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A state accountability audit of the La Conner Swinomish Library for the years 2020-2022 found serious faults in some of the district's practices and procedures. "District operations did not comply, in all material respects, with applicable state laws, regulations, or its own policies. Additionally, the District did not provide adequate controls over safeguarding of public resources in most of the areas we examined," the Washington State Auditor's Office summarized in its report. The Auditor's...
Friday was a Lucky day in La Conner, and not just because of the Northern Lights. An upbeat, hour-long morning program at La Conner-Swinomish Library by award-winning author and musician Lucky Diaz made the day special as well. Diaz, a bilingual force of energy, came to celebrate with area children and parents the wonder and joy that can create magic in the lives of young people. "I do this for the kids," Diaz told the Weekly News. "I started doing this to entertain my oldest daughter. I'd...
NOT TO BE MISSED Paths to Understanding presents The Let’s Go Together Partnership! 7 p.m. Thursday, May 16, Lincoln Theatre, Mount Vernon. Event is free. Walk-ins welcome. Join in the first public gathering for an evening of storytelling, music and conversation focused on strengthening our Skagit community. All, including community leaders, will speak about the importance of lifting up our common humanity. Come and join us to meet people from across the county and stand together to go into a brighter future. Let’s go together! More info: pa...
Some 13 people shared their views on the Town of La Conner's half-acre Jenson field property with Mayor Marna Hanneman Saturday at the La Conner Swinomish Library. Most had started the discussion nine days earlier at a town-organized community mingle April 25. This time Channel Drive residents Dave Buchan and Susan Macek and Pull and Be Damned resident Dana Heald came and added their perspectives. Buchan shared his concern over the dramatically declining enrollment in the local school district,...
Last Saturday some 13 people – mostly La Conner residents, along with Channel Drive and Pull and Be Damned neighbors and the Home Trust of Skagit executive director – met Mayor Marna Hanneman at the La Conner Swinomish Library for her monthly community check-in. There were mostly familiar faces around the conference room table. These residents have attended Hanneman’s earlier library gatherings, as many of them joined in town-organized community mingles on short-term rentals, First Street parking and the town-acquired Jenson property. That...
I have been living here just a year now, but my neighbors and the community as a whole have been so open, friendly and inviting that I feel totally at home here. One of the things I truly love about our town is its “walkability.” The beautiful new Swinomish La Conner Library is just a few blocks away, with a steep hill to get my heart rate up on the return trip. And what a wonderful place it is to visit. Not only do they offer a lifetime of fiction and non-fiction books to read, but magazines, DVDs, events and programs for all ages. A new exp...
Turnout was low but engagement high at a one-hour community mingle April 25 addressing possible future uses of the Jenson property. About two dozen people gathered at the Civic Garden Club to suggest how the town could best use the half-acre field on La Conner's south end, acquired in 2022 for $60,000, about one-third its assessed value. Participants reviewed maps of the property, a fact sheet and an informational pamphlet provided by La Conner artist Maggie Wilder outlining features that would...
An overflow crowd was on the same page with author Janet Yoder at La Conner Swinomish Library last Friday. Nearly 50 people attended Yoder's one-hour presentation honoring the legacy of revered late tribal linguist Vi Hilbert, who made preservation of the Lushootseed language and culture her life's mission. "We're so thrilled with this turnout," library director Jean Markert told the Weekly News afterward. "It's pretty incredible." Incredible is also a word often used to describe Hilbert, whom...
Mark your calendars for some fun activities this coming week. Swinomish Yacht Club Opening Day Boat Parade, 3-4 p.m. Saturday, May 4. Grab a viewing spot along the La Conner boardwalk at the Swinomish Channel for the "Under the Sea" theme parade of members' decorated yachts. Salish Sea Early Music Festival, 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 7, Fir-Conway Lutheran Church, 18101 Fir Island Road. "Renaissance Psalms, Irish Baroque and Folk: Three Centuries of Folk Song" features guitarist Oleg Timofeyev and flut...
Lots of great things are happening at the library this month. First, we want to welcome Richard Vendiola, our new tribal liaison. Richard has a background in education and moved from Auburn to Swinomish in August with his wife, Jennifer, a special needs teacher in Oak Harbor. Richard enjoys chess, tennis, bike riding and walking Ollie, his boxer-mastiff mix. He is currently reading “Killers of the Flower Moon” by David Grann. We are excited to have Richard on board! Thank you to everyone who supported the La Conner Swinomish Library in thi...
The Swinomish Tax Authority uses the same levy rate for 2024, 2023, 2022 and 2021: $11.98 per $1,000. The assessed value of homes in Shelter Bay, Pull & Be Damned and Thousand Trails increased from $206,399,050 to $262,085,926. The Swinomish Tribal Community has the right to collect $3,139,456 in taxes from Shelter Bay, Pull & Be Damned and Thousand Trails in 2024. Last year they collected $2,440,832. After deducting contributions, exemptions, uncollectable taxes and taxes shared with the county, the Tribe will have an estimated $1,958,197...
The public is getting a chance to tell Skagit Transit where to go – in a polite way, of course. The area's public transportation system, which last year celebrated its 30th anniversary, is hosting a series of open houses through April 10 designed to gather input for SKAT's long-range service plans. Skagit Transit Marketing and Public Affairs Liaison Cheryl Willis said a key component of the current open house series is to determine if there is demand for a micro-transit option on Fidalgo I...
Five years ago, 10th District State Rep. Dave Paul successfully lobbied his colleagues in Olympia to provide funding to build the La Conner Swinomish Library. Paul was at the library for a March 27 town hall that included several of La Conner's appointed and elected officials, including Mayor Marna Hanneman. Those attending the forum asked Paul questions related to education, housing and Washington State Ferries. Perhaps most important, they secured Paul's commitment to back La Conner's...
Keeping it real is a popular phrase that movie director Stuart Rosenberg coined in the 1980s. But these days, there’s a question as to whether general reality even exists. That uncertainty was explored by Everett Community College philosophy professor Mike VanQuickenborne during a one-hour presentation at La Conner Swinomish Library last week. VanQuickenborne appeared here as part of the Humanities Washington Speakers Bureau. His interactive program included several references to “The Matrix,” the classic 1999 science fiction action film that...
Residents can support the La Conner Swinomish Library through April 4 as part of Library Giving Day. Contributors join a national community that comes together annually to keep libraries vibrant. Gifts go directly to your library, making possible the youth summer reading program, a wide variety of groups and individuals in our meeting space, exciting programs like author readings and musical events, and much more. The La Conner Library Foundation is a 501 (c) (3) organization. Mail checks to P.O. Box 1025, La Conner, WA 98257. Donate online:...
No joke! Monday starts Food Waste Prevention Week, championed in Skagit County by Washington State University Extension. It is a food security issue, a family budget issue – the cost of wasted food – and has an environmental impact on the planet. The Skagit Food Waste Prevention Coalition has activities next week: classes, social media game and a compost event. A cooking demonstration, “Cooking with Ends and Stems: A Sustainable Culinary Adventure,” is 12:30-1:15 p.m. Tuesday, April 2, at the La Conner Swinomish Library. You’ll get a kit to ma...
It seems that spring has finally arrived, and we have lots happening at the library to get you ready for warmer weather. Library Giving Day is here! You are invited to support the La Conner Swinomish Library as a vibrant, welcoming place for all! Your gift, now through April 4 as part of National Library Giving Day, will directly benefit your library as we look toward our youth summer reading program, ongoing use of our meeting space, author readings, musical events and more. Our goal this year is $15,000, with the first $5,000 matched thanks...
Join Rep. David Paul and Mayor Marna Hanneman for a town hall event from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 27, at La Conner Swinomish Library, 520 Morris St., La Conner....
During his celebrated career as an award-winning newspaper columnist and author, Timothy Egan has traveled the globe in search of the stories that connect him to his readers. For a much longer time – dating to childhood – he has made shorter treks to public libraries and rural bookmobile stops to discover stories that would shape and define Egan as one of the nation's most powerful voices on behalf of literacy. The University of Washington alum, a former op-ed writer for the New York Times and...
Word is getting out on one of Skagit County's best-kept secrets. That's thanks to La Conner High School alum and former Swinomish Tribal Community Senator Leon John, now the outreach director at Didgwalic Wellness Center northwest of town along Highway 20. The Didgwalic facility is a rehabilitation center for anyone, tribal and non-tribal, dealing with addiction or other challenges to mental and physical health. John outlined the Didgwalic mission as guest speaker for the second in a series of...
So much is happening at the La Conner Swinomish Library this month! March is Women’s Histroy Month. Come check out our Women’s “Herstory” display to find a good selection of nonfiction books about spunky, smart women. We are participating in Library Giving Day, now through April 4, and invite you to join in keeping the library a vibrant, welcoming place for all. Your gift, through our Foundation, will benefit your library as we look toward the youth summer reading program, ongoing use of our meeting space, author readings, musical events,...
Recognizing Zach Battle’s life I was shocked and saddened to read of the death of Zachery Battle in the Feb. 21 issue. I got to know Zach when I was fundraising for the new library several years back. We became friends. And he became a supporter of the library. Here’s what he said for one of our presentations: “This inviting and spacious facility, with up-to-date materials and technology, programs relevant to the needs of its users, and a trained and helpful staff will be a hub for innovation and will spur personal and business growth in our c...
Friends of the Libraries are nonprofit groups that support libraries in their communities. They consist of volunteers and exist throughout the United States and around the world. In general, most Friends groups work to advocate for the library at the local level and provide direct financial assistance for needs not normally covered by the library’s operating budget. Friends of the La Conner Memorial Library was officially formed in June of 1988 and had its 100th member by that October. Friends raised thousands of dollars, paid the mortgage o...
The one project and institution that, indisputably, all people in our community and on both sides of the channel rallied around and supported with time, ongoing work and money, was the building of the La Conner Swinomish Library. That became a dream realized over many years. It is now a reality being shaped into our future hopes. One step, one day, one hour reached for after another brought us to it’s opening in 2022. Now with that base built, more good deeds will be realized, continuously, on into the future. The library’s vision may be “a pla...
If February's first town council meeting was any indication, new La Conner Mayor Marna Hanneman is in it for the long haul. The marathon Feb. 13 session covered new and old business and multiple discussion and action items before concluding with a closed executive session. "I thought after the first month," said Hanneman, who took office Jan. 1, "that things would be kind of calm. Then February came." The 95-minute meeting began on a pair of somber notes. Resident Debbie Aldrich shared that...
