Your independent hometown award-winning newspaper
Sorted by date Results 176 - 200 of 881
Ken Stern, the Weekly News editor, was accused by Sandy Stokes, former editor, of misquoting her in his article about Annie Taylor’s appointment to the Town Council. Taylor won by a 3-1 margin over Bill Bruch. On social media Stokes claimed (speaking to Stern,) “You misquoted me in your story on the Taylor appointment. You inaccurately wrote that I said you “ostracized” Bill Bruch. I said you maligned him with a partisan hit piece and that you continued to malign him with your “where’s Billy” Musings column. Stern’s “partisan hit” piece was tak...
Wow! Did we dodge a bullet or what?! That firehose hit us, but the worst of the rains landed in the Frazier River watershed. If what the Canadians got lambasted by had fallen just thirty miles further south, the Skagit River could have been in our face, not in the channel of our choosing. The levees held, but now they’re heavily saturated, a bit mushy at their base. It’s very early in the flood season, so we should not be complacent. If the river got any higher for any longer, we could have been in for a wet surprise: the library project cou...
The superintendent of the La Conner School District met with the tax committee of the Swinomish Tribe last Thursday. He asked for $500,000 for the general fund and $100,000 for the capital fund. He also presented a list of projects for funding. He did not ask for a contribution toward the $1,348,499 debt service fund. This is the fund that pays the bond that financed the middle school. Roughly 34% of the students are Native American. The Tribe’s fair share for debt service would be $458,490. There are 2,295 non-Indian taxpayers in the d...
Mayor Ramon Hayes presented the preliminary 2022 town budget to the council and community two weeks ago, Nov. 4, and all of a sudden there is a surfeit – a lot – of riches and commitment to law enforcement. It is a bit late in the process, with council scheduled to pass the budget Dec. 14, but will the council pause, if not ask for a do over? First, both departing Councilmember Bill Stokes and Rick Dole, elected to replace him, agree on a strong law enforcement presence and filling the long vacant code enforcement officer position....
In last year’s Pew Research Center survey on religion in America, we learned that the COVID-19 pandemic actually bolstered one’s religious faith. Nearly 30% of those surveyed reported a strengthening of their faith because of the pandemic. This number was almost double that of most other developed countries. In the early days of the pandemic my congregation saw an uptick in our Friday night sabbath observance numbers, even though we had gone entirely virtual. It was clear that people wanted to feel connection even if they were not able to sta...
Dear People of La Conner, Thank you for your support, counsel, and criticism during my recent successful campaign for Town Council Position 3. I met so many people during my door-to-door campaign who inspired and educated me. My goal is to listen to your voices whether you voted for me or not, you will be heard. I encourage you all to become active participants in our local community as well as our government. Again, thank you all. Rick Dole La Conner...
About “Presidential dereliction of duty,” the guest view in the Nov. 10 Weekly News: Spouting off bigoted uneducated and unfounded remarks does not belong in our small town newspaper. It only proves to show how narrow minded and angry a small number of people in our community are. Please keep your mean and angry and unfounded thoughts to your small circle of friends. Linda Peterson La Conner...
The votes are mostly counted from La Conner residents deciding on three town council member positions in November’s election. In the first contested elections since 2015, voters elected challengers Ivan Carlson and Rick Dole and returned MaryLee Chamberlain to council. These three won in a high turnout election. Residents and candidates were all paying more attention than has occurred in years. That in itself is a good thing. The existing council chose a new member at their meeting last night. The council representing the community in 2022 w...
The avowed primary duty of the president of the United States is to protect and defend the Constitution and the country at large from all threats. The President swears an oath with his hand on the Bible that he will carry this out. It should be patently obvious to anyone by now that the current occupant of the White House is completely ignoring his sworn duty in most things but in particular as regards defending our borders. Since Biden took office, record numbers, in the hundreds of thousands of undocumented people from at least 160 countries...
Looking at all the pending homes that are about to be built on Maple Avenue and nearby – my question is – how am I going to be able to drive out of town with the traffic jams I foresee? Parking is already impossible on First Street. Guess I had better get my helicopter ready for when tulip time comes. Only one way out: Up. Jean Wedin La Conner...
The “Our grim COVID-19 milestones” editorial in the Oct. 20 edition comments hit the nail on the head. Periodically I have been tracking and comparing COVID-19 data from various parts of the state. Comparing Skagit and King counties confirms trends between big urban and small rural counties. As of Nov. 4, Skagit, the 11th most populated county (population 130,450), had a per capita rate of infection of 1 per 11.2 residents. King (population 2,260,800) had a per capita rate of only slightly more, at 1 per 13.56 residents. As of Nov. 5, Ska...
Kudos to Jim Airy for his Oct. 27 letter, “Critical Candidate Questions.” It was spot on! I have and will continue to use his questions and reasoning in my communication with family and friends, especially those currently estranged. If nothing else, it helps to keep me focused on Truths in this time of fake news and misinformation. It would be helpful for the Weekly News to reprint these questions and Airy’s reasoning in a future issue. Dyann Provenzano La Conner...
I’ve been disappointed with the recycling services provided to residential customers by local waste haulers. Waste Management has done little to improve residential recycling. And even though they say the major obstacle to effective recycling is education they do little (nothing?) to “educate” us in best recycling practices. Nor have they increased the kinds of recyclables they accept. Subscribers who care know that they end up putting items that might be recycled into the trash and items that might not be recycled into the recycle bins. A few...
La Conner once again showed that it is the little town that can – and does – when its town council last week passed a thorough and strongly worded resolution against the Skagit County commissioners allowing Fully Contained Communities to be included in the country’s comprehensive plan. Bravo for the three council members supporting the resolution. They took an important and necessary step. It does not mean the county commissioners will read the many-pointed resolution. It has 23 “whereas,” enough to choke a horse – or a devel...
Dear citizens: I want to thank everyone who has engaged in the voting process, even if you didn’t vote for me. I certainly don’t have all the answers to our problems, yet my ideas and ideologies do fit our small town. As you all well know, it’s the tourists that butter our toast. Sure, there’s our Indian Tribe, Mavrik Marine and Dunlap Towing that assist, but without our beautiful landscape, tulip fields, swans and geese, we’d not have the tourists walking our streets. We’d be beggars with a tin cup, hoping for a nickel and a dime, to pay our...
The La Conner Parent Teacher Student Association would like to extend a huge thank you to all of the organizations that helped make the annual Halloween Parade and Trick-or-Treating possible. They include: the Town of La Conner, the Chamber of Commerce, the La Conner Fire Department, the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office detachment, the La Conner High School volunteers, La Conner United, community members and, especially, the generosity of local merchants. Without you, this highly anticipated event would not be possible. As we all know, C...
I have a chihuahua, Lilly, who is now almost 17. When I rescued Lilly, she was six months old, not spayed, and chained to a tree. She weighed 5 lbs. – the chain about 10 lbs. I was able to contact the owner, who was happy to give her away. “Too much trouble,” I was told. Daily walking my dogs is a joy I miss. Due to an accident several years ago, I had to find a dog walker. I’m happy to say I found, for seven years, the most trustworthy, caring, and loving person, Linda Renae Clark. Thanks to Linda for all those years of happiness she g...
Dear La Conner residents, Thank you so much for participating in my effort for October Around Town. The fortune lady, Lolita, was a big hit. I wrote hundreds of fortunes, which was great. It meant people were taking them. Thank you to all of you who encouraged me, helped, or donated items. I also want to thank all of you who supported my honor system flower shop behind the post office – it was a great year! And, the lockbox was only broken into once this year. I look forward to reopening in March. To all businesses, I hope we all make it...
Bill Bruch is working full time. He is out and about working for the common good of his community and beyond. No time to play hide and seek! Hard work and common sense bodes well for all in this time of turmoil. Bobbi Butterworth Shelter Bay...
Pause. Can we take a pause? Maybe it is time for a pause. The joy of Halloween is behind us and the rush to the end of the year holiday season is not yet started, although a well-planned Christmas tree is twinkling in Heather Smith’s Latitude Longitude shop. Election returns, while preliminary, may be telling – or not. The first tallies came after these words were crafted. Will election results in La Conner make people cheerful? Certainly for at least the winning candidates and their families. Will Mary Wohleb wake up to find she is t...
This is the last week of national co-op month. The theme this year, “Build Back for Impact,” is a rallying cry for all of us, whether we belong to a cooperative or not. Many – perhaps most of us – do, as consumers, producers or workers. Credit union members – not account holders, but owners – mutual insurance company policy holders – owners, again – and, of course, members of the Skagit Valley Food Co-op and Skagit Farmers Supply are owners. So are Organic Valley farmers. The theme, as co-op websites sum up,...
Have you seen Bill Bruch around town? Often? Where? When? Is Billy at the post office? Every once in a while. Is he at the fire station? Nope. Town council meetings? Not there. Oh, I know: Pioneer Park. No he is not. Maybe he is at Pioneer Market. Not shopping. On the boardwalk? No Billy there. Under the bridge, at the fish park? Nope. North of town, on the channel beach? No. Where is Billy in town? At the Tav. Didn’t see him, or the Pub, either. Is Billy at the Brewery? Nope. Dressed up with his date at Nell Thorns? Never saw Billy there, o...
Let’s start this column on a positive note. As a species, we continue to evolve. A perfect example is my buddy William Shatner, who spent many hours in space in a television series many years ago and, holy moly, just finished a real space mission sponsored by zillionaire Jeff Bezos. I’ve spent many hours with Shatner and never saw him expressing the ecstasy he showed after a real space mission. We’re starting to make some progress on combating climate change and we’ve been able to see a reversa...
Within a couple of weeks, four people, the current members of the La Conner Town Council, will determine which one of the three citizens who have expressed their interest in serving will be selected to sit on council. Usually, we rely on popular elections to determine who fills our legislative positions. That is not possible here because there is a vacant seat and it must be filled. So this particular “election” has four voters – the town council members. They will decide who will do the best job and who might best represent the maj...
As Election Day approaches, I have two simple questions for all candidates for La Conner Town Council, including the three who are under consideration by the council to fill the term of Jacques Brunisholz: 1. Who won the 2020 presidential election? 2. Are you vaccinated against COVID-19? Your answers to these questions are important to many of us because they will reveal your view of the role of a public servant, at any level, in the United States of America. Your answer to Question 1 will tell us if you understand how American constitutional...