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Sorted by date Results 262 - 286 of 2077
IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF WASHINGTON FOR SKAGIT COUNTY In Re The Estate of: MICHAEL EUGENE LONG, Deceased. No. 24-4-00076-29 PROBATE NOTICE TO CREDITORS (RCW 11.40.030) (NTCRD) PATRICK LONG has been appointed as Personal Representative of this Estate. Any person having a claim against the decedent must, before the time the claim would be barred by any otherwise applicable statute of limitations, present the claim in the manner as provided in RCW 11.40.070 by serving on or mailing to the Personal Representative or the Personal Representative’s a...
Dear Editor: I am writing to express my deep concern regarding the recently announced closure of Little Braves preschool due to lack of funding. As a member of our community and a parent who understands the importance of early childhood education, I believe that eliminating programs for young children only harms our community and creates hardship for families. The Little Braves Preschool program, which operates in the elementary school through funding from Head Start, is the only publicly funded early education program in La Conner. The...
A cold wind ripped up the Swinomish Channel, swirled around Gilkey Square on Saturday and undid plans for the La Conner Pet Parade's red-carpet walk. Still, around 50 registrants and a small crowd of intrepid pet lovers, their pets all dolled-up for photo ops, shivered down First Street from the La Conner Marina to Gilkey Square, up to Maple Hall and back to the square for judging. Mayor Marna Hanneman was on hand and the La Conner Chamber of Commerce "made a showing." Cameras were clicking,...
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...
Town officials say they heard plenty of valued input during the recent community mingle addressing First Street parking and traffic issues, but there’s still plenty of time to get the last word in. “We haven’t taken anything off the table,” Town Assistant Planner Ajah Eills told planning commissioners during their March 5 meeting at Maple Hall. “We’re still in the information gathering mode.” Among those whose insights are being sought is Public Works Director Brian Lease. Commissioners want to hear from Lease before a target date is set f...
Town officials over the next few months will begin examining potential options for the Jenson property located south of Channel Cove near the Maple Avenue approach to Pioneer Park. The Jenson family sold the land to the town at a reduced price – about one-third its assessed value – on condition it be utilized in the best interest of the community. Suggested uses for the property have ranged from affordable housing to a public garden. “We have saved the letters and emails that we have received about options for the use of the property when...
New La Conner Emergency Management Commission chair Jerry George had sad news to share when the panel met March 5 at Maple Hall. George had the unenviable task of announcing the death of commission charter member Duane Carpenter, 64, whose expertise in meteorology was frequently tapped during the board’s inaugural year as it considered flood mitigation strategies. George said that Carpenter, with an extensive background in cartography and weather analysis, died unexpectedly March 1 from complications following a surgical procedure. “Duane was...
The last king tides of this winter season are this week on the Swinomish Channel. The USHarbors.com tide table predicted 11-foot-plus tides Monday-Wednesday mornings and a 10.9-foot tide March 16 at 8:27 a.m. The last 10.9-foot tide is scheduled for 4:36 p.m. Friday, March 27. Town of La Conner public works staff plan to remove and store the channel area sandbags by the end of the month....
No one in town knows a better yarn than Chris Jennings. The owner of Jennings Yarn & Needlecrafts, a fixture on First Street for more than a half-century, is spinning a yarn in the literary sense these days, coordinating the plot for La Conner’s Second Annual Murder Mystery event set for March 23. Chamber of Commerce Director Mark Hulst credits Jennings with weaving the thread that ties together “The Case of the Bumped-Off Bootlegger,” a throwback to the 1920s Prohibition era of rumrunners and speakeasies, among the more colorful chapt...
Dear Neighbors: First of all, it is not too late for you or for me to keep the ideas about parking flowing in. That is what they say at their meetings every week but it doesn’t always get out to the public. So opine on. I want the town to start with incremental changes rather than going whole hog into all the possible changes at once. I personally would want to start with the writing of an ordinance to limit parking to three or four hours at a time between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Write it, do it. Watch and see the effect. Let the people who have a h...
The public got to peek into the Mount Vernon Library Commons Project, under construction across from the Skagit County Courthouse, with a series of tours on Saturday afternoon. Designed for climate resiliency and as an integral community hub for the next 100 years, the $53 million facility will feature a 4,000-square-foot children’s library, the largest one north of Seattle; a teen and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) center; study rooms; a computer lab; and quiet reading spaces. The building’s commons area will be highlighted...
Word is getting out on one of Skagit County's best-kept secrets. That's thanks to La Conner High School alum and former Swinomish Tribal Community Senator Leon John, now the outreach director at Didgwalic Wellness Center northwest of town along Highway 20. The Didgwalic facility is a rehabilitation center for anyone, tribal and non-tribal, dealing with addiction or other challenges to mental and physical health. John outlined the Didgwalic mission as guest speaker for the second in a series of...
It was a four-letter word that defined a briskly paced, 45-minute hybrid Town Council meeting at Maple Hall on Feb. 27. That word was code. As in the council’s approval of both a formal town code of ethics and update to La Conner’s uniform development code. The ethics code was one of Mayor Marna Hanneman’s first initiatives upon taking office in January. “In this climate of people not being civil to each other – not that this is happening here – I asked for a code of ethics,” Hanneman said. Upon adoption of the code, following a motion by cou...
To those wondering whatever happened to that March 2023 Skagit County Superior Court civil complaint against five Shelter Bay Community board members, alleged to have breached their fiduciary duty and for malfeasance by a property owner, an update is on page 1. It was last April that the court denied an injunction and temporary restraining order that would have prevented the board members from making financial decisions. But Judge Laura Riquelme did not dismiss the case, though in August she issued a stay, preventing the plaintiff’s attorneys f...
The Town of La Conner’s Public Works Department will be picking up yard waste the week of March 25-29. The crew will pick up small branches, clippings and other yard waste, but cannot take large limbs, grass clippings or anything in a plastic bag. If you live within the town limits of La Conner and are interested in scheduling a pickup, call Town Hall at 360-466-3125 by Wednesday, March 20. Your one-time pickup is not to exceed one pile measuring 5 feet by 4 feet by 3 feet (60 cubic feet)....
Donna Kay Cushing (Griffin), 79, of La Conner, passed away in the evening of Feb. 21, 2024, of heart failure. Donna was the second child of four born to Jack and Elva Griffin on Jan. 19, 1945, in Kalamazoo, Mich. Donna spent her young years in Otsego, Mich., attending school, enjoyed dancing with friends at the town hall, and visiting her dear grandparents in Otsego, and up north in Mikado, Mich. Donna married Richard Cushing in 1971. Their marriage lasted 53 years. Donna enjoyed a 30-plus-year...
Safety. That is the number one concern for La Conner's First Street, Fire Chief Aaron Reinstra told the 40 people gathered to discuss parking and traffic patterns at last Tuesday evening's Community Mingle at the Civic Garden Club, Feb. 20. His early remarks set the tone and focused residents' attention on fire department data: La Conner's firetruck has been on South First Street for two calls per month on average over the past two years. In his opening remarks, Director of Planning Michael...
If the 30 residents at the Feb. 20 community mingle on what was billed as a forum to discuss parking on South First Street had their way, the clear sentiment was to improve safety in the downtown by making it a one-way street south of Washington Street, past the post office. At the start of the evening, La Conner Fire Department Chief Aaron Reinstra was asked to speak on safety from his perspective. He did. The data he shared showed that on average, a fire department vehicle was called to First Street twice a month over the last two years. But...
Oh how I wish I didn’t think about our little town’s budget, but as a businessman, I can’t help myself. I had to manage a small farm’s budget, and I didn’t get any grants from either the state or the feds, and I had to educate my employees, since they hadn’t been educated by the education system in place. I employed many college grads who had no understanding of economics, even with their four-year degrees. So, it was with great interest that I read La Conner Schools Superintendent Will Makoyiisaaminaa (Nelson)’s letter of recognition to our sc...
Lots of tourists stayed overnight in La Conner last November. The town council’s January packet summarizing revenues reported $9,464 was collected in hotel/motel taxes, above 2023 and the second highest ever. The visitors did not spend a record amount of money, though. Still, the $42,875 in sales tax was only 1.2% and $516 below last year’s total. It is the third highest January total reported to the town by the state’s Department of Commerce. The $4,281 collected for the Special Use Fire Tax was below 2023’s total, by $225. Residents were mo...
Longtime La Conner news photographer Don Coyote is renowned for making magic with his camera. But no magic was needed to enhance the image of his favorite photographic subject, the late Brodie Coyote, the endearing golden retriever who was loyally at Don's side for more than a decade before the four-legged La Conner goodwill ambassador's death Feb. 15. Variously described as a "godly creature" and "darling retriever," Brodie Coyote was the ideal model and photographer's sidekick. Coyote called...
Salsa, waltz, swing, cha-cha – take your pick. The La Conner Retirement Inn was hopping on Valentine’s Day to ballroom dance. The most romantic day of the year – Valentine’s Day – is celebrated at the Inn most every year – viruses allowing. Taylor Winningham demonstrated the dances with local dance student Charlotte Decker accompanied by champagne, strawberries and chocolate. Over 30 residents sipped, tapped their feet and got up on the floor to swing and cha-cha. “One of the reasons I lik...
The one project and institution that, indisputably, all people in our community and on both sides of the channel rallied around and supported with time, ongoing work and money, was the building of the La Conner Swinomish Library. That became a dream realized over many years. It is now a reality being shaped into our future hopes. One step, one day, one hour reached for after another brought us to it’s opening in 2022. Now with that base built, more good deeds will be realized, continuously, on into the future. The library’s vision may be “a pla...
Viewing parts of the electric grid, such as transmission towers and substations as public art is actually a decades old concept. The colored glass used in high-rise buildings since the early 1960s isn’t just for aesthetics. That technology was initially developed to help control the heat in the buildings. The use of energy systems in art isn’t limited to very large structures like high-rises and transmission towers. Smaller pieces of energy infrastructure are visible to the public and offer sur...
If February's first town council meeting was any indication, new La Conner Mayor Marna Hanneman is in it for the long haul. The marathon Feb. 13 session covered new and old business and multiple discussion and action items before concluding with a closed executive session. "I thought after the first month," said Hanneman, who took office Jan. 1, "that things would be kind of calm. Then February came." The 95-minute meeting began on a pair of somber notes. Resident Debbie Aldrich shared that...
