Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Sorted by date Results 654 - 678 of 2504
In 2016 Washington lawmakers passed a bill called Ricky’s Law. The law allows mental health providers to order patients who are drug addicted into a locked detox center if he or she is an imminent danger to self or others. Ricky’s Law extends a law that already allowed health providers to confine people for mental health reasons. The law went into effect on April 1....
Dear Editor, The Waitsburg Times account of publisher Ken Graham’s interview with County Commissioner Todd Kimball was accurate as far as it went. It gave more than adequate coverage to the Commissioners’ perspectives on the Dozier’s request to start a water bottling business on their land. What was missing was any acknowledgment whatsoever of the well-reasoned legal, zoning and resource-savvy positions that oppose this misuse of the county’s valuable and limited water supply. The Times repeated the claim that since wineries and distilleries ar...
"It's the most contentious issue we've faced since I've been a commissioner, by far." That was Walla Walla County Commissioner Todd Kimball, talking about a proposed zoning change to allow water bottling facilities in agricultural-zoned land in the county. Commissioner Kimball and I met at The Times' office in Waitsburg last week to discuss that contentious issue, and why he and fellow commissioners Jim Johnson and Jim Duncan voted unanimously to allow the Walla Walla Planning Commission to...
Dear Editor, I am dismayed that “one of us,” the Doziers, would request permission to ship raw water out of our semi-arid area. Further, I am even more disappointed in our county commissioners for entertaining such a request. Our water should only be removed from our area in an added value state, such as farm or garden produce, not in tankers or bottles. Those of us who continually have to negotiate with state agencies to maintain our rights for irrigation water should find this bottled water request completely out of line and not be con...
Dear Editor, There are a bunch of wonderful people working hard to bring our annual celebration to our great, One-of-a-Kind, little city. That event is Waitsburg Celebration Days and it is being planned for the weekend of May 18, 19 and 20. So far, our community has responded very well to helping make this weekend really special. The Parade will once again be held on Armed Forces Day, and so the theme will be “Celebrate Waitsburg, the American Way”. As Waitsburg citizens are wonderful volunteers, we (The Parade Committee) are seeking nom...
Dear Editor, Several groups have offered input concerning the fairgrounds. The latest, the Grandstand Advisory Committee, was created by council. It was created to exist for a limited time which, I believe, has expired. Due to busy lives this committee met no more than a half-dozen times and never had all members present. There were varying opinions by Committee members at the last meeting regarding public interest. That led to the request for an advisory vote on the city election ballot. Currently the grandstands are a potential liability. Som...
Randy Hinchliffe: city of Waitsburg After many years under lease by the Days of Real Sport, Inc., the city of Waitsburg took back control of the Waitsburg Fairgrounds facility in 2005. The city proceeded to annex the property into the city limits and set up rules and guidelines for the use of the facility. In addition, we attempted to keep up with the multitude of deferred maintenance items present at the facility as a means to make them more attractive and usable again. With the end of small track horse racing in Washington and the...
After enormous public outcry, stirred by newspaper editorials across the state, Gov. Jay Inslee vetoed Senate Bill 6617, the Legislative Public Records Act. There's a great deal of misinformation disseminated about the bill, what it would and wouldn't do, and the newspapers have drawn into question the lawmakers who supported it. I'd like to explain why I voted for this bill. Since the Public Records Act (PRA) passed in 1972, the Legislature has maintained it is an independent branch of governme...
For this month’s article, I thought I would focus on one of the city most unique attributes; our city election. Since the city still operates under its original 1881 charter, we are governed by a slightly different set of rules when it comes to a variety of tasks; one of them being our election. The charter lays out the basics process of the Election in that it will be held annually on the first Monday in April for the position of Mayor and all five council members. Where this deviates from the rest of the state is in that other elected o...
Dear Editor, I received my property tax bill last week. It was really high. But then again, I knew it would be, because the Washington State Legislature in 2017 imposed new taxes upon the citizenry in order to “fully fund our schools.” Just how much that translated into as additional taxes, I did not know for sure until the tax statement arrived in the mail, three days after the election date for the Dayton Schools $800,000 Capital Levy. Carolyn Henderson Dayton...
If you’re a faithful reader of this newspaper you know that I’ve spent the last few weeks working in the Dayton Chamber of Commerce office while we – the board of directors – recruit a new executive director. (And if you’re not a faithful reader, thanks for checking in anyway.) You’ve also probably noticed that I haven’t been contributing a whole lot of writing to these pages recently. I’ve been extremely fortunate to have a staff that is smart, talented and dedicated enough to put out an exce...
The City of Waitsburg has several items it would like to share with you related to City activities for 2018. First, you probably have noticed that your utility rates went up with the January billing. This increase was approved early in 2017 and covered 2017, 2018 and beyond. Its sole purpose is to cover debt service on loan dollars for improvements to the City’s infrastructure; I will get to those details in a moment. Second, with the cleanup of the Wastewater Treatment Plan (WWTP) area complete, all recycling has been moved to that f...
....
To the Editor: Isn’t it funny how, within the mass propaganda campaign to “Vote Yes for Our Kids,” so little is mentioned about how the taxes we are encouraged to regularly, every two years, levy upon ourselves are not predominantly spent on school maintenance and repairs? Four years ago, the Dayton School District floated a (failed) 20-year, $19.9 million construction bond to fix a school they lamented was simply falling apart. In an April 5, 2014 Union Bulletin article by Rachel Alexander, superintendent Doug Johnson brought out, reluc...
Dear Editor, Washington State’s governor appears not to have understood when voters expressed their opinion of a carbon tax at the polls. Governor Inslee continues to press that issue in an interesting manner. Staffer Chris Davis has been working from Africa on that issue for the governor. Working remotely takes on a new meaning. Is Davis still being paid by state taxpayers for working from afar on one of the governor’s pet projects which voters turned down? Also according to the Seattle Times, another Inslee advisor, Reed Schuler, is bei...
Dear Editor, We are writing in support of the upcoming Dayton School District capital projects levy. This levy will replace the current 2017-2018 levy. The primary purpose for this levy is to upgrade the boiler systems for the School District. The boilers for the Elementary and High School buildings are 33 years old and have reached the end of their estimated lifespans. The Ag - Wood Shop boiler is the oldest at 52 years old. The large hot water heater unit is also over 30 years old. The aging equipment continues to have breakdowns and is not...
Dear Editor: It is once again time to for Columbia County residents to give serious thought to Dayton’s school and its infrastructure. A school is just like our own homes; it has buildings and systems that need constant care and do not last forever. Heating equipment gets old, fails, and requires expensive repairs. Water heaters fail and must be replaced. Dayton School District is facing issues like these right now. A large water heater/heat exchanger unit is over 30 years old and its reliability is a concern. Three heating boilers need to be r...
Thanks to Terry Jacoy for his vote against entering into an agreement with the Corps of Engineers to fund a study of Waitsburg’s flooding by the Touchet River and Coppei Creek. Councilman Jacoy’s dissent of this study shows someone is thinking with open eyes that such knowledge is at the exclusion of wisdom. Waitsburg’s $225,000.00 share in a $550,000.00 package would go a long ways in lessening this city’s flood damage in order to clean out and deepen the river bottom in and beyond city boundaries. Doing what is needed, not “studyi...
By Don C. Brunell Our parents drilled into our heads that saying “please” and “thank you” were not only part of everyday life, but were essential to operating a successful business. They are the basic ingredients of “Good Manners.” For more than 30 years, our family owned and operated the garbage collection business for Walkerville, a small incorporated Montana city north of Butte. It was part-time operation, which required about 8 hours a week. In the early 1950s, our family posted a $100 bond...
....
....
By Don C. Brunell Curbside recycling bins are packed with cardboard shipping boxes from Christmas online shopping. The uptick in consumer shipments is not only good news for the U.S. Postal Service, FedEx and UPS, but our nation’s papermakers. According to Mastercard Spending Pulse, U.S. year-end holiday retail sales rose nearly five percent compared to the same period last year while online purchases shot up more than 18 percent. USA Today reported “despite thousands of store closings this yea...
....
by Don C. Brunell Christmas is an especially difficult time for anyone grieving for lost loved ones. It is especially painful for America’s military families whose son, daughter, spouse or parent was killed while serving in uniform. Normally, the fallen are remembered on Memorial Day, but thanks to a Maine family and over hundreds of thousand donors and volunteers, more than 1.5 million wreaths were laid on the tombstones of our fallen soldiers, sailors and airmen on December 16. The panoramic v...
....
