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The foundation board would like to take this opportunity to share with you some of the people and organizations in the community that have given us the means to award scholarships each year at La Conner High School. We are pleased to share that the general foundation fund has grown to $1,100,000. This endowment was created solely by the generosity of you folks in the community. Many alumni have given one dollar for every year post-graduation. Many of our neighbors from Shelter Bay, past... Full story
La Conner School Board Directors bit the bullet Monday in approving a barebones, $12.9 million annual budget whose target is to realize a positive fund balance by next summer. This budget is about $1 million leaner than that adopted a year ago and reflects painful staffing and program cutbacks tied to declining student enrollment and loss of federal COVID-19 emergency funds. The 2023-2024 budget was developed by Director of Finance and Operations David Cram, who was given the mission of restoring the school system’s fiscal health when he return...
Pickleball started nearby on Bainbridge Island as a sport for kids in 1965. It has evolved into an extremely popular sport that bridges the generation gap, with many older participants. Last year the state legislature made it the official sport of Washington. Shelter Bay has tennis courts across from its administration building on Shoshone Drive that can be tightened up with a lower net and lines moved so there is less ground to cover. The tennis court further south on Shelter Bay Drive is being...
Rod Proctor is the new president of Shelter Bay board of directors, elected at the board’s special July 5 meeting. The officers are: Vice President Rick Parnell, Secretary Monte Hicks, Treasurer Jan Paul and Secretary Pro Tem Nancy Shimeall. Paul takes the seat vacated when Joe Hurley resigned. She came in fourth in May’s elections. Hurley, Proctor and Parnell were elected in May. Lawson Earl was appointed in May to fill the seat Judy Kontos lost when recalled....
Because it’s never too soon to prepare for the future, La Conner Town Council invested an hour in a special session last week studying factors and strategies that could define La Conner decades from now. The 60-minute hybrid meeting, which featured online commentary from Seattle-based consultants, was a down payment of sorts ahead of a daylong July 24 council retreat. The topics discussed and identified as either community strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, or threats (SWOT) – some of which overlapped into more than one category – were...
Patriotism, matching the hot weather, was at a feverish pitch this July 4. But not everyone had a bang on Independence Day – or in the days leading up to and following the holiday. For La Conner area firefighters, already grappling with extended dry and windy conditions, fireworks activity lost some of its pizzaz. Their enthusiasm was dampened by the number of fireworks-related fires to which they responded. In fact, Skagit County Fire District 13 staff, which serves Swinomish Reservation and rural La Conner, are now suggesting limiting the l...
If you often drive over the Rainbow Bridge between La Conner and Shelter Bay, you are likely to have seen a man pushing a disabled tribal member in a wheelchair and they both seem to be very comfortable. Bob Grace has spent his life being a caregiver. In 2013 he connected with Francis Sylvester, whose mother is a member of the Swinomish Tribe. As bystanders, we witness one of the most positive challenges of Grace's caretaking responsibilities, pushing Sylvester across the bridge to La Conner, bu...
Nothing in life is perfect, but the annual July Fourth Parade in La Conner Tuesday came close. The weather, which more than once has been wet and chilly here on Independence Day – hence, the local adage that summer starts on July 5 – was sunny and warm for an eclectic blend of patriotic-clad entrants and spectators lining the length of First Street for the 20-minute celebration. So good was the parade honoring America’s 247th birthday and formal separation from Great Britain that those resid... Full story
Greg Ellis sees big things ahead for La Conner by going small. The Shelter Bay resident and Braves Club after-school program volunteer, who submitted plans for seven full-sized homes behind Pioneer Market in 2021, now proposes constructing tiny condos there. “I want to do the best thing I can for the community,” Ellis told the La Conner Planning Commission during their 90-minute June 20 hybrid meeting at Maple Hall. “There’s such a shortage of affordable housing here, especially for a workforce.” Ellis is revamping his plans for lots he has ow...
Halloween was in the air on summer solstice weekend, which goes to show all things are possible in La Conner. It was a truly spellbinding weekend here – perhaps best embodied by upbeat witches' dance flash mob performances at Maple Center's Spirit Wheel Courtyard – with ideal weather greeting those taking part in an array of events on both sides of the channel. La Conner cast its spell on locals and visitors alike with an eclectic brew of attractions. There were traditional go-to activities lik...
I’ve lived in La Conner and the surrounding area for 38 years and continue to be thrilled by all the wonderful organizations here that support gardening, farming, land conservation, the Sunrise Food Bank, Kiwanis, Rotary and Soroptimists, to name a few. And the businesses here are unique and charming. We have a feast of restaurants here to satisfy so many tastes, fish from the sea, burgers, tacos, fine dining, ice cream, breakfasts and sliders. And coffee, the best anywhere. My favorite place in La Conner is Seaport Books. Janna and company h...
I’m officially old. It happened on a single day last week, Thursday, June 1. It was not a surprise. It had loomed on the near horizon for years. I’d dutifully prepared for it – watched innumerable how-to videos, talked with older friends who’d reached the same situation (and survived), waded through unsolicited voluminous mail offering to help with the transition, completed practice questionnaires, even worked with a consultant to get all the information straight before I submitted my application for society to recognize me as old: I am now...
No political party, no politician can heal the evident and destructive ills of our country. We, long ago, took God out of our schools, eliminated the Ten Commandments and crosses from public areas. Now in that void, evil has moved in. I have lived a long time and have never seen such darkness displayed, daily, by so many politicians and citizens. We are in the throes of a spiritual battle. Back to God in this country, or we will have a country not worth living in. "There are two ways to conquer and enslave a nation ... one is by the sword ......
Community journalism has a rich history, but the present business model has its issues. Yet the future of local news coverage across America isn't lacking reasons for optimism. Faced with shrinking advertising revenue that has led to a shedding of reporting, editing and production jobs across the nation, print newspapers are looking at creative strategies to keep the industry alive for the next generation of readers. One promising option, among several suggested during a special forum in Mount...
Part II following May 17 So where are we at the moment? The Shelter Bay board once again surprises no one with their majority vote to declare the recall petitions for the five executive officers are invalid. Rather than listening and adhering to the community's wishes and intent, they narrowly interpreted their poorly written rules to establish a technicality. The board majority (5) – with strong opposition by the board minority (4) – moved forward with: • A rent adjustment index that virtually doubled the rent. • Removing legal counsel...
Shelter Bay residents reelected Joe Hurley to their board of directors Saturday, May 20 at the community’s annual meeting. New on the board are Rod Proctor, who was appointed and served briefly in 2022, and Rick Parnell. The winners were overwhelming selected. Their totals: Hurley, 308; Proctor, 278; Parnell, 249. They beat candidates Jan Paul, 190 votes; Julie Peddy, 138; Marianne Remme, 90; and Larry Tagala, 87. Also newly on the board is Lawson Earl, selected by board members May 17, replacing Judy Kontos, recalled by the community in A...
The 2023 Shelter Bay Board of Directors campaign trail crossed Rainbow Bridge into La Conner Monday evening. A scheduled three-hour community members-only meet-and-greet with board candidates in the canopied Santo Coyote Mexican Kitchen outdoor patio area gradually shifted from mix-and-mingle to question-and-answer to a free-wheeling and often spirited discussion on a wide range of topics among attendees. About 50 people participated on a come-and-go basis. Seven candidates are vying for three...
Like many of my neighbors, I made plans after work on April 25th to join in celebrating Matika Wilbur's anticipated new book release "Project 562: Changing the Way We See Native America." I have followed Wilbur's amazing cross country journey, mostly through her beautiful imagery and riveting stories posted on social media the past ten years. So when I first found out there was going to be a book of her journey in visiting all 562 federally recognized tribal nations, I was really, really...
Shelter Bay, as an organization and entity, is both an anomaly and a conundrum. It attempts to operate functionally as both a corporation and a homeowner’s association, and the lines of authority and responsibility between them have become irreconcilably blurred. The management of both entities has become the assumed responsibility of nine board of director members elected at large from the membership (residents) of the community. (In the case of an elected board member’s unfilled term – for example, as a consequence of a resignation -- indiv...
It’s election time in Shelter Bay – Online voting closes 4 p.m. May 19. In person must be done the early morning of May 20. If you intend to mail or drop off your vote, you must travel to the office to pick up a ballot. Mailed ballots must be received by May 19, 2023. Why is this information here in the paper? Because it is not clearly communicated to the residents of Shelter Bay. Shelter Bay residents: The selection of your board representation is more important this year than ever. Shelter Bay faces several issues requiring competent, unb...
The Weekly News updated and corrected its May 10 story, “Shelter Bay lease negotiations continue,” on its website by deleting the final two paragraphs that incorrectly stated that attorney Paul Taylor’s statements were “mistaken” and he “erred” in his stating “that the Defendants herein voted to approve the Resolution to bind the Community to the proposed terms set forth by the Swinomish Tribal Authority without an appraisal as required by the Master Lease on Wednesday, April 19, 2023” and that “the Defendants passed a resolution acceptin...
Shelter Bay resident Jan Henrie filed a motion in Skagit Superior Court May 5 asking for a default judgment in her lawsuit against the community’s board members Wendy Poulton, Elaine Dixon Monte Hicks, Joseph Hurley and Louise Kari because defense lawyers had not responded to Henrie’s motion for reconsideration. Her lawyer, Paul Taylor, argued that the court erred in ruling the defendants had no fiduciary duty to Henrie, and as a matter of law and ttat it applied the wrong standard of law. Defense lawyer Meredith Thielbahr responded that the...
Politics is by nature a social science. But, in Shelter Bay, questions have arisen over whether there should be a separation of politics and social gatherings, akin to that of church and state. The community’s social and recreation committee canceled a Cinco de Mayo celebration scheduled last Thursday afternoon following publication in the Weekly News the day before of an ad that invited those attending to meet candidates seeking election to the Shelter Bay Board of Directors while enjoying their favorite adult beverages. Shelter Bay Board P...
CORRECTION: The Weekly News has updated and corrected this story, below, by deleting the final two paragraphs that incorrectly stated that attorney Paul Taylor’s statements were “mistaken” and he “erred” in his stating “that the Defendants herein voted to approve the Resolution to bind the Community to the proposed terms set forth by the Swinomish Tribal Authority without an appraisal as required by the Master Lease on Wednesday, April 19, 2023” and that “the Defendants passed a resolution accepting the ten-year increase in rent without an... Full story
I hope I am not alone in my wry reaction to the half-page ad in the May 3 La Conner Weekly News titled, “Opportunity For Positive Change in Shelter Bay.” Among the several issues mentioned was the need to practice transparency. The ad was submitted by a group that, although located geographically, remained otherwise anonymous. Huh … excuse me? Curtis Kemp Shelter Bay...
