Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
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DAYTON—Alicia Walker wants to continue her family’s philosophy of providing organic, locally sourced, nourishing food to the community. Her goal is to open, ‘Locally Nourished’, a new breakfast and lunch café, in the building formerly occupied by Winter Rose Boutique, on Main Street. Until recently, Walker has been the proprietor of a slightly similar business on Main Street called ‘Noble Hunt’ and she is in the process of downsizing from that. She said she is looking forward to occupying th...
DAYTON-Lions Club International (LCI) is the largest and most active community service organization in the world, according to Glen Mendell Vice-president of the Dayton Lions Club. Mendell said the Lions Club motto is "We serve," and they do. There are 1.4 million members in 46,000 clubs, in 210 countries, working to provide people with vision and hearing assistance, to help people dealing with pancreatic cancer, and diabetes and working to reduce hunger. He said the Lions Club International Fou...
WALLA WALLA—Invitations will be sent to residents in Columbia, Garfield and Walla Walla Counties in March asking them to fill out the online 2020 census, according to Juan Sanchez who is the Census 2020 Coordinator for our region. “The portal for people to officially fill out the census opens on March 15,” he said. Failure to complete the census will yield a flurry of follow-up notices, and any households that fail to respond by April 27, will be visited in person, he said. “Right now, recruit...
DAYTON—I suffered from a headache after hanging out in the office of the county commissioners for most of the day, last Tuesday, and I wasn't looking forward to doing another interview. But I had already scheduled one with Lorraine Ortega, the owner of a new spa in Dayton called Purple Sage Day Spa. During our interview, Ortega was kind enough to offer me a complimentary waterless pedicure. How could I say no to that? So, while I kicked back on a heated table and listened to the soothing s...
DAYTON—Columbia County Health Sytstem CEO Shane McGuire has announced plans to fill a gap in care for people who don’t need skilled nursing care, but who fail to thrive at home, with an option for assisted living. The plan is to have two “units” built and located just to the north end of the CCHS campus. This would place residents close to the walking paths and health system resources, such as dietary services, he said. “We have had conversations with more than one developer that would be willin...
DAYTON-Patients who need pre-operative and post-operative orthopedic care can now receive that care from a board-certified orthopedic surgeon, and certified physician assistants, at Dayton General Hospital's Physical Therapy Department. The hospital district has contracted with Lewiston Orthopedics for this service. Physical Therapy Department Manager Michael Schwarz said he approached Columbia County Health System CEO Shane McGuire about a year ago regarding the possibility of bringing...
DAYTON—The Columbia County Health System (CCHS) board of commissioners began their January meeting with a few changes. Wes Leid is now the President of the Commission, taking over from Bob Hutchens. Jim Kime was appointed by the board to fill the remainder of Ken Dyball’s term in District 3. Dyball has resigned from the board, but his term won’t expire until Dec. 31, 2020. This first meeting was a busy one, lasting over two hours. During the meeting the commissioners finalized their monthly cale...
DAYTON-Benjamin Orozco has been sentenced to a gross total of 447 months at a maximum-security prison for the second-degree murder of Lance Terry and the first-degree assault of David Eaton, in a shooting that took place in Columbia County, on July 7, 1996. Orozco, now 46 years old, will serve 192 months for the second-degree murder charge, and 123 months for the first-degree assault charge. Each charge carries an additional sixty-month firearm enhancement, and these sentences will run consecuti...
DAYTON-If you are looking for gently used clothing, appliances, furniture, toys and games, jewelry, books, appliances, and much more, you don't have to look much further than the St. Vincent de Paul retail store on Dayton's Main Street. Store manager Bob Patras said the store has been open for about forty years, and thrives thanks to the many volunteers, monetary donations, and the donated items, which come from communities as far away as the Tri-Cities and Walla Walla. The store also benefits...
DAYTON-The ability to deliver quality behavioral health services to southeastern Washington communities just got a boost when Blue Mountain Counseling of Columbia County, added telepsychiatry to its treatment protocol. "This started because none of our counselors are credentialed high enough to prescribe medications if warranted. Adolescents under the age of thirteen aren't being served through some of the other services provided in the community, and we felt this was a good place to start,"...
DAYTON—The Board of County Commissioners have adopted their budgets for next year, and there are some things the budget will allow and some things the budget won’t allow. One thing the county won’t be able to do next year is to finish renovating the former Convenient Care Clinic building, on N. 2nd St., which they now own, Chairman Mike Talbott said, at last week’s regular commission meeting. Talbott said the commissioners have been planning to house the Public Health Department in that buildin...
DAYTON—The Columbia County Hospital (CCHS) Board of Commissioners heard a bit of good financial news at their December meeting. The Finance Committee received an adjustment letter from their Medicare intermediary, Noridian, saying CCHS owes Medicare $833,000.00, an amount considerably less than the 1.5 million that was originally thought. Matt Minor, the CCHS Financial Manager, said a $600,000.00 payment was made to Noridian, on Dec. 13, On Dec. 19 Noridian began withholding the remainder o...
DAYTON—The Conference Room at Fire District 3 was crowded with community stakeholders for the Port’s annual Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) meeting, which took place on Dec. 18. The CEDS meetings have been ongoing since the late 1990s and are part of federal Economic Development Administration requirements when receiving planning funds and coordinating as an economic development district, according to the Port’s Executive Director Jennie Dickinson. “While we do not coordin...
DAYTON—At last week’s city council meeting the Friends of the Community Center President Vicki Zoller spoke about the importance of getting a community center/pool or pool feasibility study done. She said there is much that is beyond the scope of the community’s understanding and knowledge that a feasibility study can help with. “There’s just a lot that we need to know that will come from the professionals,” Zoller said. A feasibility study can provide information about how programs and events...
DAYTON—Chelsey Eaton, Columbia County’s Public Health Wellness Initiative/Coalition Coordinator, is leading the charge to help the members of the Coalition for Youth and Families to craft and implement a strategic plan to educate the community on prevention awareness, and raise awareness about mental health issues that contribute to substance use. How are Dayton youth doing in regard to substance use, as compared to students state-wide? In October 2018 Dayton students in Grades 6 - 11 took the Healthy Youth Survey, which they do every two yea...
DAYTON—Jim Pearson manages the afterschool program in Dayton called the Club. When Jim Pearson first started working at the Club in September 2018, the goal for the afterschool program was to provide students with high value educational activities. It soon became apparent that socio-emotional learning was going to take precedence, Pearson said. He said some of the students are dealing with trauma, on a daily basis, which interferes with school attendance and performance. Staff at the Club are f...
DAYTON-For somebody traveling through Dayton whose car has broken down and who is without funds to spend the night, there is help. For someone who needs help with rent, utilities, prescriptions, food, or needs a winter coat, there is help. When being at home is suddenly unsafe for a woman and her children, and temporary shelter is needed, there is help. Project Timothy is the local organization people in need can tap into for assistance. Past President Gary Schroeder said hardships like those...
DAYTON- Plans for the City's proposed wastewater treatment plant have evolved over the past year from a dry land application method of treating wastewater discharge, to consideration of a wastewater filtration wetlands method of treating the discharge. Jake Hollopeter, PE, with Anderson/Perry & Associates, Anton Chiono, a Water Transaction Specialist with the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, and Kristina Ribellia, the Washington Water Trust (WWT) project manager for...
Dayton's the town that still believes. Once again the reindeer were out and the bells were jingling!...
DAYTON—There are issues with wheelchair mobility for some patrons at the Dayton Memorial Library, and Librarian Dusty Waltner is aware and has been concerned about them, she said. For instance, the wheelchair ramp into the Delany Building is too steep, the restrooms are not fully ADA compliant and the stacks of books on the main floor of the library are too close together for wheelchair access. In addition, there is no wheelchair access down to the children's library, in the basement. Waltner e...
DAYTON-The Dayton Development Task Force (DDTF) is asking businesses to donate a portion of their B&O taxes to help with projects that contribute to economic development, in the core of Dayton's downtown. DDTF President Bette Lou Crothers said if a business owner made a $1,000 pledge to the DDTF, in 2020, $750 of that will pay for the B&O taxes that business owner would need to pay the following year, in 2021. The other $250 is a tax deductible donation to the Task Force. Crothers said the next...
DAYTON-"The Town That Still Believes" will celebrate the eleventh annual Christmas Kickoff, on Fri., Nov. 29 and Sat. Nov. 30. From early Friday morning, until the end of the day on Saturday the town will come alive with fun-filled activities for everyone, young and old. This year Santa and Mrs. Claus will be at the Festival of Trees at 250 E. Main St. Be sure to have your picture taken, and visit with Santa, from noon to 1:30 pm, from 1:50 p.m. until 3:15 p.m. and from 3:30 p.m. until 5:00 p.m....
DAYTON—On Monday the Board of County Commissioners passed a resolution of intent to adopt legislation authorizing a Sales and Use tax to be used for affordable and supportive housing in accordance with SHB 1406. The county’s associate planner Dena Martin told the commissioners this is not a new tax. Rather it is money the state already receives from the county, which will be reallocated to benefit supportive housing in the county. It is an additional source of funding to address housing needs, l...
DAYTON-"The importance of historic preservation cannot be overstated," said Marcene Hendrickson when she spoke at the Dayton Chamber Awards Banquet, on Nov. 7. "It is not just about a way to save old stuff," she said. "It is a way to recycle sound building material, preserve the town's character and its neighborhood and provide a link between our past, and present, for future generations, as well as to promote tourism." Hendrickson painted a sad picture of Dayton in the early 1980s. She said...
DAYTON—City of Dayton Mayor Zac Weatherford presented the 2020 Preliminary Budget at last week’s city council meeting. The proposed budget for 2020 is $7,058,033 million, which is .3 percent less than the 2019 proposed budget. He said the budget for 2020 includes a 1% increase in the regular property tax levy, in the amount of $4,201.21. Chris Mills, the County Assessor will be at the next city council meeting on Nov. 20, to address questions about the proposed one percent tax increase. A fin...
