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The people have spoken, but the last word in La Conner’s 2021 election goes to Councilmembers Bill Stokes and John Leaver, whose terms expire as the year ends. Voters did not return them to the council table, instead choosing challengers Rick Dole and Ivan Carlson, III in November in campaigns emphasizing public and traffic safety, law enforcement, housing, protection of public open spaces and retention of La Conner’s much coveted quality of life. Stokes and Leaver – as well as longtime Councilmember Jacques Brunisholz, who resigned in...
We are now ending our second year of the coronavirus pandemic. Sadly, it now includes the adjective, just: This is just the second year of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, a global catastrophe that we, the people, could have ended by following the leadership of competent and courageous public health professionals, putting a vaccination syringe through its heart. Alas, we the people refused to unite. Our unwillingness to act as one makes it possible for the pandemic to roll on, mutating its way to new headlines and more preventable deaths....
First printed Feb. 13, 2019. Here is a true fact: the Washington Street hill down to Whatcom Street has had more sleds than cars on it in the 10 days since the first snow of Feb. 4. Did everybody but me know about the street closing for sledding? I learned about this from seeing photos in the Weekly News. Town public works staff put road closed signs and orange cones at Second and Whatcom streets that Monday, opened the street midweek and closed it again Friday for the weekend. Then, wow: fresh snow Sunday night, Another snow day Feb. 11 and...
I’m addicted to my hot tub, especially on wintry days. I’m thrilled that I live on the left edge of the continent with a great view of the islands and even a glimpse of the Olympic Peninsula. Being an overactive person, these are particularly trying times for me. Often, as soon as I sit down, it occurs to me that there is something I forgot to do and I jump right up. To keep this from happening in the hot tub, I invented a little game in which I locate a small particle floating in the water. I l...
The La Conner Town Council had a productive Dec. 14 meeting beyond agreeing to a five year agreement with the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office and passing the town’s 2022 budget. Their decisions started with passing a budget amendment, adding $59,240 for unplanned 2021 expenditures. Planning related activities took another $25,000; $7,343 was needed to finish the Maple Hall elevator renovations; and weather and infrastructure needs meant $26,897 for public works staff wages and overtime. Council amended the business license fee structure dic...
Curtis (Curt) Anthony Buher passed away peacefully on December 20, 2021 at his home on Pleasant Ridge near La Conner, Washington. He was 66 years old. After being diagnosed with brain cancer in the Spring, Curt was able to spend his last months with family and friends. Curt was born Sept. 23, 1955 in Bremerton, Washington, to Donald and Juanita Buher. He was the youngest of four children. Curt grew up across the street from the town tennis courts and began playing with a shortened racquet when...
Louis Duane Bretvick, age 94, a longtime La Conner resident, passed away on Tuesday, December 21, 2021. Visitation will be held at Kern Funeral Home on Wednesday, January 5, 2022 from 11:00 AM to 8:00 PM, followed by visitation on Thursday, January 6, 2022, 9:00 AM to 10:00AM. Funeral services will be held on Thursday, January 6, 2022, 1:00 PM at Salem Lutheran Church followed by graveside services at Pleasant Ridge Cemetery. A complete obituary will be published in a future edition of the Skagit Valley Herald. Funeral arrangements are under...
Weather conditions have closed the Skagit Public Health county fairgrounds COVID-19 testing site through Dec. 29,. Opening Dec. 30 is weather dependent. Staff plan to run the 3-7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 3 shift for free coronavirus testing antigen to people who are currently symptomatic or have been recently exposed to COVID-19. When cold weather prevents testing at the fairgrounds, staff will provide no-cost at-home testing kits to those who meet the site’s testing criteria: live, work, or go to school in Skagit County and are currently s...
Bigger isn’t necessarily better. The unbeaten state champion La Conner High School volleyball team proved that repeatedly in the fall, beating several bigger schools. Now the school’s girls’ basketball program is further emphasizing the point. The NW2B leading Lady Braves (8-0 overall), with wins already this season over larger schools Lynden, Nooksack Valley and Anacortes, posted another statement win with an impressive 56-48 home game last Tuesday over previously undefeated 3A Stanwood. It very well could be La Conner’s best victory to date...
Sometimes the only choice is the best choice. Such was the case when Skagit County Fire District 13 voters went to the polls in November to choose a successor to J.J. Wilbur, whose candidacy for the La Conner School Board made him ineligible to run for his commissioner seat. Bobbie Scopa was the lone person to file for the vacancy and so unopposed. Turns out, the fire district would have been hard pressed to find a more qualified candidate. Scopa is a retired firefighter who spent more than...
When Felicia Value sits down at her desk on Monday, Jan. 3, she’ll no longer be a solo practitioner. She’ll be an employee of Barron Smith Daugert PLLC of Bellingham, which recently purchased her law practice. “I feel like I’ve been invited to sit at the cool kids’ table,” said Value. “I’m also glad for our community, because they are such a good firm, with a deep bench in probate and estate planning.” Three lawyers will join her Morris Street office. Jessica Carr will be the primary partner. Aaron Rasmussen, who has practiced in Anac...
In 2020, during the Christmas holiday season, Fire District 13 and the Swinomish Police Department drove through the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community with Santa Claus for the first time. This year, however, the SITC community was also asked to participate. Swinomish tribal elder Carneen Allen decorated her van with Christmas presents and snowflakes, with the help of her friend Mike Playter. She said, “it was a wonderful feeling seeing family and friends coming out, waving at Santa and having a...
Monday, December 20 1:13 p.m.: Treasure, not trash – Report of a dumped 5th wheel RV. Deputies found out that the tenants scrap out old trailers. Bradshaw Rd., Greater La Conner. Wednesday, December 22 12:33 a.m.: Good deed done – Deputies responded to assist a male that had missed his ride to the cold weather shelter and had been walking for a long time. Deputies provided a courtesy transport to Skagit Valley Hospital at the male’s request. Beaver Marsh Rd., Greater La Conner. 11:21 a.m.: Mail lost, found – Caller reported t...
This beef brisket cooked on top of the wood stoverecipe takes the slow food movement to a level of understanding both the meat source and the meat preparation. We buy the majority of our meat from sustainable farmers. Growing up in Alaska, where my dad was a moose hunter, we knew the habitat of the moose. In school, we studied what the moose ate and, better yet, listened to our dad and friends describe where the moose would be found, based on the wild vegetation and water movement in the tundra...
A white Christmas gave way to a blue Boxing Day. And even more blue conditions – in terms of plummeting temperatures – greeted the La Conner area this week with additional area-wide lowland snowfall anticipated Thursday. That forecast led Kamiak School District officials to announce as early as Monday that its girls’ basketball team would not travel to La Conner for a non-league basketball game scheduled here tomorrow night. The Dec. 30 La Conner High boys’ home non-conference bas...
