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The school district honored its volunteers – a vital group of more than 70 strong – along with retirees and colleagues not returning here in the fall with a reception and awards program at the middle school gym June 7. The 90-minute event led off with school administrators and staff praising the volunteers, who lent their time and expertise across academic activities at all grade levels. “Just think of all that volunteer time,” said Superintendent Will Nelson, serving as the afternoon’s master of ceremonies. “I can’t imagine that yo...
Cindy Masters Clausen is the reigning Washington state women’s horseshoe pitching champion, a crown she has held since 2017. She is also a two-time state doubles title winner and has captured top honors at numerous other tournaments. Clausen most recently was part of a four-member Washington pitching team that placed sixth out of 24 entries at the Team World competition in Beloit, WI. The quartet played 96 games and threw 3,840 game shoes. “It was our first appearance at Team World and a gre...
Sunday, June 5 11:06 a.m.: Stray kitten – A stray kitten was picked up and taken to the pet emergency center. McLean Rd., Greater La Conner. 10:06 p.m.: Oh deer – A vehicle collided with a deer. No injuries were reported by the driver. The deer did not survive and was removed from the road. Best Rd., Greater La Conner. Monday, June 6 11:32 a.m.: Gun threat – A student reported being threatened by another student at the high school on a previous day. The threat mentioned using a gun to shoot the student. A student was arrested...
La Conner high school's graduating class. Graduation Friday, June 10 at 5 p.m....
La Conner High School has held annual commencements for more than a century but the 5 p.m. June 10 graduation at Whittaker Field will offer something new. Those attending will be officially welcomed in four languages, Lushootseed, English, Spanish and American Sign Language. “We’re excited about that,” La Conner Middle and High School Counselor Lori Buher told the Weekly News. In another all-time first, the Class of 2022 boasts co-valedictorians and co-salutatorians. Charity Dakota Jordan, who r...
Ryan Hiller and Beth Clothier were instrumental in helping La Conner schools navigate uncharted waters posed by a global pandemic. The couple, members of the La Conner High School Class of 1987, were formally recognized as the school’s Outstanding Alumni for 2022 at the La Conner Alumni Association’s annual banquet and program in the middle school gymnasium June 4. “These two individuals are very important to the school district,” said association vice-president Susie Deyo. “During the pande...
Friday 60 La Conner High School students graduate, a great accomplishment and the real start, certainly not the end, of their education. Four times editorials on this page have saluted and extolled La Conner’s graduates, lifting them up as the hope of the world, pointing out the monumental challenges all adults are facing and extolling them to be brave and sensitive and thoughtful and to peer into the future to find a sane, sustainable world that their elders have refused to grasp. Not this year. This year, it is graduates, be aware. High s...
Roberta B. Nelson, age 83, passed away Monday, May 23, 2022 at home in Burlington, Washington. She was born Sept. 6, 1938 to Robert and Helga (Knudsen) Bell in Mount Vernon. She graduated class salutatorian from La Conner High School in 1956. On Feb. 22, 1957, Roberta married Roger F. Nelson, the love of her life, in La Conner. Roberta was a woman devoted to family and active helping others and using her gifts as a Cub Scout, Blue Birds and Campfire Girls leader. She was a member of the Skagit...
Sixty years separate La Conner High School students and a group of local senior cyclists. But their shared commitment to exercise has seen them frequently cross paths here. On June 7, they enjoyed a downtown rendezvous at Calico Cupboard. Members of teacher Suzanne Marble’s lifetime fitness physical education class met with the seasoned riders over homemade cinnamon rolls for which the First Street café and bakery is famous. Still, the big treat was bonding over their health and f...
Even though Eleonora Libé got sick her first days here after what seemed to her an endless flight, she is living her dream since then over the last nine months. The senior exchange student at La Conner High School turned 18 years old this April in Washington state, away from her family. This is the adventure she chose to live back in 2020, when she saw on social media other exchange students from her country in American schools. Stressed with Italian school and eager to travel and...
A La Conner High School exchange student considering a career in filmmaking is becoming something of a celebrity himself. While Aurelien Ali learns more about the local area since his arrival from Belgium last summer, teens in La Conner and around Skagit County are well acquainted with him. “My friends here tell me they’re always asked: ‘Do you know Aurelien from Belgium,’” Ali, 18 and a member of the senior class, told the Weekly News. “I don’t know them, but everyone knows about me.” Perhaps it’s because of Ali’s engaging personality and wil...
Heather Carter, who planted the seeds that germinated into La Conner’s Daffodil Festival, is leaving the Chamber of Commerce to help grow a new Camano Island non-profit venture. Her last day as director is June 17. "I have real mixed emotions,” Carter, told the Weekly News. The spokesperson for the La Conner business community since 2013 said she has thoroughly enjoyed her time in La Conner and finds the move bittersweet. The new job allows the 23-year resident of Stanwood to work closer to hom...
Monday, May 30 7:01 a.m.: Utility pole accident – A vehicle collided into a utility pole in the road. Wires were reported down in the roadway. La Conner Whitney Rd., La Conner. 12:39 p.m.: Fraud – Report of possible unauthorized use of a bank card at a market. Morris St., La Conner. Wednesday, June 1 10:41 a.m.: Horses on the loose – Report of two horses running loose in town. The owner was able to coral them and walk them back to their pasture. 4th St., La Conner. Thursday, June 2 7:06 a.m.: Gun threats – Law...
The on-edge tensions communities nationwide are experiencing became a crisis among La Conner High School students last Thursday and continued Monday. On June 2, a 15 year old student was arrested on three counts of felony harassment threats to kill and a count of threats to bomb or injure property, Skagit County Sheriff’s Office Undersheriff Chad Clark stated in a press release. A second student was taken into custody the afternoon of June 6 at the high school when sheriff’s deputies developed probable cause for felony harassment/threats to...
The weather was iffy, but the timing couldn’t have been better when Memorial Day ceremonies at the Swinomish Tribal Community Cemetery concluded Monday morning. Almost as soon as the tribal canoe family closed the solemn 90-minute multi-denominational prayer service with its Warrior Song, two eagles and four U.S. Navy jets soared across gray skies overhead. The symbolism was not lost on Brian Cladoosby, serving as master of ceremonies. He noted how Memorial Day, like the images that filled t...
Winning has long been par for La Conner High School senior Emma Worgum. The Lady Braves’ senior golf standout has excelled throughout her high school career, including summer tournaments. She capped her fantastic four-year run by capturing the Washington 1B/2B girls’ state championship at Deer Park May 25. She carded a two-day score of 144 – highlighted by a three-under-par 69 during Thursday’s second round – to win the title by 17 strokes. “Emma played great,” golf coach Jamie Car...
La Conner School Board members dealt with topics from A to Z during their two-hour hybrid meeting May 23. During public comments, a series of speakers stressed the value of preschool instruction being accessible to all children. They said it helps build a lifetime foundation of academic and social-emotional skills and that a district program will make sure children unable to attend private preschools not “fall through the cracks.” Members said they will consider it. Counselor Lori Buher reported that 24 seniors plan to attend four-year pub...
La Conner High School sophomore Tommy Murdock won the boys’ state 2B 300-meter hurdles title in storybook fashion at Cheney May 26-28. Murdock, who had bolted to an early lead, clipped the final hurdle before tumbling across the finish line. Despite the late fall, it was Murdock who moments later climbed atop the winner’s podium to collect the gold medal in his signature event. “He won pretty decisively,” La Conner head track coach Peter Voorhees said. Murdock clocked a 0:40.76 in the final,...
Chris Omdal stepped into his new role as the La Conner Marina harbormaster last week after career stop where he has always enjoyed meeting folks from all walks of life. That will not change here. Omdal, an avid walker, has already developed an easy rapport with boaters moored at the marina’s floating docks along Swinomish Channel. At the start of the Memorial Day weekend Friday, he donned his safety vest and walked the marina’s guest float area to meet and greet members of the Edmonds Yacht Clu...
Passage of national Title IX legislation 50 years ago began leveling the playing field for female athletes. Now, five La Conner High School senior girls have signed letters of intent to compete for college athletic programs next school year. Juna Swanson, Sarah Cook, Rachel Cram, Emma Keller and Emma Worgum were front and center at Landy James Gym May 17, with their friends, family members and school staff during a 45-minute collegiate athletics letter of intent signing ceremony. “This is a s...
La Conner High School track standout Ellie Marble has qualified in four events at what will be the first state 2B track and field meet in three years starting Thursday, May 26 at Eastern Washington University. She will compete at Cheney in the 300-meter hurdles, shot put, high jump and 4x200 meter relay after having helped lead the Lady Braves to a second-place team finish at bi-district trials in Chehalis last week. Marble placed second in the shot, fourth in the 300 hurdles, fifth in the high...
Lorraine Loomis died nine months ago but her presence was clearly felt Friday during the Swinomish Blessing of the Fleet and First Salmon Ceremony. Loomis truly lived for the sacred springtime ritual – a large community-wide feast and program at the tribal youth center followed by a procession through Swinomish Village leading to a solemn shoreline prayer service marked by a moment of silence for lost fishers. Many of the day’s speakers invoked Loomis’ name, citing her commitment to Nat...
La Conner High School golfers dealt with tough conditions last Thursday in Oak Harbor, but at the end of the day their outlook could not have been sunnier. The boys and girls golf teams weathered drizzly skies and harsh gusts to blow past the competition in post-season tournament play as the Lady Braves – led by senior standout Emma Worgum, a Western Washington University recruit – captured top district honors, advancing from bi-district trials as state 2B qualifiers. “It was pretty breezy and rainy out there,” said La Conner hea...
By capturing the NW2B District track crown in Coupeville on Saturday, the La Conner High School girls completed a three-sport hat trick this year. La Conner girls’ teams had earlier won the district volleyball and basketball championships. They kept pace in track, outpointing host Coupeville 78-47. La Conner was led by multiple event winners Ellie Marble and Kaliana Bill plus strong showings in the relays, Marble won the 300 hurdles and shot put while Bill swept the long jump and triple jump. Marble, Lydia Grossglass and Hannah Cook ran 1...
The La Conner School District’s population has increased over the past decade but projected declines in student enrollment this fall is forcing tough budget personnel cuts ahead of the 2022-2023 academic year. La Conner School Board members dealt with that harsh reality at their Monday study session by reluctantly agreeing to a plan of not renewing contracts of the two most recently hired high school teachers. State funding of school districts is based on student enrollment. The drop from around 600 K-12 students in years prior to the COVID-19...