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C.J. Edwards reeled off a 53-yard touchdown run, Ivory Damien delivered a 45-yard scoring strike to Tommy Murdock and the La Conner High School defense recovered five fumbles, but the Braves still fell 28-12 to Evergreen of Seattle in their grid opener at Whittaker Field Friday night. The difference, even more than the Wolverines' 16-point margin of victory, was in roster depth. Evergreen is a 2A King County program that rolls out 57 players. The 2B Braves, by contrast, suit up 20, two of them f...
Among its many devotees, the annual Pioneer Picnic in La Conner is always a winner. Especially by the staff and volunteers at the Skagit County Historical Museum. This year was no exception as proceeds from the annual picnic in August allowed the La Conner Civic Garden Club and Skagit County Pioneer Association to contribute a total of $4,000 to the museum last week. The joint contribution by the organizations to the museum was approved during the association’s board meeting at the Skagit City School Building on Fir Island Friday afternoon. T...
Merlin James "Jim" Hanson, 87, died peacefully on Aug. 23, 2023 from complications of congestive heart failure surrounded by his wife Margaret (Midge) and daughters Brit, Laura and Kari. Jim was born in McGregor, N.D., the sixth-born child of Minnie and Erwin Hanson. His life journey included the roles of Lincoln Lynx, UW Husky; U.S. Army officer; and insurance man. Jim was a member of the 101 Club, found golf late in life at the Skagit Golf Club; an adventurous salmon fisherman and boater; and...
The vibe coming out of the Pac-12 Conference this summer couldn't have been more grim. But a La Conner High School alum is providing a rare bit of good news, especially in her hometown, ahead of what will be the final year of the Conference of Champions as it is known. Ashley Watkins, a 2017 La Conner grad, has been elevated to director of football operations at Washington State University, the youngest sports administrator to serve in that capacity within the Pac-12. Her promotion was...
After slogging through a spring and summer beset with budget woes, La Conner Schools officials and staff shifted gears last week to focus on what they do best – create priceless memories for local students and families. The 2023-2024 year launched with a soft-start half-week of instruction beginning with Aug. 29 Braves Day orientation activities. Building principals Heather Fakkema-Hovde and Christine Tripp said Braves Day, which provided a relaxed atmosphere for students to meet teachers and advisors, obtain class schedules, pose for photos an...
Saturday saw the residents of La Conner at their best, gathering for what we all love, a parade. It was made better in that it was organized by us, for us. On this day author Tom Robbins was heralded as a king. The world-famous writer has been living quietly among us for decades. Residents who have known him for a long time and those who have never met him gathered to celebrate, as did those – primarily women – who came from as far away as Ireland, upstate New York, California and everywhere in between, including Indiana and Missouri. Robbins...
In mid-August Bob Raymond and I met with Rep. Clyde Shavers over coffee. Wow, what an impressive guy! He thinks five years ahead. Green hydrogen. Agritourism. Affordable housing. Financial education in our high schools. Investing in our rural communities. Services to our veterans. The environment. Electrification of school buses. He is working on 13 bills right now that he will push forward in the next session. He knows how to get things done in Olympia. Where does he get the energy? When he asked for input, I handed him my study of the tax...
When I was the editor of the newspaper in Oak Harbor nearly 40 years ago, I was given a copy of a commencement address by author Tom Robbins that was delivered to a handful of graduates at the Off Campus School in Oak Harbor on June 7, 1974. The Off Campus School was an alternative for students who previously dropped out of regular high school. Press reports called the program “hotly controversial.” I tucked the speech away back then and recently found it in my files. I wondered how Robbins came to be on Whidbey Island that night. The Off Cam...
Longtime La Conner Schools counselor Lori Buher has retired, but she is still offering timely advice. Buher suggested that the district resume its requirement that La Conner High students complete public service hours in order to graduate at the school board’s Aug. 14 study session. The board was listening. “We recognize that volunteering connects students to the community,” Board President Susie Deyo said then, noting that the board has retained its policy promoting student public service. The graduation requirement was set aside during the C...
New La Conner High School head volleyball coach Pam Keller is succeeding a legend and her young team is following in the footsteps of the four-time defending state 2B net champions. But optimism was clearly in the air – and on the freshly painted floor at Landy James Gym – when the Lady Braves opened pre-season workouts last week. "This crew is working pretty dang hard," Keller, who assisted retired state Hall of Fame coach Suzanne Marble for more than two decades, told the Weekly News pri...
Sweet Sixteen. A milestone birthday, for sure. But it has added significance for the La Conner High School football program. Sweet sixteen is the number of players on the Braves’ preseason roster this year. That’s about twice as many who turned out at this time last August. Ultimately, head coach Charlie Edwards and his staff were able to cobble together a young group with enough depth – though, barely – to complete its 2022 11-man grid schedule, forging a respectable 2-6 mark given the circumstances. Edwards, who began his third season...
In recent years, scrapbooking has become a popular hobby. But for a La Conner area resident it has long been more than that. Anne Waldron has over time filled several of her old-school hardcover photo albums – the ones reinforced by clear protective overlay pages – with an eclectic collection of local and national news articles, favorite cartoon strips, advertisements bearing images of celebrities and treasured family memorabilia. They are assembled in no particular order. Even so, none see...
A hazy blanket hovered above La Conner last weekend as smoke from multiple wildfires in north central Washington and southern British Columbia drifted into the area, shrouding typical summer views of the snow-capped Cascades but providing brilliant red sunsets over Swinomish Channel and Skagit Bay. By Monday, though, local air quality was much improved as weekend north winds returned to onshore flows, bringing relief in the form of slightly cooler morning temperatures and easier breathing. At 3...
Maddie Huscher has swapped out her rock-climbing boots for soccer coaching cleats this fall. Huscher, the reigning Northwest Region Teacher of the Year and who has sponsored the middle school climbing club, will spend the next few weeks on flat ground as La Conner High School’s new girls’ soccer coach. Huscher greeted a young but enthusiastic roster to pre-season workouts this week. In a way, though, Huscher will be employing climbing techniques with the Lady Braves. She will be looking to help guide the youthful Lady Braves up NW1B/2B sta...
A year ago, the best offense for the La Conner High School boys’ soccer team was a good defense. That script will flip in 2023, however, as a deep roster with plenty of playmakers will be more aggressive on the offensive side of the pitch. Blessed with a solid core of returnees from a club that dropped tight 2-0 and 3-0 matches with Mount Vernon Christian and highlighted the 2022 campaign with a 1-0 shutout win over NW2B/1B rival Coupeville, head coach Galen McKnight envisions a more robust attack this fall. “We have a big incoming junior class...
Douglas K. Otis, age 85, of La Conner, Washington, died on Aug. 7, 2023. Doug is preceded in death by his parents, E. Donovan Otis and Gayle (Hancock) Otis; wife of over 50 years, Dixie (Maloy) Otis; son, D.J. Otis; brother, David Otis; granddaughter, Michelle Howard; and great-great grandson, Bowen Stidman. Doug is survived by his children: Cindy (Rick) Moore, Chris (Wayne) Ceradsky, D. Scott (Barbara) Otis, Megan (Brian) Masonholder, and Andrew (Kelli) Otis. Doug had 13 grandchildren, 15...
The foundation board would like to take this opportunity to share with you some of the people and organizations in the community that have given us the means to award scholarships each year at La Conner High School. We are pleased to share that the general foundation fund has grown to $1,100,000. This endowment was created solely by the generosity of you folks in the community. Many alumni have given one dollar for every year post-graduation. Many of our neighbors from Shelter Bay, past...
La Conner's Pioneer Park basked in sun, salmon and song last Thursday, a perfect combination for the 119th annual Skagit County Pioneer Association Picnic and Business Meeting here. Ideal conditions drew more than 300 people on a sun-splashed day that honored championship La Conner High School volleyball coach Suzanne Marble and members of the Benson/Berentson family, who association president Peggy Stowe said "have been connected to every vocation imaginable" since emigrating from Norway to Ska...
A trained classical pianist, La Conner Mayor Ramon Hayes has great appreciation for a variety of musical genres. He naturally keeps tabs on those playing keyboards. And one of his favorites is La Conner's own Terry Nelson. "Terry is the epitome, the soul, of La Conner," Hayes told the Weekly News recently. "He's so forward thinking." A longtime proponent of green energy, having for more than four decades advocated solar heating options, Nelson is also one of a handful of home-grown La Conner...
The status of short-term rentals will get a long look as the La Conner Town Planning Commission seek public input while updating what has become a hot button topic in La Conner. During their discussion of the issue last week, commissioners endorsed holding a community roundtable in September and collecting comments on the Town’s website. Assistant Planner Ajah Eills suggested the public dialogue after short-term rentals were addressed at the Aug. 1 hybrid meeting at Maple Hall. Short-term rentals are permitted in La Conner’s commercial zon...
At first glance, comparing La Conner and Kirkland is akin to apples and oranges. But when it comes to affordable housing incentives, it is a comparison that might bear fruit. Planning department staff shared with the La Conner Planning Commission during their July meeting at Maple Hall research into how Kirkland, a Seattle suburb of nearly 100,000 people, has sought to increase its stock of affordable housing. Assistant Planner Ajah Eills provided a seven-page report on how La Conner might implement some of the measures adopted in Kirkland....
La Conner School Board Directors bit the bullet Monday in approving a barebones, $12.9 million annual budget whose target is to realize a positive fund balance by next summer. This budget is about $1 million leaner than that adopted a year ago and reflects painful staffing and program cutbacks tied to declining student enrollment and loss of federal COVID-19 emergency funds. The 2023-2024 budget was developed by Director of Finance and Operations David Cram, who was given the mission of restoring the school system’s fiscal health when he return...
With a stack of fresh newspapers in hand, Ken Stern is making one of his first stops of the day at La Conner’s local office supply and business center. He greets the owners, Christina and Robyn Burdick-Good-Rubenstein – and their dog Clover. Stern knows exactly what they want, as the chanting begins: “Crossword day! Crossword day!” Stern is publisher and editor of the La Conner Weekly News. He doesn’t always deliver papers himself, but today he’s playing tour guide while he restocks local shops and newspaper boxes scattered across the two mai...
Our beautiful Gloria passed away Monday, July 24, 2023, surrounded by love and admiration. Her courage and grace, regardless of what life threw at her, never ceased to amaze the many who loved her. Dementia may have seized her mind, but her heart and soul put up quite a fight. Gloria was born to Anna and John Lotz on August 17, 1942, in Jordan Valley, Oregon. She often spoke about her childhood adventures, with her many beloved cousins, and about her interesting Basque culture. After the...
Margery Zimmerman passed away on July 22, 2023, in Burlington, WA. She was born on March 7, 1933 to Gene and Teresa (Wells) Dunlap, and grew up in La Conner, first at the Dunlap house on La Conner-Whitney Road, then on Kiket Island, at a beautiful residence and grounds known as "Flagstaff". After graduating from La Conner High in 1951, she traveled the world with her father and sister Gerry. A highlight was attending the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. She attended the University of...