Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Sorted by date Results 902 - 926 of 2504
Dear Editor, The actions of Waitsburg City Council during the last few months have been an embarrassment to our city. We are particularly ashamed of the way certain members of our Council, at the last council meeting, appeared to be orchestrating a witch hunt against our City Administrator, Randy Hinchliffe. They had plenty of criticism for his purchase of a $20,000 piece of equipment, however, not one word of appreciation for the $130,000 grant that he successfully obtained. This must stop. Deanne Johnson Waitsburg...
Dear Editor, A couple of weeks ago my wife and I stopped in Waitsburg to stretch our legs on our long wander from northern Washington to our home in southern Utah. We visited the antique store, saw sidewalk art, and had iced tea and cookies at the hardware store. My wife and I like buildings and you folks have a bunch of interesting houses. We spent more time walking around looking at nicely crafted structures. At some point I walked back to our truck parked on Main Street to get something. Just as I pulled my head back out of the cab I was...
Dear Editor, Questions that you may be interested in finding the answers to: What city council person convinced the council to allow him/her to manage the fairgrounds, then hired his/her son from the profits? Which city council person failed to advise the council of this action, and apparently failed to have a “scope of work” contract in place? What city council person is unable to keep his/her personal beliefs from playing a part in his/her decisions that affect the whole city? What city council person has demonstrated a personal vendetta agai...
Imagine what could happen if Donald Trump hadn’t turned the presidential campaign into an argument over who founded Islamic State or whether there should be ideological entrance tests for foreign visitors and immigrants. Then he and Hillary Clinton could have a rational debate over taxes, a serious topic on which they have clear differences. Trump wants to cut taxes massively, especially for the wealthy, which he claims will stimulate unprecedented growth. Clinton wants to boost taxes on corporations and the rich and use the revenue to c...
It has a chubby little body, a big head and floppy little limbs. It has high, babylike voice, a button nose and a little mouth. It has big bright eyes and rosy cheeks. It giggles and squeals. But unlike a human baby, it is also bright yellow and makes a springing noise when it hops. Of all the “pocket monsters” that people can hunt in Pokémon Go, the popular mobile game that has swept the world, the most universally beloved is Pikachu, the yellow “rodent Pokémon” that is the franchise’s mascot. Pikachu’s popularity is no accident. Wit...
When I was in high school in the outskirts of Vancouver, Wash., our football team sucked. Actually, most of our sports teams did. And I always thought it would be a lot more fun to be at a school that won the state championship. Waitsburg got to experience a state championship five years ago, when coach Jeff Bartlow led the Waitsburg-Prescott Cardinals to victory in the Tacoma Dome in 2011. In the 2B state championship game that year, the Cardinals crushed Morton/White Pass 33-7, to cap an...
RIO DE JANEIRO - During the Opening Ceremonies, they would have waved a green flag that featured a cartoon duck and marched between the small Olympic teams from Oman and Pakistan. They would have had more athletes than either country. In fact, had the University of Oregon seceded from the union or somehow been granted sovereignty and entered these Rio de Janeiro Olympics as an independent nation, it’d likely fare quite well. With 18 current and former Ducks competing in track and field events here, the school can lay claim to more Olympic a...
Overlooked so far is how some folks gained information of Nestle’s interest in Waitsburg’s water. “Rumor has it” was the reference given in a letter to the editor which appeared in the June 30, 2016 edition of The Times. If Nestle’s interest in Waitsburg was discussed during Executive Session at the June 15 Waitsburg City Council Meeting and the “rumor” mentioned in the June 30 letter-to-the-editor came from an attendee within that executive session, that is troublesome, since the purpose of an executive session is to allow confidential...
Dear Editor, A reasonable and mature individual, purporting to have the community at heart, upon hearing that a major corporation is interested in establishing a widget factory in their city would and should be gaga, as in Lady Gaga. Heck, color me William Gaga. I see Waitsburg as the lonely school girl sitting against the wall at the ‘sock hop,’ just a wishing and a hoping someone will ask her to the dance. Hoping someone will think her worthy of at least one dance. In her mind she says, “Won’t someone see me and care?” In my mind I see her l...
My name is Ian Smay, and for the last three months, I have spent my summer break as an intern/freelance writer for The Times. In less than a week, I will move back to Pullman to start my sophomore year at Washington State University. I attended Dayton High School where I graduated with the class of 2015. When I was younger, journalism was not the route I had planned in life. I wanted to work in sports as a trainer. Sometime around my freshman or sophomore year of high school, that changed....
There has never been a worse time to declare your politics publicly, according to a new and nationally representative online poll conducted by the Rad Campaign, Craig Connects and Lincoln Strategies. This year’s survey, the second in a biannual series, found that nearly a third of all Internet-using adults self-report that they’ve been “harassed online for expressing political opinions.” That abuse is highest among Democrats, the highly political and those ages 55 to 64. It’s also nearly double the rate of political harassment that users report...
I was one of those who attended the community meeting last Tuesday, August 2nd. I found it really ugly. It is really sad to see the Waitsburg community torn apart like this. But a few things I noticed – one woman stated she did not want a water bottling plant in the Walla Walla Valley. Until one is planned for the Walla Walla Valley, I am not sure if she personally has anything to protest. Waitsburg is in the Touchet River Valley. I heard one woman say she wants to keep Waitsburg the way it is and does not want it to change. It is too late – Wa...
I don’t live in Waitsburg, but I own a business here, and I definitely have a stake in its economic future. So it’s been puzzling to me to see the reaction of many Waitsburg residents to the news that Nestle Waters is considering purchasing water from the city and building a bottling plant here. This has the potential to provide new revenue for the city, create some good new jobs and increase the tax base. The outrage started as soon as word got out that there might be rumors that Nestle mig...
The Democratic line on Donald Trump is beginning to sound - bear with me on this - a little like arguments made for continued government funding of public broadcasting. One the one hand, we’re told, public money makes up only a small part of the Public Broadcasting Service’s budget. On the other, cutting that allegedly small amount would do irreparable harm to American civilization. You understand what’s meant by these arguments, but you want to say, “Well, which is it?” Hillary Clinton’s general-election campaign hasn’t begun in earnest, but...
Dear Editor Thank you to all the fire departments and the farmers with equipment who came to fight the fire at my place on Saturday night. I also want to thank everyone who stopped by with kind words and phone calls to commiserate. Your support means a great deal. Ivadell Nordheim Waitsburg...
[Editor’s note: This article, including the above heading and subhead, appeared on the front page of The Waitsburg Times in its July 28, 1916 edition. Harvest was running a little late that year.] The past week has proven ideal for the ripening of grain altho (sic) a little breeze Monday and Tuesday started the shattering of the wheat a little. The first of the week will see many machines in the field as most of the farmers are all ready and have their harvest crews together, awaiting only the sufficient ripening of the grain. Harvesting is a...
The presidential nominee quoted Franklin D. Roosevelt and Thomas Paine, the most radical of the Founding Fathers. He asked all Americans for their support. “More than anything else,” he said, “I want my candidacy to unify our country; to renew the American spirit and sense of purpose. I want to carry our message to every American, regardless of party affiliation, who is a member of this community of shared values.” This was Ronald Reagan, accepting the nomination of the Republican Party on July 17, 1980, at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit with a...
Canada’s wheat farmers still have more than a month before they start the bulk of this season’s grain harvest, but they’re already worried about where to store a bumper crop. Even though growers planted less after prices fell last year, beneficial weather boosted the outlook for yields across Canada’s Prairies. The potential for near-record output means farmers are stocking up on grain bags to store wheat on the ground amid expectations that bins and silos will be overflowing. “There’s such a demand because the crop looks so big this year,...
Dear Editor, I want to take a moment and thank Perry Dozier for his eight years of passionate service to our community and for his outstanding leadership on the Walla Walla County Board of Commissioners. We should all thank Perry for his excellent representation on the board which serves our community. Whoever takes Perry’s place on the board of commissioners not only has big shoes to fill but also must be a good representative of our community. The commissioner of a district deals with the constituent issues in that district but that same c...
Dear Editor, To all the brave fire fighters who fought the fire at Mace Matheny’s property here at Starbuck, Washington, on Sunday, July 17 and Monday, July 18, I cannot express to you how grateful I am that no one was injured and none of the equipment was damaged. Had the hitch not been broke on “Big Red” (my wheel tractor), I could have quickly disked a fire line to try and contain the fire. Both Mace and I thank you all, from the bottom of our hearts. Doris Matheny Starbuck...
