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State Sen. Ron Muzzall's (R-Oak Harbor) has won reelection to his state legislative district 10 senate seat His margin is 2.1%, 51% to 48.9%, and 1,849 votes against Island County Commissioner Janet St. Clair after Snohomish County election staff reported totals Saturday. He has led since the third day of tally reports. The election offices in the three-county district estimate 2,650 ballots remain to be counted. Most, 1,800, are in Skagit County but LD 10 precincts are only in the southwest portion of the county. There are some 750 uncounted...
David Cram pulled down his share of rebounds as a La Conner High basketball player in the 1980s. But perhaps his most impressive rebound has come in the financial arena over the past 15 months. Cram, now the La Conner Schools financial chief and interim superintendent, has overseen a fiscal bounce back resulting in notification from Olympia this week that the district is released from state financial oversight. During the fiscal year Sept. 1, 2023-Aug. 31, 2024, the school system grew its...
Like parents or counselors for a 900-member family, Mayor Marna Hanneman, the La Conner Town Council and staff, primarily Town Administrator Scott Thomas and Finance Director Maria DeGoede, are wrestling with short, medium and long term funding needs as they advance the town’s 2025 $8.4 million draft budget. Hanneman reflected on the challenges of the past five years in her Nov. 12 budget message: the COVID-19 “pandemic, flooding, extreme weather events and the highest inflation in half a century.” Hanneman, Thomas and DeGoede discussed the p...
DAWN OF A NEW LA CONNER DAY – The sun will not shine brightly on the Rainbow Bridge at 7:46 a.m. for some time, as it did on Oct. 11, but any morning and any time one walks La Conner's boardwalk is a good time to be out. Every day we can pause and reflect on where we are and what possibilities are before us....
A favorite La Conner Thanksgiving tradition is on the menu once again. The Waterfront Cafe will provide its free community Thanksgiving meal from noon-3 p.m. Thanksgiving Day. As always, it's an opportunity to dine with friends, family and neighbors in a relaxed holiday atmosphere. Those facing financial challenges, are alone or who simply want to celebrate Thanksgiving with Waterfront Cafe patrons and staff are invited. The cafe, located at 128 S. First Street, will provide a turkey dinner with...
State Sen. Ron Muzzall’s (R-Oak Harbor) has won re-election to his state Legislative District 10 senate seat. His margin after Monday’s ballot count is 2.1%, 51% to 48.9%, and 1,871 votes against Island County Commissioner Janet St. Clair. He has led by increasingly large margins since the third day of tally reports after the Nov. 5 elections. The election offices in the three-county district estimate 1,800 ballots remained to be counted. Tuesday, Skagit County staff were counting from an estimated 1,600 and Snohomish County staff were cou...
Fire District 13 Chief Wood Weiss got the green light on Thursday to commit up to $700,000 toward purchase of a Pierce tender truck that would bolster an aging District 13 emergency response fleet. District commissioners authorized Weiss to pursue acquisition of a new tender shortly after approving a preliminary 2025 draft budget that projects a fund reserve exceeding $1 million. “That sounds like a lot of money, until you have to buy some equipment,” commission Chair Bruce Shellhamer cautioned when referring to the seven-figure bank bal...
The shorthanded La Conner Emergency Management Commission, which this year has juggled flood mitigation, neighborhood mapping and the crafting of a community disaster preparedness plan, received a much needed shot in the arm last week. Brianna Wilson, owner of Thrive Direct Health Care, was appointed by town council at its Nov. 12 Maple Hall meeting. A commission vacancy remains, said Mayor Marna Hanneman, who nominated Wilson. The Council unanimously approved Wilson, noting that her medical...
The Board of Skagit County Commissioners will hold a public hearing next week on the county’s comprehensive 2025-2030 Six-Year Transportation Improvement Program. The hearing will be held at 11 a.m. Monday, Nov. 25, in the Commissioners Hearing Room, 1800 Continental Place, Mount Vernon. It will give citizens an opportunity to comment on the plan. Copies of the 2025-2030 Six-Year Transportation Improvement Program are on file for public review in the Public Works Department and online at www.skagitcounty.net/Departments/Publ...
Free COVID-19 test kits are available from the federal government. Go to COVIDTests.gov for up to four kits per household. Shipping is also free. The Federal Trade Commission warns that any website asking for more information than names and shipping address is a scammer. Free test kits are also at the kiosk at the Swinomish Medical Clinic on Reservation Road. The expiration date for many kits has changed. Before discarding a kit because the expiration date has passed, go to the FDA’s website to see if its expiration date has been extended. T...
HEADS UP Kiwanis Annual Holiday Craft Show 9 a.m.-3 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 7, Maple Hall, 104 Commercial St., La Conner. Christmas shop with locals. Ornaments, bags, stickers, jewelry, tablecloths, toys, cards, wall art, cookies and pies for sale. Come early for the Rotary Club Santa Breakfast and stop by the vendors on your way out. LIBRARIES La Conner Swinomish Library. 520 Morris St., La Conner. 360-466-3352. www.laconnerswinomishlibrary.org/events. Open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays. 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays....
Last Thursday the MV Karl departed La Conner's Mavrik Marine shipyard, where it was built, and was barged to Anacortes' Dakota Creek Industries, where it will be placed in the water. After local sea trials, and with cooperative weather, it will sail to San Francisco by the end of the year. This third of four Mavrik-built ferries will join the Water Emergency Transportation Authority Bay Area passenger ferry fleet....
La Conner residents received an Ivy League education at Pioneer Park on Saturday. The volunteers, led by trained natural resources specialist Steve Phillips, spent a couple hours removing invasive English ivy from a patch below the town water tower. It marked the second such work party at the park this fall. Phillips envisions the ivy removal project continuing monthly through autumn and winter and in the years ahead, if possible. "We decided to do this now, because summers are so busy, and...
State Sen. Ron Muzzall’s (R-Oak Harbor) lead in state Legislative District 10 increased by 104 votes as Snohomish County election office staff worked Monday. His margin over Island County Commissioner Janet St. Clair is 2%, 51.3% to 49.3%, and 1,562 votes. Island County’s approximately 10,000 ballots being counted are all in LD 10. If St. Claire’s ratio of 54% to 46% in the counting holds, she will gain 800 votes. To win, she must win by 800 votes in the Skagit County LD 10 precincts. There are probably not enough votes in the pool of some...
The polls are closed and Lona Wilbur has cast her ballot. But the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community member and La Conner High School alum will vote a second time for Kamala Harris as the Democratic Party's standard bearer. And she'll do so legally. Wilbur has served numerous party roles at the local, state and national levels during a long and fruitful tenure in politics. Now she is Washington state's Second Congressional District elector and will travel to Olympia next month to pledge her...
Looking pretty good: La Conner's $65,990 in October sales tax revenue was $387 above 2023's and only $658 below 2022's October record high. These are August's funds, reported by the state's Department of Revenue on a two-month time lag. The $542,101 total for the year is 89% of 2023's estimate. It is almost certain that the town will beat it forecast of $609,181. This is the fourth month in a row that sales tax revenues are above $60,000. When sales tax revenues are high, so is the fire...
Communication was the word that resonated at the Nov. 5 La Conner Emergency Management Commission meeting. Commissioners continued their review of a draft Community Emergency Management Plan, which communicates strategies for dealing with natural disasters and provides a risk analysis of each potential scenario – from earthquakes and flooding to fires and tsunamis. “It’s a work in progress,” commissioner Jerry George called the draft plan, due for approval by the end of the year. Fine tuning the plan has been a priority this year. “We nee...
The La Conner Planning Commission forwarded one recommended comprehensive plan update to the town council but tabled action on another during its Nov. 5 public meeting at Maple Hall. Commissioners were unanimous in advancing updates to the comp plan's transportation element, including language addressing electric vehicle charging stations. The element, reviewed every five years, will eventually include a Transportation Improvement Program schedule. Deferred was a draft parks and recreation...
And the rain kept falling as October turned to November, with another inch Nov. 1-2. That more than matched the previous six days, 0.8 inches Oct. 26-31. Yet it was not the month’s wettest week: 2.5 inches came down Oct. 14-21. The 1.2 inches Oct. 19 was the most rain; 2 inches fell Oct. 18-21. But rain has been common in October this century. The 4.2 inches of precipitation is only the ninth wettest of 11 years of 4-plus inches of rain. Six of those years have been since 6.1 inches fell 2014, the wettest year since 2000. This year’s rainfall i...
The Port of Skagit Commission has appointed Melanie Mankamyer as port commissioner for District 2. The position became vacant after the sudden passing of longtime Port Commissioner Steve Omdal on Sept. 28. Mankamyer is a newly retired professional engineer and former partner in Wilson Engineering. Her 28 years of experience as a civil engineer provided her with vast experience in public works projects, developing long-term capital improvement plans, conceptual project plans and budgets, all of which are relevant and significant to the work of...
HEADS UP Northwest Agriculture Safety Day, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 14, at Maple Hall, 104 Commercial St., La Conner. Register at www.gishab.org/NW-ASD2024. $75 per person, $10 group discount for five or more registrants. Lunch and snacks provided, parking passes available. English and Spanish sessions on: * Blast sprayer calibration and configuration * Tractor safety * Prevent sexual harassment in agriculture * Pesticide labels * Machine guarding/lock out tag out * Developing an effective accident prevention program Presented by...
Tuesday night’s first vote counts put Island County Commissioner Janet St. Clair in the lead for Washington’s legislative district 10 Senate seat with 50.1% of the vote. Incumbent Senator Ron Muzzall (R- Oak Harbor) trailed at 49.8%. Almost 44,000 ballots were counted in the district of three counties. St. Clair led in Skagit County with 56.4% and in Island County with 56.1%. Muzzall has 58% of votes in Snohomish County. While St. Clair leads in Skagit County by 762 votes, her districtwide lead is 153 votes. Incumbents Skagit County Com...
It was another spooktacular Halloween in and around La Conner. Historic First Street, now one-way traffic, was closed to all traffic – other than the popular Meow Mix car and law enforcement vehicles – for a full hour Thursday afternoon to allow for La Conner's annual Halloween downtown pedestrian parade. After striding from Gilkey Square to Maple Hall, costumed paraders of all ages walked back to Morris Street, collecting candy along the way from La Conner merchants and business owners. "Th...
As office seekers and voters alike focused on which way political winds were blowing, it was a meteorological windstorm that grabbed attention in the La Conner area Monday afternoon. Gusts of up to 60 mph snapped off sections of trees in the Snee-Oosh Road area, occasionally bringing down power lines and causing short-term interruptions of electrical service. Power was out on at least some part of Pull and Be Damned Road till about 3 a.m. Tuesday. Some homes in Shelter Bay lost power for at least a couple of hours. Indian Road was closed to...
Janie Beasley didn't need to drive far to be celebrated for choosing the long road in terms of public service. A Swinomish Indian Tribal Community member and La Conner High School alum, Beasley received a 2024 Skagit Women's Alliance Network Lifetime Achievement Award during Oct. 17 ceremonies at the Swinomish Casino & Lodge. SWAN is a nonprofit organization dedicated to recognizing and supporting accomplished women throughout Skagit Valley. Upper Skagit elder Kay Knott, who like Beasley was...
