Your independent hometown award-winning newspaper
Your independent hometown award-winning newspaper
Sorted by date Results 601 - 625 of 735
Oh rats! Kevin Peterson, who has been a licensed pest control technician 30 years and is the general manager of Cascade Pest Control, says La Conner is especially prone to the critters. In the last 20 years, rat populations have spread themselves from the waterfront, out across the town and even across the channel into neighborhoods like Shelter Bay, Peterson said. Skagit County has also seen a recent case of Hantavirus, from which the resident has since recovered. Hantavirus is carried by rodent feces and urine, which can be accidently...
A federal judge has ruled that it is legal for public agencies to collect taxes from non-Indians who lease tribal land. For three years, this newspaper has been following a lawsuit in the U.S. Central District Court of California brought by the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians against Riverside County. That case closed last week when U.S. District Judge Dolly M. Gee ruled in favor of the county and a local water agency that joined the suit as a defendant. “The county is pleased that the court carefully balanced the issues and determined t...
Cake for breakfast, and recognition for three people, made Fire District 13’s regularly scheduled morning meeting a special day. Firefighter Tony Curran was named one of four people to receive EMS Provider of the Year from Skagit County Emergency Services on Thursday. According to a press release from Fire District 13, during the last year Curran has responded to 411 emergency calls, assisted transporting 116 people to hospitals and assisted paramedics in four successful CPRs. “I try my hardest...
After 12 years working alongside teachers who educate La Conner’s youngest students, it’s time for dedicated school volunteer Don Monroe to hang up his hat and “retire” as he moves onto the next stage of his life. Four days a week, four or more hours each day, “Mr. Monroe” has been a dependable presence at La Conner Elementary school. Students know they can count on Monroe to calmly and gently guide them through any academic troubles they’re struggling with as he works with them one-on-one in th...
The La Conner Weekly News published two articles on the CAPR Elaine Willman Workshop in Sedro-Wolley Saturday, May 20. The first was fairly balanced. The other, on page 6…appeared to be a continuation but was an article on “activists” by another reporter. The activists in the article were those in disagreement with the “activists” inside. From what they say, it is clear that they don’t have an understanding of the position of those attending the workshop. The Weekly should give equal column space to a fuller explanation of why those fol...
Controversial author and orator Elaine Willman held a workshop at Tequila Azteca Restaurant in Sedro-Woolley on Saturday, drawing about 80 people, mostly senior citizens, and a throng of protesters Willman, whose mother was an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation, led a four-hour discussion on how she feels the political power and wealth of Native American tribes has grown to a point that is infringing on the rights of non-tribal members. The workshop was sponsored by the Skagit County...
In 1968, Allen Osberg, a Seattle construction company owner, negotiated a 75-year master lease with the Bureau of Indian Affairs to benefit the Swinomish tribe and tribal members. Osberg’s Shelter Bay Company marketed sub-leases for the developed lots, installed utilities and built community facilities and the marina. The master lease and individuals’ sub-leases will expire in 2044. At the end of the leases any improvements that are not removed will become the property of the BIA to manage on behalf of the tribe and tribal members. The She...
This year the Swinomish Tribe is contributing $150,000 to Fire District 13. That is $100,000 for fire and EMS/ambulance service to the Village, and $50,000 for providing the same service to Shelter Bay and Pull & Be Damned. Prior to the Great Wolf decision, the $100,000 for servicing the Village came from the Tribe’s general fund under a separate contract. For the past three years it has come from taxes collected from Shelter Bay and Pull & Be Damned. The Native Americans living in the Village do not pay taxes, so the taxpayers are funding fire...
Shelter Bay Community leaders gathered a panel of experts to give residents the lowdown on the “best and final” lease proposal from the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community. In short, the tribe’s proposal which would include substantial rent increases, could make homeownership in Shelter Bay unaffordable, the experts indicated. Shelter Bay consists of 870 residential lots developed on land that is held in trust by the United States for the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community and some individual tribal members. Back in 1968, the developer signe...
Did you look at your property tax statements, and notice your county road tax, etc. increased? They did – minimally, because 931 Shelter Bay parcels were removed from the county property tax rolls, as the non-payors “revenue” was “shifted” to the payors! Most people believe the removal of tax parcels from county tax rolls reduces the amount of taxes collected by the various governments involved: Not so, each taxing bodies submits annual budgets to the county, and the county collects that revenue from remaining payors to fund the service...
The Safety Committee has recommended a 20 mile per hour speed limit on all community streets except for Shelter Bay Drive. I feel this is an unnecessary change that will incur added community expenses for purchase and installation of new speed limit signs throughout Shelter Bay, as well as unreasonable decreased speed limits on many of our streets. Admittedly, there are occasional speed violators in our community, but they are rare, and, quite honestly, they will speed regardless of the signage. In my seven years living in Shelter Bay, I have...
The Shelter Bay Community has scheduled three meetings on Saturday for residents to hear information from consultants regarding the tribe’s “best and final” proposal for a new Master Lease. Nearly two years ago the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community presented its proposal to replace the present lease, which expires in 2044, with a new 75-year contract. Shelter Bay consists of about 800 homes built on land originally leased from the tribe and individual tribal families in 1968. With leases set to expire in about 27 years, it is impossible for h...
In the February 15th edition, I wrote a letter about Swinomish taxation of Shelter Bay and Pull & Be Damned in which I estimated the tax at $2,304,266. I apologize. The actual tax levied for 2017 by the Swinomish is $1,840,574. I confused the taxes levied for levy code 1580 with those levied by the Swinomish. The levy rate calculated by the Skagit County Assessor for schools is $5.0471 per thousand. That produces $749,619. The Swinomish contribution is $400,000 plus half the cost of a school bus, $70,271. That leaves a shortfall of $279,348. To...
The Summit Park Grange in Anacortes was the place to be last Wednesday night for people with a stake in the land disputes that have put the Swinomish tribe at odds with some property owners and leaders from the Samish tribe, City of Anacortes and Skagit County. A panel of seven representing the city, county and Samish sat onstage, facing a room so crowded that people without seats leaned against the walls and spilled out the back door. Organizers counted 220 attendees. Landowners are worried the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community could assert...
I read with great interest Stephen T. LeCuyer’s letter to the Editor in the March 8 La Conner Weekly News. In this day and age, information is communicated swiftly, but unfortunately not always thoroughly. Information from leaders of our federal government is often limited to “tweets” from our President that at times are more puzzling than helpful and informative. That, in my view, makes the role of the press in our society even more important in keeping track of what is happening in our local and federal governments. We have a local newsp...
The 3,691 voters in the La Conner School District are being asked again to approve a school levy — this time to raise $2.5 million over two years starting in 2018. At the same time, the state Legislature, which is under court-order to fully fund basic education, is working to find a fix this year to Washington school districts’ dependency on local levies. The Skagit County Auditor’s Office Election Department is mailing special levy election ballots today, Wednesday. Voters will also receive a flier from La Conner Schools with voter inf...
With 2016 in the past, new calendars pinned to kitchen walls, and a few business days into 2017, we’re looking back at a few of La Conner’s big stories of 2016, some of which will be impacting the new year as well. School funding woes In February, for the first time in local history, voters rejected the La Conner School District’s bid for renewed levies to replace expiring funds: one was for maintenance and operations, and another for technology. The levies would have included $1.5 million of funding for the schools for 2017 and 2018. The s...
The three-man Fire District 13 board of commissioners wants to staff the La Conner Fire Station near the roundabout on Chilberg Road. Meanwhile, the La Conner Volunteer Fire Department already has plans to man the station 24-hours a day with two firefighters of its own. La Conner’s Mayor Ramon Hayes, Administrator John Doyle and Fire Chief Josh Morrison met with Fire District 13’s Chief Roy Horn and Commissioners Arne Fohn, Chuck Hedlund and Larry Kibbee on Friday, Dec. 16. The outcome of that meeting led to setting another meeting at the La...
The La Conner School Board on Monday approved a resolution to ask voters to levy $2.5 million in new taxes on the district’s property owners. If approved in a special election in February, the money would be collected over two years, in increments of $1.25 million in 2018 and in 2019. The district anticipates its new “replacement educational programs and operations levy” would amount to about $2.50 per $1,000 of a property’s assessed value. An existing voter-approved construction bond for the new middle school is also on the tax bills. The lev...
La Conner’s Town Council will be faced with an agonizing task in the near future: they must ask their constituents to pay more for utilities. Residents should brace themselves and perhaps start budgeting for a sticker shock that could hit with the April water bills. The town’s water mains and sewer lines are starting to fall apart, and the costs to maintain them have outpaced the yearly rise in utility bills. On top of that, the price charged by the town’s water supplier, the city of Anacortes, has been rising yearly. Presently, a La Conne...
Marcia M. Chesterfield, a long-time resident of Shelter Bay, La Conner, died at home with her family beside her on Tuesday, October 11, after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. Born in Seattle in 1937, she attended West Seattle High School where she met her future husband of 62 years. She is survived by her husband John Chesterfield, her sons Bob and Paul and her daughter Leanne Chesterfield Pike. Services will be held at Westside Presbyterian Church in West Seattle at 1 p.m. on Friday, October 28. Memorial gifts may be made to the A...
The Skagit County Auditor’s Office has certified the petition signed by more than 100 voters who want to withdraw from Fire District 13. That means the ball is in Fire District 13’s court — its three commissioners will be tasked with studying the proposal, holding a public hearing and then making a recommendation to the Skagit County Commissioners. Fire District 13 Chief Roy Horn said he can’t predict how fire commissioners Chuck Hedlund, Arne Fohn and Larry Kibbee will respond to the r...
The La Conner Weekly News recently published two articles about the state Department of Revenue’s March 2014 guidance that advised counties to stop assessing property tax on homes, or any other structure, constructed on tribal trust land. The federal court’s ruling that spurred the guidance had a significant effect inSkagitCounty. As a result, state and local property taxes shifted from homeowners living on tribal trust property to the others in the community. I fully support the public’s right to know how my agency arrived at this guida...
Republican Bill Bryant, who hopes to unseat Democratic Governor Jay Inslee in the November 8 election, said the unfair tax situation in La Conner shows “either incompetence or disinterest,” by agencies working under the current governor. The Washington Department of Revenue crafted a property tax policy that hit La Conner hard when homes were taken off the county’s tax rolls and a $1.8 million tax burden was shifted to the remaining taxpayers. Some residents shouldered tax increases of thousands of dollars. It happened, Bryant claims, becau...
They’re here... See them peeking out from a windowsill, wedged into tree trunks, perched on poles. It’s the new rock painting craze that’s arrived in La Conner and other Skagit County hiding places. The game of “paint, hide and seek” leaves palm-sized creations all over the county, from artistic landscapes, to food and cartoons. Also, there is a whole lot of Seahawks pride, as the many posts on the new “Skagit County Rocks!” Facebook pages show. A handful of administers manage the active page,...
