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Additional information from Dec. 13: The approximately 25,326 gallons of gasoline that spilled from the Olympic Pipeline in Conway early on Dec. 10 was “due to the failure of 3/8 inch tubing leading from the main pipeline to a pressure gauge within the vault” the unified command of agencies and companies reported Dec. 12 after the Weekly News had gone to press. Some 6,993 gallons were recovered through Wednesday evening, the fourth press update states. It reports 5,292 gallons of gasoline remained in the vault and the remainder was released int...
It didn't just rain on the Swinomish Yacht Club's Lighted Christmas Boat Parade Saturday night. It rained hard after a gray day of steady rain. But that hardly dampened enthusiasm for what has become a beloved La Conner holiday season event. Downtown restaurants were filled with diners at tables with waterfront views. Folks wearing heavy coats and raingear and carrying umbrellas and glow-in-the-dark balloons on lighted poles made their way to the popular Swinomish Channel boardwalk, eager to...
The Bellingham Herald will reduce its print editions to two days weekly, Wednesdays and Sundays, starting Jan. 29. This is “the latest cutback stretching the definition of ‘daily newspaper,’ Brier Dudley wrote in his Seattle Times column “Save the Free Press” Dec. 7. He “put ‘Sunday’ in quotation marks because that edition won’t arrive on Sunday” because it will be mailed Saturday and “could be a Monday edition, if the mail is slow.” New Herald Senior Editor Scot Heisel called it a key move “within the digital transition of the news in...
It’s never too early to focus on the past. That was the credo embraced by new Skagit County Pioneer Association President Loren Dahl, who last week received confirmation that the Wesen family, which operates a centennial dairy farm in the Bow-Edison area, has accepted its nomination as 2024 Pioneer Family of the Year. The Wesens will be formally honored during ceremonies at the annual Pioneer Picnic in La Conner next August. “It’s great to have this early,” said Dahl, whose next mission, with the association’s board of directors, is to choose...
It’s often said that crime doesn’t take a holiday. Nor did Washington state politics back in 1883. It was while Whatcom County lawmakers had gone home for the Thanksgiving holiday that Territorial Governor William A. Newell signed a bill lopping off Whatcom’s lower half and designating it as the new Skagit County. The bold action came just prior to Thanksgiving Day, which in 1883 was officially designated on Nov. 29 – the final Thursday of the month – by President Chester A. Arthur. The president’s proclamation had been issued after the T...
For this last subscription drive mailing editorial, because I respect everyone reading this newspaper and take my work seriously, I went to “Deadline Artists,” an anthology of newspaper columns over the last 100 years. The point of reporting is to present facts. The goal of editorials is to make readers pause, reflect and think about important issues of the day, some smaller and local, others larger and global. The New York Herald Tribune correspondent Dorothy Thompson did that in October 1938, after France and Britain, the world’s domin... Full story
Look around: We live on the edge of the continent, less than 35 miles due east of Victoria Harbor in one of the most idyllic communities on the west coast. Positioned as a safe passage for marine travel and tied to the to the salt waters of the Salish Sea, La Conner is the true gateway to the San Juan Islands. We are blessed with tremendous soil that produces some of the highest yielding crops per acre in the world. We are a regional, national and international tourist destination and have found success in this space, in part, because we offer... Full story
Well, once again we dodged a bullet, the atmospheric river hit mostly just south of us this time. Two years ago the atmospheric river hit the Skagit watershed pretty hard, but Whatcom County got hammered and towns along the Canadian border were devastated. This past week the Stillaguamish River at Arlington had the highest flows in history. Had either of these systems fully hit the Skagit watershed, it could have been a catastrophe for our vulnerable small town. No, this missing section of dike (ring, northeast of the schools – ed.) is an e... Full story
Each year when I look for my unused Christmas cards and find the poem titled “The Work of Christmas” by Howard Thurman, a 20th century theologian, educator and civil rights leader, I am reminded of what is important about the season. While we celebrate with parties and gift giving with families and friends at Christmas and New Years let’s be thankful we live where we do. The poem speaks for itself and what each of us does with it determines how our lives will affect the community we so enjoy. Maybe then by extension our good will can reach... Full story
The idea of making First Street in La Conner one way has been attempted before, over 25 years ago now. It didn’t work. The Town’s public works department used to change the traffic flow to one way during tulip festival, for a month during that time. One way traffic flow actually works very well for directing people to the parking lot at the south end of town. It impacts Second Street negatively, by increasing the number of vehicles making the loop around and around with (mostly locals) trying to get to the post office. Any time I travel I fin... Full story
The article from Nov. 15 about the Skagit County water outlook (“Skagit County water outlook complicated”) pointed out that the challenges related to low water flows on the Skagit River are becoming more complex. This is a big deal for both irrigation and energy production. With droughts and extreme weather events becoming more common, the Skagit River is under increasing pressure to meet the demands for irrigation, electricity, and instream-flows. One solution to ease this pressure is to support local solar power. It’s a quick and easy alterna... Full story
Growing up in Seattle from the early ‘50’s until 1989 when I finally had a bellyful of the insanity and moved here, it seemed like the world had gone just nuts! Compared to today’s world, America in particular, it was the best of times! Between the massive rise in illegal immigration on our southern border and a completely feckless president who refuses to do anything about it except to blame everything on the previous administration, which btw had record low numbers of illegal immigration. Just last week we witnessed 19,000 encounters in Arizo... Full story
Seeing might be believing, but it’s collecting data that’s confirming. That’s the approach longtime resident and former planning commissioner Linda Talman is recommending officials take regarding remedies to La Conner’s downtown parking. A week after Town officials heard a presentation on mobile paid parking systems, Talman suggested to the planning commissioners that more information should be gathered before committing to a new First Street parking scheme. “We don’t have the data that we need,” Talman said at the planning commission’s...
During his appearance before the Leadership Skagit class recently, Swinomish Tribal Senate Chair Steve Edwards cited environmental protection and dealing with climate change as key priorities for his administration. Federal lawmakers, most notably U.S. Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), apparently heard Edwards as well. Murray, who met with Edwards and other tribal leaders earlier this year at the Thousand Trails RV Resort at Lone Tree Point on Skagit Bay, announced last week over $6 million in grants for infrastructure projects to improve climate...
Cape Horn in central Skagit County seemed to fare worst of 10 communities from Marblemount to Day Creek that could be most affected from last week’s Skagit River flooding. The Skagit River’s crests Dec. 5 and 6 were lower than forecast. The Mount Vernon peak was 29.5 feet at 1:45 p.m., below the 35.5 feet forecast. Stage 1 flood phase is 28-32 feet. The river peaked at 33.8 feet 7:45 p.m. Dec. 5 in Concrete, below the 38 feet prediction. Precipitation at the Burlington airport was 0.8 inches Dec. 3-6, below the up to 2.7 inch for...
Higgins Jack McCulloch, 9 months, passed away on Dec. 6, 2023 at Seattle Children's Hospital. Higgins was born on Mar. 3, 2023 and leaves a huge impact from his amazing little life. Higgins was born with a chromosomal condition called Trisomy 18, also known as Edward's Syndrome, in which there is an extra 18th chromosome. It is considered a rare trisomy, affecting approximately one in 7,000 live births. It is considered a life-limiting diagnosis. Only 20-40% of babies survive their first month... Full story
Trudy Newton, born in Detroit, Michigan, was 107 years and a few days old when she passed away on Saturday, Nov..25th. Her passing was peaceful. She resided at the La Conner Retirement Inn at that time and had been a resident there since 2012. Also, she had lived in the Seattle area, and then in La Conner for the previous 21 years, since relocating from the east coast. Trudy was a discriminating reader, appreciator of music, lover of dogs and travel. She loved to play bridge. Additionally, her... Full story
Taylor Rae Cayou, a senior at La Conner High School and a full-time Running Start student at the North West Indian College, is the Soroptimist International of La Conner Honored Student for December. Taylor started at NWIC as a junior, dividing her time between the high school and NWIC. This year she is full time at the college. When June rolls around she will graduate with her class at the high school and will have an associates degree at NWIC. Her favorite class at NWIC is cultural sovereignty...
Sultan had trouble guarding one McCormick. Defending two proved impossible. Maeve McCormick scored a career-high 25 points, collected 11 steals and dished off a team-best three assists while Nora McCormick added 12 points, two steals and a pair of rebounds as La Conner breezed past the 1A Turks 48-28 in non-league high school girls’ hoops action at Landy James Gym Friday night. Each of the McCormick sisters delivered two perimeter treys. The home team led wire-to-wire, bolting to a quick 8-0 first quarter lead, to record its second straight h...
Brayden Pedroza has impressed La Conner High School basketball fans in the season's first couple weeks with his ability to defend, pass and score. They aren't alone. Pedroza has made an impression with his stellar play throughout the county. The junior guard was named Skagit Valley Herald Boys' Athlete of the Week after having scored in double digits in La Conner's first three contests. Pedroza scored 23 points against Oak Harbor, 18 opposite Sedro-Woolley and a game-high 25 in the dramatic...
The La Conner Braves basketball team are true road warriors. The team followed its convincing 65-44 NW2B/1B triumph at Orcas Island Dec. 5 with another all-day trip on Saturday – this time to 2A Kingston on the Kitsap Peninsula and likewise requiring a ferry ride. It was neither smooth sailing on rainy, wind-swept Puget Sound nor in the Buccaneers’ gym for the travel-weary Braves, however. Kingston was able to withstand another big scoring night by La Conner’s Brayden Pedroza, the Skagit Valley Herald Boys’ Athlete of the Week, to post a 64-56...
"It's time for your audition," announced Director Lyle Forde midway through the Shelter Bay Chorus's holiday concert last Friday evening. The 200 people in the audience at the Shelter Bay Clubhouse embraced the challenge enthusiastically, because the "audition" was the holiday singalong. "We sang songs I knew from church when I was young and it was so much fun," said attendee Patty McCormick. While she probably won't join the chorus, the singalong "changed my attitude about the holidays." With n...
The hardest piece is suspending your disbelief in watching TJ Fantini’s superb performance as Buddy the Elf, is not that a 30 year old believes he is an elf or that elves live and make toys in Christmas Town or that Santa (the real one) narrates a story bringing this tale to life. No. The most amazing reality is that Buddy can be utterly and completely happy all the time, finding good in everyone, and committed to singing and hugging to improve every situation. Go see for yourself, if you can get tickets. “Elf the Musical” plays through Dec....
This is my favorite homemade chili. My husband’s friend, Art Kendall, brought by some venison. The venison burger was half a pound. I adjusted the recipe to this amount of meat. Slow cooking atop the stove blends the flavors. I also go light on any spicy ingredients. I prefer to taste the venison that is complimented by the other ingredients. The canned ingredients are 14.5- or 15-ounce size cans. The canned bean choices are dark red kidney, pinto or chili beans. Ingredients Ground venison, ...
Sunday, December 3 9:23 p.m. I spy – Deputy identified a stolen vehicle as it left the Shell station. The Deputy tried to stop the vehicle which then accelerated to speeds over 100mph. The Deputy chose not to pursue. Suspect info was confirmed and charges will be filed. La Conner Whitney Rd., La Conner. Monday, December 4 7:26 a.m. Block party – Subject had parked her vehicle in the road while removing trash from her driveway. Vehicle was blocking and the subject was told this was not an option and the car needed to be moved. Maple Ave., La...
