Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Sorted by date Results 76 - 100 of 203
DAYTON—At the last CCHS regular board meeting in November, Stephanie Carpenter, RN, COO, spoke about a meeting she attended sponsored by the Aging and Long Term Care and the Alzheimer’s Association at the SonBridge Community Center in College Place. The purpose of the meeting was to learn about a statewide movement that empowers people with memory loss, and their families, and that helps them stay connected in the community. Carpenter said the goal is to plan for a dementia-friendly community in Columbia County. She said that businesses can...
DAYTON-Patricia Sacha is a natural in her new role as the Blue Mountain Station's Market manager. Sacha farmed the garden at the Blue Mountain Station in 2015. Since 2016 she and her husband, David, have been operating Hidden Gardens Farm, supplying microgreens and herbs to the BMS Market and to local restaurants. Sacha said is familiar with what running the market entails. "I used to help Melissa (Weatherford) with packaging products and stocking shelves," she said. "I already know a lot of...
My perfect Christmas morning By Race Hubbard I'm as quiet as a mouse, still snuggled in my cozy warm bed. Dreaming of dancing candy canes and swimming marshmallows in a pool filled with hot cocoa. I wake with my little brother shaking me saying “wake up, wake up!” we run down stairs there are presents everywhere. We look outside; the snow is taller than the porch!!! “This is the perfect time to use my new sled!” I exclaimed. The Christmas lights reflecting off the beautiful snow. I smell the smell of hot cocoa and biscuits and gravy. Soon we op...
Board Looks at Budget and Renovations DAYTON-The first reading of the preliminary budget for 2018 was held at the Public Health District board meeting in October. The commissioners have approved a special meeting for November 15, at 3 p.m. in the Administration Board Room at Dayton General Hospital for the second reading and adoption of the 2018 budget. Palliative care Stephanie Carpenter, RN, CNO talked about progress on the development of the new Palliative Care program at CCHS, targeted for 2...
WAITSBURG – Cardinal volleyball coach Angie Potts is looking forward to facing the upcoming season with a scrappy, aggressive and close-knit team. Waitsburg is fielding both varsity and JV teams this year, with two coaches and two volunteer assistants. Potts has coached volleyball for 25 years and this will be her fifth year in Waitsburg. She is assisted by JV coach, Tammy Brown, who has been with her the last three years and was JV coach under Tracy Barron in years past. Jaidyn Brown is in h...
WAITSBURG – “Ginny and I have spent years trying to answer the question, ‘what can we do to give back?’” said Dan Butler, addressing attendees at the Christian Women’s Connection luncheon in Waitsburg last week. Now they feel like they have hit on an answer. The couple are honoring their hometowns in a big way, by organizing a Boys & Girls Club to serve children in the Touchet Valley. Butler said he grew up in Waitsburg, as did his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. He said his wife fee...
Farmers aren't the only ones that work throughout the year to grow hardy, healthy crops. Spray companies are busy most of the year, applying fertilizer and chemicals to keep crops safe from weeds, insects and diseases. In this harvest issue, we highlight two local spray businesses; one that works on land, and one from the air. Maco Aviation, Inc. Aerial applicator Seth Murdock had planned to keep business running at "status quo" when he took over ownership of Wing-Air, renaming the business...
The Story Behind the Story Since I write the recipe column for The Times each week, my mind was naturally drawn to those people that prepared meals for the harvest crews of years past. I found myself slightly stressed for them as I wondered how they accomplished such a huge task. I talked to several ladies and their children (my age) about memories, food, and accomplishments during harvests of the past. I wish I could have spoken to many more, but when I was done, I was satisfied to know that,...
One of the great inventions of modern times is the string trimmer – better known as the weedeater. (Like kleenex and band-aid, I've stopped capitalizing it.) For a long time, I owned two. One, which I bought more than 20 years ago, is powered by a two-stroke engine, which operates about three inches from my right ear. It requires me to mix oil with the gas before putting the gas in the engine. Then I have to pull the starting rope multiple times before it fires up. It used to start on the s...
CCHS will welcome applications from displaced Walla Walla General Hospital employees DAYTON-Phase 3 of the Dayton General Hospital renovation and enhancement project will come to an end in July. The total construction project is 83.57% complete, said CEO Shane McGuire at the June Hospital District Board meeting. "The parking lot is finished, and the new signs have been placed at the entrance. The new nurse work area is up and running in the Emergency Department. The lab has been cleaned, and...
DAYTON--On June 22, Chief Financial Officer Cheryl Skiffington presented the Columbia County Health System Board of Commissioners with the American Hospital Association and the Washington State Hospital Association positions regarding the U.S. Senate’s Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017, which is the Republican proposal to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. The CCHS pays dues to both hospital associations, Skiffington said. “This is not partisan,” she clarified. Skiffington read...
WAITSBURG – It was the guys cooking for the gals as the Waitsburg Lions Club members wrapped up their year with a traditional Ladies Night thank you dinner of hamburgers salads and oysters, on Tues., June 6. After dinner, Kevin House was named Lion of the Year, Dan Cole received the prestigious Melvin Jones Award, and a new slate of officers was installed. It was business first for the Lions who raise and return thousands of dollars to the Waitsburg community each year. Cardinal's Nest S...
Every new president tries to claim a mandate for his agenda, that because they won the election that means the public supports everything they want to do. But ask yourself this: Is there anything - anything - on the agenda of the Trump administration and the Republicans in Congress that enjoys the support of the majority of the public? Let’s look at a couple of examples from the biggest items on their agenda, starting with health care. The latest Kaiser Family Foundation tracking poll finds that an incredible 84 percent of Americans say that i...
Hearing late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s emotional monologue this week about his son’s condition and his family’s experience in the moments after his birth, I had a flashback to the day my son was born and we learned he had Down syndrome. My husband and I had a lot of questions about Cole’s future.Whether he’d have health care shouldn’t have had to be one of them. When you’re facing years of doctor’s appointments, you want to know that having a preexisting condition,such as an extra 21st chromosome or a heart defect, won’t prevent you or yo...
The American Health Care Act is in trouble, with House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis., admitting Wednesday that the bill must change to make it through Congress. The reason? The Republican right and the Republican center want different things, and the rules under which the proposed Obamacare replacement can pass the Senate by a simple majority make it extremely hard to satisfy both sides. But the apparently difficult problems of policy reforms are just that: “apparent.” With some outside-the-box thinking, some dealmaking and a little hum...
WAITSBURG – Thanks to plenty of cooperation and helping hands, roads, walks, and lots in Waitsburg stayed relatively safe during the recent weeks of icy, snowy weather. At December’s Waitsburg School Board meeting Transportation Supervisor Colter Mohney expressed concern that the district didn’t have the manpower or equipment necessary to move and then deal with the unexpected amount of snow and ice that had already covered the school lots and sidewalks. Mohney explained that more care is neces...
WAITSBURG – Waitsburg residents will notice a slight increase in their utility bill in the near future, but the exact amount of the increase is still up in the air. Facing concerns over needed repairs to aging infrastructure, the Waitsburg City Council agreed to consider a five percent increase in water and sewer rates at their Jan. 11 council meeting. However, a suggested decrease in the monthly water allotment from 1000 cubic feet to 500 cubic feet, combined with a reduction in overage charges...
Why can’t a woman be more like a man? Henry Higgins demands to know in “My Fair Lady.” These days, labor economists are asking the opposite question: Why can’t a man be more like a woman? The decline of traditionally male blue-collar work like manufacturing has left many men adrift. There are growth industries, such as health care, where some of these men could get work. But they don’t seem to be taking advantages of the splendid opportunities to become home health care aides or day care workers. In part that’s because many of these jobs...
Special to The Times by Carolyn Henderson It takes a special kind of person to volunteer at the Dayton Community Food Bank. But not so uncommonly unreal that everyday humans need not apply. Indeed, regular, compassionate, intelligent human beings are what keep the food bank, which has been in operation for more than 30 years, successfully reaching out to some 550 Columbia county residents -- 160 households -- every Tuesday. "What are the requirements to be a volunteer?" muses food bank...
Republican Senate and House leaders who have summarily decided on a “repeal and dawdle” plan for Obamacare don’t seem to understand what they are up against. They see House and Senate majorities, an incoming president who vowed to repeal all of Obamacare and a reconciliation process that allows them to gut Obamacare taxes and subsidies, essentially killing the program with 51 votes in the Senate. Do they understand it won’t be that easy? The first problem is Republicans in the House and Senate. Several Republicans have already voiced doubts...
Book Review: “Let Them Eat Dirt” By B. Brett Finlay and Marie-Claire Arrieta If you read about children’s health, you’ve heard a lot of this before: Microbes, vilified because they cause infectious diseases, can be beneficial to a child’s well-being. Our society’s penchant for hyper-cleanliness is actually making our children less healthy and more prone to allergies. But microbiologists B. Brett Findlay and Marie-Claire Arrieta make that case with an unusually convincing display of evidence - as well as historical anecdotes and a parent-friendl...
State hopes to save money with assisted living pilot programs DAYTON—At the regular hospital district board meeting on Oct. 27, the board of commissioners honored CEO Shane McGuire’s request for seed money to develop a plan for an assisted living facility in Dayton. For the past few months, CCHD administrators and the Board of Commissioners have been talking about the lack of assisted living options for older people in the community, or what McGuire refers to as “a donut hole”, in health...
DAYTON-The Columbia County Commissioners and the County Planning Department are in the process of developing a Facilities Plan for the Columbia County Fairgrounds and the Touchet Valley Golf Course. County Planner Meagan Bailey has been tasked with coordinating that effort. Special events might be held in the area where the East Grandstand is currently located. The grandstand is to be demolished sometime during the winter months, according to the commissioners. That area, along with the...
WAITSBURG – Council members spent a large chunk of the June 15 Waitsburg City Council meeting evaluating current city codes to be considered for revision or repeal. City Administrator Randy Hinchliffe said the last comprehensive code review was approximately ten years ago and about half the code was stripped away at that time. Some of the proposed modifications were word changes, such as substituting the words “City Administrator” for “City Marshal” since the city no longer has a marshal....
WAITSBURG – The creek may not have overflowed, but the church pews sure did on Sunday when 190 people crowded into the Waitsburg Presbyterian Church to watch local kids perform the musical 'Down by the Creek Bank.' The performance served as the big finale for a popular, week-long Vacation Bible School created by co-directors Bethany Moser and Pam Conover. Moser said she and Conover were having a hard time deciding on what to do for VBS this year when they hit on the idea of a musical. Moser a...
