Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
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'T was three weeks until Christmas, and all through the house Not a creature was stirring - except for my mouse. The clock chimed eleven as swiftly I typed In the hope of reaching bed while it was still night. My brain had been dormant since Wendesday at noon, and it became Sunday, oh, far, far too soon. 'Tween family and bluegrass and chores and the play, My four-day vacation had slipped quite away. And I still had two hampers of laundry to wash and more homework than, oh, say, the Midwest has...
The Apple Cup is history. (Sorry Cougar fans.) The Civil War is in the books. (Ditto, Beavers.) The Seahawks crushed the Saints in a Monday Night Football game that brought an end to a long and highlight-ridden weekend. (For a good example, go to YouTube and check out the last play of Saturday's Alabama-Auburn game.) Your stomach is probably still full of turkey and gravy and your fridge is likely stuffed to the roof with more turkey and gravy. And your couch cushions are no doubt strewn with chips and pretzels, and possibly some bottle caps. B...
OLYMPIA - On Novem- ber 20, legislators in Olym- pia adopted the most recent revenue forecast issued by the Washington State Eco- nomic and Revenue Forecast Council. According to Chief Economist Steve Lerch, the 2013- 15 General Fund-State net change is an increase of $16 million. The forecast also shows an increase of $9 million for the 2011-13 biennium. However, officials are predicting a decrease in rev- enue of nearly $44 million for the 2015-17 budget cycle. A technical adjustment...
Dear Editor, Rosie Warehime and the Friends of the Library would like to thank the Commer- cial Club, our surrounding communities and especially a huge hand clapping to Alli- son Bond from Coppei Coffee for all the hard work and donations from the Haunted House tour. A special thanks also, to Dan Cole, Mike Hubbard, Richard Hinds And Julie Tayloe for their generous donations. There was a wonderful turn out and great fun was had by all. Our library will greatly benefit from the $850 that was raised. Again, thank you so very much. Rosie...
Dear Editor, Veterans Day always re- minds me of World War II. World War II reminds me of the old Waitsburg Theatre. Now how could that be? Back in the 1940's my Uncle, Earl Crossler, ran that theatre. He was running it the year my father, Layton Royse, came home from the war. He was a marine. My Grandfather, Oliver Royse, and my Uncle Donald Royse were out here from Cincinnati Ohio to greet him when he got here. All of us were up in the prosecutor room with Uncle Earl just waiting. I was about five years old, so about 1947. We waited a long...
My first column, as those of you who have read me from the very beginning know, was not funny - at least not terribly so. It was, in fact, a yawn-inducing list of Christmas shopping tips. But hey, the editor liked it, and if it hadn't been for the fact that said page of pointers was printed, you might not be reading this right now. This is a week of honor- ing tradition. This is the last column you're going to read before Black Friday hits. So I thought I'd honor tradition - AND give my loyal...
While a junior high basketball game was under way November 19, somebody was playing their own game in the parking lot. Several people came back to their cars after the game to find purses and other person belongings missing. Valuables were taken from at least ten cars, and guess what: none of them were locked, according to Public Infor- mation Officer Dian Ver Valen. The Columbia County Sheriff's office issued a statement last week saying that numerous car prowls were reported Tuesday, most occurring near the gym. The statement also said that 3...
Dear Editor, On behalf of the Waits- burg Ministerial Association and the Resource Center, I would like to extend my sin- cere gratitude to the Leo Club of Waitsburg High School for their outstanding work in collecting over 1,200 pounds of non-perishable food items on November 14 for the Waitsburg food bank. This was more than was collected last year, and demonstrates a great spirit among the young people for serving the community. We also deeply ap- preciate the generosity of the community which responded to this year's food drive. Each month...
Fifty years ago Friday I was in the third grade. (Yes I know, it's hard to believe that someone so youthful and vibrant as myself has been around that long, but it's true.) It was also a Friday. I attended Lafayette El- ementary School in West Seattle and our class was in a "portable;" one of those trailers they park in the play- ground. Mrs. Young was our teacher, and she looked shocked that day - though she didn't cry - when some- one came in the room and handed her a piece of paper saying...
Dear Editor, The front page of the November 14 edition of The Times included an ar- ticle concerning the needs of Waitsburg School District. Other districts likely have similar stories. Information NOT given in the article was how many of the needs men- tioned were due to unfunded mandates from the state/federal level. To be fair to local districts and their patrons, legislative mandates should not be required unless accompanied by full funding- and should be removed if funding is later withdrawn. Legislative changes in in- struction hours are...
They call me Alberta the Brain. My name isn't Alberta, but I've got a heckuva brain, and it's telling me that if you put a name on the glass door of your office and that office is at the wrong end of town, it'd better not be your real name. I'm a private eye, or at least that's what it says on my business cards. Truth is, I'm a nerd. Don't believe me? Check out the wall be- hind me; all those framed "outstanding student" plac- ards and state Knowledge Bowl patches. And because I don't get many c...
Television reporters are a rare sight in the Touchet Valley. We don't have local TV stations, and the ones closest to us aren't all that interested in us most of the time. And unfortunately, when they do show up, they're often digging into something negative. That was the case on November 13, when a reporter and cameraman from KEPR TV in Tri-Cities came to Dayton to look into two reports of racist activities involving Dayton schools, and/or their students. As reported on this week's front page, a swastika was burned into the lawn near Dayton...
I s it ironi c that I h ave lived next door to Dan and Rosie Nechodom since May but had never been inside their home until this week? Let me explain further. The Nechodoms are some of the friendliest people in Dayton. Dan is a Dayton High School teacher and track coach. Rosie is the school counselor for both Dayton and Waits- burg districts. I have five kids at home who use the Nechodoms' giant, outdoor trampoline several times each week. Now are you surprised we've never visited before now?...
Last week, I had the privilege of reading two freakishly awe- some pieces of literature: Thoreau's "Walden" and Emerson's "Self-Reliance." The former helped me find peace in a busy week; the latter, meaning in my exis- tence. Inspired by some combination of these, a stack of old quilting patterns, and a three- day weekend, I spent the end of last week in an especially productive manner. I started making a stuffed patchwork dog, finished all my home- work during breaks at the theater, read a...
Saying it would preserve and expand jobs throughout Washington state, 16th District Reps. Terry Neal- ey and Maureen Walsh voted Saturday in favor of legislation that would extend tax incentives for the state's aerospace industry and expand aerospace workforce train- ing opportunities at Washington's community and technical colleges. Senate Bill 5952 would extend an existing tax preference for the aerospace industry from the year 2024 to 2040, and expand the sales and use tax exemption for construction of facilities in Washington used to...
Boomerang is a neat little plugin that can come in very handy for Gmail users. Frankly, I don't know exactly what a "plugin" is, even though I use several of them. As best I can tell, they add a specific feature to software or a pro- gram you are already using. But don't worry. You don't need to understand it to en- joy the benefits. You do, however, need to use Gmail as your email client. If you don't already, you might consider it. I use Gmail and have my busi- ness and personal Charter.net...
Historical fiction is my favorite genre. It both entertains and educates. Reading a well- researched, well-written work of historical fiction is a wonderfully painless way to learn about the culture, politics and history of a par- ticular place and time. While homeschooling my two old- est children (now 17 and 20), we relied heavily on histori- cal fiction to make history come alive and "stick". I've read and enjoyed scores o f ex- cellent young adult a nd adult historical fic- tion but most...
Editor's Note: Longtime Waitsburg resident Laura Jean Hevel was recently re- quested to share her memo- ries of the Pearl Harbor attack and World War II by her daughter Claudia, who belongs to a book club that was studying the FDR administration. Mrs. Hevel shared her reflections with The Times. I t was Sunday; Mom and I had driven to town for worship service. When we returned to the ranch, Dad met us at the front gate and told us about the devastating, brutal attack. From that date, everything...
Let me get this out of the way first - the homecoming dance was AWESOME. My date and I went with a group of five other students - two pairs of dates and one "unaffiliated" student. We met up at somebody's house and posed for an obnoxious quantity of pictures while our parents snapped away. Then the seven of us drove into dinner and sang along with my date's iPod all the way up, making tacky dancing-esque arm gestures to the rhythm. We ate dinner at Jacobi's in Walla Walla. While we waited for ou...
The Times invites readers to share their thoughts on our Opinion Page. Letters to the Editor can be emailed to us at editor@waitsburgtimes.comeditor@waitsburgtimes.com, or mailed to The Times at 139 Main, P.O. Box 97, Waitsburg, WA 99361. Letters can also be hand-delivered to our office. Letters should be no more than 400 words long. All letters must be signed by the writer(s) using their actual name, and complete contact information for each writer, including ad- dress and phone number must be included. We reserve the right to decline to...
I f you own property in the Dayton School District, the district is getting ready to hit you up for money for a major renovation project. During their meeting last week, the facilities committee made a preliminary decision to move ahead with a plan for a $24.2 million project with $19.5 million of that being financed through taxpayer supported bonds. This is all described in our front page story this week, including the fact that voters will likely be asked to ap- prove the bond in a levy measure in April. If you live in the Waitsburg school...
