Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Sorted by date Results 1587 - 1611 of 2504
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...
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...
Together we re- mem- ber the life of an Eastern Washington giant, Tom Foley, who represented our Fifth Congressional District with distinction for thirty years. Even today, wheat farmers and all the citi- zens of our district ben- efÐit from the tremendous work he did to ensure that farmers had a voice in the nation's capital, to protect Fairchild, and improve infrastructure. He rose as high as a person can rise in politics, chosen by his col- leagues to be Speaker of the House, a position he...
This was one column I was just sure I would never live to type. No, I haven't been in mortal peril at any time in the last week, but it sure felt like it. Between the PSAT and the upcoming end of the quarter and Homecoming and Peter Pan rehearsal and generous helpings of homework, I have spent the past fourteen days, inches away from a nervous breakdown. And now it's finally over. The PSAT was easier than I thought it would be, which was either because I managed to study my way to success on it...
A week ago, representatives from the Washington Rural Health Association came to Dayton for a roundtable, sponsored by the Columbia County Health System. About 50 local residents attended and heard a presentation on the current state and the future of local and national healthcare. At the beginning of her presentation, moderator Sue De- itz presented some statistics her organization had gathered regarding demographics and health status of residents of CCHS's service area. The statistics were interesting, and in some cases, wor- rying. We'd like...
As I write this, my feet are burrowed under several layers of blankets, gradually thawing. I was at the school tonight helping decorate for Homecoming, and at one point I was asked to go out in the gym and test several strands of decorative lights. There were balloons scattered over the gym floor for safekeeping, as the hallway they would eventually hang in was teeming with stu- dents. One of the girls in my class had brought her little brother, a cute little boy who was fond of announc- ing...
My chil- dren believe one word can explain w hat they love about Halloween: CANDY! Yet I would argue that sweets are just the icing on the cake. Halloween is a day for tasting forbidden fruits. What's more thrilling than permission to wear a costume in public, walk the streets af- ter dark, knock on strangers' doors and, yes, fill bulging sacks with free sweets? But beyond these thrills, Halloween is a day for rev- eling in the macabre and purposefully seeking a case of the chills, whether...
Two weeks ago, five buildings in down- town Waitsburg - along with the White Stal- lion Restaurant, which is not truly downtown, but is still an important busi- ness property - were put on display. In her article on Page 5, Dena Wood describes the Waitsburg Commercial Club's tour of downtown buildings and the excellent response it got. All of the properties on the tour are for sale or for lease. Joy Smith and the Commercial Club are commended for helping to highlight these properties. Downtown...
