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Last week the Town of La Conner paid the City of Anacortes $6,940 for reconciliation of the water bill for 2020. I objected to this charge and requested a meeting of the town’s utilities committee to explore alternatives. Their answer was “don’t rock the boat.” They were afraid that the Anacortes finance director would impose harsh measures in retaliation. After all, according to the latest audit, Anacortes made a profit of $2,197,437 off of water operations in 2020. All I wanted was for Anacortes to follow their own procedures with regard...
Planet Earth is in trouble. Devastating flooding and forest fires, to mention only two and warmer seas are eating away at the edges of the two polar ice caps at an unprecedented rate. These events can all be attributed to atmospheric warming, confirming ongoing reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The dominant species, humanity, is largely responsible. Put bluntly: We human beings have thought of ourselves as apart from and above the rest of creation. Indeed, in so far as Christianity underpinned a theological belief...
More people responded to last week’s editorial, "Farmers, fish, trees, cold water," than any other on this page in four-and-a-half years. Their questions showed that none understood that the bulk of the editorial was intentionally left blank. It is the editor’s fault when the point is not clear or missed entirely. It is good that readers paid attention, wondered, questioned and reached out. Perhaps you get financial or other information, sometimes pages and pages of materials and at the end, typically, pages are marked “this page intentionally...
The Jan. 23 article in the Skagit Valley Herald, “Piece of state legislation has its detractors in Skagit County,” reveals deep concerns about how to save our salmon. What is clear is that we must act quickly and move beyond the voluntary programs, or we will lose this crucial species. All stakeholders will be impacted and all stakeholders must work together. The Lorraine Loomis Act for Salmon Recovery, introduced by Rep. Lekanoff, calls for repairing damage done to riparian zones around salmon rivers and streams. This will reduce pol...
Monday I was watching CBS morning news and they did a short piece on a group of quilters in Mississippi carrying on the traditions of creating stories through quilting. It got me to thinking about the traditions we have learned being lost. Many of us have learned from family to create, whether it be quilting, knitting, woodworking, sculpting, beading, pottery, blacksmithing or other “from the heart through your hands” creative endeavors. Those of us that are lucky enough to be able to carry on these traditions have an obligation to teach our...
Based on recent opinion pages in the La Conner Weekly News there appears to be a lack of clear or accurate information regarding protections for riparian zones adjacent to salmon streams in general and the Lorraine Loomis Act in particular. Intact riparian zones (the land along stream banks) provide immense benefits to salmon. They provide shade to keep streams cool, they provide large pieces of wood where juvenile fish take refuge from floods and predators, they provide bank stability, they filter and absorb nutrients coming off of farms and...
Kevin McCarthy, the congressional house minority leader, was asked what he thought Joe Biden’s greatest accomplishment in his first year in office was? His answer was that he managed to change Americans long held opinion of Jimmy Carter. Denny Sather Greater La Conner...
Gov. Jay Inslee recently patronized the Swinomish and other local Indian tribes drumming up support for the proposed Loomis Act, HB 1838. (Weekly News, Dec. 22) The act is intended to “save salmon” and would impose enormous costs on local farmers, landowners and taxpayers by requiring the planting of trees and vegetation on public and private lands bordering streams and waterways. The Skagit Valley Herald’s lead article on Jan. 23, “Creating Division,” addressed local opposition to the proposal. Further, an opinion piece published in the Everet...
Remember the sun? It was out for a bit in mid-January. Then, a weekend turning into a week, and then more, of morning fogs, bringing cold, damp and gloom, the days of fog extending into weeks, bringing more morning cold, damp and gloom. It becomes hard to believe, as Thoreau wrote, “ But alert and healthy natures remember that the sun rose clear.” But it does. Even if February’s morning starts continue the overcast and damp handed off by January, know that we have made it. When the sun is out, even as a white ball on the other side of cloud...
When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe. – John Muir Here is an editorial aimed to gain agreement from all sides for restoring riparian tree habitat to achieve robust, comprehensive, long-term and adequately financed investment into ensuring cold water for salmon migration waterways:...
It is clear that individuals and families need better options for long-term care. This is especially true in rural communities like ours, where people want the resources to age or take care of a loved one at home. Private insurance used to be an option, but it is not affordable for most of us now. Worse, many plans do not cover pre-existing conditions. This leaves families with terrible choices. Many spend their life savings, sell their homes and go into bankruptcy to pay for long-term care. We even see couples married for over 50 years get...
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: ditching the semi-annual spring ahead fall back scenario of artificially changing sunrise and sunset by moving clocks ahead an hour in March and returning them to standard time in November. Once again Yakima Valley Republican state Sen. Jim Honeyford has a bill in the Washington State Legislature for year round time. He has bipartisan support...
By proclamation of the governor, January is School Board Recognition Month. It is a great time to recognize our elected community members who selflessly give their time and energy in support of high-quality public schooling for our youth. School board members in La Conner are entrusted by this community with responsibility for an annual budget of $14,070,000 for this year, fiscal year 2021-2022, an average of 555 students, 116 employees and nine buildings. School boards are charged with making decisions that can sometimes be quite difficult,...
I was really surprised to read that the WHO were deciding what to name each new strain of the coronavirus. I loved the WHO, they were one of my very favorite bands, although I had trouble both times I went to see them in person. The first time was at the Flushing Meadows in the Queens, New York outdoor arena, when they opened for The Doors. I had asked a high school friend to join me and I promised her mother that it would be safe to attend a rock concert. When the Who finished the first set,...
Ensuring a robust salmon recovery has become a daunting and politicized task. The latest proposal championed by the Office of the Governor is an example of the bad practice of creating more conflict rather than offering real solutions. The legislation amounts to an unethical taking of private property that will do nothing to aid salmon recovery, while allowing politically connected interests who are doing more harm to those efforts off the hook. The proposals also conflict with the Growth Management Act’s goals of preserving valuable f...
The world is suffering through the end of the second year of the novel coronavirus pandemic. In the United States, scientists developed vaccines that were getting widespread distribution as 2021 began. That was needed good news after months of widespread lockdowns that stifled everyday life and wreaked havoc on the economy, schooling and the healthcare system. Alas, in most countries around the world, the pandemic rages on. In the United States 2021 ended with daily record numbers of new cases of COVID-19. Public health professionals adapted...
Last Wednesday I screwed up my courage and went against my own caution guidelines to see the new film “West Side Story” at the Lincoln Theatre. As everyone else attending did, I showed my vaccination card to get in and I kept my mask on once I finished my popcorn. I had the entire front right section to myself. I sat in the aisle seat in the last row, my bum left leg on the arm rest of the seat in front of me. On Jan. 12, 2022, it was my first movie in about two years. I needed a night out, a night off and the pleasure of seeing a classic in...
Sunday I had a conversation with Brandon Atkinson while watching the demolition of the building behind Sliders. He is the owner and developer. I mentioned to him that we would like his project a lot more if it were solely residential and only two floors. He told me that that is what he would like as well. Incredulous, I asked him to restate multiple times. And he did. He said that he had asked for that rezone (from commercial to residential) but was told by the Town that the Town could not make that change. But they can. The Town can rezone...
I appreciate the inclusion of the “State of the Town” in the Jan. 5 Weekly News. It’s useful to hear the mayor’s thoughts in his own words. I hope you’ll ask him regularly for his views on other Town matters. I am, however, concerned with these words: “The Town has been working to achieve its population goals with the creation of two new subdivisions .... .” My concern is with his reference to the Town’s population goals. I was not aware that the Town had population goals and, if we do, where they came from or for how they are to be met. As a s...
When we Christians think of missionaries we think of dedicated Christians traveling miles to far-off lands, usually to third world countries to convert people to Christianity and to better their lives. They leave family and friends and immerse themselves in a very different culture; many times becoming martyrs and never returning home. Let me introduce you to a “modern missionary.” Fr. Sean Fox was born in Pontoon, near Foxford, in county Mayo, Ireland, in 1928. After high school he entered the seminary at All Hallows in Dublin to study for...
Almost everyone I know considers themselves a friend, family member – parent, spouse, sibling, child, cousin or other relative – an employee, teammate, buddy, sewing circle or book club member or coffee klatch participant. Very few people define themselves as citizens or patriots. Most of us are reluctant Republicans or Democrats, too often wedged into choosing the lesser of two evils or, as Ralph Nader famously put it, picking between Tweedledee and Tweedledum come election time. Almost none of us think government at any level is...
In my work as your representative over the last three years, I’ve had the opportunity to meet so many of you and your neighbors, listen to your concerns and learn about what issues affect your daily lives. From those conversations, it is clear the Legislature should support?a sustainable economy that?allows?all members of our community?to thrive.? Our?state must?improve access to higher education and family-wage jobs, foster?economic development and recovery in rural communities and prioritize healthcare and our quality of life. This s...
Anyone paging through a stack of 2021’s Weekly News will find the obvious bright spots: the Fourth of July parade, concert and fireworks, an absolutely stupendous Halloween Parade and the lighted boat parade. The most wonderful record, set month after month, was the over-the-top Town of La Conner sales tax revenue collections. Facing year two of the pandemic a year ago, the town guessed it might collect $328,202 in 2021. Way too conservative. Sales tax revenue is likely to exceed $630,000, 62% over the forecast. That surprise sales tax revenue...
We are now ending our second year of the coronavirus pandemic. Sadly, it now includes the adjective, just: This is just the second year of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, a global catastrophe that we, the people, could have ended by following the leadership of competent and courageous public health professionals, putting a vaccination syringe through its heart. Alas, we the people refused to unite. Our unwillingness to act as one makes it possible for the pandemic to roll on, mutating its way to new headlines and more preventable deaths....
First printed Feb. 13, 2019. Here is a true fact: the Washington Street hill down to Whatcom Street has had more sleds than cars on it in the 10 days since the first snow of Feb. 4. Did everybody but me know about the street closing for sledding? I learned about this from seeing photos in the Weekly News. Town public works staff put road closed signs and orange cones at Second and Whatcom streets that Monday, opened the street midweek and closed it again Friday for the weekend. Then, wow: fresh snow Sunday night, Another snow day Feb. 11 and...
