Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

Commentary


Sorted by date  Results 1755 - 1779 of 2504

Page Up

  • Raise the Bar, it’s the Season

    Apr 25, 2013

    I n this issue of the Times, we have included our twice-annual Touchet River Valley Visitor's Guide for spring and summer. Copies are also available at the Times office and the Chamber of Commerce in Dayton. All businesses are en- couraged to get a stack and come back when they run out. Readers will have them here as an insert in the paper to remind them what we have to offer and share with visiting relatives. We print 10,000 of the 32-page tab and distribute them in the Tri Cit- ies, Walla...

  • Thank You, Bettie

    Apr 25, 2013

    Shortly after we posted the sad news that Bettie Chase left us, the comments poured in to our Facebook page from everywhere. "She was a grand lady," one reader wrote. "A true icon to our community," said another. "She was a kind, delightful woman with a fabulous sense of humor," noted a third. "She was always there when someone needed some- thing." And in almost every comment was this sentiment, now echoing throughout our community: "She will be missed." She will indeed. The town and the valley somehow feel quieter and perhaps a bit less...

  • Political Cartoon

    Apr 25, 2013

  • Emma Philbrook: Student Life

    Apr 18, 2013

    A h, prom. It comes but once a year and for only a few years in a given lifetime. It's opulent, flashy, hyperbolistic, and occasionally controversial. (Remember last year's vig- orous debate over a certain highly divisive set of grind- ing rules? Good, neither do I.) They say it's the best event of the best days of your life, the very crème de le crème of the high school experience, a magically sub- lime event where every girl is a princess and every boy minds his manners and all your dreams come true. I'm not going. I attempted to explain this...

  • Dear Editor,

    Apr 18, 2013

    The talent show on Satur- day evening was a big suc- cess. The Citizenship Class from the middle school was overwhelmed by the support the community gave them in helping to raise funds for the Brooks family to reestablish their home following a fire. The dessert donations for the silent auction were amazing and the selection very diverse. The bidding became pretty competitive and was fun to watch. The Citizenship Class or- ganized the talent show and students from both the high school and middle school preformed for two hours. Admission was by...

  • Thank You to Brooks Family Contributors

    Apr 18, 2013

    Dear Editor, We just want to say thank you to ALL that have helped us. This would include the Waitsburg Fire District 2, Co- lumbia County 3, and Waits- burg Ambulance Service. And not just agencies that are expected to show up in emergencies, but our com- munity as well. Those of you that have come forward and helped with washing clothes and dishes or donated clothing, household items and financial donations to help us get back into a house. A special thank you to those that participated in the Talent Show, Saturday. We feel so very blessed...

  • Why not “Waitsburg Prescott Jubilee?”

    Apr 18, 2013

    I n 2009, the first year of the Waitsburg Prescott combine, all of two Ju- bilee athletes participated in the program: one in football and one in track. This school year (2012 - 2013), athletes from the ranch for at-risk teenage boys in Eureka took up 34 slots on Cardinals and Ti- gers teams, including 11 in football, 5 in cross country, 8 in basketball, 5 in wrestling and 7 in baseball. We say "slots" here because a number of athletes play multiple sports. In the Sports Section of this week's...

  • Health System Squeezed Again

    Apr 18, 2013

    Sometimes national news hits home. It did recently for the Columbia County Health System when CFO John Hennessey announced that the local health service will likely see a reduction in Medicare payments of around $93,000 in the next 12 months. The federal budget sequester, which made across-the- board budget cuts to many federal agencies, also caused reductions in Medicare payments to healthcare providers. "Our income is about 55% Medicare," said CCHS CEO Dale Polla, stressing that any changes in that federal pro- gram have a big effect...

  • Political Cartoon

    Apr 18, 2013

  • Spring Break Haiku

    Emma Philbrook, The Times|Apr 11, 2013

    Last week was one of those "Water, water, everywhere, and not a drop to drink" weeks in terms of column material. I was busy all week doing all kinds of fun things (it was Spring Break, after all), but all of the aforementioned fun things fall into one of three categories - A, not long enough to fill a whole column; B, too long to fill a column but not quite sus- penseful enough to serialize; and C, top-secret material not meant for civilian ears. So, expressly for your benefit, I have...

  • Dayton Youth “Draw the Line”

    Apr 11, 2013

  • Honoring Tribes As Neighbors

    Apr 11, 2013

    I t appears that an invi- tation from Waitsburg Mayor Walt Gobel to the Confederated Indian Tribes of the Umatilla Reserva- tion has been well received. Earlier this year, Gobel sent a letter to the tribes asking them to join the May 18 parade marking the 100th anniversary of the Days of Real Sport. According to the April edition of the Confederated Umatilla Journal, a group on the reservation is form- ing an all-volunteer parade contingent to prepare for the tribes' participation in the...

  • Election Time Again?

    Apr 11, 2013

    I t seems like we're just recovering from a rough election season, and it must be too soon for another. But, in fact, a long slate of local non-partisan positions is coming open this year in Columbia and Walla Walla Counties. They include city and school board positions, along with several commission seats. The list below includes the open positions in our area, along with the names of the incumbents. The filing period for all of these positions is May 13 - 17. For any position receiving more than two filers, a primary runoff will be held...

  • Political Cartoon

    Apr 11, 2013

  • SOFTWARE

    Dena Wood, The Times|Apr 4, 2013

    I consider myself a reluctant fan of Facebook. I appreciate the way it allows me to keeps friends and fam- ily close at heart. Without it, I wouldn’t be able to view my teenage niece’s photo shoots, admire my baby brother’s lat- est ironwork creations, keep tabs on high school classmates or, most importantly, receive regular updates on the antics of my angelic infant granddaughter. Without Facebook, it’s highly possible I might still be under the impression that “Duck Dynasty” is some kind o...

  • BOOKS

    Amy Rosenberg|Apr 4, 2013

    Amy Rosenberg is the new branch manager at the Dayton Memorial Library. Some readers may know her from her previous job as the Prescott Library branch supervisor. She moved to Dayton from Pendleton about a year and a half ago and she is working on her Masters of Library and Information Science degree through the University of Washington Information School’s on- line program. Although she doesn’t have a lot of time to read for pleasure during the school year, she is a constant, if not very dis...

  • Correction

    Apr 4, 2013

    A student chior shown in a photo on Page 5 of last weeks Times was incorrectly identified as the Waitsburg High School Choir. The photo actually shows the Round Valley High School Show Choir from Round Valley, Arizona, which was per- forming for students at Waitsburg High during an assembly. The choir was on a tour around the Northwest U.S....

  • Dear Editor,

    Apr 4, 2013

    Since we have recently read about so much dishonesty with a Walla Walla car dealership, I felt compelled to share a story of integrity, honesty and just all-around good people in that same industry. Recently, my husband and I purchased a used Lexus RX 300 with low miles. We did not purchase an extended warranty, accepting it as-is. Three weeks after owning it, I was driving to Dayton and heard a loud knocking and squealing. I pulled over and called the tow truck. We ended up taking it to Abaji- ans to have it diagnosed and were informed that...

  • Knowledge Bowl Blues - Part II

    Emma Philbrook, The Times|Apr 4, 2013

    I remember walking into the tiebreaker room the same way I had walked into Arlington High School - shuddering and wilted. My teammates were vigorously trying to calm me down, as- suring me that we had beaten this team in the preliminary rounds, but nothing helped. My head swam. My heart throbbed. I knew we were doomed. A student from Davenport was assigned to keep score. Using a fat green marker, he printed SUDDEN DEATH MATCH: WAITSBURG vs. DAVENPORT on the room's whiteboard. The moderator, a ba...

  • Loving to Hate Planning

    Apr 4, 2013

    When the owner of the Inland Octopus Toy Store in Walla Walla wanted to put a new sign on the front of his store in 2010, he showed his plan to the City planning department. He was told that his pro- posed sign - a mural showing a cartoon-like image of an octopus - at the size he wanted to paint it would violate the city's sign code. Over Labor Day weekend that year, he put it up any- way. After numerous legal challenges, and even more nu- merous newspaper articles reporting on them, the sign- owner lost his final appeal to the U.S. Supreme...

  • Wake up and smell…

    Apr 4, 2013

    Some say they prefer not to wake up to this smell of coffee. Most Waitsburgers are familiar with it. It comes in the form of smoke billowing from a stack at the anony- mous storefront between the old La Monarca Mexican restaurant and the Waits- burg Grocery store on Main Street. Local residents have put up with the emissions from Dyer Straits Coffee for years, but it has begun to affect other businesses downtown and some of the business owners want some- thing done about it. Before I get...

  • Political Cartoon

    Apr 4, 2013

  • Things That Go ‘Beep’ in the Night

    Mar 28, 2013

    I am a self-proclaimed lover of technology. It's a passion that has caused me to be called a few names, and it occasionally costs me a little more money than I should be willing to part with. But it's an incredible and overwhelmingly won- derful field. Technology is a pretty broad term and I am fond of that. Of course my love for all things that go "beep" in the night isn't constrained to the MyFace status updates or those six Chirper posts every second. My love for technol- ogy isn't even...

  • Emma Philbrook: Student Life

    Mar 28, 2013

    The Waitsburg High School Knowledge Bowl team placed ninth at state this year. Last year, we were young- er, less prepared, had poorer team communication, and lacked the snazzy coordinat- ing T-shirts that the Booster Club gave us for the 2013 trip to State. But we managed to place fifth that year. Yes, I'm upset about the drop in ranking. But I'm also relieved that we even man- aged to bring home a plaque. I was shaking as our team walked into Arlington High School last Saturday morning. Having placed first in Regionals, our team would be comp...

  • Traveling with the Governor

    Mar 28, 2013

    Despite being heir to a fortune, Booth Gardner was a humble soul Almost a quarter century ago I worked as a public in- formation officer for the then Department of Trade & Economic Development in Olympia. Among other things, I wrote news releas- es, newsletters and briefing materials about the agency's activities. These included in- ternational trade promotion, small business assistance, tourism, film location servic- es, economic development and business retention. John Anderson ran the...

Page Down