Articles written by Judy Booth
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Olga's April account of the war in Ukraine
Olga has continued to provide email updates. She lives in eastern Ukraine. In mid-April no fierce battles were around her. She told me the sirens were less often as Russia concentrated on other areas. “I feel kind of weird because we have regions...
Olga's firsthand account of the war in Ukraine, part 2
Olga is offering a glimpse into life in Ukraine since the Russian invasion in February 2022. The article last week left Olga at work in Ivano-Frankvisk in West Ukraine. She had just read on social media that Kiev was being bombed. Her dad and...
My Name is Olga and I live in Ukraine
This article is taken from edited emails received from Olga in Ukraine to Jan Paul of Shelter Bay. Jan has known Olga for twenty years. For security reasons we are not using Olga’s or her family’s last name. Olga became friends with Steve and...
Three poets' performances at Poetry Festival
Listening to Javier Zamora sing one of his poems at Maple Hall to a Meringue beat during this month’s Skagit River Poetry Festival, you would be surprised to learn he had traveled more than 3,000 miles on foot, by bus and boat, across rivers,...
Skagit River Poetry Festival's return offers delights
Early morning fog and mist lent a magical twist Thursday to streams of students hauling books from the old to the new La Conner Swinomish Library. The rumble of wheels along Morris Street from carts...
2014 dog death brought burglary felony conviction
Linda Clark presented an incomplete narrative of her advocating for and intervening “on behalf of two dogs in town” in 2014 in her guest column “Why I challenged the sale of Hedlin Field” in the Oct. 13 Weekly News. Skagit County Superior...
Fire burns more than pizza at Brewery
Fire broke out in the La Conner Brewery’s pizza oven around noon Saturday. Within minutes the La Conner Hook and Ladder Department were at the scene, entering the building from First Street and...
Apology to WW II POW finally comes
“I took him to lunch and said, ‘call this lady,’” recalled Chamberlain’s daughter, Becky. “She said ‘we are going to Japan.’” The American Defenders of Bataan and Corrigedor, a memorial society, had contacted Becky with the...
Japan visit part of POW reconciliation program for dad and daughter
“When I first heard about returning to Japan, I wanted to say two prayers. The first – to forgive the Japanese for the way the POWs were treated; the second – to pray for my friends who...
10th Biennial Poetry Festival a hit
La Conner, flooded with poets and students from eight area school districts, hosted the 10th Biennial Skagit Valley Poetry Festival last weekend. The Poets Table Soiree kicked off the event Thursday...
CERT training begins in January: Sign up now
Skagit County Community Emergency Response Team Training begins in January. How prepared are you for a major earthquake or a fire such as the one that ravaged Ventura, Sonoma and Napa Counties this year, with only minutes for many to escape their...
March to refinery calls for oil free future
Two hundred people sang, prayed and rallied at March Point, marching for an “Oil Free Salish Sea” Saturday, Oct. 7, a cold, rainy day. “This is to open people’s hearts, eyes, and spirit...
Skagit Valley Festival of Family Farms this weekend
This lush, alluvial plain we call home, the Skagit Valley, is the site of the 19th Festival of Family Farms this weekend. A dozen farms are participating. Cows, blueberries, shellfish, pumpkins,...
Fish for dinner: wild or farmed?
Omega-3 essential fatty acids, antibiotics, obesity – are these boring subjects? Maybe not. Three hundred thousand fish, escaping confinement, jumped into the Salish Sea from human-built pens August 19 and sent me on an Internet surfing orgy...
Farm fish disaster: casting a wide net
“You’ll never need another penicillin shot or an anti-biotic the rest of your life – just eat a farmed fish, ”Marcia Dale says. Dale has been “hanging gear” for locals as well as...
Local color - Family love runs The Pub
Julie and Sherry Lennartz weren’t even teenagers when their father, Gene, bought the La Conner Pub & Eatery, called “The Tavern” by locals. Known as Gentlemen Gene, he was an engineer with Boein...
Kids learn to grow tasty garden treats
The La Conner School Garden now provides more than 30 elementary age kids with an after school Gardening and Cooking Enrichment Class. They spend one afternoon a week of planting, pulling weeds,...
Adventures on the road in a Cuban taxi colectivo
“Cuba is broken,” Gloria says. “Familias’ broken. How will our children take care of us in our old age when they live in America or Europe? We were so hopeful with Obama. Now we are...
It was no party in Cuba when Fidel Castro died
ave Viñales land of mojotes — lush emerald-green limestone hills jutting up out of the earth shaped like giant cigars — for Cienfuegos, a seaside town, 337 kilometers to the southea...
Taking northwest art Beyond Aztlán
If you appreciate art, if you are an artist, heck, if you like salsa dancing or tacos, you need to swing by the Museum of Northwest Art by Sunday The current exhibit on the main floor, “Beyond...
Poets echo life across generations
Maureen Harlan, who was a counselor at La Conner High School, instituted the first organized student exchange between La Conner and Denmark 30 years ago. We scooted our students to Denmark while a...
