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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...
The Washington State Legislative District 10 is one of the few competitive districts in the state this election. The Position 1 seat has four Democrats and one Republican hoping to replace retiring longtime Rep. Norma Smith, R-Clinton. Dave Paul, D-Oak Harbor, holds the Position 2 seat, which he wrested from Rep. Dave Hayes by just over 700 votes in 2018. Sen. Barbara Bailey, R-Oak Harbor, retired last fall from the District’s Senate seat. Ron Muzzall, a farmer from Oak Harbor was appointed t...
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...
In Skagit County, the Board of County Commissioners is the legislative authority and administrators of several County operations. They adopt the annual budget, levy taxes and set five department budgets: emergency services, health parks, planning and roads. They legislate ordinances “concerning the general welfare of the County.” They also have quasi-judicial duties. The Commissioners are partisan elected officials. Candidates are nominated in the primary election, by ballots cast only the...
Ready, set, shop. Start Thursday at the Soroptimist Vintage Store on Morris Street, open for the first time since mid-March. Their high-quality goods have been dusted off, the volunteer staff has a safety plan, which includes customers: wear your mask, keep your distance and be patient with rationed entry and a set path to exit. Doors open at 11 a.m. daily through the 4th. A Vintage visit is practice for the La Conner event of the weekend: the blowout Independence Day weekend closing sale of the Friends of the Library Thrift Shop Friday and...
The COVID-19 crisis has taken its toll on La Conner businesses – including the nonprofits that rely on volunteer workers. The Friends of the Library and Soroptimists International Vintage La Conner thrift stores were deemed non-essential and forced to close this spring as part of statewide measures to curb spread of the coronavirus. But La Conner residents have long known the two stores are plenty essential. Proceeds from Vintage La Conner go to help women and girls here as well as in the...
The second annual Library Giving Day on Thursday is an event that gives library lovers like you a chance to support the new La Conner Swinomish Library. Last year 192 library organizations from 39 US States and four Canadian provinces joined the #LibraryGivingDay movement and more than 4,200 donors contributed a total of $737,000. In these unprecedented times, work continues here in La Conner on the planning and design for the new library. We’re still hopeful of breaking ground later this summer. And that’s thanks to the caring support of gen...
Technology is helping bring people and ideas together even as social distancing has become the norm in response to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. The latest example was an hour-long remote panel discussion conducted on the Zoom video conferencing platform in La Conner Thursday afternoon. Town, school and civic leaders logged on to share ways in which they are moving forward in the midst of a pandemic that has ground the economy to a halt. One theme that emerged is those not laid off or furloughed at present are actually working harder outside the...
The La Conner Regional Library Board of Directors is pleased to announce the hiring of Jared Fair as the new Library Director. Fair, the managing librarian for Yakima Valley Libraries, will join the La Conner Library on April 13. “Jared’s progressive managerial and leadership experience, which includes supervision of 12 libraries to date in the Yakima Valley Library District, impressed our board, staff and members of the community who participated in our interview process,” said Jean Marke...
An examination of Swinomish taxation for 2020 reveals that the levy rate remains the same at $14.3500 per thousand, but the assessed value of homes in Shelter Bay and Pull & Be Damned went up from $163,899,070 to $171,719,175. Taxes increased by 5%. Skagit County levy code 1580, which used to include Shelter Bay and Pull & Be Damned, is $11.6355 per thousand. Until last year, the Tribe used to use the same levy rate as the county. The Swinomish will collect $2,120,732 in taxes. They will contribute $974,072 to four of the nine taxing districts...
The design for the new La Conner Swinomish Library was approved by the Town’s Planning Commission Feb. 18. More than 30 library supporters filled Maple Hall’s meeting room, showing their interest in the project and the design, which was unveiled by Jake LaBarre of BuildingWork, the La Conner Regional Library Board’s architect. In his presentation the Seattle architect reviewed the 5,500 square foot one-story building that will fill the 10,000 square foot lot at Morris and Sixth Streets now occupied by the Friends of the Library Thrift Store...
Dear Ken, I am touched and honored by your recognition this month (as 2019’s unsung hero – ed.). Thank you. Many amazing unsung heroes in our community have come together over the years in support of the library. Our tiny town shares a big heart and a commitment to quality of life that is remarkable! When we planned our move to La Conner about 15 years ago, the presence of a library in town surprised me. Then I learned there has been a library here since the late 1920s. Volunteers made it all possible at the beginning with their time a...
In spite of tremendous support by members, the Rotary Club of La Conner is retiring the annual Smelt Derby. For the handful of smelt in the Channel, the Derby’s demise is good news. Not so for the humans who gathered each February to fish and frolic during the beloved late-winter community event. Longtime Derby committee member and judge Patsy Good has been doling out prizes for the largest smelt, the smallest smelt and the strangest catch since 1996. For the last several years, Smelt Derby f...
Some 20 people accepted the La Conner School District’s invitation to informally gather for a coffee chat to find out “what’s happening” in the district last Thursday, Jan. 23. School Board Chair Susie Deyo and Superintendent Dr. Whitney Meissner co-hosted the evening conversation in the middle school library. Newly elected board members John Agen and Marlys Baker joined them. The topics drawing the most animated conversation were “the dissension that sprung up between the two unions and the superintendent,” asked by an elder, and the look of...
It wasn’t just La Conner’s students who had the day off last Wednesday. It is not known how many owners or employees joined kids on the Washington Avenue sledding hill, but except for Pioneer Market and Stompin Grounds, where Kim Broadhead was engaged with her regular customers midmorning, Morris Street was eerily quiet early. The open sign was out at Vintage Lighting but it wasn’t certain that employees were inside. A much sadder sign was taped to the door of Sliders Cafe: They were closed Wedn...
Patricia McEniry Love of La Conner, age 94, died at her home on November 26, 2019. She is survived by daughters: Robin (Richard Tanner) and Sheila Connolly, 9 grandchildren, and 8 great grandchildren. No one will ever forget their “GG.” She was preceded in death by Henry Love, her husband of 60 years, daughter Ann Love Glick, and brother Michael McEniry. She was born Patricia Adele McEniry to James & Betty (Braga) McEniry on October 30, 1925 in Pasadena, California. The family moved to Seattle w...
The library at La Conner High School was buzzing with questions and conversations between 45 8th graders and 18 adults. They gathered together for two hours Jan. 8 to take part in “Pizza with Professionals.” This first-time event came about through the collaborative efforts of La Conner Schools Superintendent Dr. Whitney Meissner, Counselor Lori Buher and Susan Macek of the La Conner Rotary. The goal was to provide an opportunity for students in middle school to engage with local rep...
La Conner Regional Library Board Chair Jean Markert and Susan Macek, La Conner Library Foundation director and now interim library director, provided a start of the year update on all matters library last week. The new library design will incorporate and represent the library’s purpose: it will be an inviting and open space, light filled, a welcome space for everyone. “I see it as an exciting place for people to come, a place people want to come to,” Markert said. “We want to be a place where people are inspired to learn and to create and to...
Well, 2019 has passed and we are all very fortunate to call our La Conner community home in 2020. With costs for services continuing to rise, the town must be ever vigilant to ensure that we are utilizing our resources as efficiently as possible. One of the administration’s main goals for 2019 was to assist the library foundation in its ardent pursuit of funding for a new facility. As many of you know, the library was successful in its endeavors, and we will see a groundbreaking for the new building in the 3rd quarter of 2020. The foundation d...
While the top, if not currently hot, story of 2019 is the still real turmoil in La Conner Schools, the quiet story this past year, indeed the past two years, and more, is the steady march from quest to accomplishment of funding the building of a new La Conner Regional Library. Our library, like all libraries, is as much a foundation of the community as our school district. Libraries are as much a fundamental building block of our local democracy as is the weekly newspaper. The world might be at your fingertips with your phone in your other...
Patricia McEniry Love, 94, of La Conner died at her home on November 26, 2019. She is survived by daughters: Robin (Richard Tanner) and Sheila Connolly; nine grandchildren, and eight great grandchildren. No one will ever forget their “GG”. She was preceded in death by Henry Love, her husband of 60 years, daughter Ann Love Glick, and brother Michael McEniry. She was born Patricia Adele McEniry to James & Betty (Braga) McEniry on October 30, 1925 in Pasadena, California. The family moved to Seattle where Patsy attended Lowell School, and was a pr...
They came to support the new La Conner Swinomish Library and they did not disappoint. One-hundred-two people attended the 4th Festival of Tiny Trees last Saturday at the Swinomish Yacht Club. A silent auction featured 21 tabletop trees decked out to represent a range of themes: nature, the winter solstice, forest friends, owls, holiday baking, wine, spirits, coffee, fairyland, travel and even the “little library that could.” Alexa Robbins and her sister Tina Everitt’s “Christmas Under the Big...
Now is the time to cast your ballot. Help get all ballots counted quickly: • Vote and return your ballot now • Sign your ballot envelope • Mail your ballot by Nov. 2 Get voting information and register to vote at VoteWa.gov or contact Skagit County Elections: 360-416-1702, scelections@co.skagit.wa.us Election drop boxes nearby: La Conner Regional Library, 614 E. Morris Street. Swinomish Indian Tribal Community Social Services Building, 17337 Reservation Road. Ballots must be in drop boxes by 8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 5 You can...
This sleepy, off year election has two important contested local races and 24 total items needing your attention and decisions. Incumbent La Conner School District directors are challenged in district 1, where John Agen runs against five year veteran Kate Szurek, and district 2, which has Marlys Baker facing Board Chair Janie Beasley. Incumbent Lynette Cram in district 4 is unopposed as is appointed director Susan Deyo in district 5. Voters will decide on three changes to state law: Referendum Measure 88, which the legislature placed on the...
Sunday starts one of the most important weeks of the year: Banned Books Week, celebrated the fourth week of September annually since 1982. Each of us can impersonate a newspaper editor – or be our normal citizen selves – and celebrate our First Amendment rights of freedom of speech and the press. That fits this year’s theme: “Censorship Leaves Us in the Dark.” We are all urged to “Keep the Light On” during this year’s Banned Books Week. Every parent has the right at home or in private gatherings to keep books from their kids. Anyon...