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Dear Community, For those of you following the alphabet of “Soul Primer,” which has appeared in this paper every week for the last six months, here is your last letter: Z is for Zen … . I hope you have enjoyed these bits of weekly inspiration. In the spring, when it became clear that COVID-19 would impact us all profoundly, I pondered what I could do to make a difference? My book had just launched, a creation to help each individual – and our world – become a better place, but how to get it out, with bookstores now clo...
Once again, our national election for the president of the United States is in shambles. This has happened a number of times in the history of elections in the U.S. What I do not understand is the complex election rules that currently exist. Since the office of president, members of the house of representatives and senate are all federal government personnel, they should be elected by a set of rules created by the federal government. As it is now each state sets their own rules, which can change with each new state administration. To make...
A number of letters to the editor concerning guns have been published recently. I thought I would add my view. There are currently about 400 million guns in private hands in the United States. Increasingly these are semi-automatic versions of military weapons. These guns are designed specifically to kill people and they are terrifyingly effective. The second amendment is not absolute. Few of our constitutional rights are. The Constitution is not a suicide pact. The U.S. government has limited the type of firearms citizens can own several times,...
The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting people mentally, as well as physically, across the world, and in our local communities. As a 16-year-old high school student-athlete, I feel the isolation of not being with my peers and the anxiety that comes with not being able to participate in activities that I love. While I understand, rationally, the reason why I am not able to attend school or participate in sports, I wonder about the social/emotional health of our nation’s youth. According to the New York Times, “The proportion of children’s emerg...
As spring dawned, the coronavirus pandemic exploded on the scene. This paper’s first COVID-19 editorial, “Taking flattening the curve seriously,” was dated March 25. Additional editorials on the pandemic have followed. Early on, some saw the massive change wrought in society and postulated the possibility of “a new normal,” a paradigm shift directing us toward a more just and sustainable future. Alas, the resulting disruption to the old normal, the everyday routine of work, school and socializing threw our society in general, and many of u...
This is my first column here since September. I reserve this space for considerations that are reflective and personal. The first person “I” is rarely in an editorial. Musings, by both their title and nature, are personal. I am the person wondering about the night sky, the turn of the seasons, the rain – or lack of it, being a child of a Depression era mother and our unprecedented president, Donald Trump. Here I have shared both my perspective on the press and the experiences of publishing this newspaper. Here is another chapter. You are...
In the flood of disinformation filling the internet this election season, it was easy to miss another rapidly spreading phenomenon: partisan profit-driven websites putting out propaganda masquerading as local news. Across the country, more than 1,000 websites with the look of local journalism are publishing articles, ordered up by political operatives to cast a favorable or unfavorable light on candidates and issues. These websites, like weeds thriving in vacant lots, have grown to fill the void left by the collapse of local newspapers....
Dear Editor, I read a recent letter to the editor requesting responsibility in submitted opinions, reminding us that students, especially, should read civil dialogue. Granted. Yet remaining civil in a time of gross incivility tests the restraint of opinion writers. I feel deep anger toward a president who has shirked all responsibility to curb the rampant catastrophe of illness and deaths due to Covid-19, ignored safety protocols to limit its spread over the past 10 months, relying instead on his Warp-speed vaccine. This president should be...
In his letter of December 9, Dennis Sather speculates what will happen ‘when Joe Biden and his anti-gun cohorts start knocking on doors to confiscate firearms from legal gun owners.’ The last time we heard this hysterical rhetoric was after the elections of 2008 and 2012, only then it was Obama and his cohorts taking the guns away. That hyperventilation amounted to a windfall for the NRA in donations and for sporting goods stores in gun and ammo sales. But: no guns were taken from lawful gun-owners under the Obama administration, and none wil...
I find myself counting down the days at this time of year. Not in anticipation of the end of the pandemic, the New Year, or in the hopes of getting “the perfect gift” driven by consumerism. Though I have lived in this region for almost 20 years, it is not the gray or rain that overwhelms me, but the dark. That third week in December that augurs the Winter Solstice, and thus the darkest day of the year, marks the nadir of my energy, my focus and even my broader perspective on life and the world. I do not clinically suffer from SAD (Seasonal Aff...
To the Editor: We were taken aback at the recent letter to the editor, Dec. 9, titled “Biden: seizing guns is dangerous.” The first sentence asks the question, regarding those who knock on doors to confiscate firearms: “...what percent of those doing the knocking will find themselves ducking for cover?” And this; “The Second Amendment ...was written with such door knockers in mind.” He finishes with the implication, based on imagined history, that those who advocate gun registration risk being executed. So much violence in such a short lette...
Another week, another free issue of the La Conner Weekly News provided to every home in the La Conner school district. This is the third invitation for you to subscribe, but more: to become more engaged with your neighbors and increase your participation in, yes, the school district, which will be asking for your support of a school levy in February. Last week you were invited to watch – virtually – the annual lighting of the Town Christmas tree in Gilkey Square. And Santa wrote to everyone in the community, child and parent alike....
I also want to put out a request for people to help our local businesses who have had to shut their doors once again, in particular the local restaurants. We have a small group who attend a Friday morning service at Sacred Heart, and then we generally go to have breakfast at Sliders. Now they are only open for take-out or outdoor dining. Outdoor dining was fine in the spring, but now it is December, so I ordered a couple of breakfasts by phone for take-out. They will bring the meals out or you can go in to pick them up, which is what I did. I...
I always enjoy Mel Damski’s thinking but rarely agree with him politically. His letter to the editor was a rare time that I agreed with him that presidential pardons should be eliminated. I don’t recall Mel writing such a letter when Bill Clinton pardoned Marc Rich, who was convicted of 35 counts of tax evasion and was on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list. All of a sudden he now wants to eliminate the pardon, it is a real head scratcher why Mel would write such a letter now, isn’t it? Mike Morrell La Conner...
When Joe Biden and his anti-gun cohorts start knocking on doors to confiscate firearms from legal gun owners, what percent of those doing the knocking will find themselves ducking for cover? It is a serious question and should be thought about long and hard before applying for the job. The Second Amendment of our Constitution was not written with hunters in mind. It was written with those door knockers in mind. Hopefully, people on the left who agree with the anti-gun movement and want (somebody) – no volunteers! – to seize weapons...
Last week was Thanksgiving. Normally, you would expect a guy to stay at home, but Brian Lease, our public works director, was out fixing a pressure reducing valve on North Third Street. It had been worked on, but not finished. “I like to get things done,” he said. What a guy! Dan O’Donnell La Conner...
I cannot think of anything less democratic than the ability of a sitting President to be able to pardon people who have been found guilty of crimes. Feels very monarchic to me. President Trump has added to his sad legacy by pardoning a disgusting man, General Michael Flynn, who consorted with our enemies to undermine our democracy and was serving a well -deserved sentence. How can it make sense for this president or any president to have the ability to pardon criminals, especially when the crimes involved that president, as he has done with...
In the big picture, newspapers are as fundamental to our democracy as the Constitutional separation of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government. Referred to as the Fourth Estate, newspapers function to not only inform the public, but to hold governmental leaders and institutions accountable for their actions. Even though the Founding Fathers often complained of bias, untruths, vulgarities and a stench of “putrefaction” in press reporting, they ironically regarded the press as crucial to the preservation of our form of...
The holidays are upon us. Ornaments, stockings and lights are already unpacked and being strung and hung, respectively, on fences and chimney mantles. Records – well CDs – are being played and favorite Christmas books are being read again. As a society we have many traditions and reflect back on a shared culture and history -- or introduce new generations and newcomers to aspects of the past we love. For newspaper editors, the “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus” editorial is the all-time, worldwide, most often printed edi...
For the past few months, I’ve shared stories about the perilous state of the local free press in these columns. I’ve written about what the decline of strong local reporting will mean for democracy. And I’ve suggested ways that newspapers might reinvent themselves and the government might help save this struggling industry. An astute email from reader Hilary Hilscher reminded me that I’d left out a big piece of the puzzle. “I’ve read your columns in The Seattle Times with great interest and, of course, total agreement with the need to preserve...
Last week Mel Damski stopped by the La Conner Weekly News office. He talked about his “If I Ran the Zoo” column idea for this week’s paper: “Giving Thanks.” I wear many different hats in my life and don’t always slow down and take the time to express my gratitude for everything that I am so thankful for: Here is how I would like to Give Thanks this year: La Conner Sunrise Food Bank: I am thankful for our donors and their overwhelming support that allowed us to continue to provide food to community members in need. I am thankful that our vo...
My flight to L.A. has been booked for a month. I get to see my kids, whom I have not seen in many months, and I get to have Thanksgiving Dinner with my sister and her large family in Palm Springs and I get to play golf and tennis without the threat of rain. Sounds great with one tiny exception: COVID-19! The virus is spiraling out of control in the U.S. and the governors of California, Oregon and Washington have asked people to stay home and avoid crowds. Chances are I will be okay. Allegiant...
The dictionary describes tenderness as being acutely sensitive to pain and the feelings of others. Pope Francis, in his new message to all people, said, “Tenderness is the path of choice for the strongest, most courageous men and women.” America presents us many examples of such people. One is Abraham Lincoln, who said, “I have not willingly planted a thorn in any man’s bosom.” His whole life revealed great tenderness. After the civil war he declared, “Rebel leaders need not expect he would take any part in hanging or killing even the worst o...
Fraud depends on facts to prove the accuser’s case. Everyone has the freedom to believe what they want. At home, in a bar, on a ball field, in the stands, at church, wherever we gather people can tell each other their beliefs and call them truth. A 10,000 year old planet, angels dancing on the head of a pin, dead people voting, mailboxes stuffed with ballots, all of these can be true in a person’s or a congregation’s mind. Folks are entitled to hold on tightly to any belief and take it to their graves with them as gospel. Anyone can tell their...
As of the moment of this writing, Jay Inslee is the clear re-election winner of the race for governor, and Joe Biden is the declared winner of the presidential race. There are striking and very telling similarities in each of the results which shed some light on the fundamental reasons for our social and political divide. Inslee’s credentials as a candidate for governor were: a degree from the University of Washington, and a law degree; four years in our state House of Representatives; two years as a representative for central Washington in t...
