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Legislative District 10 Democrats from Island, Snohomish and Skagit counties came to La Conner’s Pioneer Park Saturday, holding a salmon lunch fundraiser to buy metaphorical political bricks to elect Democrats, strengthening a blue wall they have been building since 2017. State Democratic Party Chair Tina Podlodowski told the 75 party activists she had a two word job description: “Elect Democrats.” The 14 elected officials and candidates for office speaking to the crowd highlighted their accom...
La Conner has the funds to build a new library. The last $500,000 was approved by the Skagit County Board of Commissioners Monday, some 16 months after the state legislature appropriated the project’s first $500,000. The grant, to the Town of La Conner, is for economic development: job training and job creation. Commissioner Ron Wesen confirmed that in a Monday phone call, saying, “Community jobs in the future is what they are supposed to get done.” He referenced the many funding sources and t...
Wow, it is done: The $3.74 million dollars to build a new library in La Conner has been raised. By the end of 2021 a new library will gleam from 520 Morris Street, anchoring the east end of town for decades to come. This is a very good thing. It is also a momentous accomplishment for a library district with a population of some 4,800 people. We are the little community that could, and we did. We did it, but it got done by the persistent, quiet leadership of the Library Foundation director, Susan Macek. She created a plan and she followed it to...
The Swinomish Indian Tribal Community will contribute $750,000 toward the construction of a new library, the La Conner Regional Library District announced Monday. The facility, located at 520 Morris Street, will be named the La Conner-Swinomish Library. The grant supports the building’s construction over the next two years. Projected opening date is in the fourth quarter of 2021. The library is designed to be a multi-cultural resource center for information and learning. It will double the size of the current building, be wired to provide h...
Yet another chapter in the saga unfolded Saturday. More than $50,000 was added to the cause during the annual A Novel Affair luncheon and auction at Maple Hall keynoted by best-selling Seattle author Robert Dugoni. Support from the sold-out event, which filled the downtown venue to capacity, came on the heels of a recent $720,000 allocation by state lawmakers toward the $3.74 million project, designed to provide La Conner library users expanded floor space and services for all ages. For the...
The Town Council gained $100,000 for the Town in less than an hour at its June 11 meeting: After months of negotiating, Council passed having Mayor Ramon Hayes sign an agreement with Crown Castle Cell Tower, a Texas-based company. The 42 year lease, with extensions, includes camouflaging the extension portion of the tower, annual rent increases, a percentage share of the subleases and the signing bonus. An agreement for terms of reimbursements between the Washington State Patrol and the La Conner Fire Department also passed unanimously. Hayes...
The Washington State House and Senate each passed $720,000 for a new La Conner Regional Library Sunday. Final passage of the $4.9 billion capital budget came in the last minutes of the last day of the legislative session. The legislature adjourned on time for their 105-day session, as mandated in the state’s constitution. “I’m happy to have helped secure $720,000 in the House proposal. This is a smart investment for the state. It leverages local dollars to help the library provide much needed resources for La Conner, like a community meeti...
Town Hall will be closed through April 18. That was the surprise agenda item at La Conner’s April 9 Town Council meeting. The closure dates were announced on the Town’s website April 10. Mold in the Town Hall bank vault has spread into the front reception area. It requires immediate maintenance to ensure staff safety. Signs were on the front doors before the end of last week. Closure started Tuesday. Administrator Scott Thomas did not yet have a repair agreement at the meeting. SERVPRO quoted $1...
It wouldn’t have been a Tulip Parade without some wind and rain. Fortunately, there was much more in the forecast here on Saturday – at least in terms of colorful entries that lightened even the gloomiest outlook. As has been the case each April since the late 1980s, La Conner didn’t let drizzly, gusty conditions blow an opportunity to put its best foot forward. It did so again with the 33rd annual Kiwanis Not-So-Impromptu Parade, part of the nationally acclaimed Skagit Valley Tulip Festiv...
Small town newspapers in rural America serve as a portal into the life and times of individuals who live in these communities. These newspapers are precious documents that celebrate the lives, activities, tragedies and relationships that these communities value. These papers also bring domestic and global news to residents and link these events to their own lives. The Puget Sound Mail was a key part in La Conner’s history and my great-grandfather was the owner, publisher and editor. Before cell phones, computers and satellite news, n...
Twice last week Whitney Meissner, superintendent of the La Conner school district, enacted a cornerstone of the district’s strategic plan: communications. Last Wednesday Meissner hosted a community meeting in the district’s auditorium. Monday she spoke at the La Conner Rotary Club’s second annual Farmers-Merchant Dinner to 115 attendees, including Town and County elected officials and staff. At both events Meissner first thanked the community for the overwhelming support for the school levy,...
Collection of taxes was $1,928,815 from Shelter Bay and Pull & Be Damned this year. The levy rate of $12.3500 per thousand is higher than the levy rate in the county’s tax area 1580, which, before the Great Wolf decision, used to include these two areas. That levy rate is $11.4983. In previous years the Swinomish always used the same levy rate. The Tribe contributes $660,000 to the La Conner School District. Using the levy rates from area 1580, the Swinomish will contribute $141,000 for Fire District 13, $25,764 for the La Conner Library, a...
No one will argue that LaConner exudes romance. This little town on the Swinomish channel offers all the right elements for a special evening out or weekend away. Its vote as “Best Romantic Spot” by Romantic Getaways of Washington State heralds this across the region and around the world. But where do the locals rendezvous for romance? A typical intimate evening might begin with dinner at the Nell Thorn Restaurant & Pub. This is Kim Broadhead’s favorite place to begin a special celebration. That is, if she has the evening off from runni...
After more than 70 years, a storied La Conner High basketball team is sporting a different lineup. Not in terms of a revised roster but instead how the 1948 Braves, who placed eighth at the State ‘B’ Tournament, were lined up for a team photo taken separately from those that appear in the school yearbook or on the history wall in the foyer of Landy James Gym. The black-and-white shot shows players standing sideways to the camera, an angle that focuses on their profiles rather than the sta...
In a one-hour meeting Jan. 22, the Town Council heard three presentations, consented to the reappointment of four parks commissioners, set 2019 sewer rates with the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community and agreed to a contract for fixing the elevator in Maple Hall. The last had a rare dissenting vote, by Councilmember Jacques Brunisholz. Council agreed to have Mayor Ramon Hayes enter into a contract for $83,709 with thyssenkrupp Elevator Corporation “to modernize the elevator equipment” as described in the company’s proposal. The Maple Hall eleva...
Ballots went into the mail Tuesday to La Conner school district residents for replacing the school levy. The proposed rate for this educational and operational programs levy is $1.50 per thousand, a reduction of almost one dollar of assessed valuation. It is not a new tax. The two-year levy will provide $1,741,210, with $870,605 collected in each 2020 and 2021. The total school tax rate is $4.25 per thousand with the current bond. Funds are targeted for safety, extra-curricular activities, food services, highly capable program, special...
The entire country, every citizen, has been forced to confront national politics. This issue’s front-page government shutdown counter has flipped to 26 from last week’s 19. The paper is prepared to place day 33 on next week’s front page. That is not our choice. It is reporting the facts. Next week an article will look at the shutdown’s effects on the school district, the Swinomish Tribe and Skagit County, and local institutions with federal contacts. Maybe you have flown recently or plan to...
The problem with Swinomish taxation lies with the Washington State Department of Revenue. Now that Shelter Bay and Pull & Be Damned are withdrawn from the tax base, the $154,161,500 assessed valuation, and the $13.0988 levy rate, and the $2,019,333 in taxes (2018 figures) are shifted to the remaining taxpayers. This affects the following taxing districts: the state levy, county roads, county general, conservation, La Conner library, the Port of Anacortes, Medic 1, Fire District 13, and the La Conner school district. It should have been that...
It’s true that there is a “tax problem” on the Swinomish Indian Reservation, but it is much larger than the Great Wolf Lodge tax case that everyone has been hearing or reading about lately. For decades, the Swinomish Tribe has faced at least four separate but related tax problems that went largely unnoticed in the Town of La Conner until the impact of the Great Wolf Lodge decision that invalidated a state tax on the permanent improvements of lessees on federal trust land was felt by property owners of fee lands both here in town and on the r...
The next chapter in Swinomish carver Kevin Paul’s often cutting-edge career will be written by himself. And it’s quite a story to tell. Paul, whose carving has been featured on the Discovery Channel and a wide range of publications, is among those artists invited to contribute to “The Barn Shows: In Their Own Words,” a much-anticipated book project being compiled by Dick and LaVonne Reim of Fir Island. After being the subject of numerous scripts and articles, Paul now has the opportu...
Over 50 people, including at least 10 from greater La Conner, crowded into a room at Coconut Kenny’s last Wednesday and the free pizza and beer was the least of the draw. Home Rule Skagit organizers were rallying supporters for the election campaign to approve a charter for Skagit County. The 3,333 petition signatures they collected this year and submitted in August qualified the measure for the November ballot. Steering Committee Chair Gary Wickman told the crowd, “When it passes we will hav...
Jim Hernandez had no students aboard, but the La Conner school bus he drove Monday afternoon was filled to capacity nonetheless. With books, not students. At least for a while. His bus morphed into a local bookmobile for four fast-paced hours with stops at the Swinomish Gym and outdoor basketball courts, Shelter Bay Community Center and La Conner Regional Library. At each stop, students excitedly climbed into the bus to select from more than 3,000 donated books, a mission La Conner...
Years before moving to La Conner, I remember my first reaction upon seeing the wood-sided building painted blue with white trim on Morris, signed “La Conner Regional Library.” What a statement about quality of life here, I thought, to have a library in a small community, a safe place that is open to everyone for exploring, learning, reading, discovery and inspiration. Not only was La Conner home to three unique museums, but it had a library located near the entrance to town, close to the schools, easy to walk to and on a bus line! What I did...
If only the candidates vote in this year’s town council election, they will win. Running unopposed are incumbents John Leaver, Council Position 2, Bill Stokes, Council Position 3 and Mary Lee Chamberlain, Council Position 4. Once the La Conner School District directors vote, they, too, win. Running without opposition are Brad Smith, Director District 3, Lynette Cram, Director District 4 and John Thulen, Director District 5. The same is true for Fire District 12 and 13 commissioner positions. Doug Peterson is running unopposed for C...
A federal judge has ruled that it is legal for public agencies to collect taxes from non-Indians who lease tribal land. For three years, this newspaper has been following a lawsuit in the U.S. Central District Court of California brought by the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians against Riverside County. That case closed last week when U.S. District Judge Dolly M. Gee ruled in favor of the county and a local water agency that joined the suit as a defendant. “The county is pleased that the court carefully balanced the issues and determined t...