Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Sorted by date Results 76 - 100 of 431
DAYTON-Listening to a veteran's story was the perfect topic at the November 11 Dayton Kiwanis Club Meeting. Kiwanis members invited Eric Thorn, a local veteran who served in Vietnam, to share his experiences as a Chinook pilot during the war. "It's coming up on almost exactly fifty years since I got back from Vietnam," Thorn began. "I think it's in another month." The United States became involved in Vietnam when President Eisenhower declared support for South Vietnam in 1955. President Kennedy...
WAITSBURG-Tucked away just before the intersection of Preston and Main, the volunteer-run Waitsburg Resource Center has been quietly and compassionately helping families in need. While her mother and grandmother have been volunteering for a while now, Jesse May Brown decided to offer her assistance about one month ago, when she recognized the need for social media pages. "My mom was talking about some of the events coming up, and I was like, 'you guys really need a Facebook page," Brown said....
I've never considered myself an artist of any caliber, nor have I considered venturing into that world. I have been surrounded by accomplished artists since I started working at The Times and Ten Ton Coffee, and I have to admit- they have managed to pique my interest. While drawing or painting is still not my thing, I have had some luck with a camera. I do not consider myself a photographer quite yet, as I still have lots to learn, but I have learned a few lessons that carry over into my everyda...
WAITSBURG—The Waitsburg City Council met on November 3 for a special meeting to review the preliminary budget for 2022. Before discussing the budget, the council set a public hearing date for the surplus of City Hall, at 147 Main, for November 17. It will be held at the same time as the regular city council meeting at 7 pm at the Lions Club. City Administrator Randy Hinchliffe said the appraisal for the building had not yet been completed. He said that the necessary city property from 147 M...
WALLA WALLA-While art has been a big part of her life, ceramics holds a special place in Jess Portas' heart. Opening her art studio on the edge of Downtown Walla Walla, she has combined a passion for art with her love for community Growing up, she helped her mother with slip casting, a ceramics and pottery technique that is especially useful for shapes not made on a wheel. Portas said she took a pottery class in college, which piqued her interest in the art form, but life does what it does...
The Things They Cannot Say, by Kevin Sites In The Things They Cannot Say: Stories Soldiers Won’t Tell You About What They’ve Seen, Done, or Failed to Do in War, award-winning journalist and author Kevin Sites asks eleven soldiers and marines some of the most difficult questions: What is it like to be under fire? How do you know what is right? What can you never forget? For each of Sites’ interviewees, the truth means something different. One man struggles to recover from a traumatic head injur...
DAYTON—The Economic Development Steering Committee met via Zoom on November 2. Jennie Dickinson kicked the meeting off with an update regarding a grant from the Innovia Foundation for startup businesses. Two businesses in downtown Dayton, Table Rock Meat and Main Street Marketplace, have benefitted from the grant in the past. This year $5,000 has been awarded to Annie’s Attic, a new cafe and a vintage furniture business coming to Dayton, both owned by Laura and Tony Auckerman. A second sta...
DAYTON-The sprawling Blue Mountain Station has become a key player in Dayton and Columbia County's economy. It provides production space for fine candy makers, craft spirit distillers, soap crafters, and growers of organic produce. The road to success has been long and, at times, rather difficult. The idea for the Station first came to light in 2007, when Jennie Dickinson was hired as Executive Director of the Port of Columbia. "When I moved from the Chamber to the Port, it was June of 2007,...
WAITSBURG—The Waitsburg City Council met on October 13 for a regularly scheduled meeting. Before the approval of the agenda, Mayor Marty Dunn added an item regarding the Touchet River Levee Repair project, which was accepted by the council. During public comment, former council member Terry Jacoy said that in the past, the City of Waitsburg published the status of the municipality around election time. “The elector was able to see the financial status of the municipality,” Jacoy said. “I do...
WAITSBURG—The Columbia-Walla Walla Fire District 2 Commissioners met on October 13 for a regular meeting at the Waitsburg Fire Station. Interim fire chief Colter Mohney asked that a vote regarding a policy update to reflect the statewide vaccination mandates be held either at the meeting or within the next couple of days following the meeting. The mandate, Proclamation 21-14.1, announced on August 20, requires all health care providers, including licensed health care providers and all e...
WAITSBURG-Whether you want to sip, sing, appreciate art, or just enjoy a relaxing evening in Waitsburg, the Royal Block is the place for you. The historic building celebrated the opening of its newest business on October 14 after years of being an empty storefront. Over the last year, owners Tiina Jaatinen and Joseph Roberts have poured heart and soul into their building, incorporating its nearly 140 years of history into their current day. The building's original floors, walked on by the...
WAITSBURG—A letter signed by the Waitsburg City Council and the Mayor was published in The Times and sent out to residents of Waitsburg last week. The letter referenced the 2020 flood and the city’s need to make repairs to the affected areas of the levee within city limits. The letter said the city could not make the necessary repairs unless they received approval from all property owners in the affected area. The letter said that while 75% of the property owners in the area had agreed to gra...
WAITSBURG-Efforts to repair the Touchet River levee that runs along Preston Avenue could be moot if the City of Waitsburg does not get 100% approval from homeowners, including private and state, to repair the existing levee. In September, the Waitsburg City Council, joined by Senator Perry Dozier and John Wells, Senior Engineer at Anderson Perry & Associates, held a second informational meeting for property owners on rearmoring the existing levee. The city contacted private property owners...
DAYTON-The Columbia County Commissioners met for a regular meeting on October 4. Commissioners Rundell and Hall were present at the meeting. Commissioner Amerein was absent from the Monday morning meeting. The commissioners' meetings will be moved from Monday to Tuesday starting this month. Charles Eaton reported on behalf of the Columbia County Public Works. He presented a resolution to award the Bosley Bridge Emergency Repairs consulting contract to Anderson Perry & Associates of Walla Walla....
DAYTON—The Economic Development Steering Committee held a regular monthly remote meeting on October 5, 2021. Martha Lanman, Columbia County Public Health Administrator, announced that there were 21 active cases, with more than 20 tests performed that morning. She commended the Columbia County Health System for their ongoing hard work as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. She clarified that the COVID-19 case count is still a roller coaster in the county. She observed that cases seem to taper s...
WAITSBURG-Fifteen-year-old Makenna Barron is a busy gal. A sophomore at Waitsburg High School, she plays volleyball and basketball, is involved in speaking and livestock FFA projects and chapter leadership, serves as the Associated Student Body Secretary, and has been active in 4-H for nearly eight years. She loves theater and will play the part of Liesl in the upcoming production of "The Sound of Music" at the Liberty Theater this fall. If she's not doing something mentioned above, you can...
WAITSBURG-Waitsburg has attracted another fine artist to town. Fred Betz was born in California and raised on the East Coast. He studied art at the University of California Santa Cruz and Columbia University in New York. Betz is an oil painter who uses his location as inspiration for much of his work. Needless to say, he loves to travel. He recently spent five months in Cortona, Italy, living in a house that was owned by famous Renaissance artist Luca Signorelli. During his stay, Betz said that...
DAYTON-Musicals, movies, and puppeteer shows are just a few of the performances coming up at the Liberty Theater, nestled on Main Street in Dayton. In June, the Touchet Valley Arts Council announced that they had selected Debbie Ayerst as the Liberty theater's manager. She had been working at the theater for roughly three years before taking the helm herself. "I had never seen a live play until I came here, started working here, and saw one on our stage," Ayerst said. "I have never been a movie...
DAYTON—The Dayton School Board met Wednesday, September 15, for a regular school board meeting. Business items on the agenda included a review of multiple out-of-endorsement teachers, consideration for substitute teachers’ payment raise, and adopting a new social studies/history curriculum. The meeting was halted after the consent agenda was approved and the public comment portion of the meeting began. School board candidate Aneesha Dieu spoke during this portion of the meeting, but com...
Cameron and Angelica Hedges are new to Waitsburg and are wholeheartedly embracing small-town life. "I love it out here, so far," said Angelica Hedges about Waitsburg. "It's much slower paced than what we are used to." The Hedges family moved to our quiet little town from Los Angeles County in California after Cameron accepted the lead pastor position at Waitsburg Christian Church. The couple moved to Waitsburg roughly one month ago, with their daughters Abigail and Avah and their niece, Shylo....
WAITSBURG—The Waitsburg School Board met for a regular meeting on September 16. Secondary Principal Stephanie Wooderchak shared that students and staff are doing well, and the school year is off to a busy but happy start. She said that roughly 95% of all student Chromebook use agreements had been completed. Google Classroom is still being incorporated into daily classroom use, but students are in full-time, in-person instruction. During the first week of school, Wooderchak said, there were m...
It's no secret that I have a family full of foodies. We plan entire trips around eateries with raving reviews, but since traveling hasn't been an option lately, we've had to put our trips on hold. We recently learned about Goldbelly, an online restaurant marketplace, from a friend who often travels for work. From Lahaina to Juneau, New Orleans, all the way up to Chicago, Goldbelly offers online ordering from well known and not so well known eateries across the country. Macadamia nut tarts, lobst...
DAYTON-The Port of Columbia Commissioners met for a regular meeting on September 8 via Zoom. The Commissioners appointed Shawn Brown as chairman, filling the position left by the late Earle Marvin. "I want to reiterate that I so much appreciate Commissioner Marvin's service to the Port, and I have his wife and family in my prayers as they move forward through this difficult time," Brown said. Port of Columbia Executive Director Jennie Dickinson said that she reached out to Commissioner Marvin's...
DAYTON—The Dayton City Council met for a hybrid meeting on September 8, 2021. Columbia County Sheriff Joe Helm shared that 57 traffic tickets were written over the past month, 38 were within city limits. He said that a new deputy is currently going through his Field Training Officer (FTO) program and that he is doing well. He said that the department hopes to have the new deputy working on his own as soon as training is complete. Sheriff Helm and County Prosecutor Dale Slack are currently p...
At least three dogs have fallen victim to toxic algae bloom on the Columbia River, just north of the Tri-Cities. The first report was received by the Benton Franklin Health District on Monday, September 13, and by the end of the day, the health officials were looking into the death of two other dogs who were swimming near Leslie Groves and Howard Amon parks. All three dogs are suspected to have been affected by Harmful Algae Bloom, or HABS, rapid growth of algae or cyanobacteria (blue-green...
