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It’s that time of year: ballots are about to be in the mail, with voting this primary season starting July 20. Offices are contested from the U.S. Senate through county positions, though not all candidates face primary challenges. Contested primary election races for the greater La Conner area are: U.S. Senate, Second Congressional District, Legislative District 40: State Representative Position 1 and County Treasurer. These are the offices in which more than two candidates are running. The top two finishers will seek your vote again this f...
For the Class of 2018, it was one last time to enjoy the moment. Still, in that moment – one extending over a two-hour period – La Conner High seniors alternately reflected fondly upon the past while guardedly taking measure of the future ahead. The school’s annual Commencement Exercises last Thursday drew a large audience to Landy James Gymnasium and featured a program that elicited both tears and cheers. In short, there was something for one and all. Valedictorian Emma Lee, r...
American history teaches us there are many ways to honor the nation. Memorial Day in La Conner added the lesson that there are just as many ways to salute the country’s fallen heroes. There were large turnouts at both the Pleasant Ridge and Swinomish Tribal Community cemeteries Monday morning for local Memorial Day services. Each stressed the need to remember the many sacrifices made by America’s men and women in uniform. Each ceremony was equal parts reflective and spiritual. Rev. Don Robinson, a La Conner High alum officiating his final Pleas...
It’s billed as “a novel affair,” yet just as easily could be promoted as a three-hour Pearl jam. Not an alternative rock concert, mind you, but a major fundraiser in June supporting the local drive to build a new library for the greater La Conner community. It’s the much anticipated appearance here of Nancy Pearl, the revered yet unassuming “America’s Librarian,” long a fixture on the Seattle scene and now embraced among avid readers as a national icon. Pearl, a popular radio and TV personality as well as an acclaimed author in her own right, w...
Shalom Circle is a liberal Jewish Community founded and co-led by Cantor Miriam Fein and Simme Bobrosky. We share spirited services, classes and festival celebrations. Our gatherings are filled with song, story, ritual and fellowship. Together we explore the wisdom, peace and joy of Jewish spirituality. On Saturday, June 2, 10:30 a.m.-12: p.m. we will be having our Shabbat Morning Service at our new location which is Skagit Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 500 West Section Street in Mount Vernon. We want to take this opportunity to thank...
Longtime La Conner resident Jeanne (Alaways) Johnson passed away on May 2, 2018. Jeanne was born in Anacortes, WA July 21, 1924. She was the oldest of six children and grew up in Port Angeles and Clear Lake working in the family shingle mill. After traveling from Alaska to Louisiana she settled in La Conner in 1964. Her passions were gardening, hiking, rock hounding and cooking. She had several businesses throughout Skagit County and through these hobbies and ventures she met and touched many lives. In the early 80’s she went back to school a...
Lisa Dawn Wooding was born on October 25, 1964 in Anacortes, Washington to Bill Wooding and Kaaren Wooding Malson and was joined by siblings: sister, Kari and brother Brent Wooding a few years later. After fighting a long lingering infection Lisa left on her journey to be with the Lord on April 6, 2018. As a young girl she liked helping her mom around the house and riding with her dad in a dump truck where she usually fell asleep. She liked playing outside with Kari and Brent and neighbor Dale Johnson. While roaming the neighborhood they...
Close to 100 people from the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community gathered with handmade signs at the SITC’s gym March 27. Holle Edwards, march coordinator said, “this is the fourth (annual) March (on Drugs) …. it was really empowering … the youth center made signs with the kids the day before the March that said things like ‘Say No to Drugs’ and ‘Do Drugs and Your Brain Turns into Slugs.’” The tragic loss of family members and friends due to opioid deaths has reached frightening a...
Representing Skagit County Fire District 13 at the Scott Firefighter Stair Climb on March 11 were Charlie Baldwin, Woody Weiss and Conrad DeGroot. This annual, national Stair Climb supports the mission of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, raising money through sponsorship, individual and department fundraising and entry fees. The event each year featured over 1,800 firefighters from over 300 different fire departments. Over a million dollars was raised for blood-cancer research and patient...
The big news about 2018’s July 4th fireworks at the February 13 town council meeting was that Kody Skvaril, Port of Skagit harbormaster, has resigned, to move back to Guam. Mayor Ramon Hayes lamented his loss, saying “Kody was the glue, from the Port side. He knows exactly what to do.” With only a little discussion, the Council approved a motion by member Bill Stokes to lock in the $10,000 agreement with Western Display Fireworks, of Oregon, to provide fireworks on July 4 from the west side of the Swinomish Channel. With no fireworks, but o...
Dunlap Towing is making sure a grand old name not only rides the tide of history but also impacts the Pacific maritime industry for years to come. The La Conner-based company expanded its fleet with the launching on Jan. 20 of the “Sigrid Dunlap,” a state-of-the-art Phyllis-class ocean-going tug designed for the firm’s work towing barges between Seattle and Honolulu. “It was dark and cold at 7:30 in the morning,” said Dunlap Towing Assistant Controller Meghan Dunlap-Rice, “but the wind subsid...
Corrine May Swanson passed away peacefully January 15, 2018. She was born in San Francisco on September 10, 1922. She moved to the La Conner area as a child. She and her brother Keith Sarkisian grew up with the Bell cousins. Corrine graduated from La Conner High School and later became an elementary school teacher in Concrete. She was married to Vernon Swanson and had five children. Corrine enjoyed painting, bridge, reading and spending time with friends and family. She was a sweet, gentle loving soul who had a kind word for all. Corrine was pr...
History was among the subjects children of Pleasant Ridge pioneer families studied at their two-room schoolhouse east of La Conner. Now it’s hoped the building itself can help teach and preserve local history going forward. Initial plans are afoot to restore the iconic Pleasant Ridge School, which was built in 1891 and welcomed students until 1929, when its closure was hastened by area school consolidation and development of bus routes. The old school, a house, and adjoining two acres of land w...
Patty Detzer, 68, passed away on January 8 surrounded by her 3 kids, at home in Seattle. She was born March 11, 1949. A trail blazer, a pioneer, and a firecracker Patty was born in NYC New York, the rebellious daughter of Mildred and Arthur. She was an Art and Ceramics major at San Fransisco Art Institute and later at the University of Washington, with influences from the work of Frida, Diane Arbus, and Patti Smith. Skagit Valley, Patty’s community, has greatly benefited from her loving, and generous hard work teaching and creating many b...
Local color – You have probably heard the repetitive booming cannons and the recorded distress calls emanating from fields in the Skagit Valley during growing season. Those artificial warnings are designed to keep birds away from berries. Unfortunately, most birds get accustomed to the sounds after a few days and quickly realize there’s no real danger preventing them from gorging on the current crop. That’s where Brad Felger comes in. His business, Airstrike Bird Control, Inc., is a natura...
WNPA Olympia News Bureau OLYMPIA – Climate activists erected tents and teepees Monday in front of the Washington State Capitol building, on the opening day of the Legislature’s 60-day session. “We are here today in prayer,” said Paul Che Oketen Wagner. He is a member of Protectors of the Salish Sea and of the Saanich First Nation of Canada. Wagner claims under the Medicine Creek treaty of 1854, the legislative grounds are native lands. He said the group hoped to occupy the space betwe...
Strategic decisions regarding fire safety and placement of firefighting facilities in Skagit Valley are important decisions that have long term budget and service capacity implications. At the Dec 21 meeting of District 13 Commissioners, Fire Chief Horn stated that District 13 is considering the purchase of property east of the Swinomish Channel to construct a new fire station serving eastern portions of the District 13 service area. A decision to undertake a property search for a new station implies that appropriate analysis and evaluation...
World War II veteran John K. Bob was honored by his Swinomish tribe with a retirement ceremony for a special American flag and his war medals at a dedication at the Swinomish Social services building Dec. 7. Veterans from all over the region were asked to participate at the request of John K. Bob’s family. This ceremony marked the seventieth anniversary of Bob’s return home and paid tribute of this fallen WWII war hero and was attended by over 200 people. Bob enlisted in 1942 while still a sen...
Be prepared. It’s not just the Boy Scout motto. It’s also a timely approach to life, one that helps define those who train to be Community Emergency Response Team or CERT, members. Local CERT training starts Jan. 9 at Shelter Bay Clubhouse. The mission is one that has helped shape lives here and elsewhere – and not just those victimized by hurricanes, floods, fires and earthquakes. The trainees themselves have found CERT to be, if not life-saving, certainly life-changing. Regardless of age. Consider its impact in Mart, Texas, a town of 2,...
The Swinomish Indian Tribal Community invited the general public to the grand opening ceremony for its didgwálič Wellness Center in Anacortes Nov. 15. Welcoming the larger community in was much more than symbolic: the didgwálič center’s treatment program is open to all. Well over half the clients will be non-tribal members. John Stephens, the center’s chief executive officer emphasized that point: “The Tribe is committed to the betterment of the broader community and this is a huge investment to make sure this happens....
The Anacortes Food Co-op, open since July 2016, is probably the state’s newest. And they have already moved to a bigger space, occupying 1,500 square feet – retail is 1,000 square feet, including Rachel’s Cool Beans Cafe – at 2308 Commercial Avenue since February. Coming from La Conner, you can’t miss it on the west side of the street: the “Enjoy Skagit Maid Ice Cream” covering the wall is larger than the store’s sign. The co-op’s vision: “a member-owned grocery store bringing food, goods, and services that are local, organic...
The Skagit Valley Food Co-op has experienced phenomenal growth from its 1973 start in a church basement in downtown Mount Vernon, but it has not strayed far from its roots or its original location. Now occupying two buildings, the mother store fronts South First Street at Division. C-Square is in a building tucked between Second and Third Streets. The expansion impulse was a combination of solving a mundane need to secure over 60 coveted parking spaces and a daydreaming “La-Z-Boy” concept, explained long time General Manager Todd Wood. He fir...
If only the candidates vote in this year’s town council election, they will win. Running unopposed are incumbents John Leaver, Council Position 2, Bill Stokes, Council Position 3 and Mary Lee Chamberlain, Council Position 4. Once the La Conner School District directors vote, they, too, win. Running without opposition are Brad Smith, Director District 3, Lynette Cram, Director District 4 and John Thulen, Director District 5. The same is true for Fire District 12 and 13 commissioner positions. Doug Peterson is running unopposed for C...
Politicians are known for being long-winded, but Gov. Jay Inslee took an opposite approach during a two-day visit to the Swinomish Tribal Community this week. He listened. The governor and his staff spent the better part of Monday and Tuesday hearing from Washington state tribal leaders in what National Congress of American Indians President Brian Cladoosby called “an opportunity for honest, open discussions.” That opportunity wasn’t wasted. Inslee fielded input on a wide range of issues –...
The bullets rained down on Las Vegas, and tears flowed in La Conner. In a terrible twist of fate, the tragic mass shooting of outdoor concert-goers at the Route 91 Harvest Festival inflicted painful wounds here as well. Among the 58 innocents killed as a result of Stephen Paddock’s horrific rampage was 31-year-old Carrie Parsons, recently engaged in Hawaii to Randall Alvord, whose dad, Doug, co-owns the La Conner Brewing Company, on First Street with his wife, Pam. Parsons, from Bainbridge Island, worked in Seattle at a staffing agency. She was...
