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Background and experiences Glen Johnson has lived and worked in the valley for over 60 of his 66 years, attending Conway and Mount Vernon schools and Skagit Valley Community College. Glen spent three years in the army during the mid-seventies, in Germany, when he traveled extensively in Europe. He studied the humanities, or inhumanity, as the case may be. He returned to his agricultural roots, working as a pesticide applicator, dairy worker/milker, food processing, plant worker, student...
Faye Martin, who grew up in La Conner, WA, died at age 66 on Wednesday, September 22, 2021, in Port Angeles, Washington at the Olympic Medical Center. She died peacefully while being treated for Covid-Pneumonia. Though vaccinated, Faye’s immune system was too compromised. Faye Ellen Martin was born in Seattle, on August 11, 1955. The family moved to La Conner in 1956. She attended La Conner Grade School and La Conner High School, graduating in 1973. She then attended Skagit Valley College and r...
The Port of Skagit was awarded a $1,000,000 loan and a $1,000,000 grant through the Community Economic Revitalization Board to continue its work to bring fiber optic infrastructure to eastern Skagit County. This low-interest Rural Broadband Program loan along with the grant from the Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund, will support the East County Fiber-to-the-Premise construction project of aerial fiber in Concrete, Lyman, Hamilton and Marblemount. “CERB has been a supportive partner for the Port in bringing economic development opportunities t...
Three greater La Conner family farms will participate in the Skagit Festival of Family Farms this weekend: Roozengaarde, Schuh Farms and Gordon Skagit Farms. Longtime participant Hedlin Family Farms is not on the roster. Started 20-plus years ago by the Washington State University’s Skagit County Extension program, the event took a break last year, a result of the coronavirus pandemic. “Last fall there was no vaccine, so we as a group decided it would be better not to encourage people to com...
Anyone eating out – that is, indoors – at a restaurant or bar in Jefferson and Clallam Counties must provide proof they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Doctor Allison Berry, health officer for Jefferson and Clallam counties, issued a public health order Sept. 2 that took effect last Saturday, the 4th. “Indoor bars and restaurants are known to pose a high risk for COVID-19 transmission, as they encourage unmasking of large groups of people indoors,” Dr. Berry is quoted in a Jefferson County press release. “Our goal is to ma...
The Port of Skagit has opted for a Young, yet proven, approach to chart its future course of attracting economic opportunities to the La Conner Marina, Skagit Regional Airport and related ventures. Sara Young is the new Skagit port district executive director, having officially assumed the chief leadership role last Wednesday after14 years at key Port positions. Young succeeds longtime Port of Skagit Executive Director Patsy Martin, who in 2019 announced her intent to retire this August. Port...
Douglas Burton, wonderful husband, father and amazing man of culture and discernment, renown local fine jeweler and life-long resident of Anacortes, passed away Wednesday morning August 4, 2021, after a brief illness. Doug was filled with the spirit of the Lord and at peace as he took this journey. His son Philip Burton was by his side every step of the way. Doug was an amazing man of high intellect and creativity. He loved and celebrated fine literature, art, culture, gourmet food and cooking....
The La Conner Town Council approved an agreement with Landed Gentry for the partial extinguishment of the easement the developer owns across the town’s Maple Avenue park property at its in-person meeting July 27, attended by some 30 masked residents. Gentry, acting as Maple Field, LLC, extinguished only the ingress and egress provisions, its right to pave across the northeast corner of the new town park. The 5-0 vote was preceded by comments from Town Administrator Scott Thomas, who called it “more of a clean-up agreement.” Town Planner Micha...
Its construction nearly a half century ago helped transform La Conner from what former Town Councilman Michael Hood once termed a “stubborn stagnation” into a bustling, popular destination whose residents are envied by the many visitors who descend here from around the globe. Now, as it approaches late middle age, the La Conner wastewater treatment plant is in line for a major makeover within the next decade. “This is nothing new,” Mayor Ramon Hayes said of mandated and age-necessitated plant upgrades for which Town officials have been bracing...
La Conner residents shared with Town officials a broad range of traffic and public safety concerns last Tuesday night. At the Town Council’s June 22 Zoom meeting, speeding motorists and discarded drug syringes were discussed at length. There is a growing anxiety, as the Council session bore out, over apparent increases in minor infractions and more serious crimes coinciding with the COVID-19 pandemic. “It’s time to get more serious about law enforcement,” said Town Planning Commission member Rick Dole, who spoke in favor of budgeting for a c...
La Conner officials are accelerating plans to curb speeding traffic here. The Town Council has bypassed a potentially lengthy cost analysis process and authorized Public Works Director Brian Lease and Town Administrator Scott Thomas to immediately begin crunching numbers on expenses related to use of digital speed signs in high traffic volume areas. The Council is leaning toward installation of at least two permanent signs, though Sgt. Jeff Willard, head of the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office La Conner Detachment and Undersheriff Chad Clark h...
Burlington — After nearly three decades at the Port of Skagit, including 14 years at the helm, Executive Director Patsy Martin will retire in September. Martin began her career with the Port of Anacortes in 1987 then became property/development manager at the Port of Skagit. She worked in several capacities before becoming executive director in 2007. Martin’s dedication to the Port of Skagit’s mission of “Good Jobs for the Skagit Valley” has brought many successes including the expansi...
Mayor Ramon Hayes acknowledges the Town will have to think outside the box to quell upticks in property crimes and traffic offenses that have coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic. “Crime is on the rise,” Hayes told Councilmembers during their May 11 Zoom meeting. “It’s a fact. But thus far he and Town Administrator Scott Thomas have been working with something akin to Pandora’s Box. Options that appeared promising at first have been swatted down. Thomas presented to Council a 2017 Ford Taurus for $11,300 via a federal surplus sale for use b...
Mavrik Marine’s new building on Pearle Jensen Way is complete. Already the aluminum boat manufacturer is making big progress on new, large-scale projects. The building itself is large scale. About 60 feet tall, the white metal building dominates its Port of Skagit site east of the La Conner Marina. Taller than the old Moore Clark building, it puts an exclamation point on the town’s decades-long shift from seafood processing to high-tech marine industries. A 12 p.m. May 27 ribbon-cutting cer...
There has been a rise in crime in town: car prowls, burglaries and a robbery have occurred since the start of the pandemic. For heaven’s sake, the Town’s Department of Public Works has been robbed twice. It is worth noting the problems at the Port with the theft of expensive equipment from boat owners. The Town contracts with the Skagit County Sheriff’s department to the tune of $330,000 a year. Gone are the days of community policing, with Sheriffs walking through town, meeting merchants, residents and visiting the schools. Last year thing...
Burlington, WA — The restaurant at Skagit Regional Airport is reopening with new operators, but they are not new to the Skagit Valley. Spinach Bus Ventures, the team who owns Tulip Town, Skagit Acres and the Fairhaven Mill is moving into the restaurant space at the Port of Skagit, bringing their love of the Skagit Valley to the dining table. The new restaurant, called Skagit Landing, will begin meal service on April 10th with “grab & go” style breakfast and lunch, and work up to full-service dining in the weeks to follow. Chef Josie Urb...
The Swinomish Tax Authority reduced the levy rate for 2021 to $11.98 per thousand from $12.35 per thousand. The assessed value of homes in Shelter Bay and Pull & Be Damned remained roughly the same, so most taxpayers will see a 3% decrease in taxes. The Swinomish government plans to collect $2,142,674 in taxes from Shelter Bay, Pull & Be Damned, Thousand Trails and Dunlap Towing. It will contribute $1,077,702 to three taxing districts. These are: Fire District 13 at $200,000, La Conner Library at $27,702, plus $250,000 to a sinking fund for...
The Genuine Skagit Valley campaign has been granted a certification mark from the United States Patent and Trademark office Patsy Martin, executive director of the Port of Skagit, announced Feb. 9. Agricultural products and agricultural services from the Skagit Valley can now be certified as to their origin by this federally registered mark. The Port has advanced toward this goal for almost 10 years. They worked with the Washington State Department of Commerce to have Skagit Valley designated an Innovation Partnership Zone (IPZ), focusing on...
“In 1960, all the people in Washington (state) could fit into King County today. That’s how much we’ve grown.” Director of Skagit County Planning and Development Services Hal Hart was addressing the 50 participants in the sixth annual – and first virtual – Skagit Ag Summit. The Jan. 29 event’s 16 presentations focused on water, opportunities and threats facing agriculture and economic viability and development. Threats first. While the pressure of growth and development on agricultu...
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...
They love classic cars, but when Jerry and Jeri Kaufman of Burlington go for a spin it is just as likely to be on the dance floor. The couple’s love of dancing, apparent to all during La Conner Live summer Sunday concerts at Gilkey Square, will be featured on an “Eric’s Heroes” segment airing tonight (Wednesday) as part of the KOMO-4 6 p.m. newscast. Those in Seattle who have previewed the profile say it’s much-watch TV. No surprise here, where the Kaufmans are much admired for their rare zest f...
I think it is safe to say that in January of 2020 none of us could have predicted a year that would fundamentally change our lives in such impactful ways. And although we are certainly not beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, we are able, at the start of 2021, to see the light at the end of the tunnel. However, the exact length of the tunnel is still unclear. We have walked this path together and we have learned a great deal through this process. I would like to highlight the La Conner Town Council, who made exemplary community decisions while struggl...
From staff reports La Conner Town officials have looked beyond Christmas lights for bright spots in a year shrouded by the COVID-19 pandemic. Fortunately, they found some. The Town Council took note of the year’s successes at its Dec. 8 teleconferenced meeting.. Councilmember Mary Wohleb started, referencing a letter by Parks Commission Chair Ollie Iversen that highlighted major projects completed this year. Iversen’s letter thanked the Council, administration, public works department and park commission members for progress made and “ma...
Lighting Rainbow Bridge and brightening a local holiday season marred by the COVID-19 pandemic involved more than merely flipping a switch. Much more, in fact. “This story goes back quite a few years with a promise I made to Don Scott,” Mayor Ramon Hayes told the Weekly News last Saturday. Scott, a longtime La Conner business owner, had for years led a private effort to light the much photographed arched span, which is owned by Skagit County. It has helped define the community since its ded...
Another week, another free issue of the La Conner Weekly News provided to every home in the La Conner school district. This is the third invitation for you to subscribe, but more: to become more engaged with your neighbors and increase your participation in, yes, the school district, which will be asking for your support of a school levy in February. Last week you were invited to watch – virtually – the annual lighting of the Town Christmas tree in Gilkey Square. And Santa wrote to everyone in the community, child and parent alike....
