Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
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Ten Years Ago June 3, 2004 Claudia Hevel, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. S.R. Hevel, was recently recognized as the "2004 Honorary Service Award Recipient" from the Los Altos and Mountain View (California) PTA Council. Hevel studied law and is a graduate from Stanford University. She has spent her life working in public interest law and advocacy for the underrepresented and underprivileged in society. Graduation Ceremonies will commence at 8:00 p.m., June 4, in the Waitsburg High school gym.Four students have been chosen to speak on behalf of...
Dear Editor, It gives me great pleasure to write this letter of endorsement on the occasion of Sheriff Turner's intent to seek re-election for the Office of Sheriff in Walla Walla County. I am honored to have this opportunity to memorialize John's countless admirable qualities, integrity, and skills that will contribute to a continuing successful career as Sheriff. My personal and professional experiences with John persuade me that he will continue his extremely professional leadership of the Walla Walla County Sheriff's Office for a se...
For those of you who expect me to discuss a certain bit of news, know that I made a promise concerning coverage of that particular topic earlier this month and I intend on sticking to it. Those of you as out-of-the-loop as I would be under normal circumstances can be reassured that it's nothing terribly earth- shattering. Now that that's out of the way, and I have nothing else to share about my week, I'd like to offer a few completely unqualified words of advice concerning graduation gifts....
Columbia Pulp is moving ahead with plans for its new plant near Starbuck. There, the firm will take wheat and alfalfa straw and turn it into pulp, which will be used to make paper products. The company hopes to begin operations by the end of the wheat harvest in 2015, and they plan to hire around 130 employees to run the facility. That's all great news for the towns of the Touchet Valley. Prescott, Waitsburg and Dayton are all about the same distance from the new plant - close enough for a...
Dear Editor, I am amazed by how many people seem to think that being born/raised, or simply working in a department in Walla Walla makes you qualified to lead. You certainly would not pick, a doctor to do surgery, or a mechanic to work on your car, or your investment advisor, with only those criteria in mind. You also would not pick the coach of the Seahawks just on the fact that he had grown up in Seattle or played on the team. Yet, that seems like what many want to do when they choose a Sheriff for Walla Walla. Membership in a community is...
Christmas may be long past, but the weather outside is still frightful. As heat and humidity insidiously sneak their way into Waitsburg's forecasts, it's becoming increasingly unbearable to stay outside for long periods. In elementary school around this time of year, my classmates and I would try to save ourselves from the un-air-conditioned torment of math class by waving paper fans folded from old assignments. In middle school, we would all flock to the desks near open windows or electric...
Shortly after the Civil War, communities throughout both the northern and southern states began holding commemorations remembering and honoring the soldiers who died in the war. It soon became a tradition to hold a holiday in the spring called Decoration Day. People throughout the country visited cemeteries and memorials to place flags and flowers at the graves of fallen soldiers of the war. In the decades after the civil war, the holiday's name became known as Memorial Day, and it was a day to...
Ten Years Ago May 20, 2004 The Days of Real Sport Parade, an annual tradition in Waitsburg, was marked by a stirring tribute to United States servicemen and a beautiful rendition of the National Anthem by Lindsey Thomas of Prescott, daughter of Joe Thomas and Jill Thomas, and Queen of the Milton-Freewater Pioneer Posse Court. On the announcer's stand was Fred Hamann, assisted by Scott Archer. Bearing the stars and striped -LESS-THAN-0096-at the DRS parade-GREATER-THAN-0096- was Joe Gagnon, recently returned to Waitsburg from a year-long stint...
A merica has just had its jolting Michael Corleone moment. In the third and least successful Godfather movie, bigwig crime boss Michael Corleone, who spent years trying to get his "family" into legitimate businesses, says: " Just when I thought I was outhellip; they pull me back in." He's sucked back into the overtly criminal practices of his family's sordid past, and in the end he pays a huge price. And so it goes in the 21st century where two manifestations of the worst instinct and operative practice in American life were in full, raw,...
I spent last week at Youth and Government Youth Legislature as an appellate court justice and a member of the Press Corps. The editor-in-chief was a perky senior named Amelia. For some reason, her delegation was in the habit of sending her bad puns on the little slips of paper that eighthgrade pages ran around the Capitol delivering. You know what the terrible thing about puns is? However awful they may be, they stick in your head if there’s anything the least bit clever about them. I was p...
Or is it, Failure Breeds Success? According to historical records, horse racing was introduced to Waitsburg (or Waitsburg was introduced to horse racing, depending on how you look at it) in 1913. The town's racing campaign, held each year on the third weekend of May, has been known for most of that time as "Days of Real Sport." Horse racing had a good run in Waitsburg, and in other small towns in eastern Washington, including Dayton and Walla Walla. But by last year's 100th anniversary of DRS, the run had ended. For many reasons, it's become...
Dear Editor: I am very concerned about the looming loss of use of the fairgrounds to horseback riders. Our adult daughter, impacted by cerebral palsy since birth, has just begun riding every Sunday afternoon. It is the day of the week she most looks forward to because of her love of horses and riding. She enjoys her teacher, Leanne and her helpers and appreciates how they've helped her improve her flexibility and mobility. Megan's ability to stand, walk, separate her legs, unclaw her toes, or flatten her feet are limited by her CP. Horseback ri...
Dear Editor: Thanks to Dena Wood for her article regarding Senior Projects. Tiffany Stewart must have done an outstanding job preparing her senior project about ending the State Board of Education graduation requirement for a culminating/senior project. It may have been different had there been more publicity about the original legislative hearing so legislators could have heard other points of view on the issue. It's interesting that Ms. Stewart's arguments were not enough for the original bill (to end the senior project requirement) to pass o...
I n May, school is in an odd state of flux, simultaneously grinding to a halt and picking up pace for the gauntlet of finals, cumulative projects, and standardized tests that daunt sojourners on the scenic footpath to summer. Spring sports have their playoffs (or whatever that equivalent may be); clubs go to their state conventions. In other words, May is busy, but somehow it doesn't feel busy. Maybe it's the weather. Maybe it's the promise of three months of lusciously uninterrupted free time....
So here's a question to ponder over your morning coffee: If you had to run for re-election in order to keep your job, do you think you'd win? Would you even run? Rocky Miller and John Turner have to. Chris Miller and Debra Antes have to. Scott Marinella and John Knowlton have to. (The first two are sheriffs, the second two are assessors and the third two are judges.) And the list is much longer (see Page 2). Such is the life of the elected county official. Next week, seven county officials in...
Ten Years Ago May 6, 2004 Over two dozen Waitsburg residents who lived through World War II, or served in the military during the worldwide conflict, gathered in the former American Legion Banquet Rooms last Thursday to relate to students in Ms. Bailey's American History class their experiences during that tumultuous period. Students asked questions and scribbled notes as foks, including Dorne Hall of Walla Walla, told of their lives and the effect of the war. Twenty-Five Years Ago May 14, 1989 Reuben Stokes and Tom Mathews, students at...
Dear Editor, Waitsburg Utility Rate Payers: On April 16th, the City Council voted to raise water utility rates by $6 per month to begin to set aside funds to help replace the waterline on the east side of Main Street down 1st Street back to 2nd Street. When the new waterline was installed on Main Street to fix the leaking one in front of the grocery store, the crew encountered water at the new connection point; meaning the existing line running north is still leaking somewhere else. Due to the age and material type of the existing waterline, it...
I woke up this morning with stiff arms. I don't recall having done anything terribly exerting yesterday. I spent most of it either in a car, at a table, or asleep, except for the two hours or so in the morning when I worked on removing blackberry plants in a park in Olympia. I wasn't even yanking them - I pruned off branch after branch after branch, then set them in a wheelbarrow and minced them with a pair of pruners. It didn't even ache at the time. If I had been Joseph, another boy from the g...
On Monday, I met with several students in Rob Moore's sixth period class at Dayton High School to talk about their recent trip to Seattle to compete at the state FBLA conference. They were quite successful there, and I wrote a story about that which appears on Page One. While I was there, Mr. Moore and I took a few moments to change the subject. We asked the students if they'd be willing to give their thoughts on the levy. They were. Because almost all of them are under 18, and it's a...
Dear Editor, If money is speech, what's the upshot? - U.S. a democracy? The Supreme Court in both the Citizens United and McCutcheon decisions used convoluted, tortured, and harmful free speech arguments to turn over the election process to moneyed interests. In Citizens United they allowed corporations and unions to spend unlimited amounts for "independent expenditures." In McCutcheon they allowed the very wealthy to donate about 30 times as much money in elections as before. The majority in the 5-4 decisions said a one point "there can't be...
