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Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 1874
The Dodgers are playing the Yankees in the World Series, and this brings back wonderful memories. I was born in the Bronx, N.Y., where the Yankees were, and lived in upper Manhattan near where the Giants were. When I moved to Long Island, my Uncle Izzy from Brooklyn would always turn on Vin Scully covering the Brooklyn Dodgers games when he visited our house in Roslyn. Sandy Koufax was the Dodgers’ star pitcher and he was Jewish, so I became a Dodger fan. The Dodgers hadn’t won a World Ser...
This is the last week of National Co-op Month. This year’s theme is “The Future is Cooperative.” Of course, the future for all of us is cooperative. Either we get along together and join hands in brotherhood and sisterhood or we will die. We can choose to make our future cooperative, or not. Without a doubt, the future is relentlessly pressing itself on us all. While many of the 1,650 agricultural co-ops with almost $300 billion in annual revenue are some of the largest of the over 30,000 co-ops nationally, even they offer the oppor...
Every year, we have a public Halloween festival – where kids parade through town in their outfits and go from shopfront to shopfront to get their candy loot. Sure, some families keep sweets at home in case anyone shows up in the evening, but trick-or-treating isn’t really a custom here. Newcomers are baffled by this. A lot of old-time residents just accept it as one of La Conner’s many quirks. Why do we have a public party instead of trick-or-treating? Only a few know the true origin story. Here it is: My grandfather and his friends got it ba...
Flabbergasted, astounded, staggered and dumbfounded, I find it hard to wrap my head around it. The privatization of war, once called the condottieri, now referred to as mercenaries, these private military companies, really hired killers is what they are. Moving on to another topic we learn of a philanthropic billionaire behaving quite neurotic, attempting to buy our vote. At a million a day he’s hoping to sway the election his way, to the candidate he promotes. AI powered by nukes seems like one for the books thought up by a bunch of kooks o...
Calling all patriots, the polls have opened, the mail in ballots are already delivered and it’s down to the wire, crunch time! My last letter established the basic criteria for selecting your representatives and now I’ll mention some tools for research: 1) Google each candidate and their statements. 2) go to Ballotpedia.org, for in depth coverage of each candidate and their responses. 3) go to Washington State Public Disclosure Commission, www.pdc.wa.gov, to which every candidate must be accountable and disclose their actual financial rec...
The choice is ours. Life or death. Freedom of religion or suppression of religion. Borders or no borders. Liberty or socialism/ Marxism/communism. The American Dream or rampant inflation. Constitutional republic or tyranny. Respected by the world powers or laughed at and used. Rule of law or lawlessness. Protection of our innocent children or brain washing our children in America’s schools and colleges. Respect for the Supreme Court or challenging the authority of the Supreme Court. Peace in our country or criminal chaos in our cities and st...
PEO Chapter JG of La Conner held “Gifts Galore,” an auction and brunch in Maple Hall on Oct. 19 to raise money to support women’s education. We offer financial help in the form of educational grants and scholarships to qualified women. We can only do this with the support of family, friends and donations from merchants. We thank the following merchants of La Conner for the donations to our auction: Red Door, Hellams, Waterfront Café, Apothecary, Skagit Cellers, Tim Winstrom, Stompin’ Grounds, Country Lady, Nell Thorn, The Stall, Ginger G...
As I’ve mentioned before, heating – including both space heating and water heating – accounts for up to two-thirds of the energy use in the average Western Washington home. If you’re trying to reduce your heating bills, start by looking at the possibility of updating your building envelope – all of the surfaces of your home, plus its insulation. Our home in Shelter Bay was insulated well in 1978, when it was built. However, today’s insulation codes, depending on the type of space (e.g., wall...
The Inlandboatmen’s Union of the Pacific and Guemes Island Ferry Workers, a bargaining unit of the IBU, urge voters to vote no on Initiative 2117. If approved, I-2117 would remove 25% of the funding for new ferries to replace Washington State Ferries’ aging fleet; and would eliminate 100% of the shore power project funding for the new Mark II ferries. I-2117 would also eliminate funding for the Guemes Island Ferry replacement project. As stated in materials IBU members have been distributing, chronic underfunding of the state ferry system for...
Our mailboxes have been deluged with attack ads against our State Senator Ron Muzzall, saying he is a “two-faced” liar trying to “take away our reproductive freedom.” Some reality therapy: Washington has been one of the states most protective of a right to abortion for over half a century. In 1991, the voters narrowly (50.1% to 49.9%) approved Initiative 120, declaring a right to abortion for any reason until viability (when a child can survive outside the womb) and for any “health” reason after that. In 2018 the Reproductive Parity Act made it...
I am writing as a Skagit County farmer who is eager to see new energy and fresh ideas in our local government. The upcoming election has given us an exciting opportunity, particularly with Rylee Fleury running for county commissioner. It’s not just about electing a younger candidate – it’s about bringing a much-needed change to the way our county addresses key issues like farming and housing. For 16 years, we’ve seen the same face making the same decisions and frankly, the status quo isn’t working for many of us. Our farms, which are the backb...
Thank you, Ken for last week’s editorial concerning the massacre of Israeli innocents on Oct. 7, 2023 and the horrifying war on Hamas and the people of Gaza that is being waged by the present government of Israel and the Israeli Defense Forces (“After a Year of Slaughters,” Oct. 9). Though I appreciate parts of your editorial, it’s very important especially at this time to portray Israel as a country with many different voices. Yes, the present government is waging this war, but the present government doesn’t speak for the majority of Israel...
Should Skagit County approve utility scale battery energy storage projects? Yes. The size of the project, the type of battery and where, exactly, those projects should be located are subjects that will require public discussion. However, as their costs have fallen more than 99% over the last 20 years, large batteries have become very helpful in keeping electricity rates down. Here’s why: The American electric generation system is significantly overbuilt. There’s more capacity to generate ele...
Eligible voters receive their Nov. 5 election ballots in the mail this week. While this is not the most significant election of our lifetime, it requires, as with every vote, thoughtful consideration of the candidates and issues. Our decisions do make a difference, including voting for alternative candidates or not voting. There are four initiatives on the ballot. Please spend the necessary time to learn their purposes, consequences and who their sponsors are. Brian Heywood is the money behind them. Last week this billionaire’s organization, L...
I’d just like to say I’ve bought at least one copy of the La Conner Weekly News every time I’ve been to La Conner. Lunch at Slider’s just wouldn’t be the same without it. I sincerely hope that if the paper is sold that the community be the ones to own it, what a great idea. Thanks for all the good work Ken and company. Corey Coffell via email...
I woke in the middle of the night, terrified Donald Trump could be elected; mystified that even his recent, repeated lies about Democrats, hurricanes and FEMA, toward his own political ends, have not outraged his followers. The word, fealty, has been used to describe a loyal Trumpist, like number two in the Republican leadership, Steve Scalise of Louisiana, who has repeated (!) Trump’s lie, “They (Democrats) use that (FEMA) money helping illegals here that they brought into America” (The Guardian). The word fealty is defined historically as, ...
Southern Resident Orcas are intelligent, social, biologically important as apex predators – and critically endangered. Only some 75 remain and recent research published in the journal Nature highlighted that human-produced noise is a key to the decline of the orcas – the noise from boats interferes with their ability to hunt, reproduce and survive. The same research foresees extinction for the Southern Resident Orcas. I’m thrilled that Janet St. Clair, running to be our state senator, says “I’m a fierce protector of salmon and our iconic or...
We have many things on our minds at this time, the fate of our newspaper and La Conner’s south end industrial area, the critically important elections locally and nationally, the Russian incursion in Ukraine, the climate crisis, hurricanes and more. But I would like to draw your attention to the war in the Middle East where Israel is reacting to the Hamas attack last October that killed 1,200 and took 240 hostages. Israel has so far killed, at a minimum, 42,000-plus Palestinians in Gaza, more on the West Bank and now is proceeding into L...
Today’s small-scale renewable energy generation and storage systems don’t have to be placed exclusively at big, centralized locations. It’s easier than ever to distribute electric generation and energy storage systems near places where energy is actually used. Distributed energy resources (DERs) have advantages over legacy systems based on huge power generation plants. Installing small generation systems at multiple points, instead of big systems at a few locations, can improve relia...
The world is witnessing the start of year two of slaughters in Palestine. Hamas fighters started the killing Oct. 7, 2023, murdering over 1,200 innocents in their surprise attack. Since then the murder and mayhem has all been under the direction of the Israeli government and completely controlled and manipulated by its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. As horrific as the civilian death count is in Gaza – some 42,000 verified – the vast majority women and children, it is certainly an undercount, including only the found bodies and those dea...
As a follow up to last week’s editorial (“Let’s vote for president now”), let us call for a series of regional constitutional conventions in order to: (a) Let we the people be heard (b) Avoid anarchy and suppression of voices in the name of law and order (c) Instill hope for democracy to live by example here in the heart of the free world (d) Guarantee representation at the table of all people invested in this country by birth, by naturalization, by labor and by service for the common good. To “get real,” people and powers that be: Regional re...
Thanks for your review of “Arsenic and Old Lace” at the Lincoln Theatre. I just want to offer a clarification on names and dates associated with the play. Written in 1939, the play opened on Broadway in 1941 and was a big hit. Boris Karloff played the murderous brother Jonathan, who in the play keeps getting told by other characters that he looks like Boris Karloff. When Frank Capra prepared to make the movie, he asked for the play’s cast members to be given temporary leave so they could repeat their performances on screen. This was grant...
To our La Conner Community: To benefit others, the La Conner Kiwanis and the La Conner High School student body are asking for your help please. Together, they are sponsoring a volunteer-based Halloween blood drive on Tuesday, Oct. 29 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Landy James Gym on the school campus (last building on your right). Your donating will absolutely change and preserve a life! Search: bloodworksnw.org, then go to its donor portal and La Conner please. Please call if you have clinical questions: Dorothy, RN, 360-431-9234, or about...
I was so looking forward to learning more about the proposed revitalization of the industrial dead zone at the south end of town. I had submitted my two bits on the town survey and had great expectations. However, the turnout was not impressive and the acoustics in the room seemed to absorb the presenter’s voice. Granted, my hearing is impaired, but others also raised their hands stating they could not hear him. There was no microphone available. Unable to hear, I left. Perhaps I am unfairly comparing this event to the recent one at the Civic G...
The La Conner-based Skagit Valley Clean Energy Cooperative has changed its name to Skagit Valley Clean Energy Alliance. Its business structure has also changed. Rather than being a membership-based, non-profit cooperative like REI or Orcas Power, the SVCEA is now a non-profit 501(c)3 charitable organization. The goal of the alliance remains the same as the goal of the cooperative: Accelerate the use of renewable energy, energy conservation and related energy management technologies throughout...
