Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
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Editor's Note: This is the second in an occasional series about Columbia County Health System serving patients in the Dayton and Waitsburg areas. The series will focus on changes and developments since last year's management study and review. WAITSBURG - The night after Jeff Monyak filed his elections paperwork to run for a seat on the health district board of commissioners, he cal led incumbent Jack Otterson on the phone at home. He didn't know Otterson personally, but knew the reputation of...
DAYTON - When you hear Bobbi and Barney Chambers talk about Sophie, Cleo, Denny, Lone Star and Superdude, you'd think they're talking about a circus family of seven that's not getting enough quality time together. " We don't see them enough," Bobbi Jo Chambers says about her loved ones. "We're putting on too many of these shows." But the couple from Cottonwood, Idaho, a town about two and a half hours from Dayton, is actually pining after more time with their show mules, some of which they've had for almost a decade. It's unlikely the tan and c...
DAYTON - When Yance Yost asked his friend and gallery owner Claire Johnston if she might be interested in placing one of his pieces in the jimgermanbar, which she runs with her husband, the answer was "no." Yost dropped his head in disappointment. He didn't think that his piece, a wired collage of empty picture frames accompanied by a poem about the images that "used to lie inside," "sucked that bad." Then he realized Johnson hadn't finished answering his question. "But you can have two months...
WAI T SBURG - When they bought thei r Keystone Montana 5th wheel in September, Lynn and Paul Mantz-Powers knew it would be months before they'd retire. But they were so excited about the prospect of hitting the road and adopting a new nomadic lifestyle this summer that they practically moved out of their adjacent family home on Bolles Road and into their 400-squarefoot travel trailer. "Trailer" doesn't actually captures their new abode, which comes with a shower, bathroom, living room, dining...
WAITSBURG - Two Waitsburg-area residents have thrown their hat in the ring for the city's library manager's position. The applicants for the job vacated by the resignation of Su Alexander last month are Heather Hay-Baker and Rosie Warehime. The Board of the Weller Public Library is expected to meet later this month to go over the applications and move the hiring process forward. Alexander left the position late last month, citing personal reasons. Hay- Baker, who lives with her family between...
WAITSBURG - Farmers in the Touchet Valley are predicting their harvest this year will be at least a week later than usual with fields in the Prescott and Waitsburg areas ready by the third week of July and in Dayton by early August. "Almost every farmer coming in says they'll be seven to ten days late," said Matt Weber, an agronomist with the McGregor Co.'s Waitsburg branch, which supplies them with farm chemicals. Concerned at first with the possible spread of rust, growers now welcome the somewhat cooler June temperatures that allow the...
WAITSBURG - The $5,000 grant from the Oregon Community Foundation, the charitable arm of Cycle Oregon, couldn't have come at a better time for Waitsburg's Main Street. The young deciduous trees planted in the sidewalk a few years ago didn't do so well this year, so the colorful flower baskets and flowers added to the street lights and planters are bringing some needed cheer to the downtown area. "The flowering trees took a hit from last November's cold snap and the bizarre spring we've had,"...
WAITSBURG - On one of the nights of the Salt & Light youth choir's state tour last week, the group of 23 young singers from the Touchet Valley came together in a circle to share what they felt was special about the Christian ministry. The theme of this year's tour was "Got Hope?" Kyla Ihle, a senior from Dayton High School, was already in tears before it was her turn to share. " I've been struggling with hope throughout my life," Ihle said. "Salt & Light helped me find that hope." Feeling safe...
Editor's Note: This is the first in an occasional series about Columbia County Health System serving patients in the Dayton and Waitsburg areas. The series will focus on changes and developments since last year's management study and review. D AYTON - More than a year after Columbia County Health System's board of commissioners called in a consultant to help the hospital district with its management issues, the controversy over staffing has largely blown over. In some departments, such as the...
DAYTON - If you noticed how some Touchet Valley store fronts this weekend carried two posters promoting a farmers' market in Dayton, you weren't alone and you weren't seeing double. A town that has struggled to support one farmers' market now has two: the old Dayton Farmers Market and the new Dayton Saturday Market. The good news, thanks to the Dayton City Council, is that you don't have to choose between them as a shopper. You can go to both at the same time and at the same place: downtown...
DIXIE - The illustration is typical for its day: a primitive rendition of the rolling landscape just south of Dixie during the second half of the 19th century, presumably after the end of the Civil War in 1865. The scene shows an estate with wheat fields, fruit trees, vegetable plots, fences, young trees, horse drawn wagons, a large barn and a proud farm house with a steam train and cattle on the hills in the background. Underneath the detailed undated drawing, it reads "Farm Residence Of...
WAITSBURG - Half a lifetime ago, Danny Cole made a gutsy move. He was only 25 when he got the help of two silent partners, his dad Ken and Bob Jamison, to buy the grocery store from Jim and Joan Helm. It was called Jim's Market and it needed a big investment in new inventory, new produce coolers and a bank of walk-in freezers that would be so big Cole feared he might have trouble filling it. "We jumped in with both feet and took off running," he said. A quarter century later, Cole is celebrating...
WAI T SBURG - When Robert Potolicchio closed Poto's Small Engine Repair for health reasons earlier this year - thanking his many loyal customers for all the business they gave him over the years - the last mechanic left standing disappeared from Main Street. The closest place you could take your lawn mower (let alone your car or truck) was Dayton. But wait! The dust hasn't settled yet. Troy McCambridge, once a Mr. Fix It on Main Street himself, wants to bring back the convenience of local...
WAITSBURG - Su Alexander, who took over as manager of the Weller Public Library when Jan Cronkhite retired last fall, has resigned. Alexander, who had been an assistant to Cronkhite since March 2009, notified the city and the library board late last month that she would leave her position by the end of June. "It was the right decision for my family," she said. "I really enjoyed getting to know people in Waitsburg through this job. I'll miss the kids a lot." Although she declined to comment...
Ethiopia. The birth place of arabica coffee. According to legend, shepherds in this north African land noticed how their goats danced and burst with new life after sampling the fruit from a bush that grew wild. They tried the beans from this bush and found themselves invigorated. Ethiopian coffee still grows wild across the green hills and roasters say it's known for its gamey and spontaneous flavor profile. Many Ethiopians offer coffee to visitors in an ancient ceremony that makes it much more...
DAYTON - One Main Street merchant noted that on Saturday morning, All Wheels looked more like Christmas Kickoff than the hot- tarmac Father's Day weekend car show Daytonites and visitors have come to expect. But even though the number of families coming to the mobility extravaganza was down this year, the number of cars on Main Street was as big as ever and very few participants complained about the weather. They just dressed for it or spent more time inside shopping their hearts out. "I was so...
DAYTON - Columbia County Sheriff 's Deputy Mark Franklin, who is under investigation for allegedly being untruthful in his report about an incident that happened in Waitsburg in February, has resigned. "It's increasingly difficult to work in the atmosphere at the (Sheriff 's) office," Franklin said in an interview with the Times. He insisted he didn't quit because of the investigation, blaming the office's "toxic" work environment instead. His resignation, which occurred last week, delayed...
PRESCOTT - Amanda Beckman plans to study pre-law. Iris Batalla wants to become a dental hygienist. Nora Almanzar may enroll in a police academy and become a professional sniper. Cesar Munguia will attend WSU to study business and accounting. Joe Purdin and David Brock plan to enroll in Walla Walla Community College's welding program. The Tigers in the Class of 2011 all have a vision of their future which began at their commencement on Friday night, capping high school careers as athletes, honor...
WAITSBURG - Being off the grid had a whole different meaning in the 1860s, when early settlers founded a community that later became Waitsburg. Nowadays, some homeowners and communities pride themselves on being independent of large utility networks for their resources, but back then pioneers didn't have a choice and became very adept at keeping their households going by hand. That was the message to several groups of Waitsburg elementary school students who came to Waitsburg's historic Bruce Ma...
DAYTON - Columbia County Sheriff 's Deputy Mark Franklin, a former candidate for sheriff in the county, has been placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation into an incident that occurred in Waitsburg in February while he was off duty. "I'm concerned about the information we've received," said Columbia County Sheriff Walt Hessler, the incumbent sheriff who was re-elected over Franklin last fall and has called in the help of the Asotin County Sheriff's Office to conduct the inves...
WAITSBURG - Steven Long, a Waitsburg resident who lost his home to a fire late last year, was arrested in the aftermath of a motorcycle accident in east Waitsburg on Saturday afternoon. A Walla Walla County Sheriff's Office report indicates he was taken into custody on suspicion of riding a motorcycle while under the influence, of riding with a suspended license and of possession of marijuana. Quoting eye witnesses, Sheriff's deputies said Long was riding his off-road motorcycle eastbound on E. 8th Street from Walnut Street when he accelerated...
DAYTON - Sometimes, the most important observations about the past come in the form of a footnote as did this one from Bulldogs' head baseball coach Sal Benavides about the spring sports season: "In all my 20 years here as a coach," he told the Times after Wednesday's sports banquet had wrapped up, "this is the first time that none of the players were ever ineligible to play because of their grades." In many ways, this post script to his earlier speech at the dessert banquet summed up what all...
WAITSBURG - Ten minutes before the women's relay race at the Carnival of Speed in Milton Freewater began that fateful weekend, head track coach Jeff Bartlow knew the team was in a pickle. One of the four runners, Kayla Huxoll, had just been struck in the foot by another competitor's javelin in a freak accident and Yesenia Escalante, a hurdler, was the only alternate. While the relay runners from the other 19 teams were already warming up, Bartlow, who was at the scene of Huxoll's accident, told...
WALLA WALLA - As the sun angled in from the west, casting its golden evening warmth over Borleske Stadium, Sweets fans began to fill the bleachers, food courts and beer gardens for the first game of the 2011 season Friday. Waitsburg eighth grader Shayla Tsosie was there with her aunt Christina Record from Walla Walla and Record's boyfriend David Wahlstrom on leave from Iraq. " There's nothing like opening night in baseball," Wahlstrom said. "I don't care if it's the major league, the minor...
WAITSBURG - When it comes to food, the Touchet Valley has its French connections. There's Spring Valley winemaker Serge Laville. There's Waitsburg's Christian Chemin, the chef for Bon Appetit at Whitman College. And there's Pierre Louis Monteillet of the fromagerie near Dayton. Now, get ready for a big new tie to France in the valley's most traditional culinary pursuit: growing wheat. Group Limagrain, the biggest plant breeder and seed company in Europe, has chosen Waitsburg as the site for one...
