Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
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Dear Editor, I was proud to run for Congress last year to stand up for my community. I’m so thankful to all of you who supported me with your donations, your time, and your kind words. I’m reaching out today because there is another important fight on your ballot this November. Initiative 1000/Referendum 88 is our best chance in two decades to end our state’s regressive ban on affirmative action and restore fairness and opportunity to all Washingtonians. As a higher education leader in Spokane, I saw firsthand the benefit that diversity has i...
Dear Editor, Thank you Everett Maroon for a detailed letter to the editor informing readers of the history of police deliberating on providing Narcan to victims of opioid overdoses. This will be instructive and helpful information as Waitsburg moves forward in broadening improved public health services to citizens. Terry Lawhead, Waitsburg...
WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Allied Health Workforce Diversity Act, legislation that Eastern Washington Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA-05) joined in introducing, overwhelmingly passed the House included in the EMPOWER Health Act of 2019 (H.R. 2781). This legislation will provide funding for colleges and universities to make physical therapy, occupational therapy, audiology, and speech-language pathology programs more accessible to underrepresented communities, including those who are racial or ethnic minorities or from disadvantaged b...
The Times welcomes Letters to the Editor and invites readers to share their ideas, concerns and thoughts on matters of importance on our Opinion Page. Letters to the Editor can be emailed to editor@waitsburgtimes.com, or mailed to The Times at P.O. Box 97, Waitsburg, WA 99361. Letters can also be hand-delivered to our office. Deadline for letters is Tuesday at noon. Letters may be no more than 400 words long. All letters must be signed by the writer(s) using their actual name, and complete...
To the Editor: When Blue Mountain Heart to Heart and other participating sites around the state gave our Narcan to law enforcement units, we did it on the agreement that it could be used both in the field to support laypeople in overdose, or to rescue a fellow officer should such a need arise. More precisely, we expected the medication would be used to reverse overdoses agnostic of whether that person was a law enforcement officer or not. At the time I distributed the naloxone to the Walla...
Imagine tuning into the Sunday morning talk shows and wondering if the politicians and commentators could possibly find something positive to say about one another or the state of affairs in America. Unfortunately, there is a better chance of snowball lasting in a sauna. But suddenly on October 20 there was a surprise: “BREAKING NEWS” moving across the bottom of the screen about an apple developed in Washington State. Television pundits ignored it; however, the internet was stocked with sto...
Dear Editor: Columbia County residents are fortunate to have the services we do through Columbia County Public Transportation. For the past few summers, CCPT has made available free rides for a portion of the summer season by using some of their designated funds in creative ways. What a gift to be so rural and yet forward-thinking about mobility for all of us! An initiative on this season’s Washington state voters ballot could change our local public transit services, and it needs your attention. Washington Initiative 976, “Limits on Motor Veh...
My name is Katie Leid and I am running for re-election to Dayton School Board, position #4. For those of you who are not familiar with me, I grew up in the Touchet Valley, graduated from Waitsburg High School, married my childhood sweetheart, followed and helped him receive his college and advanced degrees, raised two very successful children and completed my education at Washington State University over twenty years ago. We moved back “home” when I accepted the elementary/middle school principal’s position in Dayton in July, 2003. After an ama...
Ballots to vote for the next Mayor of Dayton will be arriving in the mail very soon. If you have not become informed regarding each candidate’s qualifications, I encourage you to do so. Too often in today’s society, elected officials are placed in their positions based on popularity or the likability factor, not based on the person with the best qualifications. Just because a person is your friend doesn’t make them the best person for the job. Dayton residents have three candidates willing to put their names forward for a job often met with...
Dear Editor: Last week’s column (Turn America’s innovators loose on greenhouse gases – Don Brunell) began with a limp denial of the consequences of greenhouse gases and proceeded to use decades old unscientific information from around the world to, as far as I could tell, justify the author’s faulty claim that innovation in America is being stifled by his catch-all word, “government”. On the contrary, America’s entrepreneurs have never been busier at inventing new products as have other global innovators living under other governments....
Assuming that reducing greenhouse gases are an ongoing challenge, we need government policies and the “political will” to turn our nation’s entrepreneurs and researchers lose to take risks and innovate. We must establish reasonable laws and regulations that also protect our environment and our citizens’ health and safety while providing jobs and affordable products—no easy task. Science Daily has published some promising research relating to carbon dioxide. Here are three examples: First, resear...
Hi, my name is Rod Johnson and my wife Lisa and I moved here to Waitsburg back in January. I have been told that in Waitsburg you are still new in town until the 2nd or 3rd generation. So I guess we are really new. Now I was actually born in Dayton, and while we moved away when I was an infant, we moved back when I was a teenager and I was there through my early twenties. Now I'm back and we love it here. We have been warmly welcomed here, and I have to say that the folks around here are super...
Let's take a break from our society's normal crudefest for a brief moment to honor civility. Cokie Roberts epitomized civility. She was no pushover -- far from it. When it was required, she was as hard as nails. In today's nasty society, she sometimes needed to be. But somehow, she maneuvered through all of our disagreements in ways that were entirely agreeable. Yes, I know: By now, you might be tired of hearing about Cokie from her colleagues and buddies. But Cokie's life is a symbol of what...
Dear Editor: I appreciated the side by side editorials in the recent Times and hope readers felt the friction of perspectives. Business pundit Don Brunell applied his predictable economic views to praise two controversial industries, forest management and railroads while heartbroken Swedish climate change spokesperson Greta Thunberg chastised politicians for their longstanding negligence. Brunell declares the success of his highlighted industries but laments their ‘story’ is not better publicized although I am certain that expensive public rel...
By Don C. Brunell Many years ago, a reporter asked George Weyerhaeuser, then CEO of Weyerhaeuser Co., why his company spent so much time and money informing its workers, public officials and people about its business of growing trees and converting those trees into lumber and paper products. His answer was simple. “People need to know what we do and why what we do is important to them.” He believed if people and elected officials understood Weyerhaeuser, they would make thoughtful decisions bas...
Climate activist Greta Thunberg, 16, addressed the U.N.'s Climate Action Summit in New York City on Monday. Here's the full transcript of Thunberg's speech, beginning with her response to a question about the message she has for world leaders. "My message is that we'll be watching you. "This is all wrong. I shouldn't be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you! "You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with...
I would like to take this opportunity to show my support for Byron Kaczmarski and Dain Nysoe who are both seeking to serve the Dayton City Council for another term. I have served on council as well as the finance committee with both of these men and have found them to be very well informed on the issues. I believe that every decision they made is made with the best interest of the citizens of Dayton in mind. The have had to make many tough decisions and those decisions have been made with thoughtfulness and integrity. For these reasons I will...
In comment to the negative letter in the Dayton Chronicle on 9/11/19 Miss Bailey is qualified for the position of City Planner She was the most qualified out of the several applicants for this job. Also, would the county have hired an unqualified planner? She has proven to the city to be above and beyond excellent in our dealings with her. One of the best planners we’ve had in my 19+ years on the council. She does NOT have big west side ideas like some people are spouting about. She is taking this job very seriously. Sometimes people don’t lik...
Dear Editor: The Touchet Valley Trail public meeting in Dayton Sept 16 was great. The Port of Columbia and Waitsburg Commercial Club put together informative presentations by staff, planners and technical experts and the audience was receptive. I enjoyed encountering and discussing more issues and answers than I expected to hear about because citizens who wanted evidence of intense due diligence got it. The trail is a complex project equal to any major infrastructure investment providing important outcomes to our communities and this is the...
The data is staggering: an estimated one in four businesses won’t reopen after a major disaster. The economic impact is crippling: the loss in revenues, inventory, property, wages and even jobs has an incredible ripple effect on local economies and global supply chains. The human impact is devastating: the stress and loss that comes from a disaster can be overwhelming, to say the least. Yet, studies show an estimated two out of three small businesses – or in some studies as high as three out...
Dear Editor, Upon reading Mr. Davison’s letter to the editor in the Sept 5th edition, I wanted to add another perspective. While Mr. Davison makes some valid points I will say upfront that I have a difference in opinion. I would prefer to see the City Hall remain at its current location and make only the renovations required to make it a safe and functional facility. We don’t need to do a total renovation/restoration in the short term, we can budget for and do further renovations over time, something along the lines of a 10 year plan. The...
When I returned to The Times in January of this year, it was with the goal and intent of helping new publisher Lane Gwinn and The Times staff achieve a shared vision of what The Times should and could be. In my first editorial of this year I wrote, “Our hope is that our readers walk away from each issue with something new to think about, talk about or apply to daily life.” I think we have accomplished that goal, and I hope that you, our readers, do as well. It is with some regret, that I ann...
Dear Editor, As a resident of Columbia County since 2010 and an avid cyclist in both Columbia County and Walla Walla County, I would like to make my voice heard in support of the Touchet Valley Trail. The trail as it is proposed is much needed. As a cyclist who often finds themselves on Highway 12 between Waitsburg and Dayton, I can say with authority that riding a bicycle on Highway 12 is both scary and dangerous. There are alternate routes for a cyclist to take. Those routes add miles and themselves are on roads frequented by large hauling...
Dear Editor and Waitsburg City Leaders, There are many arguments for keeping City Hall where it is, and the same can be said for moving to the former Jehovah’s Witness location. Most for keeping the current location deal with historical issues/opinions rather than practical ones, though this would not be the first time City Hall has been re-located. One of the arguments against moving has been the risk of another flood. My guess is adequate storage of records could be found to keep them safe in the event of another major flood. If there is a n...
By Andrea Weckmueller-Behringer Planning gives shape to, and documents, the vision of the desired future; as such, planning includes weighing possible options and alternatives, analyzing impacts and benefits, assessing potential challenges and obstacles, formulating strategies and actions, and seeking out funding and other resources. Currently, this very process is also being applied to the Touchet Valley Trail – envisioned as a paved multi-use pathway – connecting the cities of Dayton and Waitsburg. This proposed trail project was the hig...
