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Sunday, December 7, 1941 was my father’s 18th birthday, “a day which shall live in infamy.” That day my 16-year-old mother threw him a birthday party in the basement of her family home. The next day he registered for the draft and joined the army. Fluent in French, two years later he was secreted into Vichy France to translate between the Allies (those also secreted in) and the Resistance. He received a field commission as First Lieutenant. When he came home from the war he joined the National Guard and served for decades, ultimately attai...
As a 27-year, U.S. Navy retired Master Chief, I am completely disgusted by our so-called president and his statements disparaging the brave veterans who have fallen in service to our country. My father was a 17-year-old sailor who was wounded in World War II in the South Pacific and I have been in harm’s way while on a flight crew and working on the flight decks of aircraft carriers more times than I can remember. I have even had to carry a body bag of a sailor killed in an aircraft carrier and it is not a pleasant task. This fifth grade b...
Three Dark Clouds are hovering over the world today and this coming election should not be glibly decided by party posturing. It is time to wake up your family and friends and point to these three clouds. The First is the coronavirus, COVID-19. This is a worldwide threat to our very human existence and is mutating – indefinitely. The Second is the threat of nuclear annihilation. The U.S. alone has enough warheads to wipe out every country on the planet several times over. The Third is drifting closer and closer to silently cover all of...
We also would like to thank John Leaver and Rick Dole for taking the initiative to plan a one night non-event, and more, in order to help small businesses in La Conner! In addition we also thank Heather Carter the La Conner Chamber director, for her continued effort to support and help the business community by putting the word out through social and other media and planning special events to create more business. We also thank Ramon Hayes, our mayor, for stepping up and taking charge to make La Conner a COVID-19 free town. People got the...
Dear Buz: Thank you for your accurate summary of German history and the success of Adolf Hitler (Letters, Sept. 9). I want to add a couple things that were different then but cannot be an excuse nowadays. There was no TV or computer, only radio and newspapers, which were both controlled by Hitler. Not many cars either, to drive to other places. My mother grew up not far from Auschwitz and did not know that it existed. My father was sent to Russia to fight at age 18. Once Hitler was in complete control, nobody could be against him without...
This one is more than a bit “over the top”, even for this editor (Sept. 9 editorial). Sad that this article has no balance, no civility and no truth. I wasn’t born yesterday, so I have long experience of watching, hearing, discerning truth from error, false from genuine. A close friend recently commented to me: What the left claims the president and others on the right are doing, is instead, exactly what they are doing. I started paying attention to that claim and found it to be true. I have even heard others comment this is happening. There...
I live in an apartment up on the hill, and I am writing to find out if anyone in town would use a community garden space. If so, I am interested in making that happen. I haven’t looked for a spot or started any part of the project, but there is a well-established protocol used all over Seattle to establish these gardens, or P-Patches. It would be a big project, but it is not reinventing the wheel. I realize most folks have a yard, and we are surrounded by farms and amazing farmstands, but there are many reasons why community gardening is a h...
First, a shout-out to Fire Chief Aaron Reinstra for parking the “41” Fire engine on First Street to attract passersby. Second a salute to Public Works Director Brian Lease for taking extra time to allow access to the electric receptacle under the gazebo at the Washington Street pocket park so our DJ could spin the discs. Thanks to you both! Thanks also to the committee members who put forth effort to help make this happen. Overall, given the timing, limitations to conform to COVID requirements and working with no funding, I think it went qui...
To the Editor, While driving past Little Mountain we decided to check out the new parking lot at the bottom of the hill. Quite impressive, with easy entry and exit and probably enough parking spaces for the next 100 years. The big attraction for the Little Mountain Rd. has always been the view from the top looking down into the valley. Half a century ago that was possible before they let the trees grow up to block the view. It used to be a 180-degree view, including downtown Mount Vernon. You see enough trees on the way up the mountain, so...
Thursday morning this week, four La Conner Rotarians, led by Martin Howard, gathered at the south end of Conner Waterfront Park to weed the kayak launch area. Howard was joined by Rick Bolduc, Jerry Willins and Ollie Iversen. They worked to make sure our parks are as clean and usable as possible for everyone. Patsy Good Rotary Club of La Conner Community Service Chair...
This is a comment on the letter to the editor last week from Doug Snider (who I do not know). The history referenced is from “Hitler’s First Hundred Days,” by Peter Fritzsche, 2020. Winston Churchill said, “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Kaiser Wilhelm, as the monarch of Germany, together with his generals, declared and prosecuted World War I. Until defeat was certain in 1918, the people were assured victory was at hand. The Versailles Treaty ending the war was shocking, humbling and economically devastati...
The 2020-21 school year begins for La Conner students on Sept. 14. For the teachers and staff it began Sept. 2nd. For many in the administration and teaching staff, last year’s school year never ended before this new school year began. With the end of the school year our state superintendent of public instruction made a public statement that all schools would open in person come September, but to be prepared for the possibility of full online learning, or a hybrid scenario, and to take immediate steps in the preparation for all three of t...
Mark Twain is quoted as saying, “Humor is mankind’s greatest blessing.” As your superintendent I think we all need to take some time during this unprecedented time to take a humor break. Our total staff have dedicated a significant amount time preparing for the opening of school on September 10. This has entailed retooling how we operate as a school district as we start school remotely. I am enormously proud to say that the La Conner employees have accepted that we are doing business in a different way, but we have an obligation to serve our c...
Consider three “P” pillars of our representative government: the postal service, the presidency and the press. The institution of the presidency is the youngest, not appearing until the U.S. Constitution emerges in 1787. The postal service is older than the United States, created by the Continental Congress in 1775. Far older than both in North America is the free press, which was vocal before Benjamin Franklin was a Philadelphia printer in the mid-1700s. The free press of Franklin’s day was not the Philadelphia Inquirer and certainly not t...
Nothing is more local then voting. No duty of citizenship is more fundamental, sacred, necessary, or ties each community into the whole cloth fabric of our 50 united states than our quadrennial exercise of casting ballots for president. All citizens, starting in La Conner, need to be reflecting on the president of the United States when he calls for people to vote twice, which both breaks the system and the law. This president simultaneously displays his profound ignorance and utter lack of caring of the first principle and premise of self-gove...
Meteorological fall arrived Tuesday, as it always does, on September first, but it journeyed here through the month of August. Its progress was daily measured, for weeks, by the ever lengthening tree, house and building shadows, cast by a sun no longer quite as high in the sky. That sun has retreated south from the northern most advance it forayed into in June. The incredibly long days starting with dawn before 5 a.m. are once again a hope we will have to wait to seek out in 2021. How fast my summer went, and now how far behind us are the...
Letters praising the most corrupt and incompetent president in my seventy-five years compel me to speak out after a long silence. I no longer have clients to lose and the people I care about agree with me. I can now be brutally honest and I will be. Donald Trump was never prepared for public service and never expected to have to serve anyone but himself. His candidacy was another of his many cons, intended to resurrect his failing brand. A climate of hateful ignorance and the aid of a brutal dictator wanting to sow chaos in our democracy swept...
“The Barn Shows: 1987–2003, In Their Own Words,” cuts deep and indelible swaths, like a glacier, forever marks on our shared cultural history. Lavone Newell-Reim and Cathy Pearson Stevens have beautifully documented this major Skagit Valley legacy – seventeen years of Barn Shows on Fir Island. Initially inspired by an exhibition titled “Summer Harvest” organized by artist John Simon, the Barn Shows were led by artists’ visions forming a shared cultural mandate and fueled by the ethereal yet undeniable spirit of Northwest School ar...
Dear Mike: A “truly decent man” would never lock children in cages. (In response to Aug. 26 letter – ed.) Kathy Rodenberg Seattle, Washington...
At last week’s town Council meeting, the Mayor, Administrator and four of the five Town council members rushed through (in my opinion) an extension of the current contract for police services with the Skagit County Sheriff. The extension covers Dec. 2020-Dec. 2021 at a cost of $331,097! In return the town receives 80 hours of “police service” a month! However, the contract provides that the Sheriff will patrol south to Conway and north to Bayview – within those 80 hours. Mine was the sole voice to question the value of service we recei...
On behalf of the members of the Rotary Club of La Conner, it is my pleasure to thank all those who participated in our virtual auction through advertising, buying and donating. Your generosity makes it possible for us to continue to support literacy in La Conner, Guatemala and Honduras, feed hungry children in La Conner, provide books for La Conner preschoolers through the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, give dictionaries to every La Conner third grader, give scholarships to La Conner high school seniors, provide leadership opportunities to...
Monday is Labor Day, the holiday marking the end of summer. In the old days we would pause, barbecue and rejoice in the gains working people have made for us in the workplace and society, advances brought by generations of struggle against oppressive bosses and governments actively aligned against them. Today the unions barely breathe. They are not even a shadow of their old selves. Their struggle is to survive in a world dominated by corporate wealth and the influence it purchases in the halls of government. We still need solidarity in the...
Town Councilmember John Leaver, citizen Rick Dole are leading a group that gets an E for effort for their ad hoc rallying of merchants and residents to shop – and eat – locally and late Friday, Sept. 4. Let’s rally around our merchants to kick-off the Labor Day weekend. We can all take some of the monies we are not spending traveling and recreating and buy ourselves or families or friends a gift and treat ourselves to dinner out. Make it a weekend-long pleasure to walk First and Morris Streets and keep our local dollars local. L...
President Donald Trump was re-nominated for the 2020 election by his Republican Party in Charlotte, North Carolina Monday. Maybe that is because he: Puts others first. Brings the nation together. Brings other nations together. Protects and promotes children. Honors and defends women. Sacrifices his time and fortune. Has a good word for everyone. Takes responsibility. Inspires confidence. Respects the rule of law. Provides stability. Plays fair. Is kind. Is reverent. Is trusted. Is trustworthy. Is respected by his foes. Is quiet and...
Five folks from each of two service clubs in La Conner, led by Rotarian Marty Pease, met at Gilkey Square to wash the Town’s Park picnic tables, trash containers and benches Aug. 17. They were from our local Kiwanis and Rotary clubs who together saw a need and stepped up to make sure our town sparkles for everyone here in town and for people visiting, especially on these warm weekends. Public Works Brian Lease and Todd Parks were a great help to make sure we had water and hoses with proper connections. When you see anyone from any local s...
