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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...
There are two important bills I would like to share with you. One involves rural broadband and the other health care. Both of these common-sense solutions do what good legislation should, they transcend party division by simply doing what is best for all of Washington. First, let us talk about rural broadband. More than any other previous generation, we have been forced to reimagine communication. Because of the pandemic, we communicate with each other with fewer face-to-face interactions. Online tools that enable individuals to meet virtually...
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...
The Swinomish Tribal Senate is pleased to announce its approval of the Tribe’s 2021 voluntary contributions to the La Conner Regional Library, Fire District 13 and La Conner School District. The contributions will be paid from Trust Improvement Use and Occupancy taxes, which the Tribe collects from individual Tribal landowners and owners of homes built on leased Swinomish trust lands. Recognizing the economic challenges faced by some taxpayers from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Tribe is also pleased to announce reduction of the 2021 tax rate to $...
Greg Edwards and Bruce James have always been close. It was fitting, then, that the former La Conner High teammates would see their race for a Swinomish Tribal Senate seat decided by a razor thin margin. Edwards edged James 151-146 in balloting Saturday at the Swinomish Tribal Community Social Services. Edwards and James were vying to succeed three-term incumbent Kevin Paul, who had placed third in the tribe’s January primary election. As one would expect, the Edwards-James race was strictly a positive campaign, including their post-election c...
The North Region of Whatcom, Skagit, Island and San Juan counties will be moving forward to Phase 2 of the Healthy Washington – Roadmap to Recovery Plan beginning on Sunday, February 14 Gov. Jay Inslee announced Thursday. Movement in the Roadmap to Recovery plan is determined by four metrics measuring the status of coronavirus infection and healthcare facilities for the region. Improvements regionwide have been dramatic in all four metrics. The downward trend in rate of cases the previous 14 day period is 32% versus a 69% increase in...
