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Monday, August 10 7:33 p.m.: Not here or there – Caller reported her mother as a possible missing person and another person that looked like her mother was living in the house and driving her car. Deputies contacted the mother who was fine and said this may be related to a substance abuse issue. Whatcom St., La Conner. Tuesday, August 11 6:55 a.m.: Dawn weaver – Caller reported a vehicle that was crossing the center line and driving in an unsafe manner. The vehicle was last seen on SR 20, Washington State Patrol advised. Best /...
A modern Renaissance Man has gifted La Conner its newest work of outdoor art. George Drake has been a politician, professor, soldier and peace activist. But that’s just part of the Bellingham man’s lengthy resume. He is also a champion of public sculpture. Along with his wife, Mary Ann, Drake has donated some 30 pieces for display in various cities and towns. La Conner was added to the list last Thursday. Drake donated “Conical Consonance 3,” fashioned from Corten steel by Oak Harbor abstrac...
It was a good weekend in the La Conner area both in terms of weather and on the coronavirus front. The Swinomish Public Health Team confirmed Monday there were no new cases of COVID-19 on the reservation from Aug. 7-9, though cautioning there are still test results pending. There had been one new case reported Friday morning from the prior 24-hour cycle. The Swinomish Medical Clinic has hosted a series of drive-thru testing sites, the most recent being yesterday (Tuesday) morning, making possible the regular and updated posting of coronavirus...
If true that a busy person wears many different hats, don’t expect to see J.J. Wilbur without a head covering anytime soon. Wilbur, a commercial fisherman who serves on both the Swinomish Tribal Senate and Fire District 13 Board of Commissioners, joined another local public service panel Monday night when he was chosen to fill the vacant Shelter Bay director district seat on the La Conner School Board. Wilbur was selected by board members to succeed Brad Smith, who resigned mid-term in June, at the time Whitney Meissner resigned as district s...
The sun has set on La Conner High summer conditioning sessions. La Conner coaches have pulled the plug on the optional off-season workouts as a public health and safety response to recent spikes in confirmed local COVID-19 cases. “We had a few unrelated cases in the Swinomish community, so we decided to postpone it,” new head football coach Jeff Scoma said of the outdoor training. Scoma told the Weekly News that more than 20 players were regularly taking part in his workouts, which focused on running, agility drills and tire-flipping. “We...
Coronavirus cases in Skagit County topped 800 – 826 – Monday. County deaths are at 21, a 40% increase in four weeks, from a total of 15 on July 7, a figure that had held steady since May 15. These are both high and increasing numbers. This is bad, and bad news, and not just for the infected people and their families, friends and employers. An early July outbreak at the Mira Vista elder care facility accounts for the deaths. The huge jump in cases – the count was 449 on June 5, the day the County moved into phase 2 of the...
La Conner Schools is bracing to enter a virtual new world this fall. A local blue-ribbon Back-to-School committee has recommended starting with an on-line model with the option of small groups meeting in campus buildings. This is in response to health and safety concerns raised by the COVID-19 pandemic. The panel has received input from parents, students, school staff and Swinomish Indian Tribal Community representatives since its mid-July start. The committee suggests a slight delay in opening to provide teachers and families opportunities to...
La Conner High head volleyball coach Suzanne Marble and her players will have to wait to pursue a rare state title three-peat. The two-time defending champions will not defend their state 2B net crown until next spring under a modified high school sports schedule unveiled recently by the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The WIAA executive board has adopted a sports calendar divided into four seasons with moderate and higher-risk activities –volleyball, football, and soccer...
This year has brought numerous challenges requiring new visions, including Rotary Club of La Conner’s annual auction on Aug. 20. Typically held at La Conner’s Maple Hall, this year’s virtual, online only auction’s theme is “Through the Looking Glass: 2020 Vision.” Proceeds from the La Conner Rotary auction support La Conner High School scholarships, dictionaries for third graders, a book a month from birth through age five for all children in the La Conner School District through the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, bookmobiles in Guatemala a...
While it is still unclear what form school will take here in the fall, one thing is certain. La Conner Schools will operate under a slimmer, balanced budget of nearly $12.7 million, crafted in response to COVID-impacted revenues and expenditures. That is down from last year’s $12.9 million. The La Conner School Board unanimously adopted its 2020-2021 financial game plan at its monthly meeting, following a 30-minute video-conferenced public hearing Monday night. Washington state school districts must prepare their budgets in July for their n...
This year’s primary election has more candidates than can be covered in the Weekly News. Get past the 36 candidates for governor and drill down to the contested election contests close to home. You can send Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Everett, back to Washington or you can send him packing. At the other end of the ballot are three candidates for Skagit County Superior Court Judge, Position 3. The basic information here is a start for researching contenders for local and regional offices not highlighted the last two weeks. Voting can be hard work. C...
It didn’t take Dave Paul long to make his mark in La Conner once he arrived in Olympia at 2019’s legislative session as a new state lawmaker. Within weeks, Paul, an Oak Harbor Democrat, teamed with Rep. Debra Lekanoff (D-Bow) to sponsor the Capital Budget Request that led to an allocation of $720,000 for the long-sought La Conner-Swinomish Regional Library. Paul, whose career path led him to higher education, proved a quick study when it came time to help the La Conner area write a key cha...
Local fiber artists used to work on their projects over coffee every Friday at the Pacific Northwest Quilt and Fiber Arts Museum. Now they check in from as far away as Hawaii and New Mexico. When the Museum closed on March 18, the group shifted to Zoom. “We still talk and show off what we’re making,” said Executive Director Amy Green. “It’s like a modern-day quilting bee.” Virtual Fiber Friday is just one example of how La Conner museums have engaged patrons in spite of being shuttered. Podcasts, virtual art classes, YouTube videos and social...
The first whistle hasn’t blown and already there’s a delay of game call for fall sports at La Conner High and around Washington state. The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) Board of Directors has moved to push back the start of the fall sports season two weeks. The WIAA action, taken last week, was in response to the coronavirus threat and makes Sept. 18 the start of fall sports games and matches. The adjusted schedule shifts the start of football workouts to Sept. 5. Other fall sports, such as volleyball and soccer, are...
Kathy Herrera has already worn several hats during her time at La Conner Schools, and will don another one – along with a mask – for the 2020-21 academic year. Herrera, who served as La Conner Middle and High School athletic director and assistant principal during her first two years here, has a new job title. She has been tabbed to succeed Todd Torgeson as the school district’s junior and senior high principal while retaining her duties as athletic director. Torgeson resigned t...
Comings and goings continue with the La Conner School Board. The school district’s governing panel lost its most senior member, Brad Smith. He submitted his resignation June 19. Smith represented District 3, the Shelter Bay area, for 14 years and was the board’s liaison with the state legislature. La Conner High seniors Avery Sloniker and MacQuaid Hiller were welcomed aboard as new student representatives for the 2020-21 academic year during the same June 22 video-conferenced meeting. Sloniker and Hiller will succeed recently graduated sen...
This is our twelfth week since Gov. Jay Inslee started shutting down Washington’s economy, ordering us to Stay Home to Stay Safe. We are not nearly as shutdown as we were when March ended. We are not all safe, either: Last week 50 COVID-19 cases were confirmed in Skagit County. Two weeks ago, public health staff told the Country’s Board of Health that the rise in cases precluded applying to the state to move to Phase 3. The increasing number of cases and the rate of increase, metrics of “community spread” make advancing to Phase 3 by Decembe...
Jeff Scoma plans to Wing it as La Conner High’s new head football coach, and that should be a good thing. Winging it, after all, doesn’t mean leaving anything to chance. Quite the opposite, as far as Scoma is concerned. A seven-year veteran of the powerhouse Bellevue system, Scoma told the Weekly News on Thursday he will bring classic time-tested Wing-T offensive concepts with him to Whittaker Field. “I learned the Wing-T and most of what I know from the many great coaches in Bellevue,” Scoma s...
In March La Conner schools were told to close their doors by the state’s Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction due to the coronavirus. A great challenge was placed in front of all to teach and establish logistics through Zoom meetings and Google Classroom while maintaining a fluid stream of communication with the entire school district community. Not easy. But through the positive efforts of students, teachers, staff, administration, and families the 2019/2020 school year was successfully completed. The State Superintendent, Chris R...
Skagit County is on its way to week three of being in Phase 2 of the state’s four phase Safe Start plan for reopening our economy while keeping new cases of the coronavirus at bay. Our beginning-to-open tourist town – and every community and county in Phase 2 – is taking baby steps along a carefully prescribed route. Businesses and cultural institutions: schools, churches libraries and art centers, must follow guidances issued by the state’s Departments of Health and Labor and Industry. Residents – whether as customers, visito...
The La Conner Chamber of Commerce is back in business. It’s just not business as usual. The Chamber office has moved from its Morris Street office venue to the Fireside Room at Maple Hall. Director Heather Carter dons a face mask while tending to much of her work on-line. And the local business network must make do without its loyal corps of volunteers due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, Carter is thankful. With La Conner and Skagit County now in Phase II of the state’s Safe Start Plan, offices...
Arjuna Adams - Rupert Anderson Memorial STEM scholarship, Swinomish Tribal Scholarship, La Conner Community Scholarship Foundation Award. Riley Banaszak - La Conner Soroptimists Violet Richardson Community Service Award, Vince Sellen Community Service Recognition, George and Lillian McMillan Scholarship: 4-year scholarship for tuition, room and board and books Joanie Benson - Kenyon and Sissy Knopf Memorial Scholarship, a four year continuing award, Foundation Award, WWU Merit Scholarship....
The 126th annual La Conner High graduation ceremonies were truly the first of their kind. With the COVID-19 pandemic having nixed traditional indoor commencement exercises marked by large crowds, celebratory music, tossed mortar boards and release of balloons and confetti, the school’s Class of 2020 still wasn’t denied fanfare. La Conner High seniors were honored Thursday evening with a drive-thru graduation event outside Landy James Gym followed by a car parade through town led by fir...
La Conner’s High School seniors, every one of them, graduate with this distinct honor: Never has anyone, or any school class, been rocked and roiled by a spring like this one. Before March it was impossible to imagine finishing school without going to class. Every ritual and tradition vanished: their senior trip, prom and graduation ceremony are just the tip of the iceberg of their losses. The one lesson, perhaps learned, usually takes years to master: Life is not fair. La Conner’s seniors got a crash course and were force-fed that coarse mat...
Modify and adjust. It’s a common mantra in education and one the La Conner School District has tapped often while developing its graduation format amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The newest – and final – high school graduation plan allows the most people to hop along for what has been a wild ride navigating the uncertainties of the virus crisis. After first opting for virtual commencement exercises, school officials and senior class members have decided to instead hold a drive-thru graduation ceremony tomorrow (June 11) at 5 p.m. in the...