Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
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WAITSBURG - Less than eight months after it was repaired by Haskins Co. of Spokane at a cost of 140,000, the Waitsburg grain bin that split and spilled several thousand bushels of wheat last year failed again in the same spot, Northwest Grain Growers officials said Tuesday. "This should not have happened," said David Gordon, general manager for Walla Walla-based Northwest Grain Growers. "But when these things happen, you correct them." Gordon said about 1,500 bushels spilled from the bin t...
PULLMAN - WP Head Coach Jeff Bartlow had a sleepless night on Monday. After the semifinal loss against the Colfax Bulldogs, he kept running different plays, different strategies and different outcomes through his head, wondering what he could have, should have, would have done to win the game he feels the Cardinals had within their grasp. "It was easier last time, when we lost 39-0 (in the 2009 playoff game against the Bulldogs)," Bartlow said about coming to terms with that year's results....
New Defenses In Place In Time For Flood-prone Seasonbordering WAITSBURG - Like many residents of the Touchet Valley, Phil Monfort has lived through two floods. So he gets worried when the weather patterns start to look like they did in 1964 and 1996. Walla Walla County emergency management officials said last week that the coming winter could be the worst in more than half a century, potentially generating the kind of snowfall, freezes and sudden thaw that contributed to the floods. M...
Pre-winter Snow & Ice Just TheBeginning Of A La Nina Year That Could See Flooding In The Touchet ValleyWAITSBURG - What has kids and skiers so excited worries local authorities and area residents who recall the infamous winter of 1996. This week's early snow indicates the beginning of a cold season that could be a great year for Ski Bluewood but disastrous for a Touchet Valley vulnerable to flooding from the Touchet and Coppei rivers. Almost a foot of snow fell earlier this week in Walla Walla and Columbia counties, thwarting drivers, closing...
WAITSBURG - Half a decade after it was opened by the Columbia County Farm Bureau, the retail store at the Cenex gas stathough tion on the corner of Preston (Highway 124) and Coppei (Highway 12) is closing. The self-service pumps will remain in operation 24/7, accessible to credit card and co-op account card holders. Access to the propane gas will be discontinued because it needs to be handled by a trained employee and the station will no longer be staffed. Wednesday, Nov. 24, the day be...
DAYTON - If there were one big award for an entire high school fall sports program, it might go to Dayton High School and it would say "Most Improved." From football to soccer and cross country to volleyball, each DHS team saw hopeful signs of progress thanks to good coaching, the unquestioning efforts among individual athletes and a die-hard home crowd. Some would even say progress came in much bigger leaps and bounds than expected. "I thought this would be a building year and it would ta...
PASCO - Three weeks in a row now, the Cardinals have come out against their playoff opponents like a house on fire and put at least 35 unanswered points on the board, leaving the other team wondering what just hit them. Saturday's quarter-final game against DeSales was no exception. The only difference was that WP's confidence was even higher and its execution even more deadly against the stunned Irish. "Everyone believes now," WP head coach Jeff Bartlow said, referring to the team, their f...
WAITSBURG - When WP head coach Jeff Bartlow and his Colfax counterpart Morgan met halfway Sunday to exchange videos of their teams' games, Morgan asked Bartlow a rhetorical question. "Aren't we the luckiest sons of a gun in the state?" Morgan said as the two men shook hands like they've done many times over the years, this time in Central Ferry before the snow started piling up. Bartlow knew exactly what he meant: two well-coached and talented teams, both undefeated, facing each other in t...
WAITSBURG - In the first major reversal of one of their predecessors' decisions, members of the Waitsburg City Council last week voted unanimously to deny the use of a 23-acre city-owned parcel at the northeast corner of town for the development of a regional BMX track. The track's proponents, led by Greg and Tawnya McVey, are still hopeful they can change the current council members' minds with help from Mayor Walt Gobel. The McVeys did not attend the meeting, saying they were not aware the item was on the agenda, but will use the public com...
YAKIMA - The Lady Bulldogs came home empty handed from their state playoffs here Saturday. They were knocked out of the tournament after winning their first match Friday but losing the two that followed later that day and on Saturday. Still, just getting to the giant SunDome with its fivenonstop-volleyball courts, and teams and hometown crowds from all over the state was the well-deserved cap on a winning season for the team that took the district title at home a week before. "We improved a l...
WAITSBURG - Seven Cardinals and two Bulldogs were elected all league in the District 9 Southeast 2B football league this season. For the Cardinals, this is more than in any other year in recent memory. Head coach Jeff Bartlow was elected Coach of the Year. Quarterback Zach Bartlow, running back Kris Cady, receiver TJ Hofer and offensive lineman Tre Brannock were elected by the league's coaches for their positions on offense. Defensive back Justin Armstrong, linebacker Grant Germain (...
COLFAX - Dean Bickelhaupt and his Bulldogs knew their odds of beating Colfax were slim. But that wasn't really the point of being in the playoffs at this stage in the team's reconstruction. Colfax beat Dayton 47-0 a week ago last Friday, ending the Bulldogs' first season under Bickelhaupt as head coach. But in many ways, it was one of the best seasons in a decade. The team won three games, including the two tiebreakers to qualify for the playoffs. Two of its players, Colton Bickelhaupt and...
WAITSBURG - The Cardinals were the only Touchet Valley team still standing in the playoffs this weekend after trouncing Oroville 49-13 at home Saturday. The win ends the Hornets' season while pitting WP against DeSales for a rematch at 5 p.m. on Friday at Edgar Brown Stadium in Pasco. After a fruitless Hornets drive on first possession, the Cardinals got on the board quickly with a 12-yard Bartlow pass to TJ Hofer for a touchdown and the same combination for the two- point conversion rev...
Saturday's quarter final game against DeSales will be different for the Cardinals in two important respects: it will be an away game on the neutral territory of the Edgar Edgar Brown stadium in Pasco, and the stakes will be much higher in this loser-out hurdle on the way to the semi final. But in almost every other way, WP is preparing once again for the Irish' versatile repertoire of ground and air assaults against a defense that has had the grip of artificialturf under its cleats only once before this season. DeSales quarterback Jere( m...
WAITSBURG - She's nine, barely 2.5 feet high and weighs a "petite" 150 pounds. He's three, as tall as an NBA star and still growing, and weighs just 200 pounds shy of half a ton. Oh yeah, and he has a hump that's the envy of quasimodo. If this were a pair of humans, they'd be considered a pretty odd couple. But as Waitsburg's celebrity camel and his new sidekick, they're perfect together. At least so believes the owner of Izzy the camel and Whinnie, a miniature Sicilian donkey. "With his size, I...
DAYTON - All's well that ends well. The participants in Thursday's move of the historic Smith Hollow school house can say that with some relief now that the various parts of the building are safely at their destination on Front Street behind Skyline Fluid Power and Sunnyhill Gardens. After nearly two decades since the idea of relocating and restoring the one-room school house came about, the main structure, roof and cupola have arrived at their new location on Dayton's historic pathway. "I t 's...
WAITSBURG - The WP Cardinals became the last Touchet Valley sports team still standing in the playoffs after beating the Oroville Hornets handily 49-13. The undefeated Cardinals will play DeSales on neutral ground in the Tri Cities next Friday after the Irish beat Brewster 33-7 in that loser-out game. The time has not yet been determined. The Dayton Bulldogs volleyball lost its Saturday match against Bear Creek in four after winning one match and losing a second in the state playoffs in Yakima Friday. The Lady Bulldogs won against Wakiakum in...
DAYTON - Columbia REA, Pastor Steve Edwards, Theater Manager Reid Helford and Singer Cougar Henderson were winners of this year's Community Awards given out at the Dayton Chamber of Commerce's Annual Banquet. They won their recognition for Business of the Year, Citizen of the Year, Employee of the Year and Youth of the Year respectively. The fifth award for Historic Preservation was split by Puget Sound Energy for the restoration of its downtown office in the commercial category and by...
SPOKANE - The WP Tigers won their second playoff game Friday, beating Northwest Christian 2-0. The first-year soccer team is now ranked first in the state for 1B/2B schools. They will play Shoreline Christian in a quarterfinals game at home on Saturday. Final rounds usually have to take place on a neutral field, but the Tigers were able to get approval to use their own field in Prescott for Saturday's match. Shoreline Christian is ranked 7th in the state and 5th on the west side. In the g...
WAITSBURG - If you're superstitious, it's always risky to mention the "C" word for fear of jinxing the prospect. But if there's any year to speculate on the possibil ity of a WP team going to a state championship game it's 2010, according to Cardinals head coach Jeff Bartlow. Between the soccer and football teams, it's a distinct possibility. They both remain undefeated. "It's that kind of year when you start thinking about it," he said. WP vs Oroville Saturday, 2 p.m. Cardinal Field...
SPOKANE - In a business development that's good borrowers and the Touchet Valley community but bad for shareholders and mixed for employees, the holding company of American West Bank has announced restructuring plans through Chapter 11 bankruptcy while selling its banking operation to a California-based investment company. The sale has a local historical dimension since it means the end of the road for the investors from Walla Walla, Waitsburg and Dayton who put up the capital in the 19...
DAYTON - With a stunning five-game come-from-behind victory against Liberty Christian Saturday night, the Lady Bulldogs swept into state before a jubilant home town crowd. It's the first time in five years since the Bulldogs have gone to state. Their first game is on Friday morning at the Sundome in Yakima. Last time, Dayton went to state, they placed third. quot;I knew we could do it,quot; team captain and senior Kayla Turner said. quot;I told the team to play calm and composed and we could go to state. We just had to take a deep breath and...
WAITSBURG - Right out of the gate, barely 13 seconds into their first playoff game at home, the Cardinals found the end zone with their first kickoff return touchdown of the season Friday night and never looked back. Running back Kris Cady, who marked an impressive season-total 1,000 yards rushing during the game, received the Reardan kickoff and ran it back for an 85-yard touchdown that ignited the Cardinals offense. The Cardinals scored six touchdowns, while allowing only one and without the extra point to end the game 42-6. Fearing...
WALLA WALLA - With 60 percent of the vote counted Tuesday evening, Walla Walla County Sheriff's candidate John Turner was well on his way to victory over Bill White. Turner, who was applauded by supporters for what they said was one of the "cleanest" campaigns in recent history, was ahead 53.5 percent compared to White's 45.9 percent. In other contested county races, Richard Greenwood beat Virginia Romine for County Coroner, while Kris Hedine won as part-time District Court Judge against Bridie...
SPOKANE - The WP Tigers won their second playoff game Friday, beating Northwest Christian 2-0. The first-year soccer team is now ranked first in the state for 1B/2B schools. They will play Shoreline Christian in a quarter-finals game in the Tri-Cities next Saturday. The latest win came just a day after the Tigers won a nail-biter loser-out game against St. George of Spokane 3-2. quot;The kids were not quite expecting this hard a play,quot; WP head coach Rickie Hamilton said after the St. George game in Prescott. quot;This was do or die: win...