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La Conner’s Award-winning Newspaper

LA CONNER WEEKLY NEWS VOL. 9 • NO. 46

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 2017

LA CONNER, WASHINGTON

Tribes help craft national policy on reservation businesses

YOUNG ANGLERS – Hanna Cruz brought 5-month-old Keanu Cruz to hang out on the docks during Saturday’s Smelt Derby sponsored by the La Conner Rotary Club. Meanwhile, Tatum Moore, 4 years old, is doing her best to catch a fish.

– Photo by Don Coyote

This government is closed to the public

By Sandy Stokes The Swinomish Indian Tribal Community excluded members of the press and local government representatives from two recent meetings it hosted on topics that could impact taxpayers.

Swinomish has proposed to amend its tribal constitution in accordance with the tribe’s belief that its reservation should include thousands of acres occupied by two refineries, two car dealerships, many businesses and private homes.

Press was specifically excluded from an event the tribe hosted last Tuesday for property owners in the disputed area.

At the same time, the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs is considering updating its 1957 “Traders with Indians” rule and held a meeting at the Swinomish Casino & Lodge last Thursday to solicit comments on its rulemaking. But when La Conner Weekly News reporter Maria Matson went to cover that meeting, she was told it was closed to her.

Bureau of Indian Affairs rulemaking is a process that would not normally garner much attention. However, officials from Skagit County and Anacortes and this newspaper are interested in one of the several elements the government is considering — a policy that pertains to taxes paid by businesses on Indian reservations.

Some tribal officials maintain that all taxes generated by nontribal businesses on Indian land should be paid to the tribe. At the same time, local governments hold that taxes are needed to pay for public services that benefit everyone, including tribes.

County officials have said the tax policy and reservation expansion have the potential to combine into a perfect storm for the county — there is fear that fully one-third of Skagit County’s property tax revenue would be diverted to the tribe.

But Swinomish attorney Stephen LeCuyer said there is no way Skagit County would be affected, because under current law, tribes can’t tax privately owned property within their reservation boundaries.

Unlike the retail establishments built on Tulalip tribal land, March’s Point businesses are on land that is privately owned.

Tulalip, located near Marysville, has a case in federal court against Snohomish County and the State of Washington in an effort to claim some $40 million in sales taxes generated by Walmart, Home Depot and many other stores and restaurants built in the tribe’s Quil Ceda Village development. That development is on federal land that is held in

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trust for the tribe.

On Feb. 21, Swinomish hosted a dinner for Fidalgo Island property owners to provide information on the history of the March’s Point area and the tribe’s belief that it was part of their original reservation until the boundary was defined in an executive order by President Ulysses S. Grant in 1873.

The dinner was by invitation only, but not all property owners were invited. Ron Rennebohm, who owns Frontier Ford and 15 acres in the area, said he was not invited. Also not invited were representatives of the Samish Indian Nation, another large landowner in the area.

The last line of the invitation to those who received it stated: “No press is invited or allowed at the event.”

Two days later, Swinomish hosted the first of eight consultation meetings the Bureau of Indian Affairs has scheduled nation-wide on the “Traders with Indians” rule. A press release from the U.S. Department of the Interior, the agency that oversees the Bureau of Indian Affairs, stated: “The Department is seeking comments from tribes, states and their agencies and the public.”

This newspaper’s reporter signed in at the meeting and provided her business card.

Although she challenged the tribe’s assertion that the meeting was closed based on federal “Sunshine” laws, Swinomish Attorney Stephen LeCuyer told her the meeting was a “government to government” consultation between the federal agency and tribes.

Matson was told to contact Nedra Darling, the public affairs director with the U.S. Department of the Interior. When Matson called Darling, she said she was surprised the public was excluded outright but acknowledged that tribes consider their dealings with the Bureau of Indian Affairs to be “government to government.”

Matson said when she left, about 15 minutes after the meeting was scheduled to start, there were about 20 people in attendance, and she was told later that the attendees represented about eight or nine tribes.

Tom Wooten, chairman of the Samish Indian Nation in Anacortes, said his tribe is careful to foster transparency in its dealings with its neighbors.

To help allay landowner fears, Samish sent out a letter to property owners in the March’s Point area. The letter included a map of an 1871 survey, which shows the boundaries of the Swinomish Reservation where they are today.

He said Samish, which

was re-recognized by the federal government in 1996, is accustomed to doing meticulous historical research — starting with proving the tribe’s very existence.

Wooten said he believes the evidence does not support the Swinomish claim that its reservation extends past its current boundaries.

By Enrique Pérez de la Rosa WNPA Olympia News Bureau Governor Jay Inslee Thursday signed an executive order to limit state agencies’ help in enforcing federal civil immigration laws.

With the governor’s order, Washington state agencies are prohibited from demanding documents regarding a person’s immigration status or religion, and they are not allowed to enforce or assist in the enforcement of any religion-based registry.

Executive Order 17-01 is a response to various immigration policies from President Donald J. Trump’s administration. The order is meant to reaffirm the state’s commitment to tolerance, diversity and inclusiveness, he stated.

“In Washington state, we know this: we do not discriminate based on someone’s race, religion, ethnicity or national origin. That remains true even as federal policies create such uncertain times,” Inslee said at a press

conference following his signing of the order. “But there should be nothing uncertain about where we stand as elected leaders in the state of Washington.”

Agencies also are prohibited from using state money or property to apprehend people who have violated federal civil immigration laws. However, Inslee made it clear that if there is a federal criminal arrest warrant on an individual, the state will honor it.

The order also states that the Washington State Patrol, the Department of Corrections or any state agency with arrest powers shall not arrest a person simply for violating a federal immigration law.

“Simply being undocumented is not a crime,” Nick Brown, the general counsel for Inslee, said at the press conference.

Washington state has recently gained national attention for battling the Trump

By Maria Matson The Bureau of Indian Affairs is making the “rounds” across the U.S. to gather feedback from tribal nations to decide whether long-standing “Indian trading regulations” should be updated — laws that determine who can run a business on tribal reservations and what items can be sold. The BIA also says it wants tribes to comment on how changes to current dual tax regulations on Tribal lands could benefit tribes.

On Thursday morning, the BIA had its first of eight consultations at the Wa Walton Event Center at the Swinomish Casino & Lodge, to gather input from the “Seattle area.” The meeting was closed to the public, press and counties, despite the BIA previously stating that it’s seeking verbal and written comments from “federally recognized tribes” and also “states and their agencies and from the public.”

As the trading laws currently stand, the BIA has strict authority over tribal businesses.

The Commissioner of Indian Affairs has sole power to appoint business licenses, or “traders to the Indian tribes,” and to make the rules and regulations about the type, quality and prices of the goods being sold to tribal members.

The law, first written in 1957, contains outdated language at times, particularly in references to race and “civilized tribes.”

“The regulations themselves have a long history — it’s been over 30 years since they’ve been revised,” Tana Fitzpatrick said in a call after the consultation ended. Fitzpatrick is a senior counselor under the Department of the Interior’s Office of the Assistant Secretary, according to the BIA’s website.

“Some of the commenters there today wanted to keep aspects of the licensing scheme,” she said, “but other tribes thought it’s long overdue that we update the regulations — that tribes are fully capable of regulating trade themselves.”

Fitzpatrick stressed that the BIA is in the early stages of crafting the policy.

“Dual taxation did come up.

From the comments received today, the tribal nations receiving these taxes said it could help them with the governmental services that they provide to their people.” Dual taxation in this context refers to taxation by tribes as well as public agencies.

The U.S. government has a special relationship with Indian tribes, outlined in “governmentto-government” policies — at the meeting, Fitzpatrick and Swinomish Indian Tribal Community attorney Stephen LeCuyer pointed to the policy as an explanation why the meeting was closed to the public. However, the BIA’s “Government-to-Government (Continued on Page 2)

Gov. Inslee limits state agencies’ immigration enforcement administration’s so-called travel ban.

In January, Washington’s Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against President Trump’s order prohibiting entry to the U.S. of nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries in the Middle East and Africa. A Seattle U.S. District Court judge ruled against the order, halting its implementation.

On Feb. 9, a three-judge panel on the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously against the Trump administration, continuing to block the enforcement of the travel ban.

In the Legislature, House Democrats have introduced bills to protect state residents from Trump’s executive orders.

HB 2097, sponsored by Rep. Derek Stanford, D-Bothell, seeks to prohibit state or local government agencies from providing, collecting and

A CAPPELLA – It looks like this little hummingbird knows the whole song and isn’t just humming.

disclosing information pertaining to someone’s religion.

HB 1988, sponsored by Rep. Lillian Ortiz-Self, D-Mukilteo, would create a new process for immigrant youth ages 18 to 21 to petition a court for a guardian if they have been abandoned or abused by one or both parents.

Ortiz-Self also sponsored HB 2029, which would create a tollfree telephone hotline and website for people seeking information or assistance on immigration law and citizenship.

All three bills received dopass recommendations from the House Judiciary Committee on Feb.16 and were referred to the House Rules Committee the next day.

Readers wishing to contact their legislators about these or any other bills may link to the web site www.leg.wa.gov or call 1800-562-6000. To watch a video of Inslee’s press conference, link to www.tvw.org.

– Photo by Don Coyote

La Conner’s Award-winning Newspaper

LA CONNER WEEKLY NEWS VOL. 9 • NO. 21

LA CONNER, WASHINGTON

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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2016

Wicked little arthropod found on San Juan Island

By Sandy Stokes A member of an invasive crab species that indirectly threatens our delicious Dungeness variety and preys on clams and oysters was found at Westcott Bay on San Juan Island last week.

Volunteer monitors caught a European green crab, which doesn’t belong in our waters, but seems determined to homestead here anyway.

A team of volunteers from Washington Sea Grant caught the three-inch adult male as part of the Crab Team’s regular monitoring program.

European green crabs are native to the eastern Atlantic and Baltic Sea, but they have migrated as stowaways on ships.

The creature was first seen in American waters about 200 years ago.

Since then it has colonized the northeastern seaboard and the Pacific Northwest coast. The Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife is working with Sea Grant to keep it from becoming common in interior estuaries and eelgrass forests favored by our native sea life.

The green crab, also known as the European shore crab, is only about half the size of the “keeper” Dungeness crabs fishers haul in around here, but it has nasty habits.

It is an omnivore and essentially eats everything. Sea Grant Marine Ecologist Jeff Adams said it has also been implicated in digging up eelgrass forests on the east coast — something that could hurt lots of native species, should they do it here.

While our Dungeness or red rocks would likely kick butt in combat with the smaller green crab, the invasive species has parasites in its native range that could be very harmful if they ever show up here, Adams said.

The crab found at Westcott Bay has been checked for parasites and was clean, he said.

It is now in a freezer at a lab in Friday Harbor.

Adams said the volunteer monitors and scientists have been looking for the green crab in the Strait of Juan De Fuca and Salish Sea since 2012, always hoping never to find one. The one found last week likely floated in as a larva on currents, he said, possibly from the outside waters of Vancouver Island, where they have established colonies.

The Sea Grant Crab Team is asking the public to keep a lookout for the invasive species.

The easiest way to identify them

is by their carapace, which has five spiny points on each side between the eyes and front legs, and three bumps between the eyes.

While they often come in shades of green, they can be brown or even kind of red depending on what stage of their molting process they’re in.

Adams said green crabs are not likely to turn up in recreational crab pots because they like protected estuaries and muddy areas. People are more likely to encounter them from the shore.

Since they’re a prohibited species in Washington, it’s against the law to take them. State Department of Fish and Game spokesman Jason Wettstein said in theory at least, someone could be cited for catching and keeping a green crab. So the best thing to do is just photograph them, release them and report them as fugitives so the Sea Grant Crab Team can hunt them down and capture them.

The important thing, Wettstein said, is for people who encounter these creatures to report the location. That way the crab team can “take a really solid look at the area when they try to identify hot spots.”

One crab by itself is not going to destroy the ecosystem; but where there’s one, there cold be a whole colony.

Anyone who finds a green crab or its molted carapace, is asked to contact the crab team at crabteam@uw.edu, describe where it was found and send a photo if possible.

Dance art at MoNA

A special Artist Talk program at the Museum of Northwest Art scheduled for Sunday features visual artist and choreographer Mary Sheldon Scott and composer Jarrad Powell sharing excerpts from their upcoming “The Solo(s) Project,” an evening-length dance work.

The MoNa presentation is Sunday, Sept. 11 at 2 p.m.

While it is free and open to the public, RSVPs will be appreciated via email, christyl@museumofnwart. org, or phone, 360-466-4446 x 112.

FIRST DAY – La Conner kindergarten teacher Judy Zimmerman knows how to get her class engaged in learning from the get-go on their first day of school. Here she is going over school rules and giving a lesson while keeping their attention on her animated story telling.

– Photo by Don Coyote

Day one on the road to high school graduation

By Maria Matson The 15 fidgeting and excited 5-year-olds began their kindergarten through 12th-grade journey on Tuesday with La Conner Elementary teacher Judy Zimmerman.

Zimmerman, also known as “Mrs. Z,” corralled her rambunctious charges into a half circle, sitting quietly as she flipped through a picture book describing the story while animatedly explaining school rules.

She covered the basics — how to use the classroom bathroom, with its high-tech light sensors and automatic soap dispensers.

She told them they will have to listen attentively as they grow accustomed to a new school routine and big building.

There’s a lot to look at in Mrs. Z’s classroom: an old bee’s nest dangles from the ceiling, the walls are hung with soft furs and pelts from her husband’s trappings, a desk is made from the old elementary school gym, a gaping puffer fish hangs high above the child-sized mock kitchen, and the posters and artwork range from Native American designs to hand-drawn dog portraits.

Parents say goodbye to their children at her door — a bittersweet parting moment that she understands completely.

After graduating from La Conner High School, Zimmerman

earned a nursing degree at Skagit Valley College. Following her nursing career, she became a stay-at-home mom to her four children. When it was time to send her oldest daughter to kindergarten, she says she wasn’t at all ready to let go — she went to school every day to volunteer.

A teacher told her, “If you’re going to be here every day, why don’t you just get a job here?”

And so she did — working as an educational assistant for many years in nearly every grade in the La Conner Schools.

When she was told she’d make a good teacher, Zimmerman, who was 52 at the time, initially thought, “I’m too old to go back to college.”

But she did — for two more years in a teaching program.

“I applied for a job right away here; of course I wanted to work in La Conner,” she said.

She’s currently on her ninth year of teaching, and she says the job hasn’t lost its luster.

Her co-workers describe her as helpful and loving. To the new kindergarteners, she’s a towering authority figure inside an alien environment — so she works hard to make her classroom feel comfortable to them.

“I think we live in such a natural place in the Skagit Valley that it has to be reflected in the classroom,” Zimmerman said, “This classroom should look like

BAD NEWS CRAB – The European green crab’s scientific name Carcinus maenas translates to “raving mad crab.” An adult male with a 3-inch carapace was found on San Juan Island last week, and scientists are concerned the unwelcome, invasive and destructive species could spread into local estuaries.

– 2004 photo by Sean McDonald, courtesy of Washington Sea Grant

something familiar to them, not a strange place they go to for a year.”

Sally Azure, her fulltime educational aide, said Zimmerman “doesn’t treat them like babies. She pushes them and they’re ready for first grade by the time they get there.”

Teacher Katie Wigal and her aide Naomi Williams from the other kindergarten class say Zimmerman is a thoughtful, fun and creative teacher. Wigal says Zimmerman is good at differentiating between the children and their individual levels of learning.

“The kids love her,” Wigal said, and so do her colleagues, who are frequently treated with her home-baked treats. “She’s like everybody’s warm hug.”

Mrs. Z’s goals are holistic, and “more than just the ABC’s,” though her students do a lot of that, too. Ultimately, she wants them to learn to take care of each other, be kind, have high goals

and a voice for themselves and to be productive members of their communities. She is especially grateful to be teaching the young children.

“Kindergarteners have so much faith. They have faith that each day I’ll be here, that the lights will be on. They believe that someone will love them and that their parents will pick them up,” she said. “They’ll hold hands with anyone — doesn’t matter if they’re a boy or girl. They’re just so brand new.”

“There’s a lot of joy in this job,” she said. “The best thing to spend on your children is time.”

She still gets weepy at the end of each year, she said, as she says goodbye to her “class family.” But she remains always ready to welcome her next crop of kindergartners to grow into students.

“When you get older,” she said, “you learn to appreciate the small things in life and these are the small things.”

A guide to parks in La Conner

Who would think that a town of about 900 residents would need a guide to its local parks?

La Conner author Janna Gage, in collaboration with former Parks Commission Chair Brian Scheuch, researched and described close to 20 public parks in this tiny town.

Although it would only take about an hour to walk through town and visit all its parks, the book includes interesting, as well as useful information on each stop.

For example, the slice of giant log next to the public restroom on First Street is actually a park. And the book tells which waterfront parks have public moorage available for boaters.

With pictures of every public feature in town, and historical and practical information on each one, the little 48-page book is being sold as a fundraiser for the parks.

The La Conner Parks Commission has been actively soliciting donations for the new and very pretty Conner Waterfront Park being developed under the Rainbow Bridge. Phase one of that park construction is almost complete, with parking and picnic facilities for visitors.

Also nearing completion at the new park is its focal point — a large interactive sculpture in the form of a giant king salmon kids can use as a slide.

The waterfront park, built on the site of an old fish cannery, was envisioned years ago by Scheuch. He convinced the Town Council to quit leasing the land for industrial use and let the Parks Commission work to develop a park on that scenic stretch of shoreline.

“La Conner Parks” is $10 and is available for purchase at Tillinghast Postal on Morris Street and at the “La Conner Weekly News” office on N. Third Street. All proceeds from the book go to support the town’s parks.

La Conner’s Award-winning Newspaper

LA CONNER WEEKLY NEWS VOL. 9 • NO. 18

LA CONNER, WASHINGTON

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17, 2016

Did the state throw taxpayers to Great Wolf?

By Sandy Stokes The Washington Department of Revenue says it asked the state’s 39 county assessors for comment as it crafted the property tax policy that hit La Conner residents so hard.

When homes were taken off the county’s tax rolls, a $1.8 million tax burden was shifted to the remaining taxpayers, some of whom saw their property tax bills jump by thousands of dollars.

The state’s documentation of the process as it developed its response to the so-called Great Wolf Lodge decision shows assessors were never called in for meetings with state officials.

But tribes were invited to send their representatives, mainly lawyers, to two sit-downs with state officials.

Skagit County Assessor Dave Thomas, who was elected last year, said that in other instances the Department of Revenue has gathered assessors around the table to help craft state tax policy. But the response to Great Wolf, which led to 931 parcels in the La Conner area being taken ULTIMATE WARRIORS – The women’s war canoe team from the Lummi Nation competed in racing on the channel during the off the tax rolls, wasn’t one of – Photo by Don Coyote

Swinomish Days powwow held last weekend.

Popular street minstrel doesn’t pull strings

By Bill Reynolds First Street has long attracted those who march to a different tune.

Now add Rick Fogel to the list.

He’s a popular waterfront musician, who fancies hard rock — when it comes to sculpting, that is.

His taste in music is much more classical. Actually more Old World than old school.

Fogel, among other pursuits, is one of the country’s few crafters of “Bones,” a simply yet delightfully rhythmic instrument dating to antiquity.

Locally, though, he is perhaps best known for his mastery of the hammered dulcimer, a percussion icon of Appalachia, whose unique sound Fogel has helped resonate with La Conner residents and visitors alike.

He takes as much pride in fashioning a dulcimer — he has built hundreds of them — as he does in playing the distinctly shaped sound board, which requires deft handling of light hammers to make the strings do their magic.

“The builder,” he explains, “must be acquainted with performing.”

That lesson was learned shortly after earning his master’s degree, about the time Fogel decided to swap protons and electrons for mahogany and maple.

That was 1975, in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Mama’s cooking and adventure led to La Conner

MUSIC MAN – He uses hammers, but Rick Fogel doesn’t pound out the hits on First Street. Instead it’s a deft touch with his dulcimer that has folks applauding and tapping along during his regular visits to La Conner.

– Photo by Karla Reynolds

His life has been harmonious — on many levels — ever since.

“We show our innermost feelings with every breath,” he notes, “and I’m excited to have the opportunity to display a few things for which I breathe.”

Music being one.

“I’ve been playing for 40 years now,” he told this newspaper. “I’ve been making my living playing and teaching.”

He’s done so all around the country, conducting seminars and workshops and performing at concerts and folk music festivals.

His home base is now Seattle,

but La Conner is a frequent and favorite venue.

For here he has discovered audiences that share his appreciation for art across the spectrum.

“Whether performing my own music on ancient instruments that I’ve redesigned and built, or creating rock sculptures from stone I’ve found while traveling,” Fogel says. “I thrive on the spontaneity of the moments when my music is a little better than usual, or find an attractive stone, or create a beautiful shape.”

(Continued on Page 2)

Salmon slide hit a snag, but moves ahead

By Maria Matson The progress of the salmon sculpture at Conner Waterfront Park that will double as a children’s slide hasn’t exactly gone swimmingly.

Miscommunications between the artist, Tom Jay, and the concrete contractor caused the salmon to shift on its frame after the material’s mixture wasn’t the consistency Jay expected. The artist will receive $750 for the work it took to fix it, the Town Council voted on August 9.

Jay spent a week doing repairs “pro-bono,” Town Administrator John Doyle described to the council and Mayor Hayes, and the artist estimated it would take another week to get it back where it should be.

The council unanimously agreed that Jay’s request of

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$2,800 compensation for this lost time was too much and rejected a motion to instead approve $1,000.

Councilmember Bruch proposed a motion to approve $750 for the extra work, which then passed 3-1, with Stokes voting nay and Chamberlain absent.

“He truly wants to make it right,” Doyle said to the council, adding that he himself took responsibility for the communication problems and that the hardworking artist wasn’t trying to take advantage.

During the weeks it took to fix it, Jay enlisted the help of several friends to get it back on track, according to Doyle. The artist is to be paid for the project in three installments and is currently on

By Mary Evitt A trip on the Love Boat led Carlo Ochetti to sail from Italy and eventually fulfill his dream of owning a restaurant in America.

Ochetti opened La Terrazza on May 1 to showcase authentic recipes from his family, his professional training and his culinary experiences.

“I love La Conner — it has made my dreams come true,” he said.

Ochetti got an early start cooking. Traditionally, Italians gather at the family home on Sundays for a big meal and relaxation. “I followed Mama around every Sunday,” he said.

From Mama he learned the flavors of northern Italy and favorite dishes, such as homemade cannelloni, lasagna, and ravioli. But wanderlust stirred his heart. “Mama always knew I was going to leave,” he said.

After three years in culinary school in Italy, he completed an internship in Switzerland, and then an idea struck him for a way to travel beyond Europe — cruise ships.

He’d watched the “The Love Boat” TV show in Italy. In America, the series about both crew and passengers resolving romantic difficulties aboard a ship ran from 1977 to 1987 on ABC. Celebrities and Hollywood stars rotated through the passenger list during the show’s popularity.

Ochetti could scarcely believe his luck when hired by Princess Cruises, parent company of the ships featured in filming the series. “I’d get paid to travel,” he said.

He started as a third-level cook and worked his way up to Sous Chef — king of all the sauces that flowed from the kitchen to flavor the fancy cruise-line dishes.

“It’s the heart of the kitchen,”

he said of his kitchen role.

After six years globe-trotting, visiting exotic places such as the Caribbean, Panama, South America and Alaska, he crossed paths with Italian restauranteur Luciano Bardinelli and ventured ashore. He worked a total of 11 years for Bardinelli in San Luis Obispo and in Bellevue. He later went back and forth between California and Washington, mainly because his children and ex-wife live there.

He landed in Seattle but was finally tired of traveling and of city crowds and tangled traffic.

“Then I discovered this historical town — the quietest town in the Northwest,” he said.

He named the restaurant La Terrazza — The Terrace — because of the two patios jutting from the building at 505 First Street.

The small-town flavor here reminds him of Verbania, where he grew up.

Verbania is northeast of Milan, near the Swiss Alps and bordering Lago Maggoire. “This year it was voted the most beautiful lake in Europe, he said.

Like most Europeans, he is multilingual. He speaks Spanish in addition to slightly accented English and his native tongue.

He isn’t likely to forget his Italian roots, as his mother and father, sometimes siblings, visit regularly from Italy.

Guests at the restaurant usually are greeted by Lubos Szabo of Czechoslovakia, Ochetti’s business partner. The two met while working in Bellevue and became fast friends.

Ochetti is happy to realize an immigrant’s dream. “I have been pretty fortunate in America — the land of opportunity. Now I have an opportunity here, and I’m taking it,” he said.

the final section.

“He didn’t feel particularly responsible for the bad pour,” Doyle said of Jay’s request.

The sculpture is part of the larger plan to develop Conner Waterfront Park, located near the Rainbow Bridge. Maria DeGoede, the town finance director, said the cost of the salmon project is roughly $23,000.

The salmon sculpture is expected to be finished in a few days. Other than the concrete glitch, “it’s going well,” Doyle said.

Next up for the project is the coloring, staining and a coating of finishing material. In the end, it will be a functional work of art — a giant salmon with a gaping mouth that children can climb ON THE TERRAZZA – Chef Carlo Ochetti’s life led him in on a into and slide through. journey from Italy, his birthplace, to this terrace at the restaurant he recently opened in La Conner

– Photo By Don Coyote

those times.

Thomas said the state brought assessors together to create a policy concerning bank sales of foreclosed properties and also brought them together to develop a Department of Revenue handbook concerning “current use” assessor practices.

“Those provide examples of what should have occurred in this case,” he said.

While Great Wolf was a federal decision and should be handled on the national level, “the great concern is in the implementation and the consequences,” said State Rep. Norma Smith, R-Clinton, who is interested in the state’s role in developing guidance.

“Did it treat all parties involved fairly and equitably? That’s the question to which I feel we don’t have a satisfactory answer,” Smith said. “As we pursue all the facts in this situation, I will be joining my colleagues to determine what appropriate next steps need to be taken.”

The fallout from a Property Tax Advisory guidance memo the department issued came after the federal 9th Circuit Appellate Court’s decision in a case that originated in Thurston County.

The court overturned a decision that allowed Thurston County to collect property tax on the Great Wolf Lodge water park structures that were owned by a corporation and built on leased Chehalis Reservation land.

Until last year, Skagit County assessed personal property tax on the buildings, but not the land, for homes owned by non-Indians built on Swinomish Indian Tribal Community reservation land.

Skagit County Civil Deputy Prosecutor Will Honea, who was representing the county at the time, said there were strong legal arguments to be made against removing the properties from the tax rolls. But since the state had already weighed in on the side of the tribes, it would have been an uphill battle.

Also, Honea said, the county was worried about another provision in the Department of Revenue’s guidance document: “We were extremely concerned that the state’s ruling would have required the school district to (Continued on Page 4)

Fire chars meadow on Hope Island

By Maria Matson The cause of an 11-acre fire on Hope Island remains a mystery.

The burn took firefighters twoand-a-half days to fully extinguish and was mostly limited to fields of dry grass.

District 13 Fire Chief Roy Horn said it took about 20 people to put it out, including help from the La Conner Fire Department and the Department of Natural Resources. The fire on the 200-acre state park began on Thursday, August 11.

“We have no idea how or who started it,” he said. “It’s one of those mystery things.”

It was a nice, sunny day — no lightning, he said. And there were no campsites on that side of the island, which was “totally empty.” He described the fire location as being on the island tip that faces Whidbey Island.

“Someone suggested it could have been the angle of the sun hitting a piece of glass and having a magnifying effect,” Horn said.

The fire started out as a smoky burn, then started moving uphill and took out a couple of trees, Horn said. Of the five islands the district responds to, there have been about 10 fires in the last 15 years, he said. Some of those fires were caused by campfires and fireworks.

PAGE 4 • LA CONNER WEEKLY NEWS • AUGUST 17, 2016

Great Wolf . . . give back three years of taxes.”

Shelter Bay is a gated community developed on land that is held in trust for the Swinomish Tribe. In the 1960s, the developer leased bare land from the tribe and built the community’s amenities that include roads, a marina, golf course, clubhouse and pool.

The developer sub-leased lots to people who built their homes in the development.

Today the Shelter Bay Community pays about $1.3 million in annual rent to the tribe for the land. And homeowners, who used to pay county taxes, now pay property tax to the tribe instead. While the tribe has contributed money to the schools and a few other public entities, most of the tax money it collects goes toward tribal government services.

The Department of Revenue’s guidance, which stated that all structures on tribal land are immune from state and local taxes, has had major impacts in La Conner, where about twothirds of the children in the local school district live in homes the state and school district cannot tax. Absorbing the school tax has been a major financial hit for the remaining taxpayers in La Conner.

There is evidence that the Washington Department of Revenue’s guidance on property tax was strongly influenced by tribal lawyers.

In its March 2014 Property Tax Advisory, the state Department of Revenue told county assessors that all permanent improvements on land held in trust for tribes or tribal members are immune from state and local taxes. That was the argument put forth by tribal lawyers.

However, in another case filed in federal court in 2014 ­­— after the Great Wolf Lodge decision — the United States of America last month filed an amicus, or friend of the court, brief that essentially says a statute the tribes relied on for their argument that structures

(Continued from Page 1)

on leased tribal land are tax exempt does not outright preempt state and local taxes. Instead, the United States’ brief states that the federal regulation requires a balancing test weighing the state interests and tribal interests, though the tribal interests are strongly favored.

That case, which is in Riverside County, California, is also within the federal 9th Circuit and was filed by the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians against Riverside County, challenging the county’s right to tax improvements on leased tribal land.

This newspaper sent the Department of Revenue and Swinomish representatives emails asking about the statue and whether the balancing test was employed. Both responded with answers that essentially said all structures on tribal land are exempt from state and local taxes, period.

Poking further into the weeds on our local situation, the state was asked to document its contacts with county assessors in developing its guidance document.

“As you can see, we reached out and included assessors from initial notification of the Ninth Circuit Court’s decision through our final guidance,” Department of Revenue spokeswoman Kim Schmanke wrote in an email.

Her response shows that initial contact with assessors was made via email in August 2013 seeking comment on the Great Wolf Lodge ruling.

However, in that first contact, the Department of Revenue stated: “The Court’s ruling applies to properties that fit the facts of this case, i.e., permanent improvements with at least 51 percent Tribal ownership and held in trust by the United States are exempt from property tax.”

Under that guidance, the appellate court’s ruling did not apply in our county. The Chehalis Tribe holds 51 percent ownership in the corporation that owns the

CAR WASH – Kids worked hard Friday to earn money to help La Conner Youth Football earn money for equipment and league fees during a car wash at the old gas station near the La Conner roundabout.

– Photo by Robin Carneen Edwards

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Olympic golfer has fan club with local accent

By Bill Reynolds A Canadian golfer’s quest for gold at the Olympics played out close to home.

Graham DeLaet, who fired a five-under 66 on Thursday to match reigning British Open champ Henrik Stenson for second place in the Rio tourney’s debut round, was cheered on from near and far.

Especially in La Conner.

DeLaet, a native of Saskatchewan, who won 10 collegiate events while at Boise State University, is the son-inlaw of La Conner High alums Lisa and Russell Jensen.

“It was pretty exciting to see his name on the leaderboard,” Russell, himself a golf enthusiast, said on Friday. “And what a great honor it was for him to represent his country.”

DeLaet carded a 69 in Sunday’s final round, leaving the 2016 Summer Games with a score of four-under-par and a Top Twenty finish in a star-studded Olympic field that included PGA Tour headliners Justin Rose, Bubba Watson, Rickie Fowler, Padraig Harrington, and Sergio Garcia, in addition to Stenson.

Rose, the long and lean Brit who captured the gold medal, also made highlight reels for having delivered a hole-in-one to help mark golf’s return to the Olympics after an absence of 112 years.

But for much of Thursday’s play, it was DeLaet who drew the media’s attention — and not because he used to sport one of golf’s most recognizable beards.

Instead it was for trailing first day leader Marcus Fraser of Australia by a mere whisker.

DeLaet’s day on the par-71,

7,132-yard course was marked by four birdies.

It was yet another strong showing for the former Canadian Rookie of the Year, just five years removed from a back injury, a malady that has derailed numerous golf careers.

But DeLaet rebounded from the health setback to earn a spot on the International Team in the 2013 President’s Cup, and placed second the next year at the Phoenix and Farmers Insurance opens.

He capped his 2014 season with a 15th place finish in the PGA Championship, one of golf’s four major tournaments.

Those results were reminiscent of the meteoric start to his pro career, which saw DeLaet win three times in a two-year span on the Canadian Tour, including triumphs in Montreal in 2008 and at the Canadian Tour Players Cup the following season.

A Canadian Tour Order of Merit recipient, DeLaet was thrilled to qualify for the Olympics this summer.

“You’re out there, and you’re playing for more than just yourself,” he told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation last week. “You’re playing for the flag, and it’s a pretty cool feeling.”

DeLaet’s family, friends, and loyal gallery have shared in that feeling.

“Golf has been good to him over the past few years,” Russell said of DeLaet, who in turn has given much back to his fans and native Canada.

He and wife Ruby have established a foundation that supports hospital and health care services as well as junior golf

programs in Canada.

His strong showing in Rio means the DeLaet name is now a familiar one beyond North America.

“The Olympic experience,” he Tweeted on Monday, “has been one of the best of my life.”

In related notes: • DeLaet and the Canadians were, in a technical sense, defending Olympic champions in Rio. George Lyon of Canada struck gold in 1904, the last time golf was an Olympic sport.

• La Conner had another direct rooting interest at the 2016 Summer Games. Hilary Caldwell of sister city White Rock, B.C. placed third in the women’s 200 meter backstroke, the race that featured a dramatic gold medal finish by America’s Maya Dirado.

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The conscientious declarer continually seeks ways of improving his chances, even if the improvement amounts to a seemingly trivial percentage point or two.

Such a minuscule addition to one’s chance of success might seem hardly worth the effort, but over a period of time it can make all the difference between winning and losing.

Consider this deal where South was in four spades and West led a heart.

Declarer won with dummy’s ace and promptly led a spade to the jack, losing to the king. West cashed the jack of hearts and shifted to a diamond.

South won and, when West next showed out on the queen of spades, had to concede down one, losing two spades, a heart and a club.

South bemoaned his bad luck in losing a trick to the singleton king of spades, but the outcome was really his own fault. Had he considered his approach to the trump suit more carefully, he might have seen the wisdom of playing the ace on the first round of spades rather than the jack. This would have felled the king and limited South to one trump loser.

The play of the ace is not based on a peek at West’s hand, but on simple probabilities. Declarer should reason that if the opposing spades are divided 3-2, he cannot lose more than one trump trick no matter how he plays the suit. Similarly, if the spades are 4-1, with the king guarded, two spades will have to be lost regardless of how South plays.

There is, however, one 4-1 division where declarer’s play matters — and that is when the king is singleton in either opponent’s hand. If East has the singleton king, it will appear when the first spade is led from dummy. But if West has it, the ace must be played to avoid losing an extra spade trick.

The chance of West’s holding the lone king is slightly less than 3 percent — not a very high number. But it is approximately that small percentage that enables casinos the world over to show millions of dollars in profits every year.

August 15, 2016

THE WINNING EDGE

Great Wolf Lodge, which was built on leased reservation land in Thurston County. In Skagit County, the homes in Shelter Bay and in the Pull & Be Damned Road neighborhoods, also built on leased reservation land, are owned by the people who built them and bought them, not a tribe.

Here, the structures are privately owned by homeowners, while the land beneath them is leased land held in trust by the federal government for the Swinomish Tribe.

The Department of Revenue also documented that it sent follow-up emails to assessors seeking comment in September 2013 and called four assessor’s offices, including Skagit’s, in late October. Then, in November, the month following, its first face-toface meeting with tribal lawyers, the state agency sent out it’s next interim guidance memo.

This time the language was murkier, but still said the ruling applied to structures owned in part by tribes. It said immunity from state and local taxation “should be afforded to permanent improvements located on land held in trust by the United States for a Tribe or Tribal member that is leased to a Tribe, individual Indian or an entity in which the tribe or Indian has at least a 50 percent ownership interest.”

The state had asked assessors to answer three questions. On Dec. 30, 2013, Thomas, who at that time was working under then-assessor Don Munks, answered. First, Skagit County could identify all tribal property.

Second, the county has records of improvements on tribal land leased to third parties including ownership. And third, “has over 1,000 parcels of leased residential improvements on tribal land valued around 140M and there is concern of a significant tax shift should these become exempt.”

Also counted in the agency’s documented assessor outreach efforts, Department of Revenue representatives attended the state Association of County Assessor’s legislative conference in January 2014 and discussed the court case.

On March 17, 2014, the month following its second face-to-face meeting with tribal lawyers, the agency emailed assessors a draft of its final guidance with an invitation to call in for a phone conference two days later.

Skagit County was not one of the four assessors on that conference call.

On March 25, 2014 an attorney working for the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community requested an edit to the final draft to include land held in trust for individual tribal members in addition to land held for tribes.

On March 31, 2014, the Department of Revenue issued its final Property Tax Advisory, which La Conner taxpayers are living with today.

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LA CONNER WEEKLY NEWS VOL. 9 • NO. 28

LA CONNER, WASHINGTON

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2016

A favorite teacher – Veronica Thurmond

ALL LIT UP – The Rainbow Bridge is aglow at night again, after an apparent secret “black ops” mission that was not sanctioned or acknowledged by any government entity.

– Photo by Don Coyote

Covert operation illuminates bridge

By Sandy Stokes It was pretty dangerous, probably even a little illegal, but the result of a clandestine effort was brilliant: La Conner’s Rainbow Bridge has lights again for the first time in a decade.

Mayor Ramon Hayes and the Town Council have been trying to figure out a way to get the bridge lit up for more than a year. At the last meeting, Town Councilman Bill Bruch gave an update: A contractor could bring a boom truck and string lights on the bridge with special clamps for under $50,000.

But two local men side-stepped all the bureaucrats and beat that price by about $49,850. They used tennis shoes and bungee cords.

La Conner Weekly News is not going to point fingers, but when this newspaper wanted sources to explain how to string Christmas lights on a big bridge without a boom truck or any official sanctions, Don Scott and Peter Hubl were on the short list of experts.

And while Mayor Hayes had nothing to do with the guerilla lighting maneuver, “I’m just pleased as punch to see the bridge lit,” he said.

Did he have any prior knowledge that this would occur?

Well, kinda. But not officially.

Don Scott, who used to climb up on the bridge and string lights until his doctor told him to knock it off about 10 years ago, turned up at a Town Council meeting a few months ago to tell the town policy makers that they were over-thinking the whole operation.

Hayes said that for the last six months or so, Scott kept threatening to get up there again and just get it done.

“Don you’re 78 years old.

There’s no way we can let you do that,” Hayes always proclaimed in his most official and stern

75¢

mayoral voice.

And now, even though the Mayor likes what he sees, “I can’t condone and couldn’t authorize the manner in which they were lit,” he said.

Peter Hubl, who would plead the Fifth, says that in his expert opinion, walking on top of the bridge would be about as scary as

walking on the bridge’s narrow sidewalk with cars whizzing by.

Someone who looks a lot like Hubl was actually seen on top of the bridge apparently testing that theory a couple of times last week. And someone who looks like he could be Don Scott’s movie stunt double was seen in that general vicinity, too.

Anyhow, the lovely twinkle of lights across the arch of La Conner’s iconic bridge at night has returned.

And according to the experts contacted for this story, the engineering design is the same one used in the mid-1990s — Christmas lights strung along the top secured by bungee cords.

SECRET AGENT – Someone was spotted on top of the bridge on Thursday, just hours before the lights went on.

– Photo by Kane Stokes

By Maria Matson Once a year, the La Conner Middle School gym fills for a day with eighth-graders proudly displaying well-decorated poster boards, giving out freebies and facts to those who pass by their tables.

The yearly culture fair’s public launch reveals the cumulative efforts of each individual student, under supervision of their teacher, Mrs. Thurmond — a teacher who is all about celebrating individuality.

Veronica Thurmond has taught La Conner’s seventh- and eighthgraders for the past 16 years and says the annual Culture Fair is considered a “right of passage” for many who are schooled here.

“It’s fun for me to get to see kids at their best — they have so much pride in their best work,” Thurmond said. “They’re already experts about themselves, but they still dig deeper and learn so much more.”

She works with the eighthgraders for six weeks to set up their culture fair projects, which can be on family interests, traditions, culture — or even food.

As a teacher, Thurmond believes in valuing differences — in culture and as well as learning styles.

“I like for them to be able to demonstrate knowledge in a variety of ways,” she said.

For example, she does “Action Vocab,” which has the students create physical motions in order to help them remember their vocabulary.

“I just tested kids yesterday, and I took some out since they choose whether to be tested written or orally,” she said. For example, with a student who chose an oral test, “...he’s doing the actions as he’s telling me — and he’s like trying not to show me,” she said, laughing as she mimed the suppressed hand motions. “And that’s OK, that’s the way his brain has processed it.”

Thurmond says she’s learned from her students since she first began teaching, developing as a teacher and a person. She now emphasizes teaching in a variety of ways, so students can process and explain their knowledge.

“It makes it OK to do things differently, makes it OK to process slower or faster. To read actions, or speak out loud, or write it,” she said. “We don’t all think, speak or read at the same speed.”

Thurmond is described by her co-workers as firm but fun — also the way she describes herself.

“I think the kids would describe

Schools chief forum today The La Conner School Board wants to hear from parents, community members and taxpayers as it launches its search for a new district superintendent.

Interim Superintendent Peg Seeling plans to retire at the end of this school year.

The district hired a professional search firm to locate candidates for the top job, but the board wants to hear what qualities local residents want to see in a new superintendent.

The community meeting is 6:30 p.m. today, Wednesday, in the board room at the district CULTURE FAIR – La Conner Middle School eighth-grader Isaiah Adams talks about his presentation and his family’s legacy.

– Photo by Don Coyote office.

VERONICA THURMOND

me as a weird combination of strict and fun,” she said, “silly and serious. High standards and high support — they know that I want them to succeed, but they know I’m not going to make it ‘easy’ for them to do so.”

Originally from El Paso, Texas, she said she always knew she’d be a teacher, and even as a little girl, she’d pretend to be the teacher with her younger sister.

After moving to Washington, she got her bachelor’s degree from Central Washington University and came to La Conner to teach as an instructional assistant in the migrant program. After that, she began teaching at the middle school and hasn’t stopped since.

Her three boys attend school at Burlington-Edison, where her husband teaches.

Two of her former students, now both high school seniors, say they enjoyed having her as a teacher.

“She keeps you on track,” Nakiya Edwards said. “She’s good at making you work but not so hard you don’t enjoy it.”

“She won’t accept anything but your best, or she’ll give it back,” Tsedenya Hasenbalg said.

Suzann Keith, who teaches English at the high school, said she’s known Thurmond for about 15 years. Keith said Thurmond is big on rituals and patterns, has a good sense of humor and isn’t afraid to be goofy — if the kids misbehave, she’s known to “ding” them, gesturing in their direction and using her “teacher powers” to DING the kids.

In the classroom, the kids have been known to use the few minutes whenever she steps outside to have a short-lived dance party in her absence, Keith said, complete with a student playing music and another student posted as a lookout.

“It’s a joke,” she said. “They know it’s a joke, and she knows it’s a joke.”

Thurmond said she likes teaching in La Conner, with its small-town feel and support from the community, and she appreciates the school’s administration. She also likes having the students for two years in a row, since she teaches social studies, history and Spanish.

And she loves witnessing her students’ passions — some of which were on display for the whole community in last week’s Culture Fair.

Prepare for an invasion

A horde of around 400 candyseeking super heroes, pirates, princesses, fairies, zombies and a bunch of their friends will march on La Conner Monday.

The annual Halloween Parade followed by store-to-store trickor-treating will step off at 3:15 p.m. on Monday from La Conner Elementary School.

Kids through middle school age and their parents are invited to participate.

And local merchants are warned.

La Conner’s Award-winning Newspaper

LA CONNER WEEKLY NEWS VOL. 9 • NO. 23

75¢

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2016

LA CONNER, WASHINGTON

Tribe seeks to eliminate federal oversight

By Sandy Stokes The Swinomish Indian Tribal Community’s leadership wants to amend the tribe’s constitution so that its actions will no longer be subject to approval by the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The tribe has not responded to this newspaper’s requests to elaborate on its plan.

Stan Speaks, the regional director for the Pacific Northwest Agency of the Bureau of Indian Affairs said, “That situation has not been admitted or approved.

We will be meeting with the tribe in the very near future to discuss the issue.”

In the meantime, he would not say anymore about it, “until I have an opportunity to meet with the tribe and their attorneys,” he said.

Here’s what the tribe has laid out for its members in two issues of the tribal newsletter Qyuuqs, formerly Kee-Yoks: In June, the tribe informed members that the Indian Senate would ask the Bureau of Indian Affairs to approve an election to amend the Swinomish constitution. The reasons laid out included: “protect all of its territory, not just the Reservation and the natural resources located within that territory;” and to “regulate action by non-tribal members that potentially may harm this territory and its natural resources.”

According to its newsletter, the tribe seems to be referring to land it controls outside the boundaries of the reservation. In recent years the tribe has acquired hundreds of acres of formerly privately owned land, including the 217-acre Swinomish Golf Links it bought for $1.1 million in 2013, and the 2014 tax lien purchase of about 430 acres of the never developed “Mona Lisa Estates” land that lies within the reservation boundaries.

In the last several months the tribe has also purchased the Shell gas station on Christianson Road across from Swinomish Golf Links and the Bayside Fitness property across Highway 20 from the reservation.

None of the land the tribe has purchased has been taken off the county tax rolls – the tribe will pay more than $21,000 in property taxes on just the golf

course this year. Even the land it purchased within the reservation boundaries is still taxed.

Parcels come off the tax rolls when the federal government takes ownership of the property and holds it in trust for the tribes, a process that can take years.

That’s how the land under the Great Wolf Lodge water park in Thurston County became tax exempt after the Chehalis Tribe bought it.

In the September issue of the Qyuuqs newsletter, three pages are devoted to the sovereignty initiative and explained, “our current Constitution and Bylaws undermine our status as a sovereign nation by requiring the BIA approve too many of our actions and decisions that we make as a tribe. This approval process is referred to as Secretarial Approval.”

An example given in the June newsletter stated: “The tribe has wanted to pass a law protecting the reservation’s supply of water but the BIA will not approve it due to its national policy prohibiting tribes from enacting such laws.”

Like La Conner, Swinomish purchases water from the City of Anacortes, which treats and distributes water from the Skagit River.

Should the Bureau of Indian Affairs allow the election to amend its tribal constitution, Swinomish members will be asked to vote to remove the requirement for “secretarial review and approval of all tribal actions.”

The move would also create a tribal court system, and ensure, “that our territory includes not just the land, but also the water flowing through out lands, the air above, the minerals below” and “provide that the tribe has sovereign authority over that territory.”

The Swinomish government’s affairs are not open to the public.

As with private corporations, the meetings of their governing body are closed and there is no public disclosure required on their finances.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs is under the U.S. Department of the Interior, and, in theory, as a federal government agency it is answerable to the public.

POLO PLAYERS – Kaitlin Mitton, on left, from Oregon State University and Mackenzie Marten of Portland race for the ball during Sunday’s polo event.

– Photo by Don Coyote

Women’s polo tournament

By Maria Matson The La Conner Polo Club’s “Pretty Women’s Tournament” was rained out last Saturday, but the following day was clear enough for the rowdy horses and competitive riders to proceed as planned. The tournament included female players of beginner to experienced skill levels from various cities, including Vancouver B.C. The club was founded by George Dill about 10 years ago and offers lessons, rents and sells horses. Dill said there were 24 riders and around 200 attendees.

“It was really successful, a nice weather day and the girls enjoyed it,” he said. The cancelled day cost them money, but “that stuff happens,” Dill said.

Journalist Jim Smith on assignment in heaven

By Sandy Stokes The scribe of La Conner has left the planet.

Jim Smith, once the unofficial Wonder of Woonsocket, South Dakota, and more recently the witty author of “Notes from Pull & Be Damned” is gone.

He would like it if we told you he was abducted by aliens or took off hunting Sasquatch, but the sad truth is Jim died early Friday.

Jim’s weekly columns and news stories delighted people for

Another Fire District 13 withdrawal attempt

By Sandy Stokes Residents of the Channel Drive neighborhood north of La Conner submitted a petition with more than 100 signatures of voters who want to withdraw from Fire District 13.

Dave Buchan, Dennis Milliken and Martin Howard delivered the petition to Elections Supervisor Dave Cunningham in the Skagit County Auditors office on Monday.

The Elections Department has 10 days to check the signatures and make sure the petition is in order. In March, the county rejected a petition with 90 signatures seeking the same result – detachment from Fire District 13 – because the wording on the petition did not meet the legal criteria.

This time, at first glance it appears that the petition is crafted properly, Elections Supervisor Cunningham said. He said he and his staff had not had a chance to study it carefully on Monday, but if it is in good form and the voter signatures are valid, the petition could set in motion a process for the people to take their neighborhood out of Fire District 13 so they can annex to Fire District 2 on McLean Road.

The odds are pretty stiff, however, and Buchan acknowledges that.

Cunningham said that if the petition checks out OK, his office will send a letter to the Fire District 13 Board of Commissioners. The fire commissioners would then be required to hold public hearings and pass a recommendation on to the Skagit County Board of Commissioners.

If both governing bodies agree that the withdrawal is a good idea, the County Commissioners can pass a resolution granting it.

Fire District 13 covers territory on both sides of the Swinomish Channel, and surrounds the town of La Conner, which has its own fire department. The vast majority of residents – more than 2,500 – served by District 13 are on the west side of the channel, mostly within the boundaries of the Swinomish Reservation. The area that wants to detach is in the northeast corner of the district, where there are only around 100 homes.

Fire District 13 Chief Roy Horn said he can’t say how his board will react to the withdrawal request. “On the one hand, you’ve got the urge to give people what they want,” he said. “But at the same time, the service we’re providing is excellent... From an operational point of view it’s hard to imagine how it will be beneficial to them.”

If one or both boards reject the idea, then the question could then be put to all the voters in Fire District 13, not just the portion that wishes to withdraw. The area seeking to withdraw is bounded by the Swinomish Channel on the west, the boundary of Fire District 2 on the east, the northern boundary of Fire District 13 and McLean and Downey roads on the south.

Buchan said the petitioners want to withdraw from Fire District 13 to be annexed to Fire District 2. He said the District 2 commissioners are aware of the potential annexation request and are supportive.

years. His historical knowledge of the town – he used to get introduced as “one of the original hippies” – gave newcomers a glimpse into La Conner’s soul and conjured up good memories and usually raucous laughter with everyone else.

In a 2009, La Conner Weekly News “Pull & Be Damned” column, he told everyone this newspaper had fired him. Now, for journalists, getting fired for standing firm on principle can be a badge of honor.

But in Jim’s case, he wanted everyone to believe it was for, “having phone sex with telemarketers who call during dinner time. Evidently, even writers can be fired for moral turpitude,” he wrote. “It’s not fair. All I said to the caller – after I paused to slurp my mashed potatoes – was “So, Tiffany, what color is your underwear?”

And after an entertaining tale that meandered through his twin sister Joan’s teen driving habits and his Methodist upbringing in Woonsocket, South Dakota, he got to the punch line. It was “April Fool.”

Of course he wasn’t fired.

And two years later, in 2011,

Jim Smith was awarded the First Place prize for his “Pull & Be Damned” column in the statewide newspaper contest sponsored by the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association.

When this newspaper first got started ten years ago, the previous paper had gone out of business.

La Conner had been home to a weekly newspaper since the 1870s, and we were on a mission to save the town’s voice.

Jim was one of the first people through the door to lend a hand.

That was just in his nature, as many people in town knew firsthand.

For years he was the barista working with Joyce and Stuart Welch when they owned the Rexville Grocery. His coffee appreciation and his expertise at preparing it was legendary.

Before Jim arrived in La Conner – back during the hippie era – he had been a high school teacher in an inner-city California school, working with very troubled youth.

When he wrote about that era in his life, Jim said he learned enough at that school to take his first step into his own, belated, juvenile delinquency.

He always readily admitted that his wife, Janet Saunders, gets the credit for keeping him from acting out the lessons his students taught him.

Jim’s wit and words were always a surprise. He’d pull humor out of thin air to deliver a straight-faced joke and something crazy funny would pop up unexpectedly in everything he wrote.

One holiday season, in a column lamenting all the white lights strung on buildings in town and hankering for more festive colored lights, Jim wrote: “I was going to give my personal holiday decorating award to the Gull Station at the entrance to town. Then I realized that all their beautiful colored lights are actually the beer signs in the windows.”

Jim, who turned 76 in February, retired from his weekly writing in 2013.

He left this world on Friday morning, but his voice will be around for a long time. He left us hundreds of incredibly entertaining columns and news stories, and this newspaper will reprint some from time to time.

District 13 is headquartered on Snee Oosh Road on the Swinomish Reservation on the other side of the Swinomish Channel from their neighborhood – which means its rigs must travel through Swinomish Village, across the Rainbow Bridge, through La Conner and up La Conner Whitney Road to reach their neighborhood.

District 2, with a station on McLean Road is closer, and is a straight shot down the road to Channel Drive. Also, Skagit County Medic One keeps an ambulance staffed with paramedics at the McLean Road fire station.

The area wishing to detach from District 13, the sparsely populated northeast quadrant, accounts for about a quarter of the District 13 land mass, but there are fewer than 200 registered voters living there.

In contrast, close to half the district lies within the boundaries of the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community reservation, where there are about 2,300 registered voters.

Should the issue be put to a vote, Cunningham said, under normal circumstances, the petitioners would have to pay for a special election – something that can be very costly. Cunningham said there have been special elections costing as much as $40,000.

Nevertheless, it’s worth a try, Buchan, Milliken and Howard all say. But should the proposal fail to garner approval from the commissioners of both governing boards, they say their plan could WITTY & CURIOUS – Jim Smith, a retired educator turned journalist, had became part of the fabric be dead in the water since the of La Conner by the time of his death on Friday. This 2009 photo shows him standing in front of the (Continued on Page 2)

1847 Smithsonian Institution “castle” in Washington DC.

– Photo by Janet Saunders