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A critical decision of the La Conner School District Directors was not discussed or decided at Monday’s monthly board meeting. Last week the Directors had a resolution before them that “resolved as follows: 1. The Board of Directors hereby finds that just and sufficient cause exists for the termination of Georgia Johnson.” The recitals supporting that were: “2. The administration has recommended that Georgia Johnson’s employment be terminated. “3. The Board of Directors has reviewed the adminis...
On Monday 20 students from La Conner High School took to the grass outside the elementary school with not one purpose, but many. Led by Samantha Nelson, a junior, students walked out during their first period class to protest not only what they considered to be an unsafe environment, but also the looming notion that their voices and opinions are seen as nothing more than trivial by district administrators. At 8:20 a.m. the 20 congregated in the Freshman Commons, and after quick deliberation, mad...
One day an earthquake off the coast will trigger a huge tsunami that will reach into La Conner. Sometime in the next thousand years Mt. Baker will blow its top, sending a flow of lava perhaps 70 feet thick into the Skagit River, where it will makes its way to the sea. Someday, absolutely, those disasters will devastate us. Just as certainly, the effects of climate change on our environment dramatically change our lives. Do you feel adequately prepared? Are our community and state preparing? Equally close to home, in this, the best of all...
Thinking globally and acting locally. That’s been the annual Earth Day game plan for a committed corps of La Conner area volunteers. Monday was no exception, despite it being a regular work day beset with gray skies and chilly wind gusts. Coordinated by Kelly Harper, the group met at Snee-Oosh around 5:30 p.m. to collect debris and trash littering the beach and surrounding neighborhood. The focus this year was on plastic and styrofoam, both of which are harmful to the marine life of Skagit Bay a...
I am concerned with the future of our community, especially in regard to sea level rise. Given the science regarding climate change it seems likely that in as few as 100 years sea levels will have risen around 3 ft at a minimum and it is my understanding that those estimates are now considered to be conservative. This will result in a considerable challenge to keep not only La Conner from flooding, but the entirety of Skagit Valley. I remember a day in the mid 80’s when the barometric pressure was very low and tides were very high when I was t...
To the editor: I’d like to commend Rachel Cram for her wonderful article on the history of La Conner’s newspaper. There was so much detail to feast on and it reminds all of us of how invaluable a town newspaper is. She especially captured the spirit of Pat O’Leary, the newspaper’s editor. His intellectual curiosity certainly informed the Puget Sound Mail and how it reflected the community. I’d like to add a few lines however, about the earliest years of the newspaper. James Power began the Mail in 1873 as the Bellingham Bay Mail, the only pape...
Entering a Shinto shrine is a practice of honoring what’s sacred in all things –the spirit that’s alive in trees, rocks and water. La Connerites can experience that practice themselves through art in April. FORUM Arts will be bringing a Shintoist perspective to its First Street space, exhibiting the works of Skagit Valley artist Todd Horton. “In the Middle of Now” runs April 5 to May 5, with an opening reception 5-7:30 p.m. April 13. Horton’s exhibit was conceived in a shrine on Mount Pilc...
Twice last week Whitney Meissner, superintendent of the La Conner school district, enacted a cornerstone of the district’s strategic plan: communications. Last Wednesday Meissner hosted a community meeting in the district’s auditorium. Monday she spoke at the La Conner Rotary Club’s second annual Farmers-Merchant Dinner to 115 attendees, including Town and County elected officials and staff. At both events Meissner first thanked the community for the overwhelming support for the school levy,...
Just a few weeks ago, I was sworn in as a representative from the 40th Legislative District in the Washington State House of Representatives. I’m proud to be the first Native American woman in state history elected to this position and am looking forward to tackling some of the key issues facing our community. As a graduate of Central Washington University, and after spending a majority of my 20 years of governmental services in the Skagit, I am honored to serve in this new position and to know my work will help create a better Washington a...
Over the past few weeks, a variety of community leaders and guests have visited our schools. Almost universally their comments focus on how warm and welcoming the schools feel. Our staff members often describe La Conner Schools as a family, a community, and we are so delighted that our guests picked up on the caring environment the staff works so hard to nurture each and every day. From social-emotional curriculum, lessons on caring, and opportunities to discuss challenging issues, to having a new “Braves Space” in the high school staffed by...
The wave of the future rode traditions as old as the tides at the 20th Storming the Sound Conference in La Conner on Thursday. About 200 people, including environmental educators and representatives of ecology-related agencies and organizations from the North Puget Sound region, gathered at Maple Hall for the all-day event. They spilled into the Civic Garden Club, and La Conner United Methodist Church for class sessions. Presentations covered a wide range of marine environmental topics, with...
Research merged with imagination as scientists and artists gathered for a final time to consider the effects of their expressions about climate change as shown in their MoNA exhibits displayed during the past quarter. A panel of artists and scientists reflected on their collaborative work Saturday, during the last of three discussions about the Surge 2018 exhibit at the Museum of Northwest Art that was open since October. The goal of this Surge program, hosted by MoNA and the Skagit Climate...
It was a memorial service not to be forgotten. Just as the person whose life and legacy being honored at a filled Maple Hall on Saturday was unforgettable. The La Conner and Swinomish communities turned out en masse to pay final respects to beloved teacher and civic leader Dixie Otis, who passed suddenly Dec. 9, but not before making a lasting impact on many in her home town and beyond. The depth and breadth of that impact was highlighted in multiple eulogies delivered by those who knew Dixie...
A community hearing before the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation about the impact of the Navy on the historic buildings at Ebey’s Reserve is today at 5 p.m. at Coupeville High School Performing Arts Center, 501 S Main Street, Coupeville 98239. Writes Anacortes activist Mark Lundsten: “by simple implication, it is also on the Navy’s impact on humans and the environment. If old buildings are vulnerable to the jet noise, what about old people, or babies, or kids in classrooms or on a playground?” A rally to “Defend the Reserve” starts at 4...
Sean Skiles owns Pioneer Market, which has been a family run business for generations. Change and growth go with managing a store in a close-knit community. One change the Market fully supports is reducing waste and assisting community groups. The La Conner town council passed an ordinance banning single use plastic bags at retail stores in June. August 1st was the start date, with a waiver period of four months, making January the deadline. La Conner is the only town in Skagit County to ban single-use plastic bags. A small pebble tossed in a p...
Last weekend was more than full in La Conner: Friday the girls basketball teams were home against Anacortes, the Library was shaking the branches of its tiny trees raising money for the new building and a roomful of locals landed in the social hall of the Methodist Church to discuss the “plane truths” of the coming 36 Growler jets expansion at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island. Saturday was even fuller, starting with La Conner Rotary’s Santa Breakfast of pancakes and photos and ending with Santa getting help from the town’s kids to light t...
Seventy-five miles south of the Skagit Valley, at the Bellevue Art Museum, glass sculptor Steve Klein is delivering a powerful message. At BAM’s Biennial 2018, “GLASSTASTIC,” a new, juried exhibition showing the work of 40 Pacific Northwest artists, Klein’s work sits proudly amongst the multiple installations. Klein, an internationally recognized glass artist, is digging in his heels. He has taken on our moral failings and his narration is loud and clear: we have allowed the abundance and bea...
Captain Paul Watson, co-founder of first Greenpeace and then the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in the 1970’s, was honored with the 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award at the sixth annual Friday Harbor Film Festival’s opening night gala Oct. 26. The Award honors a person who has “made outstanding contributions to raising the general public’s awareness of important issues, either through his/her activism or as a filmmaker. It is presented in memory of Andrew V. McLaglen, a proficient, award-winning Hollywood film director and long-time residen...
Being a fast-talking politician isn’t usually thought of as an admirable trait. But it was an essential survival skill at a League of Women Voters Candidates Forum at Skagit PUD in Mount Vernon Oct. 22. Area legislative and judicial candidates were limited to a total of five minutes each in offering an introduction, responses to three questions, and a closing statement. The briskly-paced format was necessary to cover eight Nov. 6 ballot races plus allow time for U.S. Rep Rick Larsen (D-Arlington) and Brian Luke (I-Lynnwood) to speak at the e...
August 6, 1938 - October 2, 2018 Ron Ellis, a long-time resident of La Conner and the Eagles Nest community, passed away unexpectedly at the age of 80. He had been in declining health and was on his way to a doctor’s appointment when life left him. May his soul rest in peace. Ron was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Denbigh and Ethel Ellis. He resided in the Chicago area suburb of Hinsdale when, at the age of four, the family moved to Southern California, eventually settling in Laguna Beach near Los Angeles. Ron totally loved the beach e...
From oyster farming in Australia to wild horse racing in Mongolia and from pursing microscopic viruses in San Francisco to creating biochar in Hawaii, the Friday Harbor Film Festival’s 47 feature length and short documentaries offered enlightenment, entertainment and inspiration for everyone last weekend. The 1,200 people who filled five theaters over three days certainly found films that challenged them. Showings started 10 a.m. Friday. “Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World” first of two screenings was 1 p.m. It presented the shaping influ...
The Friday Harbor Film Festival depends on its volunteers and sponsors, but the two individuals who drive it are co-founding director Lynn Danaher and producer Karen Palmer. Each came up with the idea of a fall film festival for their adopted hometown independently. They put their heads and grant proposals together for the first film festival in 2013, fueled by hotel motel tax funding from San Juan County and the town of Friday Harbor. They have grown their vision into the sixth annual Friday...
Trump? Recently the Skagit Valley Herald had two letters to the editor urging people to vote Republican. The writers have that right, but I assume that they are over 50, have no spouse, no children, and no grandchildren. Why assume that? As explained in the recent UN report on climate, without immediate action to reduce climate destroying emissions by 45 percent in the next 20 to 25 years we face a planet that is going to be ever more uncomfortable in which to exist. Many areas will not have the water or food, and for portions of the year will...
Science is hard to understand and even when people know the facts, they don’t act, explains Skagit County Science Consortium Director Carol MacIlroy. Her Seattle house is on an earthquake fault, yet she has not reinforced it. “Climate change has created a lot on anxiety in the public, with all this information but people don’t know what to do about it,” she says. Art might offer an entry in. Thus “Surge,” opening at the Museum of Northwest Art Sat. at 10 a.m. From “a sense of curiosity” fr...
Sy Montgomery took this call on her friend’s cell phone in a car somewhere in the San Francisco Bay area. She is on a book tour promoting “How to Be A Good Creature: A Memoir in Thirteen Animals,” her twenty-first. Her favorite animal is Thurber, her border collie “with a big stripe down his face like a lightning bolt down in front of his nose and a blind eye,” she says. Why? “He has taught me that no matter how hopeless things look there could be a miracle around the corner,” she said. Montgom...
