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The 320-passenger jet ferry MV Dorado rolled out of Mavrik Marine last week for a brief excursion to Anacortes. The La Conner boat builder is contracted by California’s Water Emergency Transportation Authority to build four, and possibly five, aluminum ferries for its 15-vessel San Francisco Bay fleet. The MV Dorado is the first. On Wednesday evening, Feb. 16, the 130-foot long, 36-foot wide and 30-foot tall vessel was lifted onto a custom-fabricated, 18-wheel, remote-controlled hydraulic d...
Wearing masks indoors will no longer be mandated by Gov. Jay Inslee come March 21, he announced last week. That decision is based on the data, showing dropping hospitalization rates, improving vaccination rates, and broad access to masks and tests, he said at a Feb. 17 news conference. Face masks will no longer be required in most settings, including K-12 schools and childcare facilities. Masks will still be required in health care settings such as hospitals, outpatient and dental offices, long term care settings and correctional facilities....
Wow, what a time to be alive, so much to see and experience, a worldwide pandemic, international tensions, inflationary pressures again causing our hands to be out to the legislature, thank you, please. Please dear benevolent overlord, can’t you appreciate our need and pleas? Another $625,000, I’m sure we won’t have to ask for anymore, it’ll help us pay for the doors and windows of our new library. I’m sure that it will create more tourist income, it’ll make us cooler than we already are. Maybe someone will come in and read about our missing sa...
I am sure a marketing “icon” in Gilkey Square was proposed for the best of reasons, but it strikes me as wrong-headed in a number of ways: Goal. It’s been suggested to me that the icon will provide a great place for visitor photo ops. If that’s the goal, the icon will probably achieve it, at considerable expense. But if the goal is to attract more visitors and more return visitors, I don’t see how it does that. I don’t see people saying, “Hey, let’s run up to La Conner and get some pics with that icon thing!” It is just not an attraction in...
The quaint town of La Conner has drawn people from the world over. The Skagit Valley, on the whole, is a very special place. The location, climate and the beautiful vistas that come with the changing seasons bring people here every year. What vision are we seeking for the special area that we live in? Do we want to be memorable for what is here? What is the memory we want our visitors to take away from here? When I first heard of the plans for the apartment building going in on Center Street behind The Slider Cafe, I found myself disheartened....
What a good idea to have a marketing icon for La Conner! And kudos to First on First committee for putting in the thought, time and energy. But we must be careful that the design is reviewed well so we don’t end up like Mount Vernon with an icon of a uterus and fallopian tubes. Have you seen that one across from the food co-op? If the large "L" mock up was supposed to engender our "brand" of Love La Conner, I think it fails. As a cold, sterile, stainless steel, hard-angled, out-of-human-proportion structure it is unattractive. Furthermore i...
Thank you to the voice of reason presented by the arts and parks commissions regarding the placement of a giant “Love La Conner” sign in Gilkey Square! I am baffled that anyone would want to change the character of our charming square by installing an oversized ad in the space. My initial objection arose when I saw the photo in the paper. I reached out to town council with my concerns and was contacted by a member of council who told me the story in the paper was misleading and inaccurate. However, it was confirmed that the proposed ad/...
Okay, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but sometimes as a journalist, you gotta tell it like it is, especially when people’s lives are at stake. The coronavirus ain’t going away. The consensus of all the studies that I have been following is that, while the omicron variant is not as deadly as the delta variant, it is extremely pervasive. My natural journalistic impulse to share the sad truth with my readers that has inspired me to do a lot of research and the results just confirm what I sus...
Senate legislative proposal SB5843 does not have sufficient support to pass the Washington Senate and be sent to our representatives for consideration. SB5843 would have made it a crime for elected officials and candidates to willfully lie about election process or results. It appears dead in the water … for now. Isn’t it a reasonable expectation of Washington voters that our senators and representatives are telling us the truth on all matters regardless of whether they are Republicans or Democrats? Why are Republicans blocking this legi...
I am no fan of the Clintons. Hillary Clinton’s nomination by the Democratic Party in 2016 was, I believe, an act of cosmic stupidity. She was and is one of the most unpopular politicians in the nation. Let us not forget that Clinton was secretary of state when our ambassador to Libya was kidnapped and brutally murdered because he lacked adequate protection in a war zone. There were absolutely no consequences for this grotesque dereliction of duty. Her husband is, in my opinion, worse. A frequent flyer on Jeffrey Epstein’s Lolita Express, he...
This is in regards to the Feb.9 Weekly News article, “Should the Shelter Bay board resign over the Rainbow Park clearcut?” While we appreciate and applaud your efforts to enlighten our community by your article, we also need to correct your statement about the efforts to remove the board. We want to make it clear that the attendees who met Feb. 9 are not looking to remove the entire board. Our efforts are focused on those directors who have violated their oath of office by voting to indemnify Steve Swigert and volunteer Ric Henderson, imp...
Like you, I’m concerned about the rising cost of food, consumer goods and household essentials. While the economy as a whole has improved and unemployment is low, many local families are still struggling to pay the bills. While some of the price hikes have been caused by supply chain bottlenecks, this issue also highlights an affordability crisis. Here are some of the steps I’ve taken this legislative session to help families and businesses in both the short term and for years to come. First, I’ve proposed House Bill 2018 to grant a holid...
The La Conner High School girls’ basketball team took care of business in Coupeville last Thursday. As expected, the team (20-1) breezed to the Northwest 2B District title with a dominant 70-19 victory over the hosts, who had placed a distant second to the Lady Braves in the league championship race. La Conner advances to regionals this weekend, a round that will help determine bracket placement for the state Hardwood Classic March 2-5 in Spokane. The team, which has defeated foes from the 1...
La Conner artists Meg Holgate and Steve Klein have joined together to present “A Precarious Edge,” their exhibit opening at the Museum of Northwest Art Saturday. As successful artists do, they have created beauty and are confronting viewers with truth and a challenge: with the future of the Earth hanging in the balance how can each of us “preserve and be part of the restoration of our ecosystems?” as curator Jodie Nelson wrote in introducing the exhibit. Nelson believes that Holgate’s large-scal...
To be the best, you need to face the best. That’s something La Conner High School senior wrestler Delaney Cobbs understands after having gone to the mat four times this winter with one of the elite grapplers in state history. Cobbs and Marysville-Pilchuck standout Alivia White, the reigning state champion, were paired again on Saturday in the championship round of the girls’ 190-pound division at Mat Classic XXXIII in Tacoma. White, a junior, completed an undefeated 35-0 season by defeating Cobbs, who had cruised through her side of the sta...
It was a long and winding road that the La Conner Braves took to extend a basketball playoff drive that began in Coupeville last week with post-season wins over Friday Harbor and Auburn Adventist. That road ended at Long Beach, more than 200 miles from home, Sunday. Facing a must-win situation to reach regionals, the Braves were eliminated 76-48 by Ilwaco in a rare Sunday noon tipoff. The Braves began the sojourn with a 48-38 district qualifying win Feb.12 over Friday Harbor. That set up a return trip to Coupeville Feb. 15 to face Auburn...
New apartments are planned for La Conner in a perhaps unlikely place. C.J. Ebert of Harbor Mountain Development plans to build two three-unit apartment buildings at the base of Snapdragon Hill on Park Street following administrative approval of setback variances and conditional use permits by the Town of La Conner. Titled Snapdragon Flats, the development calls for twin buildings, each with three one-bedroom loft apartments of 800-900 square feet over individual garages. The south building will...
Skagit County Commissioner Ron Wesen got the first word and Congressman Rick Larsen the last at the 6th annual Ag Summit hosted by Washington State University Skagit County Extension Feb. 11. The hybrid event, with lunch for those attending in-person, offered updates on everything from the county-sponsored farmland legacy and voluntary stewardship programs to new state rules for agricultural overtime pay. Water was a key topic. Skagit River water use is regulated by the Department of Ecology’s instream flow rule, protecting aquatic species a...
The late Lorraine Loomis is gone, but not forgotten. Nor is the salmon habitat restoration legislation bearing the name of the longtime Swinomish leader, though it stalled in Olympia after public hearings in January, joining the vast majority of bills not advancing to floor votes. Introduced by State Rep. Debra Lekanoff, D-Bow, the Lorraine Loomis Act faced opposition from the agricultural community over concerns that farmers and private landowners would shoulder the financial burden and lose acreage in the creation of tree-shaded buffer areas...
Sunday, February 13 2:17 p.m.: Took walking out option – Deputies responded to a reported trespassing. Deputies contacted a female who had already been trespassed from the hotel. Deputies told the female that she would need to leave, or she could be cited. The female chose to leave on her own. 2nd St., La Conner. Monday, February 14 10:56 a.m.: Window breaker – Caller returned from a walk to find her window broken on her car. There was nothing missing from her vehicle. It is unknown if this was a prowl or a malicious mischief. Bay...
It was a hot time in Swinomish village Sunday. And not in a good way. Before 2:30 p.m. firefighters and law enforcement rushed to a van engulfed in flames in front of garages on the waterfront at the Swinomish fish processing plant on Moorage Way. The fire spread to another vehicle and a boat, said La Conner Hook & Ladder Chief Aaron Reinstra Monday. Hook and Ladder and Fire District 13 crews put out the fire, with Swinomish Tribal Police securing the scene. Plumes of black smoke just upland...
Love eating the colors of the rainbow. Love combining fruit with vegetables for a tasty dish. I leave a bit of crunch in many of the vegetables I cook. This is a simple recipe that includes any variety of apple. The apple is the flavor that rings true in this recipe. The cider vinegar gives just a bit of punch to the sweetness of the brown sugar. Ingredients Apples , 2 peeled & chopped Red cabbage, ¼ large Red onion, ½ chopped Cider vinegar, 2 tbsp Brown sugar, ¼ cup Olive...
