Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Sorted by date Results 401 - 418 of 418
WALLA WALLA - The man charged with killing a Seattle cyclist on Middle Waitsburg Road in May appeared in Walla Walla County Superior Court Monday for the first time. Melvin Bohleen, 73, of Dayton, dressed in blue jean overalls and a brown t-shirt, signed paperwork and listened to Judge Donald Schacht describe possible sentencing and release. Bohleen is charged with vehicular homicide for striking a cyclist with his vehicle on May 21. The cyclist, Sarah Eustis, 61, of Seattle, died as a result of...
WAITSBURG - I've been in town now about 20 days. You may have noticed a young woman walking down the sidewalk on Main Street, smiling ear to ear. For many, it's a shock that a 25-year-old would want to move to the tiny town of Waitsburg. The truth is, the moment I stepped foot on Main Street last May, I wanted to live here. And about three months later, here I am. I am blessed to have family in Walla Walla, but I also have many family members to be living right here in Waitsburg. The Henze famil...
Heart BEAT About Needs & Good Deeds WAITSBURG -- Not only is the nation focusing on the upcoming 10-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, but Touchet Valley residents are also thinking about the second anniversary of the big mill fire that destroyed Wait's Mill, Sept. 6, 2009. The mill gave Waitsburg its name and losing it meant the town lost part of its identity. With these two anniversaries on our minds and the recent battle of the Whetstone fire, we can't help but think of our local...
WAITSBURG - The new face behind the counter at the Weller Public Library is likely one you have seen before. Rosie Warehime, the new library manager, has lived in Waitsburg for 44 years. Her husband Walt found his first teaching job in Waitsburg. "We planned to stay 2 years and we never left," she said. Warehime hadn't ever worked at a library before, but she had been employed at the Cenex station and at local grain growers, making her a recognizable face in the community and the perfect person...
DAYTON - This year's Columbia County Fair held Sept. 9-11 will bring new entertainment, more education, bull bash and beer garden that will surely delight fairgoers. T h e event, held at the fairgrounds in Dayton, will cost $5 for adults, $3 for kids and children under the age of 6 are free each day. The fair will be open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday, 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday, and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. Shane Laib, who is in his second year as fair manager, said he and his...
DAYTON - This season, Dayton soccer coach D.J. Frame wants the league to know the members of his team are ready to step up their game and compete against the best. "We're not just the new guys," Frame said. "We've got to be competitive now." Last year, the Bulldogs didn't fare too well in league play. Out of 14 games, Frame said his team won one, tied two and lost 11. Last year, Frame's fourth year coaching the team, was focused on building the program. But, this year is going to be different....
DAYTON - Las t Wedne sday, 64 ladies f rom the Touchet Valley and as far as La Grande and Sunnyside donned pastel golf shirts and hauled their clubs to the Touchet Valley Golf Course in Dayton for an annual all-ladies invitational. The ladies, each pair assigned to a cart, mingled with old friends and made new ones. They laughed excitedly about the day's events and about 9 a.m., hurried their golf carts down the paths to start their nine holes of golf. "It's about just getting together with the...
WAITSBURG - After recent bicyclist-vehicle collisions that resulted in death and injuries in 2011, local authorities are urging vehicles to be on the lookout for bicyclists and they're telling bicyclists to take precautions to stay safe. The Touchet Valley is becoming more and more a popular destination for cyclists and vehicles and cyclists need to learn to share the roads, said Walla Walla County Undersheriff Edward Freyer and Operations Captain Barry Blackman. "Everybody has a legal right to...
COLLEGE PLACE - It has been 43 years since 17-year-old Julie Stonecipher, a farmer's daughter from Waitsburg, won the Washington State American Junior Miss competition and was runner-up at the national American Junior Miss competition. The Touchet Valley held parades in her honor, signs bearing her name sat at the entrances to Waitsburg and she even received a key to the city of Walla Walla. After many years away from the largest and oldest national scholarship program for high school girls,...
DAYTON - A mother-daughter duo in Dayton specializing in acupuncture and massage therapy is offering services at a variety of prices to make sure low-income members of the community can obtain the preventative medicine and therapy they need. "Why should our services be exclusive to high-income people?" asks Tyhra Owen, 30, who practices massage therapy at Day Escape Spa in Dayton. Owen and her mother, Denise Lane, 49, an acupuncturist, joined the Day Escape Spa team in July. Both women recently...
WALLA WALLA - Dayton resident Melvin Bohleen, 73, is scheduled to appear in Walla Walla Superior Court Sept. 12 for charges relating to a vehicle-and-bicycle collision that killed a Seattle woman on May 21 on Middle Waitsburg Road. Bohleen was charged Friday with vehicular homicide, a class A felony, that could carry a sentence of life in prison, a fine of $50,000 or both if he is found guilty. Prosecuting Attorney James Nagle filed a report of an investigation by the sheriff's office and argues that Bohleen operated a motor vehicle that...
DAYTON - For T.J. Hersey, running her father's grocery store in Dayton is a way for him to live on. Hersey is now a thirdgeneration grocer in the town. Her grandfather, H.W. Stephenson, came to Dayton in 1938 from Portland, Ore., and he opened up a grocery in 1944. Hersey's father, Gail Bennett, took over in 1961 and ran the neighborhood grocery on Fourth Street until he passed away last year. "He was a grocery man all his life in Dayton," Hersey said of her father. "(Keeping the store) is what...
DAYTON - Members of the Dayton community are lending their talents and their time to restore a collection of downtown outdoor advertisements going back to the late 1800s. The Historic Sign Restoration Project on the back of the Sterling Savings Bank and other buildings on Main Street, is a project of the Dayton Development Task Force. The group obtained a $20,000 grant from the Sherwood Trust Fund recently and work is underway. The group won't be restoring the advertisement s so they look new. R...
WAITSBURG - The WP Cardinal track and field team had state champions and personal records to celebrate last Wednesday night. And while the WP Tiger baseball team didn't come away with any state trophies this year, they had many moments of their own to cheer about. The athletes and their families gathered at Waitsburg Elementary School for food and awards to top off a successful season. Track Head coach Jeff Bartlow said he had about 50 athletes turn out for track this year and he said each of them made the season memorable for him. "It's my fav...
LAKEWOOD - WP's lone golfer Dakota Baker made it to the state competition in Lakewood on May 22 and 23 and despite pouring rain and tough competition he placed 16th overall. Baker tied with Colfax golfer Hunter Weitze with 176 points total. In the first round, Baker shot a 92 and in the second round he improved considerably and shot an 84. Baker has been playing and practicing alongside the DeSales golf team all year. DeSales won the overall state golf competition, but DeSales coach Lon Olson...
SPOKANE - James Lehr, a 2010 graduate of Waitsburg High School, is a shot put and discus champion in his conference and he's hoping to be an NCAA champion in the near future. Lehr, who has attended Spokane Falls Community College for the past two years, is working on his degree to teach special education. Most recently in his college athletic career, he placed first in the conference meet in the discus and the shot put on May 21 and 22 in Spokane. That's an improvement from 2011 when he placed f...
WALLA WALLA - Frank Brown wants to be clear about why he wants to be a Walla Walla County Commissioner - and that's to serve people. "I want to work for the people," he said. Brown, who is 58 and lives on Blue Creek Road, is a 1973 graduate of Walla Walla High School and has lived here most of his life. He did leave the area for college in St. Louis and Seattle to study forensics and engineering, but since 1989 he has lived on his current 20 acres in the Mill Creek area. Brown is the third...
WAITSBURG - After 30 years selling liquor on Main Street in Waitsburg, Bonnie Olson closed the doors of her liquor and spirits store on May 21. Olson had obtained a license from the state before the big transition that allowed her to carry and sell liquor, and but she recently decided that running her own store wasn't a priority. "I just decided I really didn't need to do that," Olson said. Initiative 1183 was passed by voters in the last General Election. The initiative took liquor sales in Washington out of the hands of the Liquor Control...
