Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Sorted by date Results 126 - 150 of 219
DAYTON - Contract negotiations will likely come to a close at the end of the month for the new CEO of the Columbia County Health System. CEO candidate Dale Polla, of Missoula, Mont., said he has been in the Dayton area looking for a house to buy after sending a counter offer back to the hospital board negotiation committee last week. The board will likely ac- cept the offer and proceed with the hiring process at the next board meeting on Thursday, Sept. 27, Hospital Board Chairman Ted Pater- son said. The CEO position has been vacant since...
WAITSBURG - In a rural community, it's easy to feel like helping and making changes for the better are impossible as a single person. The Community Council understands that feeling, which is why they put together a non- profit organization to help people connect to their community. The five-year old organization prides itself on bringing individu- als together to help strengthen communities by focusing on different topics to discuss for lengths of time in order to come up with a way to improve on each issue and you can help them out this...
Seniors Collect School Supplies Members Of The Senior Center Gather Supplies For Back To School DAYTON - Fall is an exciting time of year for students and their families; new classrooms, teachers and curriculum and a long list of new school supplies. But for some families, get- ting students back to school is a challenge. The long lists of school supplies needed are never inexpensive and purchasing all of the items is especially difficult for fami- lies with multiple children returning to...
DAYTON - The Dayton City Council decided the city skate park will remain closed. The council agreed last Monday to keep the park pad- locked until the next council meeting on Monday, Sept. 24, when discussion on the park is expected to continue. The council is asking to hear from more of those in the community who actually use the park before making a final decision on whether to close it permanently. Several concerned citizens spoke out against the students and young adults who have been using the park inappropriately and breaking park rules...
DAYTON - The Columbia County Health System Board of Commissioners moved to begin contract negotiations with CEO candidate Dale Polla of Missoula, Mont., af- ter a months-long search and a week of events planned to introduce Polla to the community. The board broke for execu- tive session during a meeting on Thursday, Aug. 23, to discuss Polla's candidacy and options for moving forward, Board President Ted Paterson said. The session began at 7:10 p.m. and the meeting reopened to the public at 8:05...
DAYTON - Practices are underway and after a weekend romp at Camp Wooten, the Dayton soccer team is preparing for the coming season with a winning attitude and a talented team. The team has already kicked the season off with a clinic, practices and a trip to Camp Wooten, where the team worked together and, most importantly, started to bond and mesh as a team, head coach DJ Frame said. There are 25 students signed up for the team this year, nine girls and 16 boys, 19 of which are returning fr...
DAYTON - The Blue Moun- tain Heritage Society joined forces with Walla Walla Macy's for the second time on Saturday, Aug. 25, as part of Macy's annual "Shop for a Cause" event. The heritage society sold 26 tickets for the event, Mountain Heritage Society member Elizabeth Thorn said. Tickets sold for the heritage society benefit the Smith Hollow School restoration project. Last year was the heritage so- ciety's first time participating in the event, which Macy's has been hosting since 2006, Thorn said. "It was a bit down from last year's number...
DAYTON - City plan- ning in Dayton is no longer being handled by Columbia County and now the posi- tion is open to qualified applicants. The city of Dayton listed the job posting last week, moving forward with the city-employed position. Short term regular city planning had previously been provided by Columbia County for $8,000 a year. The planning job is now in the city's hands because the contract for planning services between the city and the county expired and the renewal was declined by the city council. The proposed contract denied on...
DAYTON - Scott Watkins, a 33-year-old Dayton resident, was arrested by the Benton County Sheriff's Office on a warrant Tuesday, Aug 28, and faces 12 charges for burglary and theft of firearms, knives and video equipment, according to the Columbia County Prosecutor's Office. Watkins appeared before Judge William Acey on Thurs- day, Aug. 23 in Columbia Coun- ty, represented by Andrea Bur- khart of Burkhart and Burkhart firm. His appeal court date was set for 2 p.m. on Thursday, Sept 6. Watkins...
A Refuge In Dayton YWCA Advocate Passmore Provides A Safe Place In Dayton During Hard Situations DAYTON - Violence at home can be a devastating and terrifying experience, which is why YWCA Ad- vocate Ann Passmore sits in her discrete office at Dayton General Hospital reminding those in tough situations that they have options. Passmore serves all of Columbia County as an advocate from the YWCA for men and women who are in danger from domestic violence or sexual assault. The Dayton extension of...
DAYTON - The Colum- bia County Coalition for Youth and Families is one of 60 organizations nation- wide to receive a Drug Free Communities grant from the Office of National Drug Control Policy. The grant money will bring $ 125,000 a year for five years, a total of $625,000, into the Dayton community to help reduce the use of drugs and alcohol by minors. The coalition applied for this grant last year as well, but missed being chosen by one point on the scale. Grant applications are scored by peers and the 60 top-scoring grants receive funding...
DAYTON - In the heat of the summer sun, it's easy in the Touchet Valley to take water for granted. But Reverend Marj John- ston of Dayton's First Con- gregational Church knows that isn't the case in some other countries. So she focused the fundraising for this summer's Vacation Bible School, hosted by the First Congregational Church and the United Methodist Church in Dayton, on bringing water to orphans at the Quest for Happiness Orphanage in Nairobi, Kenya. The participants went above and...
DAYTON - Despite what may seem like a surge in the vehicle prowls in Dayton, the Columbia County Sheriff's Office reports the incidences of car break-ins are down from last year. Sheriff Walt Hessler said the numbers are decreasing because of the office's dili- gence on the streets. In the same time period in 2011, January to August, the sheriff's office received 30 reports of vehicle prowls out of the total 46 for the year, according to according to a release prepared by Dian McClurg of the sheriff's of- fice. The January to August total for...
WALLA WALLA - The vehicles driven every day by the Walla Walla County Sheriff's deputies have been discontinued because they are no longer safe. The phasing out of the Ford Crown Victoria, used by the deputies, was prompted by the new 2012 highway safety standards, which that vehicle model cannot meet without a serious redesign, officials say. Members of the sheriff's office presented options to replace the long-time standard at a special meeting with the Walla Walla County Commissioners on Tuesday, Aug 14. The Ford Crown Victoria has be...
Ways To Be Merry In The Touchet Valley This Month: *Children are the stars in the Missoula Children's Theater production of Cin- derella. The week-long pro- gram will prepare a group of up to 55 students for two per- formances of the full-length musical performance at 7 p.m. on Friday, Aug 17, and Saturday, Aug 18 at the Lib- erty Theater. The Missoula Children's Theater travelling troupe has been stopping in Dayton to help put on a show since 2001 *Mace Mead Works is celebrating its first...
DAYTON – Angie Dedloff has been crafting for as long as she can remember. An avid 4-H member since she was in fourth grade, 14-year-old Dedloff makes crafts and enters them into the Columbia County Fair every year. “I’ve always been doing crafts,” Dedloff said. Dedloff said the fair is a great experience because she has the opportunity to see what everyone else crafted and get ideas for new crafts. She said she enjoys mak- ing recycled crafts in 4-H and at home. Newspapers, magazines and eve...
DAYTON - Mace Mead Works is preparing for its one year anniversary on Saturday, Aug 18, with a ceremony fit for a wine lover of religious proportions and tentative plans to move to the Blue Mountain Station. Owner and Operator Reg- gie Mace started making wine at Dunham Cellars in 2008 where he learned to hone his wine-making craft and these skills carried over into his mead-making. Mace said he started looking for a building for his own wine bar in early 2010 and after eight months the space...
DAYTON - Monday night the Dayton City Council field- ed complaints from concerned citizens and voted to uphold the revocation of the solicitor's license for Stryke Alarm Inc. The alarm company's so- licitor's license was revoked for the Dayton area last week because of the complaints and calls city hall received. Citizen complaints includ- ed Stryke Alarm employees giving false or misleading statements or withholding information about the com- pany. Residents also reported the employees giving...
WAITSBURG - Raising swine for the fair can be a good investment financially and for the experience. But for Waitsburg FFA member Luke Alexenko, raising pigs is more than just money -- it's fun. It's a big investment in the beginning, $120 to purchase the three-month-old pig, $5 for a rented sty and $300 for high protein feed - per pig. And to get any kind of substantial return, the pigs have to be sold at the fair, which means they have to meet several requirements. The most notable of these is...
DAYTON - The Dayton Booster Club is gearing up for back to school with a banquet and a push to encourage lo- cal residents to become new members. The club's back-to-school spaghetti dinner and silent auction will be from 5 to 7 p.m. on Saturday, Aug 18, in the multi- purpose room. The event will feature themed baskets and an assortment of items for auction, Booster Club Secretary Melanie Mings said. The themed baskets include a car cleaning kit basket, a cooking-themed basket and a fishing themed basket among others. As far as the items, Mings...
WAITSBURG - A nar- row race in the Primary Election on Tuesday kept three Columbia County commissioner District 2 candidates on their toes with a margin of just 64 votes between the leading and eliminated candidates. With 171 votes Tuesday night, Mike Talbott led the commissioner candidates for that seat, advancing to the General Election on Nov. 6 with 40.62 percent. A total of 1,132 votes were cast in Columbia County with 421 votes for the commissioner candidates. "It looks like it's going to...
DAYTON - Best friends Molly Weppler and Abby Chapman met in band class in elementary school and since then they have been inseparable in every aspect of life, including their venture into the Walla Walla music scene. They aren't sisters, but the 18-year old Dayton High School Alumnae still follow the sister-band model, sisters singing and playing instruments to- gether, and have recently been met with success. The women said they are influenced largely by bands in Walla Walla as well as wider...
DAYTON - Art is love to mother-daughter watercolorists and Dayton natives Iola Bramhall and Jill Ingram. Bramhall, 92, was born in Dayton and started drawing when she was six years old. In the seventh grade she learned how to paint. She painted with oil paints and pastels for most of her life and her passion for art encouraged her daughter, Ingram, to fall in love with art as well. "I remember the first time I got into (painting with) orange and yellow," Ingram said. "I was making autumn c...
DAYTON - Community members came out Saturday night to open their checkbooks to support the Dayton Historical Depot Society, bringing in thousands of dollars and bidding as much as $1,000 on auction items. "It went really well," said Jennie Dickinson, the Evening at the Depot committee member. "We had a great turnout." Dickinson estimated profits from the evening between about $12,000 and $15,000. She has been working with the event for five years. Dickinson said the auction was plan...
DAYTON - The facilities of the Dayton School District received a series of updates, including a new track surface, flag and a new roof for the lawnmower shed. Superintendent Doug Johnson ran down the list of completed projects at the school board meeting on Wednesday, July 25, as the board and administrators said they look forward to further improvements. The largest project was the recent completion of the track resurfacing. It took about a week and came in at about $43,000 and was funded by a capitol project levy passed in 2010. "The t...
