Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Sorted by date Results 101 - 125 of 259
DAYTON-The group, represented by Dayton resident Jessica Ruffcorn, continues to garner attention from national print and televised media over efforts to dissolve the Columbia County Rural Library. The Seattle Times is the most recent newspaper outside of Columbia or Walla Walla Counties to publish an article about the potential of Dayton's public library becoming the first in the country to be closed due to collection content. The article is available at https://tinyurl.com/5nscwbck. Allen Leist...
WALLA WALLA – The National Weather Service has issued an Excessive Heat Warning for portions of central, north-central, northeast Oregon, and central, south-central, and southeast Washington through 11:00 p.m. on Thursday, August 17, 2023. Dangerously hot conditions are expected, with temperatures between 103° to 110°, and residents should take precautions. To assist Walla Walla and area residents who do not have access to air conditioning during the hottest part of the day, an emergency cooling station will be open at the Christian Aid Cen...
DAYTON-"The Nation," a weekly magazine, published "The Small-Town Library That Became a Culture War Battleground," an article chronicling recent history and current efforts to defund the only public library in Columbia County. Over the past months, Reporter Sasha Abramsky interviewed community members who hope to defund the Rural Library Tax District and those fighting to retain the institution. The article puts Columbia County's issues in context with similar efforts nationwide. Where other...
LYONS FERRY-The tenth annual Swim the Snake event will be held at Lyons Ferry Marina and Lyons Ferry State Park on Saturday, August 12, 2023, beginning at 11 a.m. In addition to the non-competitive, open-water swim, event organizers continue to hold a two-stage, competitive (or non-competitive) relay, paddling in a kayak or paddleboard (only) from Lyons Ferry Marina to Lyons Ferry State Park across Lake Bryan on the Snake River. Upon arrival at Lyons Ferry State Park, paddlers can enter the...
WAITSBURG-Heavy metal comes to Waitsburg. Not the music but artwork created by Karl Newell and Terry Hofer. The pair produces decorative and functional art from spare parts, farm equipment, old tools, and almost anything rusted. They are giving new life to the objects they discover on their journeys. This week, their work will be displayed at Waitsburg Art Garden (WAG) from August 4 through August 6 between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Newell and Hofer have been friends and collaborators for years,...
Waitsburg City Council met for its regular meeting on July 19, 2023, at city hall. Kelly Steinhoff will be returning to Waitsburg City Hall. City Councilmembers Jillian Henze, Randy Charles, Jim Romine, Court Ruppenthal, Kevin House, Mayor Marty Dunn, and City Administrator Randy Hinchliffe were in attendance. The council approved Ordinance 2023-1082 updating the Waitsburg Municipal Code regarding nuisance abatement and imposing a fine for non-compliance after the first notice. The council approved contracting with Vision Municipal Services to...
DAYTON - The second petition submitted to put a proposition to dissolve the Columbia County Rural Library District on the November ballot has been certified. The Columbia County Auditor's Office found 163 signatures of the 186 submitted on the petition were from qualified voters registered in the county's unincorporated areas. Petitioners needed at least 107 qualifying signatures, representing 10% of registered voters in the unincorporated areas of the county to be certified. The library board...
DAYTON-The Board of Directors for the Columbia County Rural Library held their regular meeting on Monday, July 17, in the Delaney Room. The meeting was attended by the public, in person and on Zoom. Board Chair Jay Ball, board members Chuck Beleny, Kevin Rust, and Sharon Mendal were joined by Interim Director Ellen Brigham. Vice Chair Karin Spann was not in attendance. The meeting opened with Tanya Patton presenting a detailed history of Dayton's library and the community's efforts to secure...
WAITSBURG-Tuesday afternoon, Waitsburg residents saw a familiar sight at harvest-three wildland engines and a tender heading towards a fire, with sirens blaring. The trucks left in quick succession from the Columbia Walla Walla Fire District #2 (CWWFD2) fire station, carrying eight volunteers who turned out for the call. The call was for a standing wheat field fire on the west side of Lower Waitsburg Road in Fire District #7. The Waitsburg crew joined fire districts #7, 9, 4, City of Walla Walla...
DAYTON-Three local veterans were awarded Quilts of Valor at the War Memorial in Dayton on Independence Day. Quilts of Valor is a non-profit organization created in 2003. It has presented over 327,000 quilts to comfort service members and veterans touched by war. Linda Clarys is a member of Quilts of Valor and has been creating quilts through the program for local veterans since 2019. She pieces and sews the quilts, with help from others, including a quilter who machine quilts the finished...
DAYTON-Kids from The Club in Dayton will participate in community gardening this summer at Onyx Farms at Blue Mountain Station. Last fall, the Port of Columbia leased the 1/2 acre plot next to the BMS nursery to Andreas Castellanos to create a community garden. Castellanos described the Onyx Farms on FaceBook as "a community effort to connect people to the soil and each other by growing various crops. A learning process for all involved." In May, he invited the public to participate in farm...
DAYTON-Women with Edwardian hairstyles, men in waistcoats, and trained horses were seen waiting patiently outside Dayton's Depot Museum last week. They were not waiting for an arriving train but to film their scenes for a short film produced by Walla Walla University. As the actors waited, the producers, Walla Walla University film students, and production staff, including director Richard Ramsey, were busy preparing for location filming. I met with one of the producers, Matt Webster, on the...
COLUMBIA COUNTY—On June 21, 2023, Jessica Ruffcorn submitted a petition to dissolve the Columbia County Rural Library District to the Columbia County Auditor’s Office. The auditor’s office began the process of verifying the signatures on June 22. Addresses and signatures were compared to those stored on the Secretary of State’s official voter information database. Voters can register, update, and verify their voter information on the official database at VoterWA.gov. In a letter to the Rural Library District Board Chair, dated June 27, 2023, C...
WAITSBURG—The Waitsburg City Council held its regular meeting at city hall on June 21, 2023. City council members Jillian Henze, Jim Romine, Kevin House, Court Ruppenthal, Mayor Marty Dunn, and City Administrator Randy Hinchliffe were present. Council member Randy Charles was absent. Washington State Senator Perry Dozier presented a recap of the recent legislative session. He discussed the capital, operating, and transportation budgets. Dozier worked to replace $21 million diverted from the 2015 “Connecting Washington” transportation packa...
WALLA WALLA-Work celebrating the local landscape with Waitsburg artists Greg Tate and Bill Rodgers will be exhibited at Cavu Cellars in Walla Walla from July 7 to July 30, 2023. There will be an artists' reception from 5 to 7 p.m. on July 7, 2023. In the upcoming exhibition, "A Celebration of Earth and Landscape," the work focuses on the artists' love of regional landscape and the varied physical aspects of the surface of the planet. The show will feature ceramics and watercolors by Tate and...
DAYTON—Columbia County Prosecuting Attorney C. Dale Slack requested and received an informal opinion from the Washington State Office of the Attorney General clarifying the voter eligibility to petition and vote on the issues concerning the Columbia County Rural District Library. A group of residents dissatisfied with the library’s Request for a Reconsideration of Materials policy, are circulating a petition to place a proposition on the ballot to dissolve the library district. Should voters decide in favor of dissolution, all of the books and...
WAITSBURG-This summer, Kate Hockersmith has opened a teaching and practice studio for Touchet Valley Acoustic Music Project (TVAMP). The space at 141 Main Street in Waitsburg allows Hockersmith to provide a dedicated space for an instrument lending library, workspace, and inspiring space for instruction. Classes scheduled include: Beginning Banjo. for adults and teens taught by Carrie Hendrix. Mondays from June 26 through July 31 at 7 p.m. $100 Bluegrass Kids, taught by Hockersmith. Wednesdays...
This weekend, I met Laurent and Patricia Zirotti of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, who were in town to take the Two-Day Intensive Course at the Monteillet Fromagerie outside Dayton. The fromagerie's owners, Joan and Pierre-Louis Monteillet, raise French Alpine goats and East Friesian-Lucaune sheep on their 32-acre farmstead. They use the milk to produce small batches of artisan cheeses using traditional techniques and inspiration from the Roquefort region of France, where Pierre-Louise Monteillet was...
DAYTON-Artists Winnie Brumsickle and Kimi Bruzas will display their work in Dayton during All Wheels Weekend. The exhibit opens on June 17, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 143 E. Main Street. The show includes original collages by Bruzas and mixed media paintings by Brumsickle. Though they approach their work with unique visual vocabularies, their pieces share many elements that make the combined show cohesive. Bruzas and her sister Lori are well known for their shop The Gaudy Gals on Main Street in...
WAITSBURG-Weller Public Library began its Summer Reading Program on June 1, 2023, offering every K-12 student in the Waitsburg school district a summer reading kit. Students received a nylon drawstring backpack, a Bingo Summer Reading Activity sheet, a pencil, a booklight for reading, a journal notebook, and a quilt-square coloring page. When students participating in the Reading Bingo activity complete a line across, up, down, diagonal, or a blackout they will receive a free book and be...
WAITSBURG-Royal Block will host the 'Hansen House Couture Collection' fashion show featuring Waitsburg farming matriarch Geraine Hansen's collection of 45 global and local fashions from the 60s and 70s. The show is a celebration of her glamorous style and to her 100th birthday. Cheryl Hansen, has curated a runway show from her mother's well appointed closet. She asked friends, family, and community members to participate as models, bringing these mid-century styles to life. In the 1970s,...
WAITSBURG–This weekend, Burgers, Bands, and Brews features alternative country band Frog Hollow Band and some family lore. Band member Ty Lane plans on playing his grandfather Norval's Gibson ES-125 on a few numbers. The distinctive sunburst, hollow-body electric guitar holds a special place in Lane's family history. Norvel most likely purchased it in the late 50s and performed with it through the following decades. The guitar was played by Lane's aunt Leah in a band with Norval and Ty's f...
WAITSBURG—The Waitsburg City Council accepted an offer on Waitsburg’s former city hall at 147 Main Street. The offer made by Mark and Miriam Grant is for the listing price of $210,000. The council approved accepting the offer, adding a provision requiring occupancy of the ground floor commercial space within one year, with a possible one-year extension. There is no occupancy timeline requirement for the upstairs portion of the building. In October 2021, the city council first adopted Resolution 2021-735 to surplus the property after the cos...
WAITSBURG-This Saturday, businesses in Waitsburg are extending hours, offering pop-up retail, live music, food and drink specials, and art for the first of three Waitsburg Happenings. Here are only a few treats in store for visitors and guests. Visit the Grand Opening of the Touchet Valley Accoustic Music Project (TVAMP) studio at 141 Main St. Project founder and leader Kate Hockersmith has taught and arranged international travel for youth bluegrass bands through her program under RYES. Be...
WAITSBURG-This year's Business of the Year is Nancy's Dream Garden, owned by Janet Biolo Lawrence and her brother Doug Biolo. The business was nominated by Waitsburg City Council member Jillian Henze who presented the award. From providing beautiful plants and trees to hosting the Waitsburg Friday Market, Henze noted how the business had contributed to the town. After moving to the current location, the garden center has worked towards expanding its operations. It is a work in progress that...
