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Just like that, the La Conner Town Council is four weeks away from approving the 2023 municipal budget. Discussions started in September. Council has already approved $173,260 for tourism promotion, awarding $112,800 to nine groups and sending $60,450 to public works for restroom and landscaping maintenance. These are the mundane, specific line items in your – if you are a town resident – $6.5 million 2023 expense budget. At council’s Nov. 8 meeting Mayor Ramon Hayes said, as he does annually, that he is being cautious, saving for coming large...
I had the most surprising and joyful experience Sunday afternoon in St. Petersburg, Florida. I flew down last Thursday for the 25th wedding anniversary celebration of my friends Dick and Lisa. It is because of Dick that I am in La Conner. His August 2016 phone call and casual but spirited assertion that "you can win that newspaper," in Vermont, not Washington, set me on the path to La Conner. Joanna Sikes praised the James Museum of Western and Wildlife Art when we spoke recently. The museum was less than a block from my hotel. How could I not...
It was a surprise to discover that the Skagit County planning staff is recommending changing the zoning of approximately 70 acres of rural land at the intersection of I-5 and Starbird Road to allow a new gas station, general store, campground, farmers market, equipment rental business and a dog park. Do we really need another gas station on I-5? The I-5 corridor is under tremendous pressure to be developed and paved over. People want to live in Skagit County because it is beautiful, because we have protected our rural areas and our resource...
I have a daughter who in her early teens was happy to sit hang out, or travel with me. She usually preferred to do so in near silence. I would say something, maybe an idle comment and she would smile silently and watch the scenery. This was a little frustrating. I tried to accept it as normal for the age. However, I remained unsatisfied. I wanted to chat. I decided I needed a teaching aid, an analogy or metaphor, to illustrate the basics of communication. I found one, tennis. “Genny, have you ever thought that hanging out with someone is l...
Gov. Jay Inslee’s COVID 19 emergency declaration expired Oct. 31, fading away 31 months after he first declared a statewide emergency Feb. 29, 2020. Recall his TV appearances through March as the coronavirus spread worldwide and Inslee moved to expand public health measures. Reflect on the earliest dark days of the coronavirus pandemic when it was an unknown threat whose scourge seemed limitless. Increasingly, everything was shut down and we were all told to stay home. We locked ourselves up in our houses. Schools were shut, church services can...
I find it useless to go to town council meetings. This it how goes. You arrive. The mayor may smile at you. You get your three minutes of time. Someone times you. The bodies at the front tables may stare at you. Or not. But they don’t respond. Not then. Not ever. (One intrepid council person does sometimes respond later in the meeting but the council, particularly the fellow who sits next to mayor, shoots him down. Almost always. In the last couple years a group has grown that wants to improve things here in terms of community involvement ...
Since 1941, Young Life has been making a difference in the lives of teenagers around the world. Young Life is in more than 90 countries, offering hope with Christian values to approximately two million teenagers each year. Young Life is for every teenager regardless of race, religious tradition or culture. A little over 20 years ago Vern and Elaine Lovelace and John Hackstadt had a vision to start a Young Life chapter in La Conner. Today 20 years later I’m happy to report that Young Life is alive and well in La Conner Young Life starts with c...
In researching the 2018 water dispute between Shelter Bay and the Town of La Conner in the Weekly News, searching for “perpetuity” turns up articles from that winter, including an editorial. Perpetuity is a word not often used. The 2011 agreement between the institutions states: “This contract shall remain in force in perpetuity or until such date as the parties hereto shall mutually agree to terminate it.” Rather than write a new editorial, here is the March 2018 one, revised to edit out the now-past train wreck between the board of the Mus...
By the time Hatfield pushed his way into the bar McCoy was already hard at it, empty beer mugs and shot glasses arrayed in front of him like toy soldiers strategically placed. Hatfield went up to him, but at his touch McCoy turned with more of a smirk than a smile. “Did you bring Nancy?” he slurred. “Where’s Nancy?” “It’s no joke, Bud.” Hatfield slid onto his stool and signaled the barkeep for his first round. “This makes us look bad. What are we, a bunch of thugs? All that talk about fair elections and digging up the truth. You don’t do that...
By Linda Talman La Conner’s Town Council had a barely announced special meeting on Oct. 28. The meeting was illogical. The issue stemmed from a request of a group of hopeful residents to have a special planning commission meeting Nov. 1 to look for common ground for the next year. The planning commission would have set the agendas. Pretty evil, huh? A council person who wasn't at the October planning commission meeting spoke as if he actually knew what had happened there (he didn't) and persuaded other members to vote his way. Their bad. The in...
Two years ago when gas was $2 a gallon and the booming stock market was filling millions of retirement portfolios the voters voted in a Democratic president and in both chambers of Congress. Now, because of restrictions Democrats imposed to end our energy independence, gas prices have surged to as much as $6 a gallon in some states and uncontrolled spending and giveaways to buy votes have increased inflation to record highs. The only method the Federal Reserve has to attempt to counter the free money is to raise interest rates. Those increases...
Smaller government. Less taxes. More personal freedom. Personal accountability. Slowing illegal immigration at our southern border. Less government intrusion in our lives. Less government spending. Less “woke”’ nonsense. Fewer restrictions on our enumerated rights in the Constitution and Bill of Rights, in particular the First and Second Amendments. Keeping socialism in check. This is a Constitutional republic, not a mob rule democracy. Remember this when you vote. The more government can do for you, the more it can do to you. Vote Repub...
I’d like to think here in Washington, women will always make reproductive healthcare decisions with their doctors’ guidance. But as quickly as U.S. Supreme Court justices overturned settled law, our own legislators could overturn women’s rights in our state. Indeed, some are working to overturn the Roe decision nationwide. Legislators with no medical expertise are trying to dictate women’s reproductive health care. We’ve seen what happened in states that lost access to abortion. A pregnant 10-year-old Ohio girl had to travel to Indiana r...
As usual, the La Conner Weekly News was “edutaining” last week. I was intrigued by a letter from Mr. Sather about where he might be able to pump his septic tank. As a past member of the county’s solid waste advisory committee, I can shed some light on the situation. Cows have three stomachs, a very simple vegetarian diet and are a different species of mammal. These differences are significant enough to make the chances of disease and parasite transmission quite remote. The lagoons of cow manure are treated similarly to the sewage treat...
The Oct. 28 council meeting was about planning commission procedures. Marna Hanneman, the planning commission chair, was upset that at the previous planning commission meeting, which was chaired by Carol Hedlin because Ms. Hanneman was absent, the commissioners listened to a group of La Conner citizens who asked to meet with the commission to discuss issues of concerns which will affect future town plans. The commission had a quorum and, with the advice and counsel of the town planner that those meetings would need to be public and published,...
The recent purchase of the Jenson property, with its restriction requiring that the property be used for a public purpose, presents a valuable opportunity for the town and its residents. I’ve heard of a few uses of the property are being discussed, including tiny homes, green space or a park. I’d like to suggest another use: taking advantage of the purchase to provide affordable housing units in La Conner. While affordable housing is a goal in our Comprehensive Plan, it has never made its way into the municipal code and hasn’t been a priority f...
If you have ever driven down Sixth Street towards the schools, you will have seen the house, it is pretty much impossible to miss. It is very colorful and full of “yard art.” The art consists of metal, glass, ceramic and stone, and there are probably 200 pieces or more. All are whimsical, colorful and some even carry messages of peace and hope. The house itself is a joy to look at as well, colorful and whimsical, much like the owner. The trees and foliage have been carefully selected to enhance the entire property and extend all along the ama...
This is the last week of National Co-op Month, the annual opportunity to consider the importance and potential of cooperative businesses. The theme this year, “Co-ops Build Economic Power,” is, sadly, more hope than reality for co-ops, their member owners and our communities. It is definitely true that specific co-ops here in the Skagit Valley are economic powerhouses. The Puget Sound Food Hub, Skagit Valley Food Co-op, Skagit Farm Supply and credit unions such as BECU and North Coast are thriving, growing opportunities for their member own...
Voting rights, civil rights, freedom of choice. Indigenous rights, gender rights, equal rights. Free and fair elections, political accountability, rule of law. Jobs, infrastructure, middle-class economic strength. Climate action, natural disaster funds, science. Affordable health care, caps on insulin, tackle Big Pharma. Sensible gun laws, broad law enforcement training, justice. Separation of church and state, bolster public education, fight censorship. NATO, balanced immigration, geopolitical awareness. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid....
Out here in the farm community, every landowner knows if you expect to raise a good crop of anything, you have to use fertilizer. In this area, the most abundant supply comes from cows and is spread liberally with care taken not to get any on the neighbors’ house or yard, but with little concern as to what he detects through his nostrils....
Talk about mixed emotions: My close friend, Father William Treacy, died last week at the amazing age of 103, and I will miss him so much, but I will also join in the joyous celebrations of his incredible life. Several years ago, I was looking for a place to teach my film and acting classes and heard about a 200-acre property in Skagit County that had buildings that were vacant much of the year. When I got there, I found out that it was now the Treacy-Levine Center, a place where Palestinian...
Ballots get mailed to all Skagit County voters Friday. No need to rush your voting. You have till 8 p.m. Nov. 8 to deposit the ballot in a drop box. If you mail it through the post office, do that by Friday, Nov. 4. It has to be postmarked by Nov. 8 to get counted. Warning: Ballots go to Seattle before getting postmarked. The Weekly News is making its annual endorsement of you, the voters, as the most critical people in the election equation. Taking former President Ronald Reagan’s mantra, “trust, but verify,” this paper implores every voter...
What would happen if Shelter Bay didn’t pursue a new lease with the Swinomish Tribe? I think that we should start looking at the possibility that in 2044 the Tribe will take over the community and possibly the management of the community. Why wouldn’t they want to? They have proven themselves to be good managers of businesses and can probably do a very good job. One problem between now and 2044 is getting 30 year fixed rate mortgage loans. I don’t know what the mechanism would be for securing that but maybe a letter from the Tribal Senat...
Oct 6. 2022 was a landmark day in La Conner. It was truly unprecedented and unlike any other in the Americas in the last 500 years that we know of. It was brought to our attention by Mr. Jay Bowen, who was gracious in his explanation that this March from the people of the Shelter Bay Community was the first of its kind: An Anglo-Saxon community walking on foot in humility to another co-host government, a native culture. Jay was gracious and spoke to us about our walk and its significance. A huge heartfelt talk was presented by Eric Day. We...
My Mondays are a treasure these days thanks to two gentlemen I have met. Both are named Colin and both are from England. While technically neither one lives in La Conner, they meet Monday afternoons from 3-5 p.m. for a “pint or two” at their “local boozer” (The Brewing Company in this case). I don’t remember how I fell in with them but it has become a delight I look forward to. They are teaching me English as well. You might hear an Oi Mush! (sort of like hello!) upon joining the table. Colin #1, as we have designated him, grew up in a village...
