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The League of Women Voters of Skagit County dares to venture into the weeds of the democratic process while refusing to wallow in the mud that has stained American politics. Last week they hosted a public forum on the sometimes complex “ins and outs” of the 2024 Washington state presidential primary. The hour-long hybrid event at the Skagit PUD Meeting Room in Mount Vernon, billed specifically as a non-campaign event, featured four guest speakers – Skagit County Elections Manager Gabrielle Clay, Skagit County Republican Party Chair Bill Bruch...
Brodie Coyote, the winsome and engaging golden retriever who served as the town's goodwill ambassador and whose image graced calendar pages and numerous editions of the Weekly News, died Thursday, Feb. 15. Brodie passed away peacefully with his human, noted La Conner news and lifestyle photographer Don Zieger Coyote, at his side, according to a social media post by longtime local music promoter and former mayoral candidate Marc "Zappa" Daniel. Brodie Coyote was 14 and retired from being the...
Community members and La Conner Schools officials met Thursday to kick around ideas on how to structure the high school football program given fallen enrollment. Unless 25 La Conner High students firmly commit by mid-March to playing football this fall, only three viable options remain for the upcoming season – eliminate football, play an eight-man schedule with no post-season opportunity, or combine with the 2A state championship 11-man Anacortes High School program – La Conner secondary principal and director of athletics Christine Tripp sai...
CONSTRUCTION HAS STARTED - SummitX Contractors brought its equipment to the Snapdragon Flats apartment site at Park Street and Maple Avenue early last week. Their staff predict two months of infrastructure work, putting in sewer, curbs and sidewalks. Building construction is a separate project. Developer C.J. Ebert plans two three-unit apartment buildings built into the north and south sides of the bluff at the north end of Park Street called by many “The Rock....
At the eighth annual Skagit Ag Summit, on Friday, Feb. 9, about 75 people working or interested in agriculture spent the day learning and sharing critical developments in local agriculture topics at the event hosted by WSU Skagit County Extension. During a panel discussion about economic viability, farmer Jason VanderKooy, co-owner of Harmony Dairy, answered a question about succession planning. It is one of the most difficult things in family farming, said VanderKooy. He recommended hiring...
Black Press Ltd., owner of the Everett Herald’s parent company, Sound Publishing, is seeking a sale to new ownership as part of a corporate restructuring transaction, Black Press announced Jan. 15 and reported in the Lynnwood Times. That day Black Press obtained an Initial Order from the Supreme Court of British Columbia in Vancouver. The ownership group would include Canadian institutional investors Canso Investment Counsel, Deans Knight Capital Management and Carpenter Media Group, the Times reports. Carpenter has operations in Texas, L...
After having survived last month’s primary by a single vote, Bruce James, Jr. emerged from the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community general election on Saturday with a comfortable victory for a five-year Senate term outpolling Myrtle Rivas 167-124. Rivas had led a three-candidate field with 97 votes in a low turnout bad weather day Jan. 20 primary election. James followed with 84. Three-term incumbent Brian Wilbur, had 83 votes and was eliminated by a lone ballot. Prior to the primary, James told the Swinomish Qyuuqs publication that his ...
Banks: Closed Buses: Regular service Library: Closed Post Office: Closed Schools: Closed Town Hall: Closed County, state, federal government: Closed Trash Pick Up: Yes...
While it’s been a hot topic in La Conner for decades, the last word on parking likely won’t be spoken here anytime soon. And the always lively local conversation continues 6 p.m. Feb. 20 at the Civic Garden Club on South Second Street. The second in a series of in-person “community mingles” will address all angles of downtown parking, from traffic safety and pedestrian access to signage and revenue opportunities. “We’re wanting to solicit input on what if any changes and improvements the public wants to see regarding parking,” Assistant Pla...
Here is a toast, a nod and a wink to all the guys with birthdays today, who, romantically engaged, do not get a dinner out, except if they do they are expected to both make the reservations and pick up the tab. April might be the cruelest month and Dec. 25 birthdays are almost as difficult to smile through, so here is recognition for all those tough birth days....
Local firefighters are taking a step in the right direction when it comes to winning the fight against cancer. Make that many steps. Six members of Skagit County Fire District 13, including Chief Wood Weiss, will take part in the 33rd annual Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Firefighter Stair Climb in Seattle on March 10. The event, whose mission is to raise much needed funding toward finding a cure for those battling blood cancer, is billed as the largest on-air stair climb competition in the world. Standing 788 feet tall, the Columbia Center is...
Some 50 area residents attended the Conway School community meeting Feb. 6 to gain more information about the Dec. 10 Olympic Pipeline gasoline spill near Conway and the ongoing cleanup, local media reported. Billed as an open house, residents could speak with the 25 experts from state and federal agencies and bp, the company managing the pipeline, answered their questions. A presentation was made at a Zoom online webinar Feb. 7. Questions and answers followed. Operational update Last week a sheet pile wall was constructed to build a...
Pink, yellow and white life vests bobbed through the gray waters of the Swinomish Channel as more than 100 people paddled kayaks, outrigger canoes, paddle boards and Hawaiian pontoon boats of equally diverse colors down the Swinomish Channel on Saturday. The three classes started at 9:45 a.m., 10 a.m. and 10:05 a.m. The shriek of a bullhorn siren marked the beginning of each race beneath the Rainbow Bridge. Racers swept down the channel, past Goat Island, around the "1" mark (the green...
Delivering a baby at roadside and rescuing kayakers in distress was all in a week’s work for Swinomish Indian Tribal Community police officer Brian Geer. Geer, who doubles as the Swinomish Emergency Management coordinator, was hailed last week for heroic actions by both Swinomish Tribal Police and Skagit County Fire District 13 leadership. Geer was first on the scene Jan. 30 when a kayak capsized in Skagit Bay south of Lone Tree Point. He quickly commandeered another kayak and was able to pull a person to shore who had been in the cold water fo...
Largest ever, that is the Town of La Conner $971,884 2023 budget surplus. Councilmembers opened their January packets to find that the $43,947 in sales tax revenue pushed the year’s total to $630,453, 3.5% and $21,272 above budgeted projections. It is the third straight year above $630,000, though $47,470 below the almost $678,000 collected in 2022. The Special Use Fire Tax was likewise flush, with the $4,345 pushing the year’s total to $61,350, 22.7% above the $50,000 budgeted. And while the hotel/motel tax on lodging finished 2023 47.2% abo...
La Conner became a landing spot for bird lovers last weekend. Drivers and pedestrians passing Maple Hall Saturday morning saw a roving raven drawing attention to the La Conner Birding Festival inside. That was Lisa Judy, her black costume complete with wings and a mask with a beak. Judy, La Conner Chamber of Commerce board chair, is lead organizer of the festival. Saturday she welcomed visitors to step inside and enjoy. "We got a really good response," said Judy. "I think it worked out really...
January’s weather was full of extremes and records. There were four record lows for the day of the month: 10.4 degrees Jan. 12, 9.8 degrees Jan. 13, 14 degrees Jan. 15 and 16.4 degrees Jan. 16. The average daily temperature was below 20 degrees Jan. 12-14 and below 16 degrees Jan. 12-13. The month ended with three record highs for the day, Jan. 28-30, with 61.3 degrees Jan. 28, 64.3 degrees Jan 29 and 61.1 degrees Jan. 30. Jan. 27-31 the daily temperature averaged at least 54.4 degrees and was 58.6 degrees Jan. 29, when the high hit its r...
The future is looking brighter for solar energy in La Conner. “You have a big advantage,” Markus Virta, managing partner and co-founder of Cascadia Renewables, told two dozen people attending a community solar storage feasibility study meeting at La Conner Swinomish Library last Saturday. Virta said collection and analysis of detailed energy usage data at La Conner Schools and the La Conner fire station, could lead to future state grant funding for installation of clean energy systems and backup generators at both venues This is his fir...
Skagit County’s Farmland Legacy Program permanently protected another 425 acres of prime agricultural soil, with five farmland preservation projects in 2023. Protected farmland in Skagit County now totals 14,750 acres. The largest commitment is Alex Ball’s 300 acres near La Conner. Richard H. Ball pioneered the land after serving in the Civil War; the acreage reaches back five generations. The land is actively farmed by Jerry Nelson of Double N Potatoes. The decision to sell specific property rights so the land remains farmland no matter who...
Want to spread love around Valentine’s Day? Save some lives and donate some blood. A community blood drive will be held at the La Conner High School gymnasium, 404 N. Sixth Street in collaboration between local volunteers and Bloodworks Northwest 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Friday, Feb. 23. The blood drive is organized by high school students and the La Conner Kiwanis Club. Every donation can make a lifesaving difference and each donation only takes about 15 minutes of your time. Did you know that the blood you donate can save up to three lives? Blood d...
A forum on how the process of Washington state’s presidential preference primary works, sponsored by the Local Journalism Committee of the League of Women Voters of Skagit County, is 6:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 12 in Mount Vernon’s PUD conference room. Gabrielle Clay, supervisor of the Skagit County Elections Office, will be a presenter. Topics include how the ballot is created, how votes are counted and what parties do afterward. Democratic and Republican party representatives are invited to explain how they respond to the election results. The...
Monday's weekly La Conner Rotary Club meeting at the Farmhouse Restaurant was brightened from its bleak midwinter darkness by its guests and the occasion: The poster reveal for the 2024 Skagit River Poetry Festival. Artist Anne Schreivogl is championing October's biannual gathering with the title "A bird is a poem with feathers." Perched on the keyboard of a big black Underwood typewriter in the lower corner of the poster is a puff of a green bird. Swirling in the bright red commanding the cente...
MOUNT VERNON — The Skagit County Coroner’s Office confirmed Tuesday that the remains recovered from the La Conner Channel Jan. 23 were those of a 27 year old Kirkland woman missing since New Years Day, the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office reported. The Sheriff’s Office thanks the La Conner community for their support and patience during the lengthy search and recovery efforts....
OLYMPIA — The Washington State Department of Commerce announced $47 million in funding for infrastructure improvements Jan. 30 to support 43 construction projects that will provide more than 3,000 units of affordable housing statewide. Washington state is projected to need 1.1 million new units of housing over the next 20 years. Connecting Housing to Infrastructure Program grants help local governments reduce per unit connection fees, which are used to pay for area-wide improvements to municipal sewer, water and stormwater systems. Grants p...
The La Conner Drug Store opened for the last time Monday, Jan. 22, but there were few customers shopping and not much on the shelves to purchase – though that was a years long reality. Late morning, customers were trickling in to pick up prescriptions or transfer their accounts to Rite Aid, the new owner. There was the air of a failed garage sale that was devoid of bargain hunters because there were no bargains to hunt for. Resident Lysa Sherman wandered through with an armful of products, s...