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  • Cartoon

    The Times|Sep 17, 2015

  • Ken Graham: FROM THE PUBLISHER

    Ken Graham, The Times|Sep 10, 2015

    First of all, let’s give a big giant 195 pound “BOO” to the judges of the biggest pumpkin contest at the Walla Walla County Fair. What they did was “un-Fair.” (See our Page 1 story for more details.) I would think that fair officials could trust a bunch of hardworking kids who put that much effort into the grand pumpkin to believe them when they say the entry form was mailed on time. But enough about that. We’re coming up on weekend number two of local fair season. Preparations are underway fo...

  • Political Cartoons

    The Times|Sep 10, 2015

  • We Will Continue to Support Firefighting Effort

    The Times|Sep 10, 2015

    This summer our region has been ravaged by wildfires. We’ve seen unprecedented damage—homes burned, communities evacuated, and both civilians and firefighters tragically killed. An area nearly the size of the State of Delaware has burned, and dark, smoke-filled skies across our state remind everyone of the devastation facing our region. Until we are certain you and your neighbors are safe from these catastrophic fires, we will pay whatever it costs to fight them. That is our policy today, and I will ensure it continues to be our policy. Ove...

  • NFL Cartoon

    The Times|Sep 10, 2015

  • Ken Graham: FROM THE PUBLISHER

    Ken Graham, The Times|Sep 3, 2015

    It’s hard to believe that summer’s over for kids and their teachers (though not for the rest of us – September will, no doubt, bring more warm, sunny weather to the Touchet Valley.) School’s already up and running in Dayton and Prescott, and kids head back to school next week in Waitsburg. Every year at about this time, newspaper editorialists throughout the land write optimistically about the excitement of the upcoming new school year. They also, without fail, give a stern warning to all of...

  • Bone Marrow Donation: Giving Hope, Saving Lives

    Dena Wood, The Times|Sep 3, 2015

    I've known Gabe Kiefel (now referred to as "Mr. Kiefel," by my two youngest sons, which continues to throw me for a loop) since he was in elementary school. He graduated from WHS, along with my oldest son, as a member of the Class of 2005. These days, he is a busy husband, dad, Waitsburg middle school teacher and coach. When my youngest son returned home from football practice one night, saying that coach Kiefel, wasn't at practice because he was donating bone marrow, I was surprised, but...

  • Political Cartoons

    The Times|Sep 3, 2015

    ....

  • 2015 Session Makes History - In Several Ways

    The Times|Sep 3, 2015

    By Sen. Mike Hewitt, Rep. Maureen Walsh and Rep. Terry Nealey The 2015 session lasted much longer than anticipated – a record 176 days – but a number of good things came of this extended session. We passed a new, balanced, bipartisan operating budget that did not rely on new general tax increases. The new budget makes historic investments in early learning, K-12, higher education and the mental-health system. Additional funding was allocated to in-home health care providers, long-term care, and developmental-disability programs for our mos...

  • A Fond Farewell to Philbrook

    Dena Wood, The Times|Aug 27, 2015

    Emma is saying farewell this week. Our Student Life columnist, Emma Philbrook, plans to keep in touch with us, perhaps submitting a column on a monthly basis, but it just won't be the same. While we're pleased to see her set forth on her college adventure, it's hard to say good-bye to someone who has become such a familiar face on the pages of The Times. As a matter of fact, Emma has been here longer than the rest of us. Her first published column, featuring gift-giving tips, was printed on...

  • Ken Graham: FROM THE PUBLISHER

    Ken Graham, The Times|Aug 27, 2015

    Columbia County Commissioner Dwight Robanske said it best on Monday: “The ban will not stop pot use. It probably won’t even slow it down.” And so, on Monday, the commissioners voted 2-1 against a proposed ban on marijuana businesses in the unincorporated parts of the county. (See story on Page 1.) I’m encouraged to see a big dose of realism by the commissioners on pot businesses. Even Commissioner Merle Jackson, who made the motion for the ban, and lost the vote, made some very constructive sugg...

  • Emma Philbrook: STUDENT LIFE

    Emma Philbrook, The Times|Aug 27, 2015

    Hey there, everyone! Okay, so maybe that was a bit too peppy a start for the last regular edition of this column, but if there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s when the final book in a series gets all moody and broody just because the author’s sad it all has to come to an end. I’ve been thinking about how to write the piece you’re currently reading for ages. For a while, I contemplated printing my “lost first column”, which was about getting a column, but then I decided that I really needed a...

  • Gary Hofer: MARKET BULLETS

    Gary Hofer, The Times|Aug 27, 2015

    Commodities prices as a class have been declining since 2011, according to the CRB Commodities Index. Created by The Commodities Research Bureau, it is an indicator based on a wide selection of commodity prices; that is, prices for real-world “stuff” from burlap and copper to crude oil, wheat and zinc. There are 23 different items whose prices go into making the numerical index for the CRB. Watching the chart for this index is to observe what is happening in the real world. We all know that crude oil has dropped from $107 per barrel 14 mon...

  • Ken Graham: FROM THE PUBLISHER

    Ken Graham, The Times|Aug 20, 2015

    I drove with trepidation toward Walla Walla on Friday morning, waiting for the inevitable back-up of cars. I knew I would have to carefully thread through the line of young hipsters in their cars at the airport exit waiting to get to their camping spots. I brought walking shoes with thick socks in case I had to park somewhere beyond College Place and hike back to downtown Walla Walla. As I breezed through town on Highway 12, the cluster never appeared, (though all the left turns were blocked)....

  • Emma Philbrook: STUDENT LIFE

    Emma Philbrook, The Times|Aug 20, 2015

    As the nurse at my last doctor’s appointment so delicately put it, my vision is down the toilet. I am, according to that infamous test with the rows of progressively smaller letters, 20/70 in my right eye and 20/40 in my left. Somehow, they manage to collaborate and produce overall vision of 20/30, which is still deep enough into the metaphorical plumbing to necessitate an appointment with an eye doctor and possibly a pair of glasses. I just got back from a trip to Long Beach. During the s...

  • Gary Hofer: MARKET BULLETS

    Gary Hofer, The Times|Aug 20, 2015

    Wheat is an actively traded market, with participants ranging from individual small speculative traders, farmers and local cooperative elevators to billion dollar trading funds and multi-national grain handling firms. There are futures contracts trading all over the world, but soft red wheat futures at the Chicago Board of Trade are the best known and most widely followed. This is partly because of its reputation as a reliable indicator of global wheat prices, and partly due to its great liquidity or ease of trading, from “one-lots” of 5,0...

  • Cartoons

    Dave Granlund, The Times|Aug 20, 2015

    ....

  • On Reporting a Horrific Crime

    Ken Graham, The Times|Aug 13, 2015

    On the front page of The Times this week is a tragic story about a young Dayton man who is being charged with multiple counts of child rape. Besides being terrible for those involved, stories like this present one of the most difficult dilemmas that those of us who put out newspapers face. This young man and the other people close to this story are obviously going through a very difficult time. Having the charges against him publicized on the front page of a local newspaper, even in vague...

  • How to Outfit a Dorm Room

    Emma Philbrook, The Times|Aug 13, 2015

    As I am about to depart for college, I have been doing an extensive amount of research concerning what I need to bring with me, and I have found out that nobody on the internet knows anything about packing for college. But just to be safe, I’ll compare what I’ve already bought to this authoritative-looking list: •Alarm clock. Check – there’s an alarm function on my phone. •Bed linens/towels. Check and check, although I took the liberty of substituting bed flannels for the bed linens. •Ca...

  • Ken Graham: FROM THE PUBLISHER

    Ken Graham, The Times|Aug 6, 2015

    Emergency services have been on the minds of Touchet Valley residents a lot this summer, what with four major building fires in Dayton and the Blue Creek Fire in Walla Walla County. None of the causes of these fires has been determined for sure, but they’ve kept a lot of firefighters and other emergency personnel up a lot of nights in the last few weeks. So it’s fitting that this week, Dayton and Waitsburg residents got to see many of these emergency management people during daylight hours and...

  • Emma Philbrook: STUDENT LIFE

    Emma Philbrook, The Times|Aug 6, 2015

    I’m an avid Dear Abby reader, and I’ve always thought that I’d be good at writing something like that. The only problem seems to be that nobody wants my advice. So I’ve decided to write down everything that’s been on my mind this week, put it in a safe, unlock the safe as soon as time travel is possible, answer my own questions, and send them back to today. Here are the results of this experiment: Dear future self: I’m in the process of writing a novel. I’m almost to the exciting part, but I c...

  • Ken Graham: FROM THE PUBLISHER

    Ken Graham, The Times|Jul 30, 2015

    It’s better to want what you have than to have what you want. ~Ancient proverb Those are good words to ponder if you’re looking to have a more satisfying life. But they beg one other question: What if you have a lot of stuff you don’t want? Answer: hold a yard sale. Last weekend, many of us who live on the South Touchet Road near Dayton took part in the third annual South Touchet Yard Sale. In our case, we passed the first two years. But as proud owners of a large barn, we felt we were guilt...

  • Emma Philbrook: STUDENT LIFE

    Emma Philbrook, The Times|Jul 30, 2015

    I had glorious plans for this week which involved Bennington Lake and my little blue kayak, but due to the wildfire situation, Bennington Lake is closed to boaters lest they be unwittingly scooped up by water-carrying helicopters. But because I’m still in a lake-y state of mind, I think I’ll reminisce about the wonderful trip to Lake Pend Oreille I took a couple weeks ago. Five of us went – me, my mom, Chris, Chris’s friend Kyle, and my cousin Ariel. We traveled to Sandpoint, Idaho, in my grandp...

  • Ken Graham: FROM THE PUBLISHER

    Ken Graham, The Times|Jul 23, 2015

    As The Times was going to press on Tuesday, many of our local firefighters and emergency responders were busy helping out at the Blue Creek Fire, east of Walla Walla. That fire was called in shortly after noon Monday, and by Tuesday afternoon, it was reported by the Blue Mountain Interagency Dispatch Center to cover 5,000 acres. Teams have been called in from around the northwest to help fight that blaze, including multiple aircraft. One home and several outbuildings had been destroyed as of Tue...

  • Emma Philbrook: STUDENT LIFE

    Emma Philbrook, The Times|Jul 23, 2015

    I am supposed to be folding the clothes right now. I’m also supposed to be running a few errands and getting ready to vacuum the carpet in my grandparents’ motorhome. I have done none of that yet. But wait – I have a good excuse! I haven’t done anything because I was doing my homework! I know what you’re thinking. “But Emma,” you are thinking, “It’s summer! You don’t have homework!” As a matter of fact, yes I do. Whitman College sent me a link to a personal and community safety course. I started...

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