in the district of three counties. St. Clair led in Skagit County with 56.4% and in Island County with 56.1%. Muzzall has 58% of votes in Snohomish County. While St. Clair leads in Skagit County by 762 votes, her districtwide lead is 153 votes. Incumbents Skagit County Com...
It was another spooktacular Halloween in and around La Conner. Historic First Street, now one-way traffic, was closed to all traffic – other than the popular Meow Mix car and law enforcement vehicles – for a full hour Thursday afternoon to allow for La Conner's annual Halloween downtown pedestrian parade. After striding from Gilkey Square to Maple Hall, costumed paraders of all ages walked back to Morris Street, collecting candy along the way from La Conner merchants and business owners. "Th...
As office seekers and voters alike focused on which way political winds were blowing, it was a meteorological windstorm that grabbed attention in the La Conner area Monday afternoon. Gusts of up to 60 mph snapped off sections of trees in the Snee-Oosh Road area, occasionally bringing down power lines and causing short-term interruptions of electrical service. Power was out on at least some part of Pull and Be Damned Road till about 3 a.m. Tuesday. Some homes in Shelter Bay lost power for at least a couple of hours. Indian Road was closed to...
Janie Beasley didn't need to drive far to be celebrated for choosing the long road in terms of public service. A Swinomish Indian Tribal Community member and La Conner High School alum, Beasley received a 2024 Skagit Women's Alliance Network Lifetime Achievement Award during Oct. 17 ceremonies at the Swinomish Casino & Lodge. SWAN is a nonprofit organization dedicated to recognizing and supporting accomplished women throughout Skagit Valley. Upper Skagit elder Kay Knott, who like Beasley was...
Banks: Closed Buses: Regular service Library: Closed Post Office: Closed, no mail delivery Schools: Closed Town Hall: Closed County government: Closed Waste collection: Regular service...
Ballots are streaming in for Tuesday’s election in Washington, but the number returned is still falling well below four years ago. As of Monday, 56.7% of ballots had been returned statewide, according to the secretary of state’s website. That’s more than 2.8 million ballots returned so far. In 2020, 73.7% of ballots had been returned the day before the election. Election officials are still expecting turnout to be around 80% as most ballots are returned in the days before the election. That’s on par with most other presidential years, aside f...
The presidential election has ended but the vote counting continues. If there was no surprising surge to one candidate, we may not know who won the Electoral College this morning, this day, or even this weekend. Writing ahead of Tuesday’s press deadline, here are ten almost certainly true facts. First, Kamala Harris will win the national popular count by probably over a million votes. Second, Donald Trump will top 75 million votes, above his 2020 total of 74.2 million. Third, Trump will claim victory and challenge any other result, for he is a...
Sunday dawned gloriously, the last day of the weekend, the first morning of again waking to standard time. Morning light was behind the curtains around 6:30 a.m., exactly the right time, as Mother Nature made it and intended all days to be. Standard Time. It comes to us the first Saturday in November, when we set our clocks back an hour for the next four-and-a-half months and our body rhythms again align with the cycle of the earth and the sun. That is too short a period. Congress shrunk it down from five months almost 20 years ago. Used to be...
As you read these words, the continent of Africa is being ripped apart. In spite of what you might have seen on YouTube, that statement is true. Like a planetary zipper, a gaping wound is opening from northern Ethiopia south through Kenya, Tanzania and parts south. Volcanic ash that accumulated in the scar over a million years, a desolate place called Olduvai Gorge, gave anthropologists the first fossils of our human ancestors. A similar gorge emerges from the northern Atlantic Ocean and extends through present day Iceland. Planet Earth is...
Yeah, I’m still alive and well, or so it seems, given my operation of this sophisticated piece of machinery, two moving parts. The small ball swirling at the end of the plastic tube full of ink moves nearly constantly in the hand of a decent writer, one who usually has a few words out, already thought, at the beginning of a sentence. The ball stops when the mind stops, to either consider the next best word, or maybe a whole new twist to the plot. Each consideration deserves its own mental slot. Who knows, in the future a thought may find a s...
Local volcanologist Jerry George is doing his best to shake things up in La Conner. In a good way, of course. George, a charter member of the Town's emergency management commission and its immediate past chair, addressed the panel's embrace of neighborhood mapping at the "Meet the Mayor" bi-monthly forum at La Conner Swinomish Library Saturday. Neighborhood mapping developed in Oakland, California after a devastating wildlands fire in the 1990s engulfed hundreds of homes. It provides vital...
Food for thought took on added meaning during the “Meet the Mayor” session at La Conner Swinomish Library Saturday. La Conner Sunrise Food Bank Board President John Petrich and Director Arin Magill updated attendees on the probable move from the ground floor of the historic Garfield Masonic Lodge Building at Third and Benton. Area Masons are consolidating operations in Sedro-Woolley and selling their La Conner and Mount Vernon properties. Petrich, a retired Swinomish Indian Tribal Community staffer, said the food bank’s lease for the 19th...
NAVAL AIR STATION WHIDBEY ISLAND – The remains of two aviators lost in an EA-18G Growler crash on Oct. 15 returned home from Dover Air Force Base this week. Lt. Serena Wileman came home to Oak Harbor on Monday, Nov. 4, at approximately 7 p.m. Wallin-Stucky Funeral Home will release details on Lt. Wileman’s procession and provide information on public involvement for those who wish to gather along the route. Lt. Cdr. Lyndsay Evans will return home to Anacortes later this week. Her family requested her arrival to be private. The families of bot...
Skagit County officials invite the public to attend a community meeting from 6-7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 12, in the Hearing Room, 1800 Continental Place, Mount Vernon. County Commissioners and representatives from Planning & Development Services, Public Health, Public Works, Department of Emergency Management, Facilities Management and the Sheriff’s Office will provide updates on relevant topics and answer questions. Updates from commissioners and staff representatives include: - Housing - Cold-weather shelters - Emergency weather ...
Addison Wigal enjoyed a senior moment before she joined her La Conner volleyball teammates in a thrilling five-set home match Oct. 30 that won't soon be forgotten. Wigal, La Conner's lone senior, was honored prior to the Braves' marathon two-and-a-half-hour clash with Sedro-Woolley, which won by scoring the final three points in the decisive fifth set. "It was definitely one of our better matches of the season," La Conner head coach Pam Keller said. "It's what we needed going into...
Heartwarming and heartbreaking. Such were the results of last week’s soccer matches for La Conner. The La Conner girls improved to 4-5-2 on the season and secured a post-season berth with a thrilling 3-1 shootout-round win at NW2B/1B foe Lopez Island last Wednesday. The boys posted their third straight, single-goal, overtime loss, this time to archrival Coupeville on Nov. 1. Baylee Smith, Aisley Zimmerman and Yami Ocampo-Contreras made shootout goals for the Braves, who were locked in a shutout through regulation and two overtime periods. Z...
The Kiwanis Club of La Conner has announced the Students of the Month for October. Kenneth Tronsdal is the high school student. His parents are Curt and DeAnne Tronsdal. Kenneth's favorite class is guitar. He's in the drama club and enjoys the group's creativity. He also helps the preschool class on the school campus. Outside of school, Kenneth likes to walk around town enjoying the shops. At home he plays his guitar and writes movies. After graduation, he wants to attend college to get a...
The La Conner Kiwanis Club is sponsoring a drive to help fill the La Conner Schools Care Cabinet. The cabinet is filled with health care and hygiene items, socks, T-shirts and snacks. It’s available to all students, anytime they need something. “Imagine getting to school with wet feet because of a puddle you didn’t see or you couldn’t find your scrunchie to get your hair out of your face,” said Kiwanian Joy Neal. “Or you spilled lunch down the front of your shirt. Kids need to feel comfortable in order to learn.” Kiwanis members are asking th...
The annual Skagit County Pioneer Picnic in La Conner is not only steeped in history but also benefits local historical preservation. That was reinforced Nov. 1 when the Skagit County Pioneer Association Board of Directors approved presentation of $4,500 in proceeds from August’s pioneer picnic to the Skagit County Historical Museum. The picnic, in addition to serving as a fundraiser for the county museum, has been a summer tradition in La Conner for more than a century. It features a program that honors a Skagit Pioneer Family of the Year a...
Great food, great art, great company, all right in town pleased artists and patrons alike at this year's Art's Alive. Oct. 25-28 in Maple Hall. La Conner Arts Foundation board member Sheila Johnson reported traffic was good all weekend, indicating positive final sales and attendance numbers. All art sold contributes directly to the La Conner Arts Foundation scholarship fund....
Turning and turning in the widening gyre * The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity. Surely some revelation is at hand; Surely the Second Coming is at hand. The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi ** Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert A shape...
Floral Pumpkin Party: A Fun Night of Crafting & Creativity. 6-8:30 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 6, at ERTH, 105 S. First St., La Conner. Instructors Riley Banaszak and Mary Lou Page will help you decorate your own pumpkin with dried flower appliqué. $20. Refreshments provided. Space is limited. Call 360-399-1126 from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. to register. NITE Theater presents “Legally Blonde: The Musical,” Nov. 8-24 at the Lincoln Theatre. Based on the hit movie, follow the cast of “Legally Blonde: The Musical” as Elle Woods defies expectations. Sensory-...
Karl the Fog lives in San Francisco, where his soft, mysterious contours come and go as they blanket the city. Karl the ferry lives in La Conner for now – but will soon call San Francisco home, too. The quad-engine passenger vessel ferry was pushed out of the Mavrik building last Friday and will start sea trials at the end of next week. Presuming positive results, by mid-December M.V. Karl will be on his way to join Mavrik-built siblings M.V. Dorado and M.V. Delphinus in the San Francisco Bay Fe...
Monday, Oct. 28 10:10 a.m.: Hit and run – Caller said that someone had hit her parked car doing significant damage. The suspect vehicle rubbed down the side of her car, breaking off a mirror and leave dents and scratches. There was no evidence left by the suspect vehicle. S. Third Street, La Conner. 8:04 p.m.: Allegedly drunk, but not driving – Report of a subject kicked out of the tavern who was allegedly intoxicated and drove the wrong way on First Street. A second caller said the subject was now parked at the north end of First Street. Dep...
In mid-October in Port Angeles, the Clallam County Republicans hosted a "Candidate Oktoberfest" at an old grange hall: beer and brats for a few bucks, three free hours of stump speeches and as much cake frosted with the American flag as you could eat. Seats on the floor were full and pews against the walls were well-populated with hardcore Trump fans, as well as some independents and former Democrats who said they might vote Republican. Three international journalists, including one from the U.K...
