Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
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A low maintenance, yet highly rewarding secret iris garden, created and maintained by local photographer Bill Rodgers, is in its third year of bloom in Waitsburg, and it is impressive. The sprawling garden has rhizomes that stretch their roots across the state to Mercer Island, where Rodgers originally began growing them in a community garden. He brought starts with him when he moved to College Place, where a friend let him start a garden in a private horse pasture. After moving to Waitsburg...
Car enthusiasts were more than excited to gather for the first show since the COVID-19 shutdowns. WAITSBURG-More than 160 car entries showed up for the 14th Annual Waitsburg Classic Auto Show on May 14th and 15th. Waitsburg's Preston Park was filled with cars of all ages, sizes, and styles on one of the hottest days of the year so far, but no one was complaining. Car shows across the nation were canceled last year, as a result of the global pandemic. Fifteen vendors provided cold beverages,...
WAITSBURG—Librarian Rosie Warehime has waited a long time to welcome patrons back into the Weller Public Library. She has waited over a year since being closed down by restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Warehime was excited to share that the little library is open 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. on Mondays and Thursdays, with a max capacity of five visitors at a time, with a time limit of 15 minutes. The online library is still available as long as you have an internet connection, and Warehime said s...
DAYTON—The Columbia County Commissioners met Monday, May 10, to discuss the WSU Columbia County Extension Agent position and the use of cameras in a county office. The Commissioners heard from Dave McKinley and Jim Moyer, who are exploring options to fill the local extension agent position. The former extension agent, Paul Carter, retired in January after more than 15 years on the job. McKinley, a local farmer, said that Columbia County has had an extension agent available for 100 years. He i...
DAYTON-Unique jewelry, beautifully crocheted afghans, and specialty chocolates are just a few of the items that the vendors at Main Street Marketplace have to offer. Now nestled in the former Bluewood Office building, 262 E Main Street in Dayton, the business opened briefly before the holiday season at the former Village Shoppes, just across the street at 245 E Main in Dayton. Main Street Marketplace closed after for moving and remodel purposes in early January. Owner Shane Laib said that the...
WAITSBURG-The Waitsburg City Council set a May 19 public hearing date to discuss the future of 212 Main Street, the 1905 Exchange Bank building, which currently houses the Weller Public Library. At the April City Council meeting, council members discussed the potential of selling the historic property in a city surplus sale. Discussions with the city council have included updating the building, which houses the Weller Library, for American Disability Act (ADA) compliance and the need for extensi...
WAITSBURG—The Walla Walla County General Election is slated for November this year, with a May 17-21 filing period. This election will include the Waitsburg City Council and Mayor positions. Historically, the city’s elections were held annually according to the city’s Territorial Charter. In February of 2020, the Waitsburg City Council voted to change the election process following a public hearing, transferring the process to the County Auditor’s office. Under the new process, electio... Full story
DAYTON-The Dayton Kiwanis Club heard from yet another successful Dayton High School (DHS) alumna at their April 22 meeting. Attendees enjoyed a presentation from Karen Doherty, a Senior Vice President at WSP USA. Doherty graduated from DHS in 1990, before attending Gonzaga University, graduating magna cum laude in Engineering. Doherty went on to start Doherty & Associates, which she operated for ten years. The business was purchased by HDR, an employee-owned design firm specializing in...
DAYTON-Chef Daniel Rossi thought that moving to a small, rural town like Waitsburg meant he could live out retirement peacefully, picking away at his banjo and sharing his musical knowledge. In 2020, he hit the road just moments before the global shutdown was announced, escaping the bustling cityscape of Los Angeles and driving north. He spent the pandemic with his partner, Vicki Sternfield Rossi, doing exactly what he set out to do in the first place, for roughly a year. The kitchen kept...
WAITSBURG—The Waitsburg City Council met Wednesday, April 21, at the Lions Club Building. During the meeting, the council answered questions from concerned community members and set a date for a public hearing to discuss potential options for the library building, 212 Main Street. Mayor Marty Dunn and Councilmember Paxton were unable to attend the meeting. Councilmember Paxton submitted a letter of resignation stating he and his family will be moving out of the area. Councilmember Karl Newell j...
WALLA WALLA-When Walla Walla's Alayna Brinton, LICSW, started Anchor Point Counseling in 2016, she quickly realized that the need for behavioral health services was greater than her single-provider practice could handle. She brought on additional providers but said that her practice was still receiving more referrals than it could handle. Even with more providers on staff, Brinton said that she still felt that something was missing and in 2020, took the first steps to opening the Blue Mountain...
DAYTON-The Port of Columbia hosted a more than two-hour-long presentation on April 26, hearing from trail designers, various trail advocates, and agriculture representatives. Before the meeting, a group of nearly 20 community members gathered in front of the Port's driveway, holding signs that signaled they were against the trail. The group assembled in part due to the feeling that the meeting would not let them speak or be heard. Though outside, the group did connect to the meeting through...
Last week, the sounds of spring were loud and clear in my backyard. Birds were singing, kids could be heard playing all up and down the block, and my apple tree was vibrating with honeybees. It was the perfect complement to the 70 plus degree day. Honeybees are one of the coolest creatures, in my opinion. They are not native to North America. They arrived in the 17th Century when European colonizers brought managed hives along for honey and beeswax. Some of the bees escaped and formed wild colon...
The home buying process can be terrifying, especially as a first-time buyer. While we haven’t closed quite yet, my family is in the process of purchasing the house we have been renting since 2018, and boy has it been a rewarding learning experience. Homeownership seemed like a reach for a mountain of reasons, and saving up for a 20% down payment was the most daunting. We started our journey with little to no idea there were options outside of a conventional loan. After some in-depth research, w...
WAITSBURG—Volunteers stepped up to begin the process for selecting a new fire chief at the Columbia-Walla Walla County Fire District 2 meeting on Wednesday, April 14. Commissioner Deb Fortner gave a brief update on the ongoing repairs at the fire station. Projects to complete include updating exterior doors and installing handrails along the stairs. Commissioner Jake Long said that he stopped by the station prior to the meeting and thought the kitchen looked close to completion, however, a f...
WAITSBURG—The Waitsburg School Board had a full agenda for the April 15 meeting, including approval of a comprehensive sexual health curriculum and discussing athletic combine matters. During the secondary principal’s report, Principal Stephanie Wooderchak shared that the senior class has been planning for graduation. Currently, the 2021 graduation is on the school’s calendar for June 4. Superintendent Mark Pickel reported that there would be a meeting with the DW Administration team on April...
WAITSBURG—A committee consisting of parents and teachers has spent the past few months exploring comprehensive health education after Washington voters passed Senate Bill 5395 in 2020. The bill, which went into effect on December 3, 2020, requires that Washington public schools provide comprehensive sexual health education (CSHE) by the 2022-2023 school year. Early requirements, including consultations with parents and guardians, local communities, and the Washington State School Directors A...
WAITSBURG-The DW Wolfpack Fall Athletics banquet honored the volleyball and football athletes on Monday, April 19. The JV volleyball team was recognized first, with coach Karen Huwe announcing that the girls played eight games during the short season. DW JV volleyball brought home six wins, one loss, and one tie. Ella Larsen received the Coach's Award, while Amy Bly was recognized as the "Most Improved" player and Maddie Richardson as the "Best All-Around" player. According to Huwe, the JV team... Full story
OLYMPIA—Governor Jay Inslee Monday announced that three Washington State counties would roll back to Phase 2 of the Healthy Washington reopening plan after failing to meet the necessary metrics. The three counties returning to Phase 2 are Cowlitz County, Pierce County, and Whitman County. “These metric trends are driven by the virus, and we must continue to do everything we can to sharpen our focus and keep COVID-19 activity down. We are so close to the end of the tunnel here — we have made...
WAITSBURG-Late in the night on Friday, April 9, multiple properties were vandalized in Waitsburg, including the baseball fields, the football field, and the horse track. With the first home baseball game scheduled in less than a week, athletes, parents, and friends rallied on Sunday to repair the field to a playable state. The damage included deep ruts caused by a vehicle spinning 'brodies' on the grass and infield, with deep tire marks which appeared to be caused by spinning tires. Witnesses...
WAITSBURG-Give a kid a paintbrush, or in this case, a cup full of acrylic paint, and they can change the world! In cooperation with the Waitsburg Resource Center, the Cardinal's Nest put on a Spring Break art program for Waitsburg students, April 5-7. The program included both art and STEM activities, led by Kathy Schirm, a paraeducator at Waitsburg School District, and the Cardinal's Nest after-school program's art instructor. The program has been unavailable this year due to pandemic-related r...
DAYTON-On Thursday, April 8, the Dayton Kiwanis Club heard from Dick Muri, City Captain for National Drive Electric Week Steilacoom. Muri has been a member of the Kiwanis Club in Steilacoom since 1993 when he helped start the local club. Steilacoom is a town in Pierce County Washington, on the south end of Puget Sound. "The joke around Steilacoom is 'don't talk to Dick Muri, or you'll become a Kiwanian," he joked before his presentation. Muri is the program and membership chair for his club and...
Spring is here, and yard work is in full swing! While I have a healthy respect for bees, worms, and other helpful bugs, I avoid the insect world as much as possible. As the laws of parenthood would have it, I have a three-year-old who is obsessed with bugs. While Gracie was helping me weed out under our dogwood tree last weekend, she came across a handful of caterpillars. She insisted on raising the caterpillars, and I helped her set up little habitats for the four little critters. I decided to...
If you look closely while driving along Highway 12, just outside of Walla Walla, you may catch a glimpse of the red fox family that has made their den in the middle of a wheat field. Rumor has it that there are as many as three kits in the den this spring....
WAITSBURG—The warm spring sunshine is out, but it isn’t safe to put the face masks away just yet. Vaccination eligibility is expanding, however, bringing us closer to a mask-free future. In Walla Walla County, Group 1B, Tier 1, which includes all people 65 years or older, all people 50 years or older who live in multigenerational households, educators and staff for pre-k through 12th grades, and all childcare providers, is eligible for the COVID-19 vaccinations. Also eligible at this time in...
