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The Shelter Bay Community voted to continue Wendy Poulton, Pat McGarry and Monte Hicks as members of its board of directors at its election and annual meeting Saturday, May 18. Poulton, with 307 votes, and Hicks, with 273, were reelected. McGarry, with 294, had been appointed in February. All will serve a three-year term that starts July 1. Julie Peddy came in fourth, with 170 votes. She fills the position of reserve director. The board has until July 17 to fill Jan Paul’s seat. She resigned in April. That term ends June 30, 2026. The c...
In the walk-up to Mother's Day, supporters met at John K. Bob Ball Park Friday to march in honor of missing and murdered indigenous women. Marchers from as far as British Columbia walked shoulder-to-shoulder through Swinomish Village, raising awareness to the disproportionate risk Native American, First Nations and Alaska Native women face when it comes to experiencing violence, murder or going missing. They make up a significant portion of North America's missing and murdered cases, a fact not...
There’s supply and demand, but it can be demand and supply. The latter condition has led Skagit County Fire District 13 to assign two emergency medical technicians for 12-hour shifts two days per week at the Summit Park station near Highway 20 starting in mid-June. “We need to be out there,” Fire Chief Wood Weiss told district commissioners via Zoom during their hour-long May 9 meeting at the Snee-Oosh Road station. Weiss was in Leavenworth. He said staffing that station full-time twice weekly will help response times to a growing number of ca...
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...
I am heartsick every time I see a wounded or dead child injured in the Israeli attack on Hamas. I sit in sorrow for a time, then I realize why they are suffering just like the children in Germany in World War II. The residents of Germany supported murderous leaders like Hamas who taught hate for Jews and dedicated their lives to killing every Jew and driving them from the face of the earth. The so-called Palestinians unequivocally support Hamas in their efforts. Hamas fighters slaughtered, raped tortured and killed 1,200 Israelis on Oct. 7 and...
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,...
Lawyers for the five Shelter Bay board of directors sued by then-resident Jan Henrie in 2023 will be in Skagit Superior Court Friday morning, May 10, asking that the lawsuit be moved to the Court of Appeals. Henrie’s suit alleged malfeasance and failure in these board members’ actions and conduct for their passing an “invalid budget in violation of both the Shelter Bay Community bylaws and the Revised Code of Washington.” The defendants, Wendy Poulton, Elaine Dixon, Monte Hicks, Joseph Hurley and Louise Kari, have not contested the case’s...
Residents of the Shelter Bay Community elect three members at their annual meeting in May to serve three year terms on the eight member board of directors. The board convening in July 2024 will look very different from the eight members that ended their terms a year ago, in May 2023. If Wendy Poulton wins reelection, she will be one of three returning elected board members, with Monte Hicks and Nancy Shimmeall. No longer serving are Louise Kari and Elaine Dixon, who lost election. Joseph Hurley resigned in July and Dan McCaughan resigned in...
Shelter Bay Community residents are in the process of voting for three members of their board of directors. There are four candidates: Julie Peddy seeks a seat. Monte Hicks, Pat McGarry and Wendy Poulton are current board members. Hicks and Poulton were elected in May 2021. McGary was appointed in February 2024. Voting is online via Vote HOA Now, by mail using election packet ballots or in person 10:15-10:30 a.m. Saturday, May 18, at the annual meeting. Results will be announced after 1 p.m. If Peddy wins, she will take office in...
Skagit County voters are casting over 70% yes ballots and overwhelmingly approving proposition No. 1, Continuation of Emergency Medical Services Levy, in the April 23 election. After the third vote count Monday, April 29, 70.8% of votes, 19, 912 are yes, to the 8,192 no votes. The 91.5% yes vote in Shelter Bay was the highest among greater La Conner precincts. Swinomish precinct voters cast 87.6% yes; Snee Oosh votes were 82.1% yes and the La Conner vote was 80.5% yes. The March Point precinct was voting the levy down, 7 no votes to 6 yes...
Town Administrator Scott Thomas is known for his occasional use of dry humor, but there wasn’t anything funny about his report to Town Council members last week regarding drought conditions this year. “We’re already in a state of drought,” Thomas told the council during its April 23 meeting at Maple Hall. “So, we may be looking at water restrictions down the road.” Thomas reported that Washington’s snowpack, based on state Department of Ecology statistics, stands at just 68% of its average levels. “With chances for significant additions to the...
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...
Jan Paul, Shelter Bay board of directors treasurer since July 2023, announced her resignation in a way that was as surprising as it was low key at the end of the monthly board meeting last Wednesday, April 17, at the organization’s clubhouse. Without naming individuals, she cited a pattern of problems, including being disrespected and untrusted, saying, “Unfortunately, during my time as a board member, I feel that I have been only a ‘placeholder’ with no ability to function as a board member should. It has become increasingly apparent over th...
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...
A recent training exercise was so well-received that Skagit County Fire District 13 officials are considering another such drill in the La Conner area later this year. The March 30 windstorm scenario was so successful that the local fire district, which serves rural La Conner and the Swinomish Reservation, may stage a wildland fire training event during the peak of dry summer conditions here. “I suggest we have a similar drill for a wildland fire on the reservation,” Capt. Ted Taylor told fire district commissioners during their meeting at the...
Working with several documents the past few weeks, members of the Town Emergency Management Commission are now on the same page. The local advisory board, which is developing a Community Emergency Management Plan for La Conner, has moved closer to completing the ambitious project after reviewing similar plans from Skagit County, the City of Anacortes, Shelter Bay, the Swinomish Tribal Community and other entities. Commissioners indicated during their April 2 public meeting that they’re ready to consolidate those outside resource materials i...
My name is Wood Weiss and I am the Chief of Skagit Fire District 13. Recently people have been asking me about the upcoming ballot measure for the countywide Emergency Medical Services (EMS) levy renewal. I thought it might help to clarify who we are as a fire district and how the EMS levy impacts us and the people we serve. Our district provides Fire and EMS protection for a 71 square mile area, which includes the Swinomish Tribal Reservation (Tribal village, Shelter Bay, Snee Oosh beach area, Casino), farmlands east of the Swinomish channel,...
The tide-based currents in the Swinomish Channel may offer a local source of reliable, predictable renewable energy. Several people have asked me whether this natural resource could be developed to power greater La Conner, including Shelter Bay and Swinomish Village. A tidal energy system must be durable, reliable and capable of being installed and maintained cost-effectively in salt water. Doing all this has been challenging, so the engineering needed to extract energy from tidal currents...
Barbara A. Hammer 1944-2024 Shelter Bay/La Conner resident Barbara Ann Hammer died peacefully at age 79 on Tuesday, March 12, at Rosario Assisted Living in Anacortes. Barbara was born to Billy Stanford and Anna Lorene Boehm on June 15, 1944, and grew up in Southern California. She was preceded in death by her sister and brother. In 1978, Barbara married Karl C. Hammer, who passed away in August 2015. They moved to Washington 29 years ago from California, where Barbara worked in the airline...
You play how you practice. That was the mantra shared last Thursday by Skagit County Fire District 13 Commission chair Bruce Shellhamer, a former Sedro-Woolley High School sports standout. He wasn’t alluding to athletics. He was talking about the fire district’s upcoming March 30 windstorm exercise. The training will engage HAM radio operators, volunteers at the Shelter Bay Disaster Assistance Center, a mobile Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) trailer, and residents who will post “Help/OK” placards in their windows to inform emergen...
To the editor: I have lived in Shelter Bay for 24 years this month. We have had good times and troubled times as spring mends from the winter. Our community is also on the mend. First, I want to thank all the volunteers and staff for their rugged, thankless work over the years. Today, I am watching the cleaning of blackberries from the greenbelt. I picture a few picnic tables under the trees. From my window, I can see the new playground equipment waiting to be installed. The tennis courts are alive with players, and more people are out and...
Earth, wind and fire. It's not just a famous 1970s soul band. The three elements also represent threats to the vacant and dilapidated Moore-Clark warehouse and areas around the former industrial hub, a landmark on the La Conner waterfront since 1898. Residents wary of the building's vulnerabilities shared their concerns with the Town Emergency Management Commission during its March 5 meeting at Maple Hall. "I think of Lahaina," Lori Wise, who has a background in real estate development, said of...
When the Supreme Court took up the issue of presidential immunity, it became even more doubtful that the former president’s criminal trials could be completed before election day. So what is a voter to do without a trial? I say, look to information that can be relied upon with confidence. We all experienced the horror of Jan. 6, 2021. Many of the 91 counts charged against the president in various indictments relate to the events of that day. But what do we know without a trial? We know a lot. We know from uncontroverted reports that a United S...
The five Shelter Bay Community board directors sued by former community resident Jan Henrie almost a year ago are making another attempt to dismiss Henrie’s Skagit County Superior Court civil complaint alleging breach of fiduciary duty and malfeasance. Defendants Wendy Poulton, Monte Hicks, Louise Kari, Elaine Dixon and Joseph Hurley filed a motion for reconsideration Feb. 20, arguing she has no standing, or right to bring her claims. Their attorneys’ motion for reconsideration follows a Feb. 8 order by Judge Laura Riquelme stating “the Court...
Shelter Bay Board of Director Dan McCaughan resigned in late February. An email to residents from the Shelter Bay Community announced his resignation Feb. 28 and broadcast the “immediate board position opening” seeking applicants to replace him. The deadline is no later than May 25 for a term through June 30, 2026. An earlier deadline may be set to fill the seat sooner. McCaughan resigned for personal reasons, the email said. At its Feb. 21 board meeting, the Shelter Bay Company directors – the same as the Community’s board – sanctione...
