Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
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DAYTON—With less than two weeks before the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year, Jan and Sterling Leonard are concerned about sending their two children, Leann, and Christian, back into the classroom, considering the COVID-19 outbreak. “I constantly question if we are making the right choice to have them return to school,” Leonard said. “It’s my biggest hope that all school personnel will do whatever they can to take social distancing and mask-wearing seriously, to keep everyone safe.” Pa...
WAITSBURG—The Waitsburg School board called an emergency meeting on Friday, August 7, to discuss the Fall 2020 reopening plan. The board voted to adopt an online reopening plan for the beginning of the 2020-21 school year. The recommendation for an online-only opening was made following the announcement of online plans from other schools in the county and a sharp increase in coronavirus cases in Walla Walla County. As of Monday, August 10, there was only one confirmed case of the virus in W...
DAYTON—Shawn Brown has been elected by the Port of Columbia commissioners to fill the open seat on the commission, which was vacated in June when Dan Aschenbrenner moved out of District No. 1. Brown said, “I am very interested in two things: First, giving back to this community that I have grown to love. Second, participating in the vital role of the Port around economic development.” Brown has spent the last seventeen years in the field of Real Estate as a residential lender. He said his exper...
DAYTON—Columbia Pulp is pleased to announce that Brian St. Clair has been named the Director of Finance for Columbia Pulp. St. Clair will now lead the accounting team at North America’s first tree-free pulp mill. St. Clair spent the past two years working as a controller at Columbia Pulp, and brings more than 38 years of experience in financial management and accounting to the company, with nearly 30 of those years dedicated to the agriculture industry. St. Clair has served as an accounting manager, plant manager, controller, and chief fin...
DAYTON—53.54-percent of all registered voters in Columbia County turned out for the August 4 primary election. 1,451 ballots have been counted, with 173 left to count. Preliminary results show Marty Hall leading the incumbent Mike Talbott in the two-way race for county commissioner in District 2. Hall received 337 votes, and Talbott received 123 votes. There were 24 write-in votes for county commissioner in District 1. The sole candidate, Ryan Rundell, will advance to the November General Election. Rundell was appointed to the board to fill t...
DAYTON—The Dayton Kiwanis Club will meet online Thursday, August 13 at noon. The club will host Dayton School District Superintendent Guy Strot to discuss the status of this year’s school opening. The public is invited and can sign into the meeting at the following address: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5598153650 The Meeting ID is 559 815 3650. No password is required to login....
WAITSBURG—The public is invited to a Virtual Community Roundtable in Waitsburg. The event hosted by Community Council will be held at 6 p.m. on Thursday, August 13 at 6 p.m. Community Council fosters a trusted gathering place where people engage in dialogue, inquiry, and advocacy to build a vibrant region for everyone....
WALLA WALLA—Isaacs Avenue: The final paving of Isaacs between Roosevelt Street and Wilbur Avenue is underway. Traffic is limited to one lane eastbound during this work. Sidestreet connections (Wellington, Ash, Cascade, and Cedar) will be paved after Isaacs is finished. Following the completion of the paving, traffic will resume with one lane in each direction up to the Wilbur intersection. The roadway will fully reopen to traffic by August 17. The Spokane Street Bridge project downtown is expected to be substantially completed by the end of t...
OLYMPIA-As summer heats up, the Washington State Parks Boating Program urges boaters and paddlers to adhere to safe practices on the water, including wearing a life jacket at all times. In the last 30 days, 25 recreational boating accidents and five fatalities have occurred across the state. "We are asking all boat and paddle-craft owners and operators to help reduce fatalities and injuries on the water," said Rob Sendak. "Boaters need to take personal responsibility for their safety as well as...
WAITSBURG—The long list of renovations for the Waitsburg Town Hall is quickly getting shorter. Board members have been busy painting, installing new fans, and completely remodeling the commercial kitchen. Right now, the kitchen at the Main Street building is nothing more than an empty shell with a couple of exposed water pipes. Even most of the sheetrock has been torn down, but it’s all with the promise of a more accessible, user-friendly space. The remodel starts at the kitchen’s door, with...
I am writing this letter in support of Brandon Johnson for Walla Walla County Superior Court judge. I have known Brandon and his wife Sarah for over 20 years. I am a civil trial attorney from Kennewick and have tried numerous cases in Walla Walla County. Brandon is a perfect fit for a Superior Court judge and would do an excellent job. He is very intelligent and has had a wide variety of experiences in the practice of law over the years. He has practiced in many different areas of the law, which is very important for a Superior Court judge. He...
July 28 Vehicle damaged after verbal argument. Burbank July 31 Victim called to report his daughter’s motorcycle taken sometime during the night. Prescott August 2 Child accidentally locked in a running vehicle without AC. Walla Walla County August 4 Reports of malicious mischief, firework found in mailbox. Walla Walla County August 5 Verbal argument between male and female going through separation/divorce. Walla Walla County August 6 Warrant arrest during traffic stop. Waitsburg August 7 Malicious mischief to a small garden fence. Walla W...
Testing sites for COVID-19 are available in Walla Walla and Columbia Counties. As COVID-19 cases continue to rise, be aware of symptoms, and know where to test if necessary. Providence St. Mary’s Medical Center- W Poplar St, Walla Walla 24 Hour ER Access • Appointment required • Referral not required • Testing for all patients Remain in your vehicle and call the hospital for further instruction (509) 897-3320 Providence Urgent Care- 1025 S 2nd Ave, Walla Walla • Appointment not required • Referral not required • Testing for certain patie...
Janice Lloyd Eastman of Spokane Valley passed away Aug. 6, 2020 at Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane following a brief illness. She was born Nov. 15, 1944, in Walla Walla, WA to John and Dorothy Baxter Lloyd. She spent her early years in Waitsburg, WA before the family moved to Superior, MT where she graduated from high school in 1963. She attended Kinman Business University in Spokane, and upon graduation went to work for The Spokesman-Review where she spent her entire professional career, 43 ½ years. She married Don Eastman in 1968 and they... Full story
WAITSBURG-Many parents within the Waitsburg School District questioned a levy line item, STEM/Fine Arts, following the resignation of the STEM teacher Pam Beasley. At the beginning of the 2019-20 school year, music teacher Shelby Pomerinke resigned. It was decided to postpone hiring a music teacher until the next school year, and the board opted to offer a one-year, K-5 STEM program, taught by Beasley. A former kindergarten teacher, Beasley has always been an advocate for the Science,...
A typical 'traffic jam" in downtown Waitsburg, during Harvest. Alway a show and always fun to see as larger and larger equipment navigates the tricky turns through town....
Herd immunity sometimes referred to as HIT for Herd Immunity Threshold, is the point at which a virus has more difficulty spreading because a significant amount of people have become immune. It is essential to know that once herd immunity is achieved, it does not mean a virus is gone, or everyone is immune at that point. A simple way to think of it may be to think of a wildfire. When firefighters have stopped the fire from spreading, it is similar to having reached herd immunity in a pandemic....
DAYTON-Regina Weldert, of Dayton, has been many things in her life, including a goat farmer, sheepherder, and factory worker. She went back to school later in life and became a fish biologist. I've known her as a coffee roaster and coffee shop owner. To her fans, she is the finest roaster in Southeast Washington. For four years, she has owned and operated her coffee shop, Rey's Roast, on Main Street in Dayton. The COVID-19 pandemic has now altered her course, but it hasn't stopped her from...
Not all shortcuts are created equal. One should probably be wary of, for instance, construction shortcuts. I’m no expert, but my guess is creating long-lasting, safe buildings is not the ideal time to start cutting corners. Technology shortcuts, however, can be lifesavers. One of the more generalized tech shortcuts might even fall under the term “life hacks” and applies to any device. For example, it’s a good idea to avoid saving files directly to a device’s hard drive. That way, you never rea...
According to ESPN reporting, college football season will either be pushed back to start on September 26th or postponed until spring. What is certainly clear right now is that there is not a detailed league-wide plan to deal with the pandemic. Each college is making its own decision on whether or not to play. The NBA has succeeded so far with the “bubble” experiment in Orlando. MLB baseball, despite the cancellation of several games in the first week, has managed to keep their season going wit...
It’s almost scary to write about our kitchen remodel because it is moving along at breakneck speed and with fewer snags than anticipated. I don’t want to jinx the amazing progress we’ve made and still need to make. To date, we have a level floor, and we have light. Daniel has been busy; he demolished the kitchen. He worked with our contractor, Gary, to level the floor, lay down the new floor, complete drywall repair, add sockets, fix broken sockets, change the refrigerator socket to the new sub-...
This was the fifth of the Botany in the Blues series of workshops since the first outing in 2018. Mr. Doyle also led a botanical excursion to Zumwalt Prairie in 2019 for the Blue Mountain Land Trust. Both of this year's workshops included an online instructional session several days before each of the field trips. Additional sessions of the popular Botany in the Blues workshops are anticipated in 2021....
DAYTON-Dayton Lions Club members Glen Mendel, Jim Neace, Terry Hoon, Dave Elkins and John Bailey took a break from scraping and painting some of the bleachers and dugouts at the high school athletic field. This week they are painting the dugouts near the Booker Rest Home Annex with help from the Dayton School District who provided the paint, rollers and brushes....
DAYTON-In a diary entry dated March 5, 1933, Marie Boldman mentions making the "Flower Garden Quilt," similar to the raffle quilt, which was on display at last Saturday's quilt show at the Boldman House Museum. Sylvia Beuhler said Marie Boldman saved quilt patterns from newspapers during the 1920s and 1930s. Ruby Short McKim published the "Flower Garden Quilt" pattern, sometime in 1929 or 1930. The Spokesman-Review published in their newspaper between 1930 and 1933 and Boldman saved it. "She...
