Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Sorted by date Results 1605 - 1629 of 2504
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...
Dear Editor, What is on my mind and beating on my ears is the noise created by the loud music (if that's what you call it) and roaring vehicles of young guys who have no respect for others. I can't use my front bedroom, except when I have guests I have to. It doesn't do any good to call the Sheriff's Office. They make a friendly visit and nothing changes. The punks roar up and down the street right past a Deputy's home. This happens as late as 10:30 at night. A recent morning it was 1:30. It goes on day and night in the garage that is a magnet...
Dear Editor, Karen and I are wrapping up our third year in business as Waitsburg Cottages, and have heard many wonder- ful compliments from our guests, who occasionally take the time to post their re- views online. This comment was so genuinely joyful that we felt it should be shared with the entire community. "We knew we were enter- ing a special place when we arrived in Waitsburg--a town with no stop lights, and endless sidewalks; a town where you can walk as long as you want, alone, day or night, with no worry or fear, and where you are...
OLYMPIA - Washing- ton's leading agricultural groups representing tens of thousands of family farmers and food processors throughout the state have announced their strong opposition to Ini- tiative 522, calling it a costly, unfair and misleading food labeling measure. More than 30 agricultural groups and growers' organi- zations throughout the state, representing thousands of family farmers, have joined a broad coalition that has come together to defeat the measure, which will appear before voters on the Novem- ber 2013 statewide ballot....
A n idyllic English classroom sits on the third floor of a ven- erable high school. Its tall windows are open and au- tumn sunlight spills over the semicircle of gray Formica tables where a handful of earnest eleventh-grade schol- ars discuss the latest turn of events in Arthur Miller's "The Crucible." Lopsided piles of candy-colored binders and textbooks teeter at the elbows of each student in the classroom, and the big round clock on the wall above the teacher's desk displays a time...
A s The Times was going to press this week, our subscribers in Dayton and Walla Walla were still patiently (and sometimes not so patiently) wait- ing for last week's edition to arrive in their mailboxes. As of Tuesday, several hundred copies of The Times were lost somewhere in Post Office-land. We are working to find them and we will do everything we can to get our readers outside of Waitsburg their belated copies of the October 10 issue of the paper. Until now, when we delivered papers to the Waitsburg Post Office, the copies addressed to...
Why bother voting? There is a slew of races for local positions on this year's ballot for the gen- eral election, but none of them are contested. So we already know who's going to win. Well, okay, there's one contested judicial election, but heck, we've never heard of either of those guys. So who cares? There are a couple of state-wide initiatives, but nobody really pays any attention to those either. And anyway, who cares? Well, here at The Times, actually, we care. We go to a lot of city council and school board and hospital board meetings. M...
One time last winter when Dizzy and I were alone at the Seven Porches Guest House, I heard some inexplicable sounds in the big empty house at night. The hinge of a downstairs door open- ing while it was windless outside. Dizzy sat up and issued a low growl. I told him not to worry. It was just Stella, I assured him, and she was friendly. He relaxed as though he had understood me or maybe it was the lack of apprehension in my voice. Stella Stimmel, who, along with her husband, had our house on...
Mom warned me about waiting too long to start typing. "Do it as soon as you can, before you feel any worse," she said. "It'll be easier on you." I mumbled something in reply and continued plowing through my PSAT practice. My throat ached just a bit, my nose was beginning to stuff up, and I had a low- grade fever that disappeared right about when I reached the critical reading section. I didn't see any harm in finishing the sample test, or in grading it, or in the minimeltdown that ensued when...
Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers has been busy the past couple of weeks. I know this because I get three or four emails a day from her office telling me about all of her activities. These emails also keep assuring me what a great world we'd live in if only those darned Demo- crats would quit being so unreasonable. As The Times was going to press, much of the federal government was still shut down and federal debt limit was getting closer and closer. The Republican leaders in House of...
I first read about Where’d You Go, Bernadette?, by Maria Semple, in People magazine – one of my favor- ite sources for book reviews. The cover art caught my eye and the review was glowing, but since I’m not a big fan of mixed media books, I didn’t pursue it. Then just recently I saw it mentioned again in Ladies Home Journal – or was it Oprah? – as one of the funniest books some famous person had read this year. I requested it from the library the next day. Bernadette Fox is a beau- tiful, vivaci...
I don't know about you, but life is suddenly feel- ing a bit chaotic. Between school, sports, work and life in general, there seems to be more that needs done than there is time to do it. Since I'm guessing few of us have time to waste (or would at least prefer to "waste" time in an enjoy- able manner) I thought I'd devote this media review to some timesaving Google search and keyboard tricks that I find myself using regularly. I tend to think every- one already knows these little gems, but am...
I had a visit from an old friend recently. He came all the way from Viet- nam. Some of you may recall how just a few years ago, I wrote a series of articles for this page about the work of Clear Path International (www.cpi.org). I co-founded this organization with three friends from Bainbridge Island and Vermont. It's mis- sion to help survivors of land mine accidents. For nine years, I was involved in the creation, development and growth of CPI until I left the western part of the state to...
I am excited. On the day this paper comes out, I will turn sixteen. That's exciting, but that's not why I'm excited. On October 16, I will be sixteen years, one week, and six days old. I will also be taking the PSAT (also known as the Painful, Slimy and Atrocious Torture). That is most definitely not why I'm excited. Five days after the afore- mentioned ordeal, I will hopefully have a sufficient number of functioning brain cells to participate in the first Knowledge Bowl meet of the year. That...
A s The Times went to press Tuesday, the federal gov- ernment was shut down and politicians of all stripes were playing the blame game. So were newspaper editorial writers. Some pundits think linking Obamacare to a federal budget extension is a form of hostage taking. Others deem it a totally responsible reaction to the will of the people. We won't jump on any of those bandwagons, mostly because there wouldn't be enough room here once we got started. But we took a few minutes to search some internet news sites, so we could share some of the...
