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We have many things on our minds at this time, the fate of our newspaper and La Conner’s south end industrial area, the critically important elections locally and nationally, the Russian incursion in Ukraine, the climate crisis, hurricanes and more. But I would like to draw your attention to the war in the Middle East where Israel is reacting to the Hamas attack last October that killed 1,200 and took 240 hostages. Israel has so far killed, at a minimum, 42,000-plus Palestinians in Gaza, more on the West Bank and now is proceeding into L...
Thanks for your review of “Arsenic and Old Lace” at the Lincoln Theatre. I just want to offer a clarification on names and dates associated with the play. Written in 1939, the play opened on Broadway in 1941 and was a big hit. Boris Karloff played the murderous brother Jonathan, who in the play keeps getting told by other characters that he looks like Boris Karloff. When Frank Capra prepared to make the movie, he asked for the play’s cast members to be given temporary leave so they could repeat their performances on screen. This was grant...
To our La Conner Community: To benefit others, the La Conner Kiwanis and the La Conner High School student body are asking for your help please. Together, they are sponsoring a volunteer-based Halloween blood drive on Tuesday, Oct. 29 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Landy James Gym on the school campus (last building on your right). Your donating will absolutely change and preserve a life! Search: bloodworksnw.org, then go to its donor portal and La Conner please. Please call if you have clinical questions: Dorothy, RN, 360-431-9234, or about...
I was so looking forward to learning more about the proposed revitalization of the industrial dead zone at the south end of town. I had submitted my two bits on the town survey and had great expectations. However, the turnout was not impressive and the acoustics in the room seemed to absorb the presenter’s voice. Granted, my hearing is impaired, but others also raised their hands stating they could not hear him. There was no microphone available. Unable to hear, I left. Perhaps I am unfairly comparing this event to the recent one at the Civic G...
My name is Randi Perlman and I live in Alaska, but that is another story … . A dear friend of mine relocated from Alaska to Shelter Bay several years back to care for her aging mom. During the next eight years, my friend found a beautiful lot on a bluff overlooking the Swinomish Channel, built a new home with a spectacular view and firmly ensconced herself in lovely La Conner. For each of the last two years, it has been my good fortune to spend a month here house-sitting and caring for her aging dog while she travels. After spending a c...
Well patriots, it’s that time again! Time to select the men and women who represent us in the offices of governance, for better or worse! You know, like the marriage vows, “for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health” and we’ve been witnessing the downside of each vow for the past four years! We’ve had the “worst” economy, we’ve become “poorer” and “sicker” as well, due to government shutdown policies! 1: What do you look for in the person who will represent you? I look for strong constitutionalists who...
Thank you to everyone who participated in the “Save the La Conner Weekly News” meeting last Wednesday at the Garden Club. The outpouring of community support for our local newspaper was overwhelming. For me this reinforces what a special place La Conner is. Andrew Ashmore La Conner...
They are just kids. For most kids, their anatomy matches how they feel, but for some it is not that way. The adherence to a binary male/female dichotomy is not accurate. Chromosomes differ, genes go their own way, hormones have different results in different kids. A child is born. Unpredictability is a predictable outcome. No two of us is the same. Some of us are transgender. So, at age 3, 4 and 5, personality emerges. This is the child you have. To understand this person, you need to observe and listen. If this child has a gender identity...
My name is Jeannette DeGoede and have had the privilege of living in Skagit County for 64 years. In 1959 I married Anthony DeGoede who was a bulb grower. The farm was called Tulip Town. Our lives consisted of hard work and wonderful opportunities for our children, Anthony passed away five years ago. I sold the farm, and now, living on the channel in La Conner, most of my neighbors are seniors. The Senior Center is a part of my life that I truly enjoy. In conversations with my senior friends, most of us are 80 and older. We all have our homes...
Here are some facts about Donald trump. Not emotions, opinions or internet conspiracies, but hard, cold incontrovertible facts. Trump is a sexual predator. At least 26 women have accused him of sexual misconduct from unwanted kissing to rape. Their stories bear a chilling resemblance to his “grab them by the …” Access Hollywood tape. With men like Trump, if 26 women came forward, there are many more too frightened to do so. Trump is a criminal convicted last May of 34 felonies. His company was convicted of 17 felonies in 2023. His accou...
I want to thank Bill Reynolds for his kind and informative article about gathering our neighbors to “Map Our Neighborhood” as recommended by the state’s Department of Emergency Management. La Conner is a small community with a tiny group of dedicated public works employees who do an incredible job of maintaining the town’s complex infrastructure. If the town suffers a disaster like the tidal flood of 2022 or a major earthquake, one of magnitude 6.0 or more, our town staff may not be able to meet community needs. At that point dealing with th...
La Conner, Salish seaside town, little, short and sweet, perfect for a Summer Sidewalk Saunter, just keep a sharp eye out for that silly Sloughmander clown. It mostly stays hidden in the minds of those that remember when it more frequently slithered around. It learned how to dance to darn near any music that came, with its own sound. It was sparkly green and blue, with an orange belly, and big bulging yellow eyes! There was no missing it, until it was gone, then the Summer Sidewalk Saunter simmered down. It was thought it might be lonely, the...
Yes, we have a clear choice between the currently right leaning and autocratic Republican offerings and the more centrist Democrats, but in many ways, they offer little choice. They share the “firm commitment” to Israel in spite of its horrific abuse of Palestinians which borders on genocide. They both cater to the ultra rich, the Republicans more openly, but the Democrats in more subtle ways. Trump pontificates about draining the swamp while he wallows in it. The Democrats talk of taxing the rich, but serious action is seldom seen. And bot...
I can recommend two books: The Bible and “The Anti-Communist Manifesto” by Jesse Kelly. Because our homeland is in such crises, it is difficult to know how to briefly say what is in my head and heart. So, just this: Truth is under attack. Deception is the name of the game today. Lies are repeated and repeated and many Americans are deceived by those who are working to change, destroy this constitutional republic. If we can’t discern truth from lies, we are easily deceived. Also, platforms are available for us to read. What does the Repub...
Town Council of La Conner: Regarding my 18’ artisan fence donation, accepted by the Town Arts Commission Sept. 3, 2022 for installation in the Butterfly Garden adjoining the Civic Garden Club, South Second Street: 1. After thirteen contractors quickly or lengthily turned down the project, many no with reason given. 2. Note: I am paying for the total installation which Public Works Director Brian Lease advised, “would be not more than $15,000.” (I’ll pay more if needed). 3. Director Lease said his crew is capable of doing the work only if time...
Just a couple of weeks before the primary election County Commissioner Peter Browning had a letter in the Skagit Valley Herald complaining he had been unfairly described as supporting Fully Contained Communities. Anyone who followed the Board of County Commissioners’ 2021 consideration of a comprehensive plan amendment to allow FCCs in Skagit County knows Browning was indeed a supporter. Browning spoke in favor of FCCs at commissioner meetings on April 28 and May 11, 2021. At that second meeting, he offered the motion to establish the 2021 c...
A recent federal court ruling suggests sending at least some of the NAS Whidbey Growlers to NAF El Centro. Yes! Send ‘em south to California, where they can deafen and intimidate the immigrant hordes trying to scale the wall. Ha! The Navy rebuts with, “But it will cost $800 million.” Take it out of the $38 BILLION we have promised to Israel in the next 10 years that will be largely used in their unconscionable attack on Palestine. If interested in this issue, check out recent articles in Task & Purpose and Simple Flying. Jai Boreen La Conne...
The Hearing Examiner’s decisions shouldn’t be a popularity contest. The code, the council, and administration shouldn’t leave it up to a hearing examiner’s decision to ensure a future with adequate housing! If the Municipal Code isn’t strong enough to preference housing over commercial use...especially in already residentially- zoned areas!... what has to change? This is not a new problem. Is it the municipal code? Or the council’s or administration’s or planning department’s commitments to housing? (Especially affordable housing... whet...
There are two candidates for Skagit County Commissioner, District 1, Ron Wesen and Rylee Fleury. I support neither, but I wish to know who will be representing the affairs of this county for the next term. Unfortunately Fleury is vague on professional experience, education and community service in the voters’ pamphlet and his personal statement sounds like it was written by someone else for him. He has a billboard on Hwy 20 as well as many yard signs and a large box truck plastered with large campaign signage on its sides. These cost a lot o...
Those who support the reelection of Mr. Donald Trump remind us that none of us are perfect, that to lash out at one over another is unfair, that we all have our faults. It must be said, however, that some individuals appear to be more imperfect than others, especially those in high places. “The US could have averted 40% of the deaths from COVID-19,” according to a Lancet commission (England) tasked with assessing Donald Trump’s health policy record. In seeking to respond to the pandemic, Trump has been widely condemned for “not taking the pan...
I met with the mayor and the administrator of La Conner on Aug. 21. The purpose of the meeting was to see if the Town was going to contest the amount of money the Town of La Conner paid to the City of Anacortes for water for 2021 and 2022. The answer was “no.” The agreement between the town and the city calls for arbitration if there is a disagreement, but the mayor and the administrator found no problem, no need to sit down with the mayor of Anacortes. This, in spite of the fact that Anacortes, by my calculation, owes us $46,858 for 2021 and...
I am sympathetic to your recent view article questioning the value of our present two-party system to our election process. The criticism can apply to either side. The parties gain total control by holding the purse strings and thus keep things in uproar as an easy way to generate funds. In this game, money talks loudly. The whistlestop train campaigning may be too outdated, but the undergirding of what we stand for may still be there. Namely: 1. That truth is the most sustainable way to keep us free, safe and fair in our interactions. 2. That...
I just read an e-mail blurb from a Tunde Wackman who is staff at World Central Kitchens. The New York based non-profit who is working non-stop in Ukraine, Sudan and other troubled locales around the world, including Gaza and the West Bank. You may recall that World Central Kitchens is the organization that Jeannie Wedin, myself and others raised $18,000 for a few years back feeding refugees in Ukraine. Now they are distributing much-needed food to starving Palestinians. A month or so back they were in the news resulting from Israeli Prime...
The public hearing held on July 29 by the La Conner school board revealed that next year the district is going to levy $1,434,000 for debt service on the bond that built the middle school. That will be paid by about 4,400 non-Native American taxpayers who live in the school district. The Swinomish do not pay taxes. Yet, they account for 38.7% of the student body. They should contribute $554,958. The tribe can afford it. They will collect $1,958,197 extra cash from their tax on Shelter Bay and Pull & Be Damned residents this year. One of the...
The Federal H-2A Temporary Farmworker Program was designed to provide “temporary workers/guest workers” in areas where industrial agriculture can request a cheap, flexible and deportable workforce with no labor rights. This program relies on cheap and exploitable temporary workers working on farms at the expense of local farmworker communities displaced from secure jobs to support their families. Local workers work/live in Skagit County (some for decades), have families, pay taxes, pay for housing, buy clothing and groceries, and support the...
