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La Conner residents received an Ivy League education at Pioneer Park on Saturday. The volunteers, led by trained natural resources specialist Steve Phillips, spent a couple hours removing invasive English ivy from a patch below the town water tower. It marked the second such work party at the park this fall. Phillips envisions the ivy removal project continuing monthly through autumn and winter and in the years ahead, if possible. "We decided to do this now, because summers are so busy, and...
State Sen. Ron Muzzall’s (R-Oak Harbor) lead in state Legislative District 10 increased by 104 votes as Snohomish County election office staff worked Monday. His margin over Island County Commissioner Janet St. Clair is 2%, 51.3% to 49.3%, and 1,562 votes. Island County’s approximately 10,000 ballots being counted are all in LD 10. If St. Claire’s ratio of 54% to 46% in the counting holds, she will gain 800 votes. To win, she must win by 800 votes in the Skagit County LD 10 precincts. There are probably not enough votes in the pool of some...
The polls are closed and Lona Wilbur has cast her ballot. But the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community member and La Conner High School alum will vote a second time for Kamala Harris as the Democratic Party's standard bearer. And she'll do so legally. Wilbur has served numerous party roles at the local, state and national levels during a long and fruitful tenure in politics. Now she is Washington state's Second Congressional District elector and will travel to Olympia next month to pledge her...
Looking pretty good: La Conner's $65,990 in October sales tax revenue was $387 above 2023's and only $658 below 2022's October record high. These are August's funds, reported by the state's Department of Revenue on a two-month time lag. The $542,101 total for the year is 89% of 2023's estimate. It is almost certain that the town will beat it forecast of $609,181. This is the fourth month in a row that sales tax revenues are above $60,000. When sales tax revenues are high, so is the fire...
Even voting for the right is doing nothing for it. — Henry Thoreau, “Civil Disobedience,” 1848 We – the American people – had an election on Nov. 5 and our democracy worked. That is, our system of voting – which started in most states weeks earlier and which in some states the final counts will not be finished for another week or two – brought out over 155 million people to express their opinion. This year, this election, Donald Trump collected the most votes as well as a smashing victory in the Electoral College. Trump met the needs of 77-plus...
Last week’s editorial was wrong in stating that “Kamala Harris will win the national popular count.” The editor assumed more than 156 million people – the 2020 presidential turnout – would vote. Instead, when another 4 million California ballots are counted, the 2024 turnout will be just over 152 million – almost 5 million fewer voters than in 2020. The editor’s analysis is that Harris’s popular vote victory evaporated because 5 million people stayed home. The editor regrets not knowing that fact when he finished his editorial on Nov. 4....
My fellow mammal mates, the Earth has been struck with the equivalent of the comet that took out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Yet life did not give up. The Earth has suffered many extinctions (five major ones). We are now living in the sixth extinction referred to as the Anthropocene. In geological history, 99 percent of everything that has lived has been wiped out. The tree of life is not a towering, lofty oak tree or redwood. The tree of life is a crust that has been beaten and burned and stumped on. Yet life goes on. Some think...
Most of what I write in this space is about innovations in electric generation and storage, because that’s where the biggest market changes are happening. Innovations that will increase the use of renewable energy are also happening for liquid and gas fuels. Renewable liquid and gas fuels are derived from “biomass,” which is exactly what it sounds like: biologically derived matter. Plant materials (agricultural wastes, waste paper, purpose-grown crops) and animal-related waste materials can a...
Communication was the word that resonated at the Nov. 5 La Conner Emergency Management Commission meeting. Commissioners continued their review of a draft Community Emergency Management Plan, which communicates strategies for dealing with natural disasters and provides a risk analysis of each potential scenario – from earthquakes and flooding to fires and tsunamis. “It’s a work in progress,” commissioner Jerry George called the draft plan, due for approval by the end of the year. Fine tuning the plan has been a priority this year. “We nee...
The La Conner Planning Commission forwarded one recommended comprehensive plan update to the town council but tabled action on another during its Nov. 5 public meeting at Maple Hall. Commissioners were unanimous in advancing updates to the comp plan's transportation element, including language addressing electric vehicle charging stations. The element, reviewed every five years, will eventually include a Transportation Improvement Program schedule. Deferred was a draft parks and recreation...
And the rain kept falling as October turned to November, with another inch Nov. 1-2. That more than matched the previous six days, 0.8 inches Oct. 26-31. Yet it was not the month’s wettest week: 2.5 inches came down Oct. 14-21. The 1.2 inches Oct. 19 was the most rain; 2 inches fell Oct. 18-21. But rain has been common in October this century. The 4.2 inches of precipitation is only the ninth wettest of 11 years of 4-plus inches of rain. Six of those years have been since 6.1 inches fell 2014, the wettest year since 2000. This year’s rainfall i...
The Port of Skagit Commission has appointed Melanie Mankamyer as port commissioner for District 2. The position became vacant after the sudden passing of longtime Port Commissioner Steve Omdal on Sept. 28. Mankamyer is a newly retired professional engineer and former partner in Wilson Engineering. Her 28 years of experience as a civil engineer provided her with vast experience in public works projects, developing long-term capital improvement plans, conceptual project plans and budgets, all of which are relevant and significant to the work of...
They're back. The young and resilient La Conner High School volleyball team, twice on the brink of post-season elimination, swept Auburn Adventist and Orcas Island on Nov. 9 to preserve the program's long streak of state tournament appearances. La Conner (15-11) faces top-seeded and undefeated Adna in first-round state 2B action at 11:45 a.m. today (Wednesday) in the Yakima SunDome. La Conner has captured multiple state net crowns, its last in 2022. The Braves are seeded 16th in the 16-team...
The 14th-seeded La Conner High School girls’ soccer team has a tall mountain to climb in this year’s post-season format. And that’s on several levels. Not only have the Braves (5-7-2) drawn No. 3 Cle Elum-Roslyn in first round state playoff action today, but La Conner must play the loser-out match on the Warriors’ home pitch on the east slope of the Cascades. The winner of the contest (5 p.m. Nov. 13) advances to play the victor between No. 11 Adna and No. 6 Mount Vernon Christian with the date and location to be determined. La Conner lost 5-...
Life may be just a bowl of cherries, but Young Life offers a full range of desserts. That was borne out once again during the annual Young Life Dessert fundraiser at La Conner Elementary School Sunday night. The event is held here each November to provide financial support for students who attend Young Life summer camps, an experience master of ceremonies Peter Voorhees, a La Conner High School teacher and coach, described as life changing. Young Life donors filled the elementary school's...
Fans of the movie “Legally Blonde” will know to wear pink to NITE Theater’s production of “Legally Blonde: The Musical” which opened last Friday and plays at the Lincoln Theatre weekends through Nov. 24. Bring daughters and granddaughters to this spirited, upbeat and nonstop fast-paced, energetic show. From the opening number “Omigod You Guys,” there is a 20th century feminist fairy tale vibe. This is also a group journey, with the Delta Nu sorority sisters, a portion of the ensemble cast – youthful, primarily female and all confident – fil...
After being sidelined by COVID-19 in 2020, the popular Friends of the Salish Sea lecture series is back on the big screen in Anacortes. Florian Graner, world-renowned diver, biologist and cinematographer, kicks off Lecture Series 2.0 with “Beneath the Salish Sea,” 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 15. Graner enthralled a lecture series audience in 2012. Graner is the founder of Sealife Productions, a wildlife documentary production company. A Ph.D. marine biologist specializing in marine mammals, he brings extensive subject knowledge to his cin...
La Conner Swinomish Library offers holiday ukulele classes, 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Thursdays, Nov. 14, 21, Dec. 5, 12, 19. Learn to play easy two- and three-chord songs with Simme Bobrosky. NITE Theater presents “Legally Blonde: The Musical,” through Nov. 24 at the Lincoln Theatre. Based on the hit movie, follow the cast of “Legally Blonde: The Musical” as Elle Woods defies expectations. Sensory-friendly performance on Sunday, Nov. 17, and a pay-what-you-can night on Thursday, Nov. 21. Advance reserved tickets: $38 first tier, $34 second...
LA CONNER SCHOOL DISTRICT NOTICE OF SPECIAL MEETING PUBLIC HEARING INDIAN POLICIES AND PROCEDURES FOR FISCAL YEAR 2026 NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the La Conner School District #311 will hold a special meeting for a public hearing to review the La Conner Indian Policies and Procedures for Fiscal Year 2026, at 4:45 pm on Monday, November 18, 2024, in the District Office Board Room, 305 N Sixth St., and via Zoom. The meeting is open to the public and comments will be taken during the public hearing. Any person may appear and be heard for or again...
This is a nice, comforting, one-pan meal prepared in a cast-iron skillet. If the chops are thick, cut in half. Photo shown is with the cabbage and apple, which you add halfway through cooking the meal. Ingredients Pork chops, 1 per serving Olive oil, 2 tablespoons Salt and pepper, to taste Green cabbage, 2 cups sliced Onion, 1/2 cup sliced Apple, 1, sliced, with skin Preparation Rinse pork chops, pat dry. Add oil to pan and heat. Add chops, season with salt and pepper. Turn over when browned....
HEADS UP Northwest Agriculture Safety Day, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 14, at Maple Hall, 104 Commercial St., La Conner. Register at www.gishab.org/NW-ASD2024. $75 per person, $10 group discount for five or more registrants. Lunch and snacks provided, parking passes available. English and Spanish sessions on: * Blast sprayer calibration and configuration * Tractor safety * Prevent sexual harassment in agriculture * Pesticide labels * Machine guarding/lock out tag out * Developing an effective accident prevention program Presented by...
From start to finish, volunteers made this year's Art's Alive a success. They greeted almost 1,800 visitors during the four-day show the last weekend in October, plying them with wine, beer and appetizers, answering questions and ringing up sales. Before and after, they planned the show, hung its art and took it all down again Monday, Oct. 28. In between duties, they admired one another's art. Six of the 10 invitational artists featured on the first floor of Maple Hall and 16 of the 51 artists i...
Monday, Nov. 4 12:11 p.m.: Who left the dogs out? – A caller was worried about dogs left outside during a storm. The dogs were safe and the caller was told that no laws were broken. Young Road, greater La Conner. 1:57 p.m.: Tree in the road – Report of a tree that had fallen and was blocking a lane of travel. Tree had been removed by the time the deputy arrived. Pioneer Parkway La Conner. Tuesday, Nov. 5 11:52 a.m.: This belongs to someone – Caller found someone’s personal documents in her yard and wanted them picked up. The deputy found a...
Qualified high school students can take advantage of a unique opportunity to explore the world by spending an academic year, semester or summer in Europe, Asia, North or South America, Australia or South Africa as part of the ASSE International Student Exchange Program. A non-profit, public benefit organization, ASSE (formerly the American-Scandinavian Student Exchange) is dedicated to promoting closer ties of friendship between the United States and other countries by fostering intercultural understanding through youth exchange programs....
State Sen. Ron Muzzall's (R-Oak Harbor) has won reelection to his state legislative district 10 senate seat His margin is 2.1%, 51% to 48.9%, and 1,849 votes against Island County Commissioner Janet St. Clair after Snohomish County election staff reported totals Saturday. He has led since the third day of tally reports. The election offices in the three-county district estimate 2,650 ballots remain to be counted. Most, 1,800, are in Skagit County but LD 10 precincts are only in the southwest portion of the county. There are some 750 uncounted...
