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These days news is often shared via platforms and messaging networks that are ephemeral in nature. Think Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter, as examples. They are literally here today, gone tomorrow formats. But there is still room – on bookshelves and elsewhere – for time-honored means of sharing and preserving news, such as journals, clipbooks, and scrapbooks. The thick collection of news accounts from the pages of the Puget Sound Mail compiled 50 years ago by late La Conner business leader and Rotary Club officer Paul Thompson is a...
Very few readers probably knew that we had a celebrity musician living in our midst for the past decade. Except for my own curiosity and tendency to be nosy, I would not have known either. However, one day several years ago, my interest was piqued when I noticed a house up the street in Shelter Bay had a large wooden sign saying “Kirkland” hanging by the garage door. Having been born and raised in Kirkland, I wondered why someone would display something like that from their (my) former town. After an inquiry or two, I learned that my newly dis...
For more than a decade, wherever he moved, Danny Hagen could not bear to part with the beautiful eight square foot framed painting of Mount Shuksan and Picture Lake that he picked up by chance while on a job in Bellingham. He knew the painting’s setting and appreciated its artistry. He just did not have a clear picture of its backstory. Until now. Hagen, a Shelter Bay resident who is an appraiser with the Skagit County Assessor’s Office, took to social media last week with a blanket request for...
While closing the books on 2020 during a briskly paced hour-long teleconferenced meeting Thursday morning, Fire District 13 officials took time to salute a La Conner native whose career in emergency services spanned more than three decades. Skagit 9-1-1 Project Coordinator Faye Whitney, a 1976 La Conner High grad, is retiring after 34 years, during which time she filled roles ranging from dispatching to management, said Fire District Chief Wood Weiss . “Faye has been a huge help to us,” Weiss said. “She is going to be sorely missed.” Whitney...
The agreement crafted in the late 1960s paving the way for development of the Shelter Bay residential community on Swinomish Reservation was hailed then as an innovative approach to land leasing. Innovation again appears to be a key factor as the Shelter Bay board of directors and Swinomish Indian Tribal Community officials negotiate terms of a new master lease for 2044, when the current one expires. On Nov. 13 the board forwarded to the Swinomish Tribal Senate “a new and different” master lease proposal than has been discussed in the pas...
Coverage of the contentious U.S. presidential campaign and its aftermath has filled the pages of the Washington Post all year. But it is a near 2,000-word feature article with a Pacific northwest angle in the nationally circulated Post that has drawn responses from readers around the country. Its title: “The 10,000-year-old tribe with a climate plan for the future.” The Swinomish Tribe’s long-view strategy toward climate adaptation, melding academic science with cultural values, was profiled last week by writer Jim Morrison. It is accom...
Dear Greater La Conner Community, Welcome to the La Conner Weekly News. If you are getting the paper for the first time, I hope you will find your community newspaper an enjoyable and worthwhile read. Valued subscribers, I hope this issue meets your expectations and needs. Thank you, subscribers, for your ongoing engagement with the community through these pages. This newspaper exists for the community. That is you. Decades ago, when the local paper was The Puget Sound Mail, every issue said “Co...
It is never too soon to look ahead. To that end, Shelter Bay and Swinomish Tribal Community officials have begun laying the groundwork for the 2023 decennial rent adjustment mechanism built into the two parties’ master lease agreement. In a column penned in October for the community’s newsletter, Shelter Bay Homeowners Association Board President Tom Napier alerted its residents to begin preparing for a new decade-long rent schedule set to take effect in two years. “My intent in relaying this information to you,” Napier wrote, “is that we a...
The future of Fire District 13 is coming into focus with development of a snapshot view of present operations and facilities, the first step in a three-phased approach to creating a comprehensive five-year plan for the district. “The next step,” Capt. Ted Taylor told the fire commissioners during their monthly Zoom meeting last Thursday, “is a projection of where we want to be five years from now.” The third and final step, he said, is creating a strategy for getting from here to there. “I think it will be a great document once we get to th...
Monday, November 9 4:36 p.m.: Shot downtown – Report of a large dead Blue Heron. The call was transferred to the Department of Fish and Wildlife to handle. Washington Ave. / S. 1st St., La Conner. Tuesday, November 10 9:36 a.m.: Stealing from a realtor – Caller reported that his office window had been pried open and the office door was locked from the inside. Deputies checked the building and unlocked the office door, nothing appeared to be disturbed or taken inside the building. Morris St., La Conner. 4:27 p.m.: Need kindness to...
Born in Stockton, CA October 2, 1921 to Aida Kunze Hubbard and Marvin Thomas Hubbard. Died in Island Hospital, Anacortes, WA, October 15, 2020 soon after celebrating his 99th birthday. He had an older sister Jeannne (Garrison) who predeceased him. The family moved to Sacramento when Jack was 7. Their resourcefulness, sheer grit and a big garden pulled them through the Great Depression years. In his teens he was passionate about fishing in the river, shooting ducks with his buddies and skiing...
Time and tide wait for no one. Town officials have long been eager to restore the shoreline at Conner Waterfront Park, They know that adage well. But for what seemed the longest time they had to remain patient as the proposed major re-armoring of the channel bank beneath Rainbow Bridge slowly waded through a lengthy permit process that was finally concluded earlier this year. Bidding soon followed, with a $174,525 contract awarded to C. Johnson Construction. The Town’s patience was rewarded i...
I would like to encourage people to eat and shop here in La Conner. Two restaurants in particular that I enjoy are The Slider Cafe (excellent food and such nice staff) and La Conner Thai Gardens (wonderful Thai food). Also, I go to COA for Mexican food. I know there are many other great places to eat and the shopping here is good. If we do not use them, we will lose them. We are losing them. Businesses are closing permanently. So please, eat out and shop La Conner first. Carmen Ginn Shelter Bay...
Autumn has been a time for the newly minted Shelter Bay Garden Club to spring into action. Consider that club members hosted a garden tour and dedication ceremony Oct. 16 that highlighted the revival of a dozen community garden beds adopted by a corps of volunteers. This is no short-term volunteer project, either, said club spokesperson Karen Mason. “These volunteers,” Mason said, “have agreed to maintain and enhance the gardens for the coming year.” All were given Adopt-A-Garden signs to place in their beds in recognition of their efforts...
Beginning in 2015 county taxes in the La Conner area increased by an average of $300.00 per tax parcel. This was caused by a tax shift generated by the Great Wolf decision. Shelter Bay and Pull & Be Damned, part of levy code 1580, were exempted from the tax rolls and their taxes were shifted to other levy codes in the La Conner School District. This was done by the County Assessor, without a vote of the people. The court gave taxing authority over Shelter Bay and Pull & Be Damned to the Swinomish Tribal Community. In 2020 the Tribe levied $2,12...
October 7 paper, A citizen’s view, by Maryon Attwood’s “A citizen’s view: Washington’s GOP is now the Party of Trump,” Oct. 7 Weekly News) was – very interesting. So, am I supposed to vote for Dems , or just not vote at all, if I live in the 10th district, and give credence to Ms. Attwood’s opinion and advice? Hmmm. When did the writer change from Republican to Democrat, and why? Personally, I was neither, and voted both sides until Bill and Hillary Clinton showed up. I then had to search the platforms of both parties to discern which...
The COVID-19 pandemic has created a new normal over the past seven months. But for the first time since March, the old normal has returned to Fire District 13 – at least in terms of its monthly call log. Each month during the virus crisis district service calls and transports trailed where they had been in 2019. Until September. The local fire district fielded 102 calls for service last month, one more than a year ago, with three more transports than last year. “It’s the first time since the beginning of COVID that we’ve had more calls...
Thomas Atwood Bowman was born in Berwyn, Illinois on 5/28/1928, the only child of Lacy and Lucile Bowman. He passed away 9/29/2020, suffering from dementia and recently, congestive heart failure. Tom was always curious and innovative. He built his first car when he was a teenager and continued as a skilled woodworker to build and create as long as his abilities allowed. An engineer by trade he worked for Boeing while raising his three daughters, Lori Kraft (Robert), Carol Bellon (Randy) and...
Monday, October 19 10:19 a.m.: Catch this guy – Caller reported her husband had found that their three vehicles had been prowled sometime overnight. Some small tools and a purse were taken. Bay View Edison Rd., Bay View. 10:38 a.m.: 20 minutes later – Caller reported her unlocked vehicle had been entered and rummaged through. The caller reported this two days after it had happened, requesting extra patrols. Bay View Edison Rd., Bay View. 5:01 p.m.: Gas and a jump – Deputies responded to a disabled motorhome. A passerby assiste...
Wesley Royal Nelson, age 79, passed away peacefully at his home at Warm Beach Senior Community, WA on Sept. 24, 2020. Wes was born on June 15, 1941 in Nampa, Idaho, to Royal S. Nelson and Lola Lingle Nelson. Wes graduated from Warsaw High School near Winona Lake, IN. He attended Seattle Pacific College where he met Leona, both enrolled as speech majors. They were married on July 5, 1963. While in college, Wes felt a definite call to be a pastor. In his senior year, he was asked to plant a new...
Mark Lee Stephens, 72, went to sleep and woke up with the Lord on October 10, 2020. He was many things- a storyteller, patriot, a corporate executive, a collector, a woodworker, a car guy, most recently, a novice crabber – but, above all, he was a loyal friend, a loving father and grandfather, and a devoted husband to his one true love. Mark was born in Ventura, CA on November 14, 1947 and raised on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. As an only child, he had fond memories of running around...
The La Conner Town Council approved Planning Commission recommendations liberalizing accessory dwelling units (ADUs) terms at its video-conference Oct. 13 meeting. The 4-1 vote caps a year of work by the Commission to upgrade ADUs from conditional to permitted uses and allow more space in commercial structures for residential purposes. The goal is to add housing units in town. Town Planner Marianne Manville-Ailles called the ADU change “low-hanging fruit” at the start of a lengthy public hearing. Councilmember Jacques Brunisholz, que...
What Donald Trump was Allen Elliott referring to in his Sept. 30 column? He is certainly a totally different president Trump than the one my husband and I support. I suspect he is the verbally contrived contortion of the likes of CNN, MSNBC, CBS, etc., the news outlets that now have become dangerous propaganda machines. While still in grade school, I recall a statement made by my teacher which made an indelible impression on me. She commented that it is very dangerous for a country when the news media (at that time newspapers) align themselves...
The COVID-19 pandemic has everyone’s immediate attention. Fire District 13 Commissioners and personnel, who have been on the front lines of the ongoing virus crisis, are looking to the future as well. Commission chair Larry Kibbee and panel members Bruce Shellhamer and J.J. Wilbur approved the proposed outline of a new five-year plan for fire district operations as part of a briskly paced 45-minute video-conferenced meeting last Thursday. “This is the first stage,” Fire District Capt. Ted Taylor said of the outline. “Nothing is cast in concret...
Donald Trump is unfit to lead and he is unfit to govern anyone let alone what just four years ago was the most respected country in the world. You can pick any subject and he has failed. Every day is a ‘He did what?’ day. His despicable actions simply do not stop. And, none of them benefit the nation he supposedly governs. As I write this his press secretary is trying gloss over yesterday’s revelation that he will not necessarily respect the results of the election. I have been increasingly worried about this with each step that he has taken...
