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I have received the best third year anniversary gift ever from the people around the country embracing the Black Lives Matter movement: Hope. This surprise gift welled up inside of me recently, completely unexpected, as I reflected on finishing my third year as owner of the Weekly News. What are the important nuggets that I have mined since July 2017 when I started here? What have I experienced and learned? Turns out that the lesson is lifelong, not from La Conner at all. That happens sometimes. My version of the last 50-plus years of life in t...
By: Mike Morrell Mel Damski is pleading for President Trump to resign because he knows that is the only way Sleepy Joe could win. Can you imagine if he did resign and we were stuck with a President Biden, who can’t put a coherent sentence together, sniffs young women and girl’s hair and supports the Democrat mayors who are letting mobs ravage our cities and who has a son who reaps millions because of daddy’s political influence? And, yes, Joe avoided the draft by claiming he has asthma. Funny but I have not noticed him ever having troub...
By: Albert Ondo The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the injustices and inequalities that have plagued our society and our state for far too long. Too often, our state representatives in Olympia have not placed people first. Our health and safety should be a priority; working people should have livable wages; strong education must be the foundation of life and work; transportation ought to meet the demands of our 21st century economy; and sustainable farms, forests, and fisheries will create sustainable jobs. Now is the time to elect people like...
This is our twelfth week since Gov. Jay Inslee started shutting down Washington’s economy, ordering us to Stay Home to Stay Safe. We are not nearly as shutdown as we were when March ended. We are not all safe, either: Last week 50 COVID-19 cases were confirmed in Skagit County. Two weeks ago, public health staff told the Country’s Board of Health that the rise in cases precluded applying to the state to move to Phase 3. The increasing number of cases and the rate of increase, metrics of “community spread” make advancing to Phase 3 by Decembe...
In March La Conner schools were told to close their doors by the state’s Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction due to the coronavirus. A great challenge was placed in front of all to teach and establish logistics through Zoom meetings and Google Classroom while maintaining a fluid stream of communication with the entire school district community. Not easy. But through the positive efforts of students, teachers, staff, administration, and families the 2019/2020 school year was successfully completed. The State Superintendent, Chris R...
Skagit County is on its way to week three of being in Phase 2 of the state’s four phase Safe Start plan for reopening our economy while keeping new cases of the coronavirus at bay. Our beginning-to-open tourist town – and every community and county in Phase 2 – is taking baby steps along a carefully prescribed route. Businesses and cultural institutions: schools, churches libraries and art centers, must follow guidances issued by the state’s Departments of Health and Labor and Industry. Residents – whether as customers, visito...
I am Renee Stewart, Paisley’s mom. I believe a person has a right to their opinion/beliefs and they have the right to be heard. Renae Paisley only stated what half, or more, of America is thinking. There are many ways to view to the COVID-19 pandemic. I have heard people tell me how afraid they are and I’ve seen the extremes they are going to ensure their safety. I also know of people who have not changed any of their usual routine, except as forced by closures. I have heard many different beliefs related to COVID-19; it isn’t real, it isn’t...
The letter from Renae Paisley two weeks ago gave me chills – not the good kind – but the responses from our community gave me faith in humankind. Letter after letter admonished Paisley’s twisted view that we must put an end to social isolation and open up our streets and shops so we do not hurt our economy. I’m guessing that Paisley is a nom de plume for a person who self-identifies as an “entrepreneur” and thinks that a vibrant economy is more important than the lives of old farts like myself. One of the big problems we have no...
La Conner’s High School seniors, every one of them, graduate with this distinct honor: Never has anyone, or any school class, been rocked and roiled by a spring like this one. Before March it was impossible to imagine finishing school without going to class. Every ritual and tradition vanished: their senior trip, prom and graduation ceremony are just the tip of the iceberg of their losses. The one lesson, perhaps learned, usually takes years to master: Life is not fair. La Conner’s seniors got a crash course and were force-fed that coarse mat...
Dear Ken Stern, I sold the house. I moved to Anacortes. I drove through downtown La Conner to say “goodbye.” Then it hit me! I am leaving the nicest town I have ever lived in. Yes, Shelter Bay is part of La Conner. Over the 20 years I often sat in the Catholic Church and looked at the window labeled “La Conner,” named after Louisa Conner, the founder of our little city. She also built the church! As I said “goodbye” to my old house, I realized that I loved this area. Especially the grocery, Pioneer Market. The main street. The Tavern. The many...
Thank you for the news article about the campaigns of Paul and Bruch. It was helpful to learn that, according to Bruch, Paul’s campaign is dominated by special interests: i.e., unions, tribes, environmentalists and social justice warriors. Because those are all my special interests, I now know whom to vote for. But I do not understand how that means that Paul is not working for the “average taxpayer in our district.” All these folks sure look like average taxpayers to me. Beverly “average taxpayer” Haywood La Conner...
I wonder where our humanity is during these troubling times. Are we, as a society, like a volcano ready to erupt with our burning emotional bitterness and hatred and fear? Can we begin to look within ourselves to see how we can deal with one another? Can we have a community without resentment, re-sent-meant? I will live with unresolved issues over and over. We need to acknowledge that we need others. Personal responsibility means I have to look at the part I play. I have the option to do something or let things stay the same. I, as a victim of...
I want to reply to Rane Paisley about her apparent lack of concern for the health of others in her community. I was angry last week and am still angry. I take her statements as I believe they were intended, loving or not, as a warning to avoid her and others who choose to disregard the best advice of local health professionals trying to slow the spread of COVID 19. As we decide where my wife and I can begin to go out again, it is clear to me the town of LaConner, our former home, is not that place. As a described local entrepreneur, I have to...
It speaks for the open mindedness of the editor to have printed “‘Citizen View’ COVID virus a severe ‘bug’ strain.” Several facts were misconstrued; the virus has actually killed more than any other flu viruses in the past hundred years. It has killed many younger people and children. Also, why should it be okay that older people and those with pre-existing conditions are dying? How human are we? These older people have helped build this economy that is being lost partially due to mis-management by the federal government in this situation....
Dear Editor: As I read last week’s edition of the La Conner Weekly News, I was shocked to read “A Citizen’s View” by Renae Paisley. At the bottom of the incendiary opinion of Ms. Paisley, there are the following words in italics: “Renae Paisley is an entrepreneur in La Conner who seeks to share love, truth and gratitude in these unprecedented times.” I am sorry, but those words don’t ring true for me – in fact, they seem to contradict the message of her printed opinion. Ms. Paisley’s opinion is anything but loving. Rather, it seek...
Renae Paisley’s opinion piece in last week’s paper left me both angry and disheartened. She insists that the measures initiated to help control the Covid-19 pandemic – which to date has killed more than one hundred thousand people in the U.S – are simply an intolerable intrusion on her individual freedom. “Any ordinary and healthy individual should weather the storm” she writes. That is generally true, but it is also true that an asymptomatic carrier can pass the virus on to others. “I will not be wearing a mask in the stores, n...
It is June. Gov. Jay Inslee’s March Stay Home Stay Safe emergency proclamation expired at midnight on May 31. The Safe Start 4 Phase, metric-based reopening plan is in its fifth week, with 27 of Washington’s 39 counties approved and in Phase 2. Skagit County may move into Phase 2 this week. Already casinos on tribal lands – managed by sovereign governments – have opened for business at reduced capacity. La Conner’s business owners are a diverse lot, like any community of any size. Some restaurants have been completely closed since...
I want to say THANK YOU to all of my fellow reasonable and brave free-thinkers. Since the beginning of the COVID scare I’ve felt alone. I choose to live my life in love and rationality, not fear, and so it has been difficult for me to watch as the leaders of our country and around the world have decimated our economies, school systems, individual liberties and sense of security over a virus. For those of you who have ever had the “common” cold, that is a virus. It is a “bug” that ordinarily enters our mucus membranes via the nose, eyes, mou...
As you read this this during Memorial Day week the number of Washingtonians killed by the coronavirus is surpassing 1,100. Deaths reached 1,000 May 15. The number of confirmed cases in the state is over 20,000. The daily increases, in cases and deaths, have been slowing – the flattening of the curve – though the 304 cases reported Friday were more than double the number of the two previous days. Nationally, the death toll rose above 100,000 this week. On this Memorial Day week it is important to reflect that deaths reached 58,000...
You are holding issue 151 of the Weekly News under my stewardship. In six weeks, on July 1, my fourth year of owning the La Conner Weekly News begins. This is the second six page issue in your hands. Until last week, for 149 issues, it has been at least eight pages. The goal has been to increase the page count to 10 and 12 pages consistently, bringing you added coverage of the greater La Conner area. There have been 10 page editions on an occasional basis the past three years, always because of additional ads, often because of more legal...
The post office – the postal service – is an institution as important and rooted in our community as the school system or the fire department, but different, too. It touches every person’s life, probably every day. Funded by the federal government, it costs us next to nothing. The postage we pay for, whether to mail an envelope across town or a box around the world, is subsidized; the expense is much more than we are charged. Americans have among the cheapest postage rates in the world, certainly compared to Europe. Here, a stamp c...
Patience. That word and theme has been stressed many times in editorials since mid-March. Mid-March. That was two months ago. How patient we have been these last two months. Hopefully, that has become habit. Our new habits, of patience, of social distancing, of wearing masks, of shopping local establishments with takeout orders, like muscles constantly employed, make us stronger and able to go on. And go on, using these newly strengthened muscles in these new ways, is exactly what we must do. For how long? We have to hear and accept and...
I am well into the “vulnerable” age group and more afraid of the assault on our civil liberties than catching a virus. I choose to “social distance,” wear a mask in public, work from home and live without hugs from my grandkids. But I am terrified of authoritarian senseless restrictions on our activities. Why is it reasonable to browse for clothes at Walmart, but I cannot shop for a t-shirt at Clever Kathy’s or a scarf at Two Moons? How come a kid at a drive-through wearing gloves can rub his nose then pick up four drink cups with one hand...
President Trump’s decision to cut off financial support for the World Health Organization during the worst pandemic in a century takes a head-in-the sand approach. The global community will have time to complete an evaluation of what worked, and what did not, after the pandemic is under control. The decision to discontinue U.S. funding WHO while the world is struggling with the COVID-19 virus is misguided and will hinder global efforts to battle this debilitating pandemic. The work of WHO is indispensable to stop the spread of disease, p...
In this unprecedented time, when a virus seems to be attacking the whole world, it is certainly a challenge to gather interest in an old building. This old building though, is no ordinary structure but a place indigenous to the history of our valley and its pioneers. I am referring to the Pleasant Ridge Schoolhouse which according to the April 22 Weekly News is scheduled to be razed. Located on Pleasant Ridge on Valentine Road near the old cemetery on a ridge of land nestled between the fertile farm fields of Mount Vernon and La Conner, the...
