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Monday was a Memorial Day in the La Conner area that will not soon be forgotten – and not just because of ideal weather. The public was again able to honor sacrifices of deceased veterans with solemn ceremonies at the Pleasant Ridge and Swinomish Tribal Community cemeteries, rituals suspended in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “We’re grateful for the opportunity to gather again,” said Rev. Don Robinson, who officiated a service under warm and sunny skies at Pleasant Ridge, the oldest ce...
The final day to drive-up or make an appointment for a first-dose COVID-19 vaccine at the Skagit County Fairgrounds is Saturday, June 5. Skagit County Public Health is closing out first-dose vaccine services at the fairgrounds following this date and will focus primarily on second-dose vaccinations until June 26 when the site will close permanently. This allows Public Health to right-size operations and serve the community via convenient locations at additional mobile clinics. Anyone 12 years and older are encouraged to access their first-dose...
There are times in life when you just know “it was meant to be.” Ginger Olson, for the last 8+ years, provided business services and more at Tillinghast Postal & Business Center. When Lucy Kelly decided to sell the business to us last December, Ginger had every intention to also leave and prepare for a move to Wyoming with her husband Randy. When Christi came into the store to meet Ginger and start training with Lucy, they both instantly recognized their similarities and their wonderful fri...
We are excited by the recent announcements from the CDC and Gov. Jay Inslee’s office and we look forward to taking the next steps toward reopening. Based on current guidelines for public libraries in Washington State, we expect to begin welcoming patrons by appointment into the library starting Wednesday, June 16. The library will be open by appointment to members of the same household, up to five people. Appointments will be available every half hour, 1-5 p.m., Monday-Friday. To make an appointment, please call the library at 360-466-3352. A...
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...
Competition is, overall, a good thing. It is what makes our sports interesting, drives our natural environment to constantly adapt and it is also what keeps private enterprise going. It pushes a business to innovate, keep prices competitive and keep customers happy. At the heart of this competition is a desire for a mutually beneficial exchange between individuals. On the other side of this coin are monopolies. Although prohibited by federal law, they do exist. Characterized by controlling a market to ensure their profitability and viability,...
The 2021 Legislative Session adjourned on April 25 and the Legislature made progress on many issues that are important to our community. First and foremost, in this historic virtual session, I worked with the Legislature to provide swift pandemic relief for families, businesses and our community – as well as lay the groundwork for long-term economic prosperity. We also made substantial investments in childcare, public health and housing affordability. The final budget prioritized helping small businesses by reducing unemployment insurance...
The nine homes sold in the La Conner area in April are almost double the five homes sold in March. They sold at a 12% average lower price, $430,000, Northwest MLS Services reported. The month’s sales are almost half of area home sales since two sold in January. For 2021, the 20 homes purchased in the La Conner area had a median price of $459,250. That is 4% of the 563 homes sold this year in Skagit County. In April, the 149 newly sold homes in Skagit County also sold for less, on average, $455,000, down 6% from March’s $485,550. The big...
La Conner social justice leader Rosalinda Guillen painted a vivid picture of her late father, acclaimed artist Jesus Guillen, during two special presentations at the Skagit County Historical Museum last Thursday. The local museum is exhibiting the works of Jesus Guillen, whose keen, sensitive portraits of migrant farmworkers in and around La Conner uniquely capture the dignity and skill required to harvest the area’s agricultural bounty. Rosalinda Guillen added context to her father’s rich art...
Even when done virtually, there is nothing more real than the Big Climb in Seattle. Let La Conner resident Mike Ritchie explain. “The Big Climb,” he says, “is a stair climb up the Columbia Center, the tallest skyscraper in downtown Seattle. There are 69 floors of stairs, 1,311 steps and 788 feet of vertical elevation.” Ritchie and others in support of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society will take on the Big Climb from coast to coast on May 15 as a major fundraiser benefitting blood cancer research. “Although it will be challenging,” Ritchie said, ...
The rezone of historic Hedlin’s Ballfield and conversion of the nearly two-acre site along Maple Avenue into a subdivision and park space has been headline news here for more than a year. The land has been bought and sold, but relocating local youth sports in 2022 after Landed Gentry Homes constructs 10 residences on the baseball diamond is not resolved. The prospect of the Town, La Conner Schools and perhaps Swinomish Tribal Community applying for grant funding to light additional school athletic fields to help meet district and youth r...
Incredibly, in month 13 of the coronavirus pandemic, La Conner’s Morris and First streets storefronts house more merchants than were open in March 2020. There are 11 new businesses, two new owners of existing businesses, two businesses opening soon and five that moved or expanded into a closed space. Only two 2020 business spaces stand empty: Seeds Bistro and Indigo Stitch. Five provide food and drink: Scone Lady, Salted Grape Bistro, Stompin Grounds, NW Fuel and The Firehall by LC Brewing C...
Skagit County announced another round of assistance funds with the availability of $8.9 million in rent and utility assistance for Skagitonians impacted by COVID-19 April 2. This grant was provided by the Washington State Department of Commerce and funded by Treasury Rent Assistance Program (T-RAP). The program is to prevent evictions during the ongoing COVID-19 health crisis by paying past due and current/future rent and utilities for people needing relief. The monies extend $2.2 million in funding from the Washington State Department of Comme...
Will Nelson is a new face in town. But it will not be long before his will be a familiar face. Nelson, chosen last Wednesday as the new superintendent of La Conner Schools, plans to be a visible administrator, interacting regularly with students, staff and the community at large. “I’m really passionate about the position,” Nelson, director of equity and student success at Arlington Public Schools and a member of the Blackfeet Nation, told board members during a rigorous interview process last...
James Owen Lockrem Sr, 61, passed away from cancer at his home in La Conner, WA surrounded by his family on April 1, 2021. He was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on April 28, 1959 to Richard and Florence Lockrem. The family moved to Washington State when Jim was 8 years old. Jim graduated from Glacier High School in Burien, WA. He married the love of his life, Carol Starkweather, in Burien on June 30, 1979. They moved to La Conner in 1982 and raised five children. Jim attended Skagit College in...
My greatest priorities for the 2021 legislative session are to support economic development and recovery in rural communities, promote sustainable environmental and economic health and support families and those hit hardest by the pandemic and recession. The House recently released its operating, capital and transportation budgets. I am proud to have fought for local projects and programs that will go a long way to support these priorities. Economic Recovery Washington’s recovery begins with community, which is why House Democrats built a plan...
Will Nelson is a new face in town. But it will not be long before his will be a familiar face. Nelson, chosen Wednesday as the new superintendent of La Conner Schools, plans to be a visible administrator, interacting regularly with students, staff and the community at large. "I'm really passionate about the position," Nelson, director of equity and student success at Arlington Public Schools and a member of the Blackfeet Nation, told board members during a rigorous interview process last week. Nelson vows to take a collaborative approach to...
Narrowing the field is not the sole domain of college basketball this month. La Conner school board members last weekend chose two finalists from among 21 applicants for the district’s superintendent position, the last step in a process that began last fall. David Forsythe, assistant superintendent of operations at Northwest Educational Services District #189, which serves 35 public school entities and 170,000 students in Skagit, Island, San Juan, Snohomish and Whatcom counties, and Will N...
The Fourth of July will not be the same here anymore. Nor will home basketball games at Landy James Gym. Mike Cladoosby, the avid, longtime Swinomish fisherman and tribal elder who launched the famed Jughead’s Fireworks Stand in the 1970s and whose unyielding support of La Conner High sports teams resulted in a seating section of the school’s gymnasium being designated in his honor, died last Friday surrounded by family members. He was 87. Cladoosby’s “extended” family, of course, is rooted on...
At a time when the national landscape is scarred with divisions wedged by alternative facts and cancel culture embraced by both left and right, time-honored values upon which participatory democracy was founded enjoy consensus support on the local level. Though political tribalism can send a polarized electorate to respective echo chambers for spin disguised as information, there remains a “we’re all in this together” mindset when it comes to recognizing critical aspects of citizenship upon which communities rely. This is especially true in th...
We are more than halfway done with the 2021 legislative session and there is a lot of good news for families and businesses here in the 10th District. Here is a quick look at major bills that have passed the House and will make a meaningful difference if they get signed into law. Broadband and technology access The covid pandemic has shown the weaknesses in our state’s broadband infrastructure, especially in rural areas like our communities. Fast and reliable internet is no longer a luxury. It is a necessity, just like electricity and r...
Confronting the financial challenges caused by COVID-19 continues to be my primary focus during this session. Although there is growing confidence the rapid deployment of the vaccine may end the health pandemic, the economic impact will be felt long into the future. Unemployment continues to be a problem as thousands of individuals and families wonder how they will keep a roof over their heads and food on their table. Some industries have been more wounded than others, with jobs in retail, restaurants, even dentist offices, wiped out across...
The La Conner School Board held a special meeting Monday that lived up to its name. It was termed “special” because it opened with a walking tour of the campus. What was truly special came next. The members convened their first in-person meeting in a year – since the COVID-19 pandemic forced closure of schools statewide last March and led the board to conduct its public sessions on the Zoom tele-conferencing platform. Masked and socially distanced, board members met in the district administration building to hear updates on La Con...
Fire District 13’s changing of the guard quietly concluded at its monthly commissioners meeting Feb. 25. It was not till the end of the meeting, after Commissioner Larry Kibbee gave his legislative update report, that he spoke of his decision to retire, asking for a point of personal privilege. In his quiet, matter of fact way he recognized the staff and commissioners with whom he served eight years, the last 15 months as board chair. Saying it was “an honor and a privilege to be part of the Fire District 13 family,” he told them “no one doe...
Washington State Journal OLYMPIA — Additional relief in response to the COVID-19 pandemic is on its way. Gov. Jay Inslee signed a bill into law Feb. 19, that appropriates $2.2 billion federal dollars to be used for K-12 schools, public health, assistance to individuals and families, housing and business assistance. “The process of getting to a post pandemic era has just begun,” Inslee said. “And we intend to come out of this pandemic stronger, in part because of this legislation.” The package distributes $365 million in emergency eviction...
