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I recently read in a brochure from the La Conner School District that the District is providing laptops to those children without. While that is an important and vital step, it is only a first step – as I’m sure the District knows. After all, a laptop does not do a child any good if there’s no internet connection from home. While the District advises that it has a few mobile hotspots to loan, the only other option the District has (and offers at this time) is WiFi from its parking lots. There is, of course, WiFi outside the town’s libra...
The countdown is still on. After having announced in August that it would end its data collection efforts on Sept. 30, the Census Bureau is sprinting to the finish line to complete its constitutional mandate to count all persons living in the U.S. To that end, a Census team staffed an outdoor counting station at The Village Chevron on the Swinomish Reservation for four hours last Wednesday. Led by Census Bureau Partnership Specialist Joshua Fliegel, the team was here to connect with local...
Two weekend searches northwest of La Conner for a woman missing since Sept. 10 were not successful, but family and friends of Laynee Westbrook have not given up hope. “The searches this past weekend did not bring Laynee Westbrook home, but they did get the word out,” said Emily Pepper, Westbrook’s sister-in -law, who helped organize search efforts Saturday and Sunday in the Reservation Road and Lake Erie areas. About 30 volunteers met Saturday at the corner of Reservation Road and SR 20 to la...
On a morning when La Conner remained shrouded in wildfire smoke and haze, it was still possible to get a clear picture of the town. Of course, you had to go indoors to do so. The colorful, much celebrated Bob Patterson mural of La Conner was hung a week ago Monday inside Maple Hall, the venue chosen by Town officials so the public can easily view the detailed four-panel, 20-foot image, a nearly 700-hour project completed in 2014. Town Public Works staff placed the mural at the balcony level of...
Curtis W. McCauley of La Conner, Washington passed away on Sunday, September 13, 2020 at the University of Washington Hospital in Seattle from complications following a stroke. Curt was born on June 11, 1943 in Sacramento, California. He was named John Rudd Hart by his biological mother. When adopted shortly after birth by Lila and Carl Duncan, he was renamed Curtis Wesley Duncan. When he was seven years old, Curt moved to Washington State with his mother and step-father, George McCauley. The...
Encouraging reading is a good idea 24 hours a day and 365 days a year. The Weekly News champions “Find Your Freedom to Read During Banned Books Week 2020!” That is the theme of this year’s Banned Books Week, celebrated across the country Sept. 27-Oct. 3. Actually, reading everything is celebrated and book banning is exposed during this annual week organized by the American Library Association in coalition with others. All times are good times to read. There is never a good time or a good reason to publicly ban books – or any mater...
My friend Sherry Chavers encouraged me to reflect on Ruth Bader Ginsberg in this column. The world has changed so much since Ginsberg graduated at the top of her class from Columbia Law School in 1959. No New York City law firm would hire her as a lawyer. Back then women were secretaries, school teachers and librarians. If you are a grandparent, consider your adult life and that of your mother’s. If you have grandparents or were born after 1970, have you learned, and really absorbed, how different your life is from Ginsberg’s generation or her...
The smoke blanketing western Washington from devastating fires here, in California and Oregon has forced residents to remain indoors with widows closed. For those of us who live in proximity to these fires – and grapple with their long-term health impacts – it is hell on earth. Last week in western Washington our air was simply not safe to breathe. This new emergency has been added to the COVID-19 threat. People are stressed and depressed. That is why when the jets were flying over our region doing low-level Field Carrier Landing Pr...
The evening of August 22nd I saw my beloved partner Sam stricken with cardiac arrest. Thankfully, training from years ago spun me into action and I began chest compressions immediately while calling 911. Minutes later help burst through the door from Fire District 13, then La Conner Fire Department and then two paramedics from Mount Vernon. A compliment of ten folks attended to Sam for a harrowing 45 minutes of defibrillation and CPR. Finally his heart began beating! After fighting his way through a hospital-induced hypothermic coma, and...
When the Loren Culp campaign signs first started showing up I was more than a little surprised that the state Republicans could not find a better candidate. Aren’t people aware that Culp does not have anything close to the knowledge or skills to effectively function as governor? Culp seems to have only one key issue, and that’s gun rights. And on that he refused to implement a duly-passed state law, actually overriding a voter initiative. I would remind Culp supporters that it is the governor’s job, pretty much the whole job, to imple...
The audacity of 400 maskless people gathering, cheek to jowl and no social distancing! I was disturbed to learn that 400 Skagit Republicans had the audacity to gather indoors, without masks or social distancing for their annual gala! If these people have no regard for themselves or their families so be it, but to narcissistically take their deadly seed out into the public without any regard is reckless behavior. There were five Republican political candidates in that crowd, thumbing their noses at the law and at the rest of us living in Skagit...
Regarding the letter writer (Mike Morrell, Sept. 16)) who “set the record straight” on the fact that President Obama built the cages at the southern border and used them: His information is correct, with his added note that his information was fact-checked on Snopes.com, including an excerpt. What is curiously omitted from that letter is further information in that same Snopes.com fact-check, elaborating on the purposes for the enclosures under the Obama administration, as compared with the current Trump administration. The following quo...
People who are pro-business wear masks so our COVID-19 case rate is low enough for us to safely open more businesses, open schools to in-person learning, and much more. The Sept. 17 Skagit Valley Herald had another great article by Brendan Stone but it has a misleading title. Stone reports on the local GOP’s choice to ignore public health and safety guidelines for their fundraising event. The headline suggests there are no new COVID-19 cases from the GOP event. With attendees ignoring public health guidelines, I am not surprised that they m...
As we have done for decades, your U.S. Navy conducts critical military readiness activities in the Pacific Northwest, and we are reapplying for authorizations to continue this training and testing for the next seven years, as our current authorizations expire later this year. It is imperative the Navy continues these activities in the Pacific Northwest to prepare our sailors for dangerous or emergency missions throughout the world, to include large-scale conflicts, maritime security operations, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief...
Tuesday, September 15 10:37 a.m.: On the Road – Abandoned vehicle complaint. Deputies contacted the owner who said it had broken down and he would be making arrangements to remove it. Road St., La Conner. 11:23 a.m.: Summer’s last roar – Complaint about speeding vehicles and vehicles with loud mufflers. Bay View Edison Rd., Bay View. 10:41 p.m.: Sounded the alarm – Caller reported a suspicious vehicle in her driveway. The caller activated her car alarm and the vehicle sped away. Beaver Marsh Rd., Greater La Conner. 11:41 p...
As they did all across the country, women, their daughter and sons, and men gathered Saturday evening to pay tribute and recognize the ground breaking importance of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsuerg in their lives and in the future of the country. The 100-plus people who came to the 7 p.m. vigil at the Skagit County courthouse on Kincaid Street in Mount Vernon, with its makeshift memorial on the steps mimicking, scaled down, the sentiments spoken by those at the U.S. Supreme Court in...
There are different ways to create pasta or noodles out of summer squash. I used a vegetable spiralizer purchased from Pampered Chef. The small amount of olive oil and fresh garlic cloves transforms your summer squash into a wholesome delight. I served mine with a meat sauce, like what I make for spaghetti. The beautiful yellow summer squash we received as a gift was from Anita Mesman’s garden. Ingredients Summer squash, 3 small/medium Butter, 1 tablespoon Garlic cloves, 2 Salt and pepper P...
If you’re looking for poets next weekend, don’t come to Maple Hall. Or the Methodist Church. Or the Seafood and Prime Rib House. Or the Tavern. Or the La Conner Country Inn. Or any of the usual haunts that would ordinarily be teeming with poets and poetry lovers. With the Skagit River Poetry Festival postponed for at least a year, the only place you will find poets is in school. Online, of course. When schools closed unexpectedly last March, the Skagit River Poetry Foundation’s Poets in the S...
