Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Sorted by date Results 151 - 167 of 167
WAITSBURG - Ye Towne Hall in downtown Waitsburg was built by local American Legionnaires in 1928. Next week, a new generation of Waitsburgers will rededicate the historic building, officially reopening the renovated structure for another 100 years or so of civic service. The town will celebrate this reopening on Tuesday, Sept. 12, at 7 p.m. in a program honoring the history of the old building following the regular dinner meeting of the Waitsburg Commercial Club at 6:30. Those who would like to...
DAYTON - City officials Monday night voted down the much-debated ordinance proposed in July to legalize the operation of off-road vehicles on some of Dayton's streets. It was a tough decision for city councilors; that was obvious to all at the council meeting. Some prefaced their choice with an explanation while others remained silent, but the vote itself made clear the division of opinion on this hot topic. It was a tie. Councilors Terry Herrin, Jim Cooper and Charlie Button voted to approve the first reading of the new ordinance. All three co...
DAYTON - In what could be seen as a breakthrough on the part of the Columbia County Public Hospital Board of Commissioners, member Ted Paterson acknowledged last week that the board "may have become complacent" in the face of recent management practices, staff decisions and unsatisfactory work environment within the system. "Maybe we didn't ask the right questions," he told the audience at the Catholic Church in Dayton on Thursday. "Maybe we were just looking at the dollar signs and seeing, 'it's black, it's black, it's black.'" Paterson spoke...
DAYTON - Shelly Morris has a passion for pies. She likes to bake them, serve them up and watch people enjoy them. This enthusiasm for sweet, crusty treats led Morris, a Dayton native, to open a new café in historic, downtown Dayton this summer. "I just like cooking," Morris said. "That's what I like to do." Shelly's Little Bit of Country opened July 13 on 1st Street in Dayton, where Judith Henderson recently closed the doors at Wildberries Café. The cowboy décor, photos of family and frie...
WAITSBURG - Kim Hamann has presented pigs at local fairs before, but her favorite animal to raise and show is a sheep. One of the reasons is that the 14-year-old Future Farmers of America member has raised sheep on her family farm since she was five. The other reason is that she has feels "the best connection" with sheep from the time they're still lambs to well beyond the yearling stage. This year, for instance, she brought her 1.5-year-old sheep Todd to the Junior Livestock Show in...
The bottom fell out of my stomach as Bill pulled the combine to a stop and stood from the driver's seat. "Okay, now it's your turn." "Uh," was all I could get out. Bill Blessinger, known around town as "Wild Bill," is a large man, wearing bib overalls on this day. He stood stooping in the cab of the wheat harvester and began edging his way around me, effectively scooting me into the driver's seat. "You'll be fine. It's just like driving a lawn mower," he said. Oh sure, I thought. And then he...
DAYTON - When it comes to envisioning a more attractive, more prosperous downtown Dayton, the ideas flowfrom far and wide. Focus on the Green Giant and the history of the cannery, some say. Develop along the Touchet River, our most valuable asset, say others. Concentrate on children - have an All Children's Weekend, they continue. But members of the Dayton Development Task Force, which has been around for over 25 years, say the town already has a theme - "Historic Downtown Dayton." Now...
UMATILLA NATIONAL FOREST - A wilderness raid in the upper Tucannon watershed Tuesday morning earned Columbia County Sheriff's deputies the largest marijuana seizure since 2008. Deputies pulled 4,562 pot plants from a steep slope inside the Umatilla National Forest about fivemiles from a site where 11,000 marijuana plants were seized in 2008. No arrests were made in either case. "We're speculating that it may be the same group that set up this new grow site," said Jeff Jenkins, narcotics deputy...
WAITSBURG - Citizens of Waitsburg could get an opportunity to save on gas and enjoy certain new liberties if Mayor Walt Gobel has anything to say about it. Gobel has encouraged city councilors to take a look at an ordinance that would allow golf carts on streets inside Waitsburg city limits. The proposed ordinance will be discussed at the next city council meeting, on Aug. 18. "Well, it's a bit personal," Gobel said Monday. "My wife has one and we have, in the past, run it around town staying pretty much on the sidewalks." But state...
Volunteer fire fighters in the Touchet Valley spent a weary weekend battling blaze upon blaze as foul weather, careless drivers and faulty machinery conspired to keep emergency personnel on their toes from one end of the valley to the other. Times correspondent Laverne Mayberry, of Prescott, reported that close to 200 firefighters from across the state, 40 engines and a helicopter were called in to help contain a fire that raged over 23,000 acres near Eureka over the weekend. More than half a...
Despite declining enrollment in some districts and cuts across the board in the state budget for education, school district administrators in the Touchet Valley remain optimistic. "We have always been conservative in our budgeting," said Dr. Carol Clarke, Waitsburg superintendent. "But we're hopeful the number of students will be there." Enrollment is down in Waitsburg and Prescott, which means a loss of thousands of dollars. Each full-time equivalent student means close to $6,000 for the district. In addition, the state has cut programs th...
Walla Walla County Coroner Five Walla Walla County residents are running for county coroner, including incumbent Frank Brown, who has decided to run again as a write-in for this election. Recent controversy involving law enforcement complaints about Brown left the busy coroner "disheartened," but after encouragement from friends, family and community members he has decided to run again. "I was being harassed because I wasn't doing things 'the way we used to do it,'" Brown said Tues...
WALLA WALLA - Walla Walla County residents have two weeks to cast their votes in the current primary election. Ballots were mailed on Friday, July 30, and must be postmarked no later than Election Day, which is Tuesday, Aug. 17. County positions on the ballot include assessor, auditor, clerk, coroner, prosecuting attorney, sheriff and treasurer. Only county coroner and sheriff positions are contested. Other offices up for election include U.S. Senator and District 5 U.S. Repre...
DAYTON - It's Monday afternoon. Auditions are over, and the roles have been cast. Now 48 children in the Touchet Valley have just four days to rehearse for a live, musical performance they'll stage in front of friends, family members and total strangers this coming Friday and Saturday nights at the Liberty Theater. For most of the children, who range in grade level from first through 12th, the annual summer play in Dayton is their only shot at experiencing theater arts - and they welcome the...
DAYTON - When it comes to enjoying his work, Dain Henderson knows what he's doing. The 18-year-old Waitsburg resident who will be attending Dayton High School as a senior this fall knew he had his senior project coming up. So he put his mind to planning and found a way to combine his favorite pastime with his project - helping organize the annual Young Life golf tournament at the Touchet Valley Golf Course, in Dayton. Henderson, who has been golfing with the high school team since his freshman...
DAYTON - More than two dozen Dayton residents looked on in interest as friends, relatives and neighbors argued for and against a proposed city law that would allow off-road vehicle users to access mountain roads via city streets. The ORV ordinance was slated for its first reading during Monday night's city council meeting, which took place across the street from city hall at St. Joseph's Catholic Church to accommodate the crowd. But after more than half an hour of testimony and complaints from constituents, Dayton city officials agreed to postp...
WALLA WALLA - Last year, 2.2 million tons of products were shipped through the Little Goose navigation lock near Starbuck - and much of these commodities moving downriver came from farms like those in the Touchet Valley. Wheat, barley, petroleum products (like fuel), fertilizer, hay cubes, peas, lentils, milk carton stock, containers full of merchandise, even wind turbines - 10 million tons of cargo - all travel the Columbia Snake River system each year. Now these companies are making plans t...
