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When we bought our home in La Conner in January of 2019, we were told that our block, the only block on Washington Street where there is no storm sewer, was in “Phase 2” of the project to provide storm drainage throughout the town. Shortly after we moved in, members of the town council told us that there was no money at present for such improvements. We were asked to be patient. Our lot periodically floods and such phenomena as atmospheric rivers leave behind a pond of 6-8 inches in depth, which can remain flooded for several weeks and whi...
Muzzall is wrong on progressivism As he stated last week in his legislative column, Sen Ron Muzzall (R-Oak Harbor) has a problem with progressivism. It appears he does not understand what progressivism is about and attempts to use it as a whipping boy for our state’s (and the nation’s) horrific problem with “behavioral health and substance abuse.” That reasoning is as flawed as the Republican Party’s suggestion that the Jan. 6 insurrectionist riot was instigated by the left with the cooperation of “the Feds.” Progressivism is the attempt to lev...
One of the least publicized but nevertheless significant obstacles to the new infrastructure required to support development of new energy resources is that this infrastructure can be unsightly. A few years ago, I was working on a consulting assignment at a well-known university. Management had a strong interest in developing on-campus renewable resources. Funding was easy to acquire. The biggest obstacle to progress was that a politically powerful, well-funded neighborhood association nearby...
The United States was born out of conflict. Profound disagreement led to a war with tragic losses of life and property for the revolutionaries who put at stake their lives, fortunes and sacred honor. The promise of progress was worth the risk even as many of the fledgling nation’s potential citizens fled north to Canada or returned to the United Kingdom. Similarly, during the Civil War, it became apparent that the evils of slavery could not stand, and the Union’s moral certitude required imposing progress. From today’s vantage point, I can’t...
It’s heartbreaking to be updated on how many homeless people there are in Skagit County. Fortunately, they are no longer camping out on sidewalks in our towns. I can no longer visit my friend in San Francisco who has a nightclub because it is so upsetting for me to see so many homeless people camped out in the most expensive parts of that city. Skagit County has provided very nice grassy areas for people to pitch their tents. Some of the homeless people have addictions to alcohol and drugs, b...
The La Conner School District is among hundreds of districts nationwide examining the feasibility and long-term cost advantages of switching from diesel to electric school buses. Key advantages include: reduced use of energy for bus power, accompanied by lower net emissions; stable and predictable energy prices; reduced maintenance costs; and greater student and driver comfort with the elimination of on-board emissions and nearly silent operation. Electric vehicles have far fewer moving parts...
WASHINGTON – The Biden administration announced $1 billion in funding for more than 2,700 electric and low-emission school buses across 37 states in January. This is a second part of funding of a $5 billion, five-year initiative from the bipartisan infrastructure law. In total, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean School Bus Program has awarded nearly $2 billion and funded approximately 5,000 electric and low-emission school buses nationwide. Washington schools will receive a combined $14.9 million through the program. That mon...
It occurred to me: If the Democratic Party is warning their membership not to vote for a specific candidate and the MAGA Republicans are pressuring other Republicans not to support that same individual, you likely have one of the most viable presidential candidates this country has seen in a very long time. Nikki Haley is the right person at the right time to unite this country around what really matters: We’re all Americans. And make no mistake, we will either rise or fall together. As a South Carolina lawmaker, highly popular governor and wit...
This editorial is as timely and critical as when a version was published in 2022, during the last short session of our state legislature. It is updated. Your actions are still needed and needed today. Here is a nonpartisan issue that this community – and indeed, every resident in the state – can rally around in agreement: putting our Washington on standard time year round. That is right: legislation will ditch the semi-annual spring ahead fall-back scenario of artificially changing sunrise and sunset by moving clocks ahead an hour in March and...
There is only one area of the North Fork of the Skagit River used by the tribes for gill netting. It is from Blake’s Resort downstream of the mouth. The tribes have found the river above Blake’s Resort to the forks is not conducive to netting because of the snags and underwater pilings driven in the 1920s and 1930s on both sides of the river for produce loading docks. When the Hatchery King season is open for king salmon above the Mount Vernon bridge for hook and line fishermen it should also be open for the North Fork from Blake’s Resor...
Looking to give your community a Valentine gift? Giving blood takes under ten minutes and truly saves lives. There is no substitute. Please donate on Feb. 23 at the La Conner High School gym. Please call me, 360-421-9233, or Lori Buher, 360-630-0809. Either of us would love to talk with you about the process and benefits and provide you details. Thanks, Dorothy Downes, RN MSW La Conner For more information: https://www.townoflaconner.org...
Thank you for your coverage of the closing of La Conner Drugs. Your writer exposed the real reason medications cost so much in the U.S. I would like to add one additional perspective. Having served on a hospital board and chaired a local clinical board, I value the pharmacist, a local pharmacist familiar with the maladies being faced by her community and her customer/patients. The risks of unanticipated drug interactions can be critical and sometimes lethal. Having a local pharmacist manage all your prescriptions is the best guardian against...
There will be a community presentation about a feasibility study for a grant to allow solar and the storage of energy at the Town’s Fire Hall and at the La Conner School District campus Saturday, Feb. 3 at 10 a.m. at the La Conner Swinomish Library. The presentation aims to explore solar and storage opportunities and how they can help build resilience and support community needs. The Town of La Conner Emergency Management Commission will share details on their work with emergency preparedness. I encourage you to attend. And if you haven’t alr...
Last week I visited Coupeville for lunch. While there, I decided to ask a bunch of business owners and workers what they thought of the angled parking on their First Street because there is talk about doing that here. I started on the parking side of the street. “I hate it,” they’d say. And they’d go on to list the problems that they perceived slanted parking caused. “The vehicle bumpers hang over the sidewalk”, they said – and there wasn’t enough room for strollers and wheelchairs; it’s ugly and parking backs up really fast” I crossed t...
Bravo for last week’s articles and letters regarding the pharmacy benefit managers and the unfortunate closure of La Conner Drug Store, which is such a tangible example of rural America being at the mercy of big money and corporate capitalism. I too had a small business in La Conner. Luckily it still prospers, but I remember fighting to get medical insurance companies to recognize a small independent physical therapy clinic. They kept telling me that they had enough service in Mt. Vernon and Anacortes. What happened to small individual capitali...
The complete weather, Swinomish senate election and school board meeting stories from the Jan. 24 issue can be read on the Weekly News website. Subscribers can call the Weekly News office and sign up for free online access, free with their subscriptions. The stories have been made free so Bill Reynolds’ full coverage is available for readers to finish. The editor apologizes for the Jan. 24 issue’s appearance....
The La Conner drugstore closed Monday, as reported in the Weekly News, a victim of the ongoing corporatization of the American economy, where small companies are forced out because – in ways too many people don’t see or care to understand – the books are cooked and the game is rigged. Small businesses in small towns closing is not a new story, of course. That has always been the American way, the thug-like pressure to get big or get out, or, more commonly, as Judy Booth writes this week on so-called pharmacy benefit managers, the press...
Last Thursday I reached out to Rep. Dave Paul (and our two other state reps as well) and shared my frustrations and asked for help over the La Conner Drug Store closing. Here is the core of my message to Rep. Paul: Don’t know if you can do anything about this but I feel you should know that Rite Aid just purchased our only local pharmacy – La Conner Drug. This little business was first established in 1877. The corporate chain operation made this acquisition only to close the store and transfer the prescription files to their store in Ana...
As a long-time (14 years) La Conner resident I have appreciated having certain local services such as a local bank branch, a grocery store, a pharmacy and a local newspaper. It has meant that I don’t need to travel far for services, supplies and information. I like personally knowing the people with whom I do business. This is the advantage of small-town living. Then I read the stunning news of the closure of the La Conner Drug Store! I have steadfastly used their pharmacy for my several prescriptions refusing mail-order offers of ...
On Jan. 16, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders introduced a resolution in the. Senate calling on the State Department to investigate requesting accountability on Israel’s misuse of American weaponry in their current genocide of the people of Gaza and the West Bank. Unfortunately the resolution did not pass. It was voted down 72-11. Eleven senators, including one Republican, voted for the resolution. I googled the results: Low and behold, our state’s Democratic senators, Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, helped shoot the resolution down. I then goo...
The American Red Cross is facing an emergency blood shortage as the nation faces the lowest number of people giving blood in 20 years. In recent weeks, the Red Cross blood supply has fallen to critically low levels across the country. Blood products are currently going to hospitals faster than blood donations are coming in. Additional challenges lie ahead as winter weather and seasonal respiratory illnesses may create a more dire situation for the U.S. blood supply. A sufficient blood supply is critical to being able to provide timely care for...
Thanks to Ashley Sweeney for her letter in the Jan. 17 Weekly News encouraging people to read. I would add a short sentence: a person who doesn’t read is no better off than a person who can’t read. Beverly Haywood La Conner...
Safe and Sane Skagit members drove to Olympia last week to be present as five new legislative bills on gun responsibility were presented before the Legislature’s House Civil Rights and Judiciary Committee. Those bill are: HB 1902/SB6004: Permit-to Purchase that would ensure that background checks occur before a firearm purchase as well as at the point of sale; HB 1903: Lost and Stolen Reporting wherein stolen guns are often diverted to an underground market, making them more easily obtained without restriction; HB 2118: Dealer Responsibility e...
Our democracy is strongest with full and equal participation in free, fair and secure elections. This means protecting your right to vote and having your vote counted. That’s why I introduced House Bill 2023, which increases language assistance in our elections. Put simply, if an individual cannot understand the ballot, they’re less likely to vote. Even for proficient English speakers, the voting process is challenging to navigate. By expanding the language requirements in the Voting Rights Act, this bill will provide voting translation res...
Town of La Conner residents have two weeks to offer their two cents – or perhaps exceedingly more valuable recommendations – as possible amendments to the town’s comprehensive plan – and the development code, too. Submittals made through Jan. 31 are free. More important is the schedule, for proposals through January are considered this year, in the 2024 cycle by the staff, planning commission and council. Stay awake. This is important for the future of anyone planning to stay or move into La Conner. The Washington state Legislature mandate...
