Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
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It’s Tuesday, Nov. 3 as I write this; the day this paper goes to press. Yesterday I got an email from Amazon announcing new “countdown to Black Friday” deals. “It’s never too early for a good deal,” the email says. I completely agree. And it’s never too late either. So the message is, if you simply can’t wait until the day after Thanksgiving to do your Christmas shopping a month before Christmas, why not get on Amazon.com now and do your Christmas shopping two months (almost) before Christmas. But by sending me that email, Amazon clearly...
Every year on Veterans Day, the nation pauses to recognize and honor all the men and women, living and dead, who took up arms in defense of America. Our nation owes Veterans a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid. It’s our duty – not just on Veterans Day, but every day – to remember the sacrifices they’ve made and to make certain that our commitments to them and to their families are honored. And that duty is most especially important to those of us privileged to serve Veterans at VA, as well as here at the Walla Walla VA Medical Center....
The presidential election campaign is topping the national news all the time these days, with Hillary Clinton gaining and Donald Trump slipping in the polls. But that election is still more than a year away. You’ll probably be reading about it in this space next October. Right now, it’s time to pull our heads out of our TVs for a few minutes and take a look at the election that’s directly in front of us. Touchet Valley voters have a number of important choices to make in the next week. In Waitsburg, residents in the city will be deciding wheth...
While I don’t usually comment on items in the local paper, I felt that the this issue was important enough to warrant a response from the City as it is clear to me that the majority of people still don’t understand the issue at hand. First, a new tax will not show up on tax statements next year, as property taxing is always a year behind. Taxes collected in the current year are for the prior year, so money collected in 2015 is actually for 2014s taxes. Therefore, the citizens of Waitsburg will not be taxed for the Fire District, should the ann...
Dear Editor, With continued developments, I would like to ask you, the privately ran and operated Waitsburg Ambulance Board why you are giving a vote of no confidence to the staff after the passing of Richard Nauman? It pains me to hear that you have voted to end the career of multiple staff because of your own agenda and age, not adding younger board members. Letting your own age control the lives of others as elders of our community, what lesson are you teaching the younger generation? Are you really trying to tell them it is better to give u...
Yes, I know, this advice seems painfully obvious, and even trite – sort of like your mother telling you that vegetables are good for you. But if you live in Waitsburg, it’s best to keep this advice in mind and pay attention. Voters in this fair city are being asked to approve a measure that would allow annexation of the Waitsburg Fire Department into Walla Walla County Fire District 2. This is actually a really good idea. The two departments are housed in the same building and they share personnel. It would surely be more efficient to ope...
[Editor’s note: A group of protesters floated the Snake River earlier this month, urging the removal of the four lower Snake River dams to help fish recovery. They succeeded in one thing: putting the dam removal issue back in the news spotlight. Below are excerpts from a news story and recent opinion columns on each side of the issue.] The issue of breaching four giant dams on the Snake River to help endangered salmon runs has percolated in the Northwest for decades, but the idea has gained new momentum. After renewed political pressure to remo...
Dear Editor, Prescott Library and the Friends of the Prescott Library would like to thank everyone who contributed to our successful Fall Fundraiser held at the Lion’s Hall in Prescott on October 3. Our success would not have been possible without all the generous contributions of the patrons of the event, the wide array of diverse items donated, and the support of the community. Thank yu to everyone who volunteered their time including the kitchen crew who made all that delicious food possible! Also, we would like to thank the Waitsburg T...
Dear Editor, The residents of Columbia County and Waitsburg, once again, have an opportunity to determine the future of healthcare in their respective communities. A review of the candidates for the Hospital Commission reflects an expressed interest in the importance and need to maintain health care in our communities. All have experience and professional backgrounds that compliment their ability to provide necessary policy and strategic planning direction given time on the Commission. However, the changes that are occurring within the...
Dear Editor, Just say NO to Proposition No. 1, Annexation of the City into the County Fire District No. 2. A No vote is the right vote until the City agrees to reduce our property taxes by an equivalent amount that we presently support the fire department. Fire District No. 2 is proposing a new tax, 51 cents per $1000 or about $77 per year for a $150,000 home. For a number of years, the City has been collecting about 24 cents per $1000 to pay for these same services. The City does not plan to reduce our taxes by this amount, but to use that...
For those of us who are self-employed, the reason we most often give for putting up with the risk and uncertainty that goes along with that status is that we like being our own bosses. That, for me, is right up at the top of the list. But there's another very important reason I enjoy the title of business owner: I get to choose the people I work with. In the past couple of months I've gained two new co-workers at The Times, and I'm excited to have them both. Many of our Columbia County readers a...
By Don C. Brunell American companies are beginning to feel the pinch after Congress killed the Export-Import Bank last June. It is increasingly putting our manufacturers at a competitive disadvantage. Not only are we losing orders to foreign competitors, but some domestic manufacturers are shifting jobs and production to other countries where those banks exist. GE announced it plans to move 350 jobs from its Waukesha, Wisconsin gas engine plant to a new factory in Canada, which has its own versi...
Dear Editor, I just wanted to thank you for the picture on page 12 of your last issue of the Class of 1975. I attended school in Waitsburg from 4 - 8th grade and should have been in that picture but we moved from Waitsburg in the summer of 1970. I have not seen these people since then and just wanted to say it looks like everyone has aged well. Carry on my former classmates. Ron McGuire Deer Park, Wash....
The City of Waitsburg and our local Fire District 2 have entered into an agreement to annex the city into the district. If the plan is ratified by voters, District 2 will take over firefighting duties within the city starting next year. This idea makes perfect sense. The district surrounds the city, and the two entities already share a fire station. Why not simplify everything by absorbing the city FD into the district. In separate but related news, the Waitsburg Ambulance Service has also entered into an agreement with District 2 to dissolve...
Wheat prices in Chicago have just touched their highest point since mid-August. Tuesday’s session closed up a dime, now at plus 63 cents in 22 trading sessions. Clearly the fact that U.S. wheat is far over-priced into many export markets is not the driving factor. The underlying strength has had more to do with shifting positions held by large trading funds, now short-sold just 37,006 contracts of wheat in Chicago versus 55,151 in the week of 9-11. As the funds complete their “cover” (buy back) of these positions as they eventually must, the w...
In the eleven months since voters in the Columbia County Hospital District approved a $5.5 million bond levy for a major remodel of Dayton General Hospital, I’ve heard from a number of readers who are concerned that nothing much seems to be happening. It’s true that most of the action has been behind the scenes so far: a lot of design and budget decisions remained to be made after the vote. But those pieces are mostly in place now, and the curtain will soon lift on a show that’s certain to be action-packed. As we report in the front-page this...
U.S. national winter wheat planting reached 19% as of Sept. 20, down 4% from last year and only 1% off the five-year average. USDA on the 21st rated topsoil moisture in Kansas at 59% adequate to surplus, Oklahoma’s at 49% and Texas at 32%. Washington’s winter wheat crop is 55% in the ground, versus a 56% five-year average. Idaho 27% in v. 24% normal, Oregon 19% v. 15%. There is no stress on the market from these stats! Corn harvest is just beginning to roll, with 7% done versus the 15% five-year average. Soybeans 3% in the bin versus 7% nor...
