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There was a time, not so long ago, when the La Conner High School baseball team strung together some magical seasons. Now veteran Braves coaches Jeremiah LeSourd and Andy Otis hope to rekindle that magic within a program that has been sidelined since 2019 due to lack of roster depth and the COVID-19 pandemic. Spring 2022 is a new beginning for the Braves. “Our senior class has played in nine games while in high school,” LeSourd explained, “Normally, the number of games played would be at least 60 entering your senior year. “Giving these k...
Kathy Herrera doesn’t scare easily. That goes to show how harrowing the past few weeks have been for the former La Conner schools administrator who survived a recent near-death experience in California, where she is working on a charter campus after having taken a leave of absence here last spring. A kidney donor who is no stranger to pressure, from her days as a competitive athlete to juggling multiple school duties in her career, Herrera isn’t one to fret. But today, while recovering from an episode last month where she collapsed sud...
For the La Conner Daffodil Festival and the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, the last two years have been all about no. In 2020 there were no visitors to Roozengaarde and Tulip Town and almost no sales when havoc in the food supply chain canceled wholesale and retail cut-flower sales. No Kiwanis Salmon Barbecue, no street fairs, nothing, nothing, nothing. “Don’t come” was the Valley’s message to flower lovers. Then 2021 was all about maybe, as the festivals adopted social distancing and advance...
Libraries are magical places. Every book is a window to the world just waiting to be explored. Maybe it’s because I grew up the grandchild of a high school English teacher, who instilled in me a love for language and books – but I’ve always believed libraries are necessities, not luxuries. Not only do they enrich our minds, they also keep our democracy healthy. By providing comprehensive access to recorded details of history, government, philosophy, medicine and countless other topics, libraries protect and defend every citizen’s right to...
Daniel Rapada has been in and out of hospitals numerous times over the years battling an array of serious health issues. Last Wednesday, his admirers showed their hearts during a benefit fundraiser for the Swinomish teen at Santo Coyote Mexican Kitchen. Rapada, a 2021 La Conner High School graduate, is recovering from a kidney transplant. It is the latest in a series of medical procedures he has undergone since having been diagnosed with Aplastic Anemia, a rare condition in which the body does...
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...
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...
On a special night, it was still business as usual for the La Conner High School girls’ basketball team at Landy James Gym last Thursday. The state 2B hoop team finished off an undefeated conference campaign with an impressive 87-13 romp past Coupeville following Senior Night festivities. Fans honored Lady Braves seniors Aubrie Sloniker, Juna Swanson, Rachel Cram and Sarah Cook before the hosts ran their NW2B/1B record to 11-0. “The girls came out and took care of business early,” La Conner head coach Scott Novak told the Weekly News after...
La Conner High School wrestlers Delaney Cobbs and Kaliana Bill have grabbed spots in the Washington State Mat Classic at Tacoma this week. Cobbs was runner-up in the 190-pound weight class of the Northwest Regional Girls’ Wrestling Tournament in Sedro-Woolley on Saturday while Bill qualified for the Tacoma brackets by placing fifth in the 155-pound division. Cobbs lost only to undefeated No. 1 seed Alivia White of Marysville-Pilchuck in the Regional 190s title round match. The senior, 20-3 on the campaign, has suffered her only three defeats th...
La Conner School District Superintendent Will Nelson was like a student facing a big exam Monday. The administrator, hired last spring and at the helm since July 1, underwent his initial job evaluation during a one-hour executive session at the end of a special, mid-month board meeting. The board announced no action and adjourned immediately when it reconvened on Zoom. But early indications are that all went well. Nelson and board members lavished praise on one another prior to the executive session, making a lengthy review of efforts to set...
This fall’s mid-term elections are already on the minds of voters here and around the nation. For Swinomish Tribal Community members, the 2022 election cycle begins Saturday with two senate races, one involving the 11-member panel’s chairman, Steve Edwards. Ballots will be cast at the tribe’s social services building. Edwards faces singer-songwriter Katherine Paul, the face of popular band Black Belt Eagle Scout, for senate seat 6. Former senator Joe Williams and Swinomish cultural events director Aurelia Bailey vie for seat 7, held by retir...
The Waterfront Café has long been hosting a wide range of benefit events for La Conner area residents, from the annual free Thanksgiving Day community feast to a dinner and auction fundraiser for an elderly local couple last Friday. It was only fitting, then, that café owners Guy and Marla Vallee would honor another group of champions – the reigning La Conner High School state 2B volleyball title winners – with a Jan. 29 dinner celebration. Members of the public were...
The late JoAnne Self often made a strong pitch for support of La Conner sports teams and their players. Now they will be able to make pitches of their own thanks to a major donation inspired by the memory of the longtime local coach and mentor. The La Conner Youth League is now recipient of funding support to purchase a portable pitching mound to be used on the school campus field where home games will be played this spring now that the old Hedlin’s Ballfield mound has been leveled and cleared for residential construction on Maple Avenue. P...
La Conner High School alum Dean Swanson has been around long enough to know about the school’s basketball history. He also keeps tabs on current holidays. The two intersected last Tuesday when the Lady Braves basketball team posted a 63-42 statement win at 2A Burlington-Edison before a large and masked crowd that packed the gym just days after a two-week COVID-19-related spectator pause was lifted. “Today starts the Chinese New Year of the Tiger,” Swanson said immediately afterward. “But not tonight.” La Conner, the No. 2 ranked 2B team in W...
Daniel “Dano” Rapada has earned many admirers over the years for his courage dealing with a slew of major health issues. Now those admirers will have the opportunity to show their support for the Swinomish teen and 2021 La Conner High School graduate by taking part in a Feb. 23 fundraiser at Santo Coyote to help defray costs of his recent kidney transplant. “His story is amazing,” Jaime Stroebel-Reinstra, a lifelong friend of Rapada’s mom, Sally Wilbur, told the Weekly News. “He is such a miracle and a warrior.” Stroebel-Reinstra said La Conne...
Completing the opening of the Country Inn saga. Built on the former site of the misspelled “Town Getto,” the stylish La Conner Country Inn has hosted and provided lodging for some of the country’s biggest names. None bigger, of course, than the late basketball legend turned actor Wilt Chamberlain. Rick Thompson, an original Country Inn partner, remembers Chamberlain’s stay here quite well. “In the summer of 1980, I think, but could have been 1981,” Thompson related, “it was a beautiful June morning when I received a call from our front desk th...
Some people are aptly named. JoAnne Self was not. Her friends – and there were many – insist the late La Conner school district staff member and coach was one of the most unselfish people they knew. Self died Jan. 8 in Sedro-Woolley. Her giving nature was noticed. The school district, appreciative of the various roles she filled there, years ago established an annual scholarship award in her honor to recognize those students who best emulate her example of selflessly contributing to the campus and community. Whatever her assigned...
On one issue, all in western Washington are agreed. Saving wild salmon runs is a priority. What is not clear cut, as testimony during a virtual State House of Representatives committee hearing indicates, is what sacrifices must be made, and by whom, to preserve Washington’s signature migratory fish. House Bill 1838, designed to protect salmon habitat areas, is a key element in Gov. Jay Inslee’s $187 million salmon recovery program. It is named the Lorraine Loomis Act for the late Swinomish fisheries director and chair of the Northwest Indian Fi...
A standout La Conner high school wrestler went a long distance to spend a short time on the mat last weekend. But that was a good thing in terms of Delaney Cobbs preparing for big matches ahead. Cobbs, a senior wrestling on a co-op basis with the Burlington-Edison High School girls’ program, captured top honors in her weight class at a two-day invitational meet in Othello. She pinned four opponents in a combined time under four minutes to win the 190-pound weight division championship. It was a...
Good things are well worth the wait. Just ask La Conner High School boys’ head basketball coach C.J. Woods. Woods, eyeing his team’s Jan. 25 NW2B matchup at Friday Harbor since the start of the season, saw his patience rewarded with a tense 54-51 road win over his high school alma mater. With the hard-fought triumph, the Braves improved to 5-8 overall and 3-3 in conference standings. For Woods, whose Friday Harbor teammate, Collin Williamson, is a member of the Wolverines’ coaching staff, the outcome could hardly have been sweeter. “It was a h...
The La Conner High School girls’ basketball team is willing to play anyone, anytime, anywhere. For the 2B Lady Braves, that meant a rare Wednesday night tipoff opposite 4A Skyline in Sammamish last week. Despite the unusual game night, a first-time opponent from a large urban school district and suburban King County location, the result was much the same as other scores La Conner has posted enroute to a 15-1 overall mark and 8-0 conference record. The team easily defeated Skyline 71-42 one night after routing NW2B rival Friday Harbor 105-23, a...
La Conner schools are big on tradition. And the district’s newest tradition promises to be among the most significant in school history. The bright blue image of an eagle bearing an interlocking L and C, created by Swinomish artist Jeanette Quintasket, was introduced during the Jan. 24 school board meeting as the new La Conner Braves mascot. The colorful icon reflects regional Coast Salish artistic imagery and replaces prior Braves graphics that for decades depicted Hollywoodish Plains I...
By proclamation of the governor, January is School Board Recognition Month. It is a great time to recognize our elected community members who selflessly give their time and energy in support of high-quality public schooling for our youth. School board members in La Conner are entrusted by this community with responsibility for an annual budget of $14,070,000 for this year, fiscal year 2021-2022, an average of 555 students, 116 employees and nine buildings. School boards are charged with making decisions that can sometimes be quite difficult,...
Demolition of the old garage behind The Slider Café on a January Sunday drew plenty of attention. What was missed, however, were conditions spelled out on the Town demolition permit allowing the structure to be torn down on property eyed as the site for a 20-unit apartment complex. Planner Michael Davolio told the La Conner Planning Commission, during their monthly Zoom meeting two days later, on Jan. 18, that a stop work order was placed on the demolition because representatives of property owners KSA Investments had not conferred with...
There are victories, defeats and moral victories. The latter was the case for the La Conner Braves Friday night, Jan. 21, when they lost a hard-fought 59-49 non-conference boys’ hoops decision to 2A Sedro-Woolley at Landy James Gym. “It was a good game,” first year head coach C.J. Woods told the Weekly News afterward. “We had a chance to win.” Indeed, the 2B Braves truly had a shot to knock off their larger school foe. La Conner (4-8 overall; 2-3 in NW2B/1B play) trailed just 39-33 entering the final stanza on the strength of strong post play...