Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Sorted by date Results 1339 - 1363 of 2504
Dear Editor, Rea Culwell is our prosecutor for the future. She and her family are an asset to Columbia County. Rea has the experience and training, and has invested her hard work in and is dedicated to making Columbia County not only her home, but a better place for all of us. Rea has a stellar record successfully prosecuting criminals and serving victims. She does so within budget and fights against unfunded State mandates. Rea professionally and efficiently represents the county and its elected and department heads; she knows governmental...
Dear Editor, We have two viable candidates for Columbia County Commissioner. I believe the best qualified is Merle Jackson who has shown the proven leadership and management skills needed to be on the Columbia County Board of Commissioners. Merle will listen to all of the facts on a problem, balance the input with the overall needs of the community and then will come up with the best solution possible. His decisions will reflect the best interests for all of Columbia County to the best of his abilities. Merle Jackson is the right person at the...
Dear Editor, One of the main duties of our county commissioners is to oversee the county budget. I feel a candidate needs to have the basic knowledge of finances and management in order to do this properly. Over the course of his life, Merle Jackson has acquired the knowledge necessary. He has over 20 years of financial and management experience with his family farming operation. He also has 25 years of experience in program management with the nuclear energy industry. In addition to his qualifications I've found Merle to be a person of...
The process of planning a Homecoming - at least in the case of my class - is something akin to filling a reactor with random particles and waiting for some new element to reach critical mass. Our meetings on the topic are chaotic at best, with ideas being spewed out from all different directions and no semblance of order, save a cowed-looking class officer jotting everything down on the nearest available whiteboard. When plans start to crystallize, though, we all get pretty excited. I would...
Snowballs roll downhill, and that's where the entire healthcare system in the Touchet Valley will head if upgrades aren't made soon to Dayton General Hospital. That's the message supporters of a bond levy measure in front of voters this fall are sending us. The levy will, if passed, allow the Columbia County Health System to modernize and reconfigure the Dayton General Hospital building. These changes will put nursing and dietary employees much closer to the patients and residents they serve, and they will increase the level of associated...
Dear Editor, I would like to address sheriff candidate Tom Cooper's reason for declining to take a vacant, light-duty position at the Sheriff's Office after injuring his knee, as reported in the September 18th issue of the Union Bulletin. Mr. Cooper refused Sheriff Turner's offer for the receptionist position and stated, "I thought that was a move politically to discredit me and to humiliate me." I am the current receptionist at the WWCSO performing the duties Mr. Cooper was offered. I find it disturbing that Mr. Cooper considers the work and...
Dear Editor, During Sherriff Turner's first term as Walla Walla County sheriff he, his Deputies and Staff have dramatically enhanced the value of the Sherriff's Department to the citizens and property owners of Walla Walla County. He has accomplished this through his excellent proactive management and leadership skills. Sheriff Turner has exhibited the intrinsic value of a varied background, which by expanding his frame of reference provides exposure to different perspectives on problem solving, personal management administration, public and...
Dear Editor, Cutting through the innuendos of the Walla Walla County Sheriff's race, I think there is no substitute for actual experience in the Sheriff's Department. I think back to when I was on the Walla Walla City Council (1981-87) we needed to hire a new Police Chief, then the Council agreed to hire from within the ranks of the force to keep a very experienced leader in charge, Chuck Fulton's selection proved the wisdom of hiring experience. Today's Sheriff's Race, pits a Rookie Sheriff, with a history of costing Walla Walla Taxpayers...
Dear Editor I have worked for the Sheriff's Office for the last 2 ½ years as a corrections officer. I feel that residents of Walla Walla County need to hear from employees that work under Sheriff Turner. It is true Sheriff Turner, and his Command staff, have very high expectations of us all and I think most of us are good with that. We want to be considered good at what we do, and if we live up to those expectations we can be proud of what we contribute. One of the main expectations is, "hellip;hellip; to deliver the highest quality public...
SYSSS. It's the sound of air coming out of a bike tire that got a little too chummy with puncture vine. It's also the abbreviation for Senior Year Scholastic Straddling Syndrome. This condition, which experts (all of whom, incidentally, are named Emma Philbrook) fear often goes un-or-misdiagnosed, occurs when high-school seniors, besides being loaded down with regular coursework, are forced to simultaneously begin the legwork of applying to and paying for college. This results in an odd...
Be it exporting the millions of tons of wheat harvested by local farmers, transporting essential cargo, or cultivating Eastern Washington's growing tourism industry, our community relies on its waterways in order to thrive. We need a healthy "river highway" in order to foster a healthy economy - yet our federal navigation channel on the Lower Snake River has not been maintained since 2005. While I am pleased the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is preparing much-awaited maintenance dredging on the...
Dear Editor, In their periodic collective bargaining sessions, our School Board and the Walla Walla Valley Education Association (WWVEA) determine the quality of our schools, the services to be offered for children, and the priorities for levies funded by local taxpayers. Typically, the union works to reduce accountability, increase costs, and control service levels. For that service, the union requires all teachers to either become a member or pay a representation fee deducted automatically by the district. If the teacher elects to become a...
Dear Editor, Sheriff Turner has undergone a great deal of scrutiny during his tenure. Much has been printed and his opponent and his supporters have been given the opportunity to put their own spin on the stories. I would argue that there is a pattern of behavior by Sheriff Turner's opponent which should concern voters. He is touted as fiscally conservative. says something different to me. His many years of experience in law enforcement is cited. Not reading and understanding the importance of office communication regarding the Ortega Law as...
Who hasn't, at one point or another, contemplated starting a small business of their own? I think we all have a little bit of entrepreneur inside us, and sometimes it insists on coming out. I'm an enterprising person by nature, but I've never come up with a product of saleable appeal. The one original idea I did bring to market ("Leprechaun Lemonade", dyed a festive shade of green for Saint Patrick's Day) was a drastic fail. Now, several years later and having taken an economics class, I...
On a recent trip to the big city up north, I picked up a copy of "The Inlander," Spokane's well-established and popular alternative weekly newspaper. It's available free in places ranging from hipster downtown coffee shops to suburban Burger Kings and supermarkets. Near the back of my copy was a twopage spread called "The Green Zone." There I saw ads for three recreational marijuana shops (one was having a grand opening that week), three medical marijuana cooperatives and one store specializing...
Dear Editor, I had the pleasure of getting to know Sheriff John Turner while I served as an advisor to Walla Walla Dispatch. I recall Sheriff Turner's excellent demeanor and ethics as the task of upgrading the County's communications system came into focus. He very quickly gained an understanding of the cause, effect and long-term implications of a weather related system outage, and helped to chart a path toward its mitigation and restoration. Sheriff Turner worked closely with the EMCAB Director, partners, elected officials, and consultants...
Dear Editor, I am fairly new to Walla Walla; I've been employed as a Corrections Officer for the Walla Walla County Sheriff's Office for 14 months. I've had the privilege of working for a sheriff's office that demonstrates professionalism to the highest degree. I believe this to be due in part of the expectations of Sheriff Turner, and his administration. Sheriff Turner expects his staff to be professional, thorough, meet expectations, and be proactive at all times in order to provide optimal service for Walla Walla County. I have never experie...
Some people go to county fairs for the rodeos; others for the deep-fried Twinkies; still others to see the amazing things people can do with yarn or wood. I go for the chickens. If you're ever hunting around for me at one of these events, go straight to the poultry barn. I'll be there admiring the residents - and, on occasion, talking to them. Yes, I talk to the chickens. Perhaps more than I should. I talk to the bantam roosters - sweet little guys about as high as your hand. They're not very intimidating. Sometimes they try to fix their machis...
DAYTON - Thirty four vintage racecars converged on Dayton over Labor Day weekend for their annual 200 mile endurance run. The cars and their owners are members of the Northwest Vintage Speedsters club, out of Portland. According to event organizer DaJuan Recknagle, the cars drove a 200 mile route on Sunday, which put them on city streets and county roads, all within ten miles of Dayton. The drivers had no information about the course until they were handed maps when the run began. Drivers and...
