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Articles written by Tony Harrah


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  • Review: 'Small Mercies' offer a little hope

    Tony Harrah|Aug 9, 2023

    Over his long career Dennis Lehane has authored a dozen books and produced an impressive body of work for films and television. I believe that his latest novel, “Small Mercies,” is his best effort yet. Like most of his other work, “Small Mercies” is set in his native Boston – not in the exclusive enclaves of Back Bay or Beacon Hill, but the gritty housing projects of South Boston, or Southie” as it’s known to its mostly Irish, working-class inhabitants. The book’s action unfolds over a few days in the summer of 1974, as the Irish of Southie are...

  • We will get through crisis together

    Tony Harrah|Jun 3, 2020

    Renae Paisley’s opinion piece in last week’s paper left me both angry and disheartened. She insists that the measures initiated to help control the Covid-19 pandemic – which to date has killed more than one hundred thousand people in the U.S – are simply an intolerable intrusion on her individual freedom. “Any ordinary and healthy individual should weather the storm” she writes. That is generally true, but it is also true that an asymptomatic carrier can pass the virus on to others. “I will not be wearing a mask in the stores, n...

  • Family barber shop spans three generations

    Tony Harrah|Oct 2, 2019

    In 1977 Dick Holt moved his growing family to La Conner to establish a barber shop. It was then, and still remains, the only shop in town, and over the past forty-two years has become not only a La Conner institution, but is now a three-generation family affair. Dick still fills in at the shop when necessary, but son Tony has anchored the business for many years, and recently Tony’s daughter McKeighla has joined the family in the two-chair operation. Dick began his barbering career f...

  • Don't expand naval base's jets, noise

    Tony Harrah|Nov 28, 2018

    Naval Air Station Whidbey came into existence during World War II, and in the seventy years since, local communities have partnered with the U.S. Navy to protect our national security. Naval personnel, active and retired, have always been welcomed here for their contributions to the region’s civic and economic life. The Navy’s role as a good neighbor has come to an end, however, as more and more people become, in military terms, “collateral damage.” Since the Navy’s introduction of the F-18 Growler, these jets roar overhead day and night, ma...