I was born and raised in Anacortes, Washington. My parents lived there until their deaths and my two sisters chose to live there as well. I’ve read and subscribed to the Anacortes newspapers my entire life. I continued to subscribe to the Anacortes American after moving to Gig Harbor over twenty-five years ago. The history of the town’s newspapers is outlined by the Elaine Walker and the Anacortes History Museum with photographs. They report the Anacortes American newspaper was first published on May 15, 1890, as a weekly newspaper. Since the first edition, the Anacortes American has been published without a pause. The original owners were Fred H. Boynton and Douglass Allmond. The paper was an eight-page, six-column weekly, “devoted to local affairs in general but more especially to telling the world what a great city Anacortes was destined to be” Allmond said in one of several articles he wrote years later. After the panic, Allmond joked, the American degenerated into a “tri-weekly” – the publisher would get out a paper one week and “try” to get out another the next week. (Photo: Hensler home)

Cornelius Root bought the American in 1939. He was a professor at the University of Washington Journalism School, and an absentee owner. He put the paper on the market in 1950. The two newspapers in town, the American and the Daily Mercury, had competed with each other for subscribers and advertisers and Root wanted out. Anacortes high school graduate Wallie Funk, and his fraternity brother, John Webber, fresh out of journalism school agreed to buy it. But, no bank would loan $3,700 to them, so they raised money from friends and family. Their investors included the doctor who delivered all three Funk boys, a cannery man who waived the interest, a kindly lumber executive and Funk’s brother Jim, an ex-Marine. In 1964 Scripps League Newspapers bought both the Skagit Valley Herald and the Anacortes American. Later the paper was then purchased by Adams Publishing Group as part of APG’s acquisition of all of Pioneer Newspapers’ media holdings.

The town’s other newspaper, the Anacortes Citizen, was founded in 1906. In 1910 the paper was sold to C. D. Beagle, Douglass Allmond and Gus Hensler.  After going through several owners, Joseph and Margaret McNary purchased the Anacortes Citizen for $5,200. coincidentally, Mr. Allmonds widow later lived across the street from our family home in Anacortes and the Hensler estate was across the alley (Photo: Joe McNary) from our family home.  Our family grocery store was in a building previously owned by Hensler and known as “the Hensler building.” Although Joe McNary was the public face of the paper, Margaret paid $4,650 of the purchase price came from her separate funds. The McNairy’s launched a second weekly, the Anacortes Mercury, in 1926. They merged the two papers, creating the Daily Mercury-Citizen, which debuted on March 26, 1927. Later the paper was known as the Anacortes Daily Mercury. It was published six days a week, had a news wire service and local paperboys. Wallie Funk, later a joint owner of the Anacortes American had his first reporting job for the McNarys.

The relationship of the McNarys, complicated at best, deteriorated over the years until. By 1940 they lived separately and communicated at work only through notes. A divorce decree divided up their assets, acknowledging Margaret’s personal investment in the business. By 1942, Joe was unable to pay his share to her, and he left Anacortes without notice or forwarding address. He did leave behind a note handing his interest in the newspaper over to Margaret. My father and Joe McNary were drinking friends before his sudden disappearance from Anacortes.  Margaret McNary continued to publish the Mercury alone until 1951. Then, she (aged 81) and the Anacortes Mercury retired. She died in Anacortes in 1960, at age ninety.

ANACORTES AMERICAN WEDNESDAY AUGUST 9 2023 POLICE BLOTTER REPORT

Now, as promised in the title of this post, I am sharing an excerpt from the August 9th edition of the Anacortes American. One of my favorite sections of this weekley paper is the “Police Blotter” report. It features actions by the local police department over the past week. While there is no comment to the entries, some make me want to say: “You’ve got to be kidding!”  This one such report:

“An Anacortes woman contacted the Anacortes Police Department regarding a fraud in which she had clicked a link in a pop-up on her computer warning her of computer hacking. She called the number that appeared on the screen after clicking the pop-up, and the person who answered informed her that hackers had gotten into her computer and that he would assist her in stopping them. She expressed concern about her banking information, and the man on the phone said he would connect her to the bank’s fraud department via a secure line. He forwarded her to a man who said he worked for her bank. The second man said he could help her secure her bank account, but only if she went to her bank, withdrew $20,000 and put it into a Bitcoin account via a machine in Burlington. She said it felt off, but that the man was very convincing. She went to the bank, where the teller asked if she was being scammed, but she did not feel comfortable expressing doubts, as the man on the phone said to keep the line open so he could hear the conversation because “they” were investigating some tellers at local branches. The man called back the next day and said she would need to repeat the process for her other bank accounts. At that point, the reporting party declined, drove to the bank and closed her account. The responding officer helped the woman contact Bitcoin, and the representative on the phone said the receiving account is anonymous and there is no way to track who owns the account. The money is therefore not retrievable.”

Haven’t you had your computer suddenly sound and show an alarm about computer hacking and to call a number to fix it? I know I have and on more than one occassion. My system has so far protected me from ransomware disasters and  by simply rebooting it takes care of the problem. I thought everyone knows by now it is a scam except, apparently this poor woman. Who would agree to withdraw $20,000 from their bank? Who would ignore the warning of the bank teller that she was being scammed? It took a second call from the thief for another $20, 000 to alert her to a likely fraud? This poor soul needs a guardian of her money and herself.

See – the things you only learn if you subscribe to the Anacortes American.