Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Sorted by date Results 251 - 275 of 418
DAYTON - - Dave Finney is the new courthouse maintenance supervisor for Columbia County. But he was the previous one too. Actually, Dave Phinney maintained the courthouse for more than 30 years and retired about two years ago. The position had been filled in the interim by a couple of different people. But, at the beginning of 2012, the county opened the position fulltime and a new Dave Finney applied and was selected. Finney began his new job at the courthouse earlier this month and he is...
WAITSBURG - Those who use more water this summer may be paying more out of pocket. The Wai t sburg Ci t y Council last Wednesday night heard a proposal that would tack on an extra 20 cents to the current overage rate for those who use more than the base amount of water provided to residents. And this proposal may actually be approved. The council had already considered two proposals to increase water and sewer rates. But the council members could not support either and both died for lack of...
WAITSBURG - Perry Dozier didn't want to be a farmer, nor a county commissioner. After graduating with a bachelor's degree in economics, Dozier, a Touchet Valley resident all of his life, wanted to be a pilot. In 1986, he worked for a bit of time as a commercial airplane pilot. But, there was an influx of pilots at that time and some new rules in the industry. After pursuing that dream for about three years, Dozier gave up on that career and continued his family's tradition of farming. Dozier's c...
DAYTON - For Jill Andrews, it has always been her calling to train horses and riders. "I used to sit in class as a kid and all I would think about was training techniques," she said with a laugh. "I never wanted anything else." Andrews, of Dayton, has been riding horses since she was 10 and training since she was 14. Now, she is the owner and trainer of Graycyn Farms in Dayton and has earned the Union-Bulletin's Best of The Best Award for her business two years in a row. But until seven years...
WAITSBURG - Ladies, get ready to be pampered! Belinda Cook has planned an evening of pampering from 5 to 7 p.m. on March 24 at Town Hall. Cook, who is re-launching her Mary Kay retail business, is joined by Melodie Fitzhugh, in this endeavor. The goals of the evening are to pamper women, give back to the community and show off a new line of botanical products. Cook said it will be an event that indulges the senses with candles, coffee and wine. Both women live in Waitsburg. Cook left her...
WAITSBURG - With the April 2 election right around the corner, Waitsburg residents Bart Baxter and Tiffany Laposi are throwing their hats in the ring for city council. Baxter, who has lived in town for 7 years and owns Betty's Diner, has already completed one year on city council and made an unsuccessful bid for mayor in 2011. Laposi, who has lived in Waitsburg for 31 years and is a real property appraiser for Walla Walla County. She is a candidate in Waitsburg for the first time. Laposi has served on boards related to her profession and has... Full story
DAYTON -- The Dayton High School track coach has a small team this year, but he's dreaming big and hoping for two of his athletes to make it to state later this spring. The team has a new head coach, who has plenty of experience with the athletes. Shawn Magee was the assistant coach last year and stepped up to the plate when he heard the previous head coach Shannon Turner was not returning. Magee ran track in high school and at Concordia University. "I just like track and field and I knew they...
WAITSBURG - WP's track and field team has a big reputation to live up to this year. The men's team last year placed fifth in state, and was the second-highest placement in recent memory. The women's team placed 29th. This year, with a roster full of valuable returners, head coach Jeff Bartlow said he is setting the bar higher and hopes to pull in even bigger wins than last year. "We want to continue to improve on where we s tood a t state last year," Bartlow said. " We're pretty proud of our... Full story
WAITSBURG - Mor e Waitsburg High School students are using tobacco and drinking alcohol than the state average of their peers, Dr. Carol Clarke said Monday night in a drug and alcohol town hall meeting. Clarke and members from other health organizations in the community listened to data from a Healthy Youth Survey and began the discussion of what now - what can we as a community do to change our teens' perceptions that drugs and alcohol are easy to obtain and OK in our society? "It's not just the responsibility of law enforcement," said Peggy... Full story
WAITSBURG - The Times is welcoming a new office administrator, Tawnya Richards, who will be in charge of accounting and paperwork to keep our operation running smoothly. Richards, 39, has resided in Waitsburg for the past 5 years. She has a background in office manager and supervisor positions in small businesses and hospitals and is the perfect person for the job. "We're very lucky to have someone of Tawnya's caliber to manage our office and provide the kind of customer service our readers and...
Swimming Pools Offer Services For All Families WAITSBURG - The bout of warm, sunny weather in the Touchet River Valley made us long for summer days to come and the summertime recreation involved. The residents in the Touchet Valley are extremely lucky because we have three city pools our families can spend the day at all summer. They offer lap swim, swim lessons, water aerobics and simply a place we can cool off when the mercury rises. Even better is that our local pools offer free services to... Full story
WAITSBURG - City of Waitsburg staff members have spotted some playground equipment on sale and they're hoping the city council approves the purchase to make Preston Park more fun for kids this summer. "Most of the equipment (at the park) is fairly old," said City Administrator Randy Hinchliffe. "We always put it on our list for things we would like to do." Hinchliffe and Clerk Kelly Steinhoff saw a piece of playground equipment with tunnel tubes to crawl through a slide and a gazebo on sale and...
DAYTON - There's a new ranger at Lewis and Clark Trail State Park and she's got a big job ahead of her. Melinda Owens, 38, began her new position at the state park on March 5 and she's chain sawing trees, burning and clearing trails to get ready for the park to open April 1. Owens had been stationed on the Columbia Plateau Trail State Park and the Palouse Falls for the past 7.5 years. Unfortunately because of drastic cuts to the state parks budget, her position was eliminated. She was able to...
WAITSBURG - Local Republicans are thrilled by the impressive turnouts at the two Republican Caucuses in Walla Walla and Dayton last weekend. At the Wal la Wal - la County Fairgrounds last Saturday, Waitsburg resident Tom Baker said about 700 to 1,000 people crammed into the commutiy building to give their preference for the Republican Party candidate. In Dayton at the Delany Building, about 75 people turned out, said Marilyn England, the treasurer of the Columbia County Republican Central Committee. The results, as reported on Monday, put... Full story
WAITSBURG - The Waitsburg High School gym was full of shrill squeals, shouts and slimy things Monday night when a crowd of local kids and parents enjoyed a presentation from the Reptile Man. Scott Petersen, also known as the Reptile Man, runs the Washington Serpentarium near Monroe. He has a big collection of poisonous snakes and reptiles of many kinds. Monday night, some of these reptiles rested in blue plastic tubs on the floor and on a table in the high school gym. These tubs had air holes...
DAYTON - A Dayton man was sentenced to 60 days in Columbia County Jail for pleading guilty to domestic violence offenses against his mother. Judge William Acey sentenced Tony Burruss to 60 days in jail after Burruss plead guilty to one count of unlawful imprisonment, assault in the fourth degree and malicious mischief in the third degree. Burruss was arrested on Jan. 14 after he got in an argument with his mother. According to Burruss' statement read in court Thursday by Acey, on Jan. 14 Burruss restrained his mother and assaulted her. He also...
WAITSBURG - A wrestling tournament that brought about 2,000 people into Waitsburg last March has been scheduled at the last minute to take place again March 17 at Waitsburg High School. Travis Newman, the head coach of the Waitsburg Mat Birds Club, said the big tournament for the Washington State Little Guy Wrestling Association, an organization that has 70 clubs statewide, was supposed to be held in Zillah March 17. Unfortunately, Newman said somehow Zillah lost the use of its facility where...
A Rodeo With A Great Cause: Our Children WALLA WALLA - For 30 years, collegiate cowboys have been making a difference in children's lives. March 9 through 11 is the 30th anniversary of a partnership between the Walla Walla Community College, Exchange Club of Walla Walla and the Council for the Prevention of Child Abuse. Together they put on the WWCC Collegiate Rodeo, Riding Against Child Abuse, and have raised $300,000 for local child abuse prevention activities and college rodeo, said Dick...
WAITSBURG - An eyeopening forum on underage drinking and drug abuse in the Waitsburg community is scheduled for 5:30 p.m., March 12, at Waitsburg Elementary School. Peggy Gutierrez, a prevention specialist at Blue Mountain Counseling, and Dr. Carol Clarke, the Waitsburg School District superintendent, will give a one-hour presentation highlighting statistics from a Healthy Youth Survey taken by Waitsburg High School students in 2010. The survey was 100 percent confidential and really shows our kids' perceptions of drugs and alcohol, Clarke... Full story
DAYTON - The Columbia County Health System may be facing a 10 percent cut in Medicaid reimbursement funding from the state that would reduce the hospital's budget by $55,000 to $60,000 each year. Usually, the state gives about $38 million to critical access hospitals like Dayton's each year to fully reimburse these hospitals. Based on how much the state gives these hospitals for Medicaid, the federal government also matches some of that money. District CEO Charlie Button said a large proposed cut last November of 76 percent of Medicaid... Full story
DAYTON - Ski Bluewood is looking for financial support through donations or grants to get power lines or another power source out to the ski area to lessen the noise, make the ski lifts faster and provide summertime entertainment. Mike Stephenson, an owner of Bluewood, told the Economic Development Steering Committee in Dayton last Friday there has been great snow and lots of skiers and snowboarders this January and February. He added that he would like to continue to expand the ski resort and...
WAITSBURG - Dayton and Waitsburg Elementary students hula hoop-ed and jumped rope for their hearts last week and raised thousands of dollars for the American Heart Association. Dayton fourth and fifth graders completed their Hoops for Heart program last Wednesday. About 100 first through third graders jumped rope last Thursday. On Friday, about 125 Waitsburg students, kindergarten through fifth grades, jumped rope and hula hooped in the Waitsburg High School gym. Both schools have participated...
DAYTON - Judge William Acey decided last Thursday that despite a full confession from a third party to a burglary of a Dayton home in which knives and guns were taken, Eric Vanzandt, the man charged with the crime, should still be held in Columbia County Jail because of other assault and malicious mischief charges. VanZandt was arrested on a warrant from Walla Walla County after a neighbor reported a fight at VanZandt's residence at 1531 S. Second St., just before 4 a.m. on Jan. 29. After he was arrested, his home was searched and weapons...
WAITSBURG - The Waitsburg City Council last week passed an ordinance that created a transportation benefit district and also passed a resolution to put a sales tax increase to benefit this new district on the April Special Election ballot. Because of a loss of state funding for streets over the past decade, City Administrator Randy Hinchliffe recommended to the council last year that the city create a transportation benefit district to raise money for street repairs and improvements within city limits. The city looked at raising the sales tax...
WAITSBURG - Despite chilly temperatures in the community building at the Waitsburg Fairgrounds, about 300 people gathered last Saturday for the first mixed martial arts fight this town had ever seen. Rob Dodgin, who organized the fight in Waitsburg with his company KOK Fight Club from Walla Walla, said that despite some kinks, he was thrilled with the turnout and the fighters were impressive. "Everyone had a great time and there were no problems," Dodgin said. "It ran pretty smooth." The barn...
