Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
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WAITSBURG – The Waitsburg Historical Society is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the burglar(s) who made three separate break-ins to Waitsburg museum properties last week. The first break-in, to the Bruce House Memorial Museum, was discovered on Wednesday afternoon. Thursday morning, it was discovered that the adjoining Wilson-Phillips House had also been burglarized. On Friday, board members discovered the thief had made a second entry into the B...
DAYTON – Columbia County Commissioners are considering the formation of two new special taxing districts, including a Flood Control Zone District and a Parks and Recreation Service Area. Both districts, if formed, could generate thousands of dollars annually for special – in many cases critical – projects that would otherwise be challenging to fund. County Public Works Director Andrew Woods presented a draft report to the board during its Monday workshop this week; no action was taken at the m...
WAITSBURG – Waitsburg Touchet Valley Acoustic Music Program (TVAMP) Director Kate Hockersmith joined the ranks of more than 50 deserving individuals – the first being Ernest Kison in 1962 – to receive Waitsburg's Community Service Award. The award was previously known as the Citizen of the Year Award. Hockersmith, who thought she was simply directing her bluegrass band, Switchgrass, in providing the evening's entertainment, was taken by complete surprise when her name was called as the 2014...
WAITSBURG – Shoppers at Waitsburg Grocery are practically guaranteed a first-name welcome if owner Dan Cole, who has operated the community hub for nearly 30 years, is anywhere nearby. It's that kind of personal attention and genuine interest that helped earn Waitsburg Grocery the first-ever, Waitsburg Commercial Club's Business of the Year Award. Cole and his wife Trina were presented with the award at the April 7 Commercial Club award ceremony, where Master of Ceremonies Tom Baker read r...
Arvilla, known in her family as Arlie May, was born March 15, 1933, and passed away on April 13, 2015. She came to this life on the South Fork of the Coppei near Waitsburg, Washington. She was born at home and delivered by her grandmother, Cynthia Katsel. She attended the old South Coppei School and Dixie Elementary. For high school, she attended all four years at Waitsburg High and graduated in 1951. Arvilla worked all her life beginning at home, as a cook for harvest crews, then in the office...
Bert and Deb Hays of Dayton announce the engagement of their daughter Heather Carole Hays to Caleb Richard Posey. Caleb is the son of Richard and Cindy Posey of Marysville, Wash. Heather graduated from Dayton High School in 2009 and is currently attending Radiologic Technologist School in Bellingham, Wash. She will graduate in June and is currently employed as a Rad Tech with Mount Baker Imaging in Bellingham, Wash. Caleb graduated from Marysville Pilchuck High School in 2009 in Marysville,...
Ten Years Ago April 21, 2005 Academy Street is now open to only one-way traffic as part of a 90-day trial period adopted by the City of Waitsburg at the request of the Waitsburg School District. Traffic flows from west to east, Main Street to Coppei Avenue, will now be observed to see if the desired effect is achieved. The City will review the situation with school officials to decide whether to make the change permanent. Fourteen Odako ladies attended the April 10 meeting at the home of Lou Thompson. The meeting centered on discussions of the...
Waitsburg Apr. 5 Theft of fuel from West 5th Street. Apr. 8 Residential burglary, theft, criminal trespass and malicious mischief at Bruce House Memorial Museum on Main Street. Apr. 9 Residential burglary, theft, criminal trespass and malicious mischief at Wilson-Phillips House Museum on West 4th Street. Hit and run and DUI on Hulce Lane; suspect was located and arrested. Apr. 10 Residential burglary, theft, criminal trespass and malicious mischief at Bruce House Memorial Museum on Main Street. Dayton Apr. 5 Vandalism reported on E. Richmond...
April 17: Tom Baker and grandson Daniel Baker, Melissa Huwe, Martin Huffman, Joseph Wood, and Drew Herion. April 18: Doris Saunders, Wayne Boyles, Margaret Baird, Tylor Abel, Dick Peterson, Jeff Presler, Emily Jansen, Russ Knopp and Josh Hunter. April 19: Stephanie Hinchliffe, Ross Hamann, Bruce Abbey, Frank Brown, Jon Cano and Sabrina and Chandler Savage. April 20: Chris Shaffer, Verla Bushnell, Doris Huffman, Scott Unholz, Mark Leroue, Elisha James, and Elizabeth Henderson, Kyle Martin. April 21: Tracy Keve, Brooklyn Butler, Rebecca Dunn,...
April 17: Tom Baker and grandson Daniel Baker, Melissa Huwe, Martin Huffman, Joseph Wood, and Drew Herion. April 18: Doris Saunders, Wayne Boyles, Margaret Baird, Tylor Abel, Dick Peterson, Jeff Presler, Emily Jansen, Russ Knopp and Josh Hunter. April 19: Stephanie Hinchliffe, Ross Hamann, Bruce Abbey, Frank Brown, Jon Cano and Sabrina and Chandler Savage. April 20: Chris Shaffer, Verla Bushnell, Doris Huffman, Scott Unholz, Mark Leroue, Elisha James, and Elizabeth Henderson, Kyle Martin. April 21: Tracy Keve, Brooklyn Butler, Rebecca Dunn,...
As I write this early on Tuesday morning, it’s snowing at my house. But I’m not discouraged. Yesterday was in the 60s and more warm weather is on the way. Baseball is up and running, and the Mariners are 3-4 after losing to the Dodgers last night. (Interleague games already? I miss the old days.) On Friday, cyclists from around the northwest will converge on Waitsburg for the annual Tour of Walla Walla bike race. (See the article on Page 9.) The race schedule is a little different this yea...
It’s eight o’clock in the morning. The commons area is all but empty, but no wonder – it’s the first day of school after spring break, and nobody is exactly rushing back. The floors are clean, almost impossibly so. They will be their usual rubber-scuffed and mud-splattered selves in 20 minutes, but for now they shine in the April sun. There is a pile of cloth crumpled on a table near the far end of the room. Somebody notices – a staffer, perhaps, or a student struck by its incongruity with its...
Organic farming may be as important to the farmers who practice it as to those who purchase and eat the food they grow. This year, researchers with the National Institute of Health completed a landmark, 20-year study of the connection between pesticides and depression in farmers. According to Dr. Freya Kamel, the study’s lead researcher, scattered reports in the literature about the association between pesticide use and depression led to the desire for further research. With much more detailed information available, researchers were able to d...
Dear Editor, Thank you for the great coverage of the historic displays being prepared for the Waitsburg sesquicentennial. I would like to acknowledge the contributions of Clyde Burdine to this effort. His company did the initial clean-up of the site, compensated by the scrap metal he picked up. I monitored this activity, and indicated any items of historic value, which he set aside and donated to the Historical Society. Since then, he has moved many of the items several times including taking the large turbine to McGregor’s. It is gratifying t...
DAYTON – Dayton High School has been honored this month with a 2014 Washington Achievement Award for High Progress, according to a notification from the Washington Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. “We have much to celebrate here at Dayton High School,” stated interim Dayton High School Principal Kate Wenzl. “Parents, students, community members, Dayton School District and DHS staff work hard in concert with one another to put student learning first! We take this award with tremendous pride and honor in our school and our com...
WAITSBURG – The Waitsburg Lions Club is taking a step of faith in offering a $1,000 Waitsburg Lions Club Scholarship, to be awarded to a WHS graduate, for the first time in 2015. The club hopes to be able to offer similar awards in future years. Scholarship fund chairman Todd Wood said the Lions has considered funding scholarships many times over the life of the club and has strongly considered it for the last several years. “The club has not always had the financial wherewithal to fund sch...
WAITSBURG –Waitsburg High School and Preston Hall Middle School have once again been ranked among the best schools in Washington State according the 2014 Washington Achievement Awards that were released Monday, April 13. Washington Achievement Award recipients are the highest performing schools in the state based on three years of academic information as reported in the Washington Achievement Index, according to the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. WHS received the Overall Excellence Award, which is reserved for the top five p...
WAITSBURG – Waitsburg community members are invited to attend this year’s Nutrients for Life event to take place Monday, April 20 at the Agriculture Science classroom at Waitsburg High School. This year’s topic is responsible stewardship and fertilizer application. Last year, the Waitsburg FFA Chapter received a $5,000 check for having the number one Nutrients for Life Helping Communities Grow project in the state of Washington. In September, representatives Kimmie Hamann, Mikala DeRuwe and WHS FFA Advisor Nicole Abel traveled to San Franc...
WALLA WALLA – Eight deer were shot and left lying in a field in what the Washington Department of Wildlife (WDFW) is calling a “spree killing.” The killings were believed to have occurred late Friday, April 10, near the top of Spring Creek Road in the foothills of southeast Walla Walla County. According to an WDFW statement, the deer were found shot and left to waste. “Poachers have different motivations for what they do. The worst of these individuals poach just for the thrill of seeing how many animals they can kill in a give time frame a...
PRESCOTT – The Prescott Lions Club will host their monthly fundraising breakfast this Saturday and Sunday, April 18 and19 from 8-11 a.m. each day. The breakfast will take place at the Prescott Lions Hall located at Highway 124 and D Street in Prescott. For $7, diners can enjoy bacon, eggs, sausage, pancakes, hash browns, gravy, juice and coffee or tea. Proceeds support the many Lions’ community service projects and help maintain their building. For more information call (509) 849-2425....
Pacific Power Regional Community Manager Bill Clemens (l) presented a $1,500 check to Waitsburg Mayor Walt Gobel . . ....
DAYTON – For several years, Greg Bingaman, a La Grande, Ore. farmer and owner of Pioneer West Agricultural Solutions, has hunted for a place to set up shop in Dayton. His company already sells a large number of self-propelled sprayers to farmers in the Touchet Valley, and a local shop would serve not only those customers but new ones as well. "So I thought it was time," he said in an interview with The Times on Tuesday. "And we found the old fire department building for sale, so we bought it a...
DAYTON – Columbia County Commissioners along with County Risk Manager Andrew Woods and Prosecutor Rea Culwell have been working for months on a policy for screening volunteers who assist with county functions and events, such as the annual county fair. Currently such volunteers – who might help out in any department from public works (fairgrounds or golf course, for example) to public health and emergency management – are not screened through a background investigation. All county emplo...
STARBUCK – Lyons Ferry State Park, on the Franklin County side of the Snake River off Highway 261, will open this season with a grand re-opening celebration on June 5, according to a Washington State Parks representative. The state announced earlier this year that management of the park has been returned to the state park system after budget cuts demanded the state pull out of Lyons Ferry in 2002. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers owns the park; the Corps operated the day-use area seasonally, w...
BENTON CITY – After sitting out the first four meets of the season due to eligibility issues, WP's Kobie Brown showed up at the SCAC meet here on a mission. Competing against athletes from three 1A schools – Kiona-Benton, Columbia-Burbank and River View – Brown won the high jump, long jump and 300 meter hurdles. He also finished 4th in the 100 meters. Teammate Owen Lanning finished second to Brown in both the 300 hurdles and the long jump. Lanning won the 110 meter hurdles and the Triple Jump....
