Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
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The Green Giant outside of Dayton, Washington gets a needed refresh with paint and weed maintenance....
OLYMPIA — With seven days to go until the Nov. 3 General Election, the Office of the Secretary of State is reminding voters to return their ballots as soon as possible. Voters are encouraged to return their ballots by placing them in any of the nearly 500 ballot drop boxes statewide. Drop-box locations can be found by logging in to VoteWA.gov, as well as on the Secretary of State’s Office website. Ballots may also be returned by U.S. mail—no postage required—but must be postmarked by Nov. 3...
DAYTON—Only the top seven applicants out of a field of thirty have been chosen to receive funding from the Washington State Public Works Board for their broadband projects. The Port of Columbia was not among them, having ranked in the middle of the field at number twelve by the board last Friday. “What this shows is there is a huge need for better broadband service and not enough funding to go around,” The Port’s Executive Director Jennie Dickinson said Dickinson said the Port’s applicati...
WALLA WALLA—Walla Walla County Department of Community Health (DCH) is reporting 187 new COVID-19 cases in the past two weeks (10/13/2020 to 10/26/20). This has put the county at the highest number of active cases since the onset of the pandemic with 175 active cases. “We are seeing an uptick of cases in Walla Walla County. Gaining control of this increase will depend on the actions of our community. We need everyone’s diligence in supporting social distancing and wearing of masks. Also, cooperation in contact tracing, isolation and quara...
WAITSBURG—It has been more than 200 days since Pastor Matthew Wyatt gave a sermon to a church full of friendly faces. The church will be opening its doors for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic on November 1. “We have committed to being in complete compliance with the regulations our county is in, and with that church will look a little different,” Wyatt said. “We are limited to the number of people that can be in our building. We will have a sign-up on our website and our Facebook page so that families can reserve their s...
DAYTON—The Columbia County Rural Library District Board of Trustees will hold a special meeting for the purpose of approving COVID-19 Reopening Policies. The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 29. This will be a virtual meeting and can be accessed on Zoom at, https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85238363787 The Meeting ID is 852 3836 3787 For audio-only dial-in, use the phone number, (253) 215-8782. Meeting ID: 852 3836 3787...
DAYTON-For the third consecutive year, Blue Mountain Realty has contributed $2,500 to The Club for operating expenses. The presentation was made to The Club Board members Anne Strode and Samantha Edwards. "We are proud to support the ongoing after school programs The Club is offering for members in kindergarten through the fifth grade, and the additional programming for older members," said owner Blaine Bickelhaupt....
As many people know, Mike Ferrians recently resigned as manager of the theater. The Touchet Valley Arts Council (TVAC) thanks him for all he has done for the theater and hopes he will participate in future live productions. The TVAC and staff have been working for several months in efforts to reopen the Liberty Theater. Many changes have been implemented at the theater to meet state-mandated guidance to keep guests, staff, and volunteers as safe as possible and allow us to legally reopen and remain open as a business. Unfortunately, the process...
PENDLETON, Ore.—Forest officials on the Pomeroy Ranger District reopened motorized access on Forest Service Roads (FSR) 47, 4712, and a portion of FSR 4713 on Saturday, Oct. 24. Due to significant flood damage from February 2020, long-term temporary closures along the Tucannon River were put in place until critical repairs could be completed. This year, work has been ongoing to repair the Little Tucannon bridge, FSR 47, 4620, 4712, and 4713. Culvert replacement work on FSR 4713 continues south of the Panjab Campground. The public will not be a...
WAITSBURG—The Waitsburg City Council met Wednesday, October 21, for a regularly scheduled meeting. Due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, the council is meeting via phone conference. Call-in information is available on the City’s website, www.cityofwaitsburg.com. City Administrator Randy Hinchliffe reviewed the second payment application for the Taggart Road Waterline/Extension project. The second payment included paving services on the new Hazelbaker Road and water line repair/replacement. Con...
PRESCOTT—The Prescott School Board met Thursday, October 22, via Zoom call for their regularly scheduled meeting. Prescott School Board members are Chairman Preston Brock, Vice-Chair Kevin Chabre, Director Eva Madrigal, Director Erik Young, and Director Jacob Stueckle. John Graham, Apollo Solutions Group representative, was accompanied by Mike Fuentes, Division Manager and mechanical engineer, to help answer technical questions for a solar array project that the school district has been e...
I’ve known Mark Klicker for many years and his trustworthiness and integrity is unmatched. I’ve had business dealings with Mark and his word can be trusted. Our district needs Mark to represent our farms and businesses to help solve the tax, regulations, and spending problem in Olympia. Our businesses are crippled with regulations and taxes. Education, Farming, Healthcare, Businesses, etc will be well represented with Mark’s expertise and experience as our new state representative. Urging my family, friends, and the public to vote for Mark...
DAYTON—October 30th is the deadline for applications to the Port of Columbia COVID-19 Small Business Relief Fund. This is the third and likely the last round of grant funding available to businesses this year. Over $94,000 is still available to assist businesses with ten employees or less that were harmed financially by the COVID-19 pandemic. Through their Economic Development contract with the State of Washington Department of Commerce, an Interlocal Agreement with the City of Dayton, and a grant from the Innovia Foundation, the Port of C...
OLYMPIA—The Department of Health is collaborating with Safeway Inc. and Albertsons Companies LLC to offer no-cost influenza (flu) vaccination for uninsured adults over the age of 18 to help prevent flu illness during the COVID-19 pandemic. Health officials are concerned that the presence of both viruses could put more people in the hospital and strain Washington’s health care system. Twenty-three Albertsons and Safeway pharmacies across the state will offer the flu vaccine free of charge through June 2021 to uninsured adults. The pha...
DAYTON—Dayton School District Superintendent Guy Strot talked about the effect the COVID-19 challenge was having on staff and students when he addressed the school board at last week’s meeting. He said he is very proud of the staff and students in the elementary school and in the middle and high schools for following the rules and following the District’s Reopening Plan. The teachers are doing an amazing job of “soldiering on” during this stressful time. There is a good working partnersh...
WAITSBURG—Honeycrisp, Fuji, and Gala are all names we recognize. How about Fall Jeneting, McAfee, and Nero? Thanks to the work of Dave Benscoter and the Lost Apple Project, you may become familiar with a couple of recently-rediscovered lost apple varieties. The Lost Apple Project came to be after Dave Benscoter was asked to help pick apples for a friend outside of Spokane. Benscoter grew up around apple trees and quickly determined that none of the fruit was usable, but he couldn’t quite kic...
WAITSBURG-The Waitsburg Celebration Days (WCD) board of directors met Monday, October 26 at 7 p.m via Zoom call. The board met to elect a new president, vice president, and an advertising director. Directors had to postpone the election until the November meeting, as they had not yet had any volunteers step up with interest. Waitsburg Celebration Days is a volunteer-led non-profit, formed in 2013 to continue community celebrations originally hosted for over 100 years by Days of Real Sport. WCD...
Most recreation opportunities offered by WDFW have reopened, and license sales have rebounded and even exceeded the previous year sales to date. (WDFW offices, hatcheries, and some campgrounds remain closed, though staff is to assist the public by telephone.) Still, COVID-19 re-emergence remains a serious threat. The department asks you to continue physical distancing, stay close to home until communities enter Phase 3, wash hands frequently, bring along a face covering, and only head out when you are well. The WDFW would like to thank our part...
Well, that escalated quickly. Our weather has gone from a pleasant and mild fall to a midwinter's frozen tundra practically overnight. It took the better part of a day to get above freezing. And so it goes, another turning of the wheel-toes in socks, socks in boots. The parkas are out, and before you know it, we'll be back inside, once again relegated to the confines of the indoors, daydreaming about spring. All-season gardeners know better. Winter gardening using container pots keeps the...
Seattle hosts the San Francisco 49ers this week. This is the first game against San Francisco this year, and they won’t play again until the last week in the regular season. If Seattle doesn’t want that to be a meaningful game, they need to win this one. Last week Seattle lost its first game of the year to Arizona in overtime. It was a game they let slip away. This week they play a 49ers team that is 4-3 on the season and continues to have injuries pile up on their roster. Running back Jeff Wil...
In September, wildfires that tortured the Pacific Northwest did a number on the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife's (WDFW) Swanson Lakes Wildlife Area (Swanson Lakes), located about 10 miles south of the town of Creston. Swanson Lakes is a 21,000-acre tract of native grasslands nestled among the channeled scablands of the Columbia Plateau. Shrub-steppe and riparian/wetlands comprise the dominant habitats, and much of the area is rangeland, with some old Conservation Reserve Program...
This week was somewhat sad reading about the spread of COVID-19. It will make the holidays a very different experience this year, and not in a good way. But then I remembered a plaque a former boss had in his office. It read: “Not all the bad things happen.” In the past, when something annoying, problematic, or unexpected happened to me or someone close to me, my usual knee jerk reaction was to panic. Maybe it is maturity or maybe just exhaustion, but now I’m not going crazy about the little thi...
My recent visit with Starbuck's new Mayor, Zonia Dedloff, was a revelation for me. First thing I learned: she has lived there for 50 years. She and her late husband, Jerry, parked a trailer here in the late 1960s, along with many others, to work on building the Little Goose Dam. Jerry, a diamond driller, was one of many who traveled the U.S., following jobs like this. "It really was one long vacation," she said of those years. The dam work temporarily swelled the little hamlet's population....
As every dog owner knows, we can learn as much or more from our fur brothers and sisters as they learn from us. It’s often noted how some of us actually come to physically resemble our dogs. But there are other ways in which dog and owner can mirror each other. As Cookie reached a birthday milestone this summer – turning 10 in human years, which brought her right up against retirement age in dog years – it became clear to us that she is entering the same stage of life that we are in. She’s...
Calling all goblins, ghouls, and ghosts! Halloween is still happening in the Touchet Valley, with some minor adjustments. Social distancing will be enforced at all events listed below for the safety of all the spooky participants. Per state guidelines, face masks will be required in addition to a costume mask. Halloween costume masks are not accepted forms of face coverings. Downtown Waitsburg plans on getting spooky on Saturday, starting at 4 p.m. with David Long, Walla Walla DJ, providing music at the Fire Station on Main. Does anyone know th...
