Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
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Since last Veteran’s Day, Ken Burns’ in-depth documentary on the Vietnam War has aired. It is a powerful reminder of an unpopular war in which many “baby boomers” fought and died. It also prompts memories of the brutal treatment of American POWs and 1,350 who were listed as missing in action after the war ended. Some remain lost today. Among the 571 American prisoners released in the winter of 1973 was U.S Army Maj. Ed Carlson, whose last assignment was senior Army advisor to the Washing...
While Seattle is growing rapidly, our rural areas continue to struggle. They don’t have the corporate giants such as Amazon, Microsoft and Boeing creating jobs and economic opportunities. Farms are predominantly family-owned. Today, there is a rejuvenated effort to bring prosperity to Washington’s rural communities. While agriculture is the largest sector, timber, manufacturing, high tech and energy provide opportunities as well. Rural jobs and economic revitalization are national in scope. Wri...
Last month, Seattle Times aerospace reporter Dominic Gates wrote about the similarities and differences between Boeing’s corporate office move to Chicago and Amazon’s plan for a second headquarters. Boeing wanted to leave Seattle in an effort to separate its corporate leadership from manufacturing sites while Amazon, with an unusual strategy, plans to keep its headquarters here but set up a parallel operation elsewhere. Boeing hoped to find a more conservative business climate while Amazon wan...
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Dear Editor, It’s only common sense that the bottom of the Touchet River needs to be cleaned out along with unclogging two of the three bays of the Preston Street Bridge east of town. It creates a potential dam site that will direct the next high water (flood) through the middle of town and west down Highway 124. The new bridge downstream at the north end of Main Street will be of little use. Built on a delta created by the Touchet River and Coppei Creek, Waitsburg has experienced these raging waters before. We deceive ourselves in relying o...
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Dear Editor, President Jimmy Carter stated April 17, 1980; “{4-H} represents unchanging American values in a changing world – values like learning from doing… caring for a community, leadership, integrity. Those things don’t change. And they’re kept alive by young people who are not burdened down with doubt, but have a fresh hope for the future.” I am disappointed in the funding Washington State University has in place to run the 4-H program. A proposed $25-a-year fee for each child is unbelievable in my community of 250 youth, 35 of whom are...
Dear Editor, Recent variations may change the opinion of Ms. Miller (9/28/17 letter) concerning grandstands, as it did mine. At the 9/12/17 Waitsburg Fairgrounds Committee meeting Mr. Nicely stated the grandstands could be made usable for about $40,000. I asked if that was just labor. Mr. Nicely responded that was the total: parts, labor, permits. As a result, it seemed worth a few more months to explore. I was later told Mr. Nicely said the same thing at the September 20 Waitsburg City Council meeting, except he added “for the first p...
Dear Editor, The start of October once again starts a new 4-H year! To promote 4-H in the window competition, two groups came together to display what 4-H is in our community, Home Grown Go Wild 4-H and Swine Swaggers. Check it out and let the 4-H office know if you like it or not! We are competing versus Walla Walla Clubs! Thanks for checking out the display at Ten Ton Press! Timothy Daves, Waitsburg President, Home Grown Go Wild 4-H...
Recently we’ve received a few comments from readers saying they were glad The Times stopped running political columns from the Washington Post Syndicate. Granted, the number of those comments is small – I could count them on one hand – but I’m sure there are others with similar feelings who didn’t get around to sharing them with us. The comments in question generally made the point that these readers didn’t like seeing “liberal” political views published in The Times – to the point that some w...
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In Washington, the legislative stalemate over permitting new household wells and the state’s construction budget has not only delayed needed funding for public projects, but triggered yet another salvo in the wider conflict over future supplies of fresh water for people, fish and farms. At immediate risk is $4.2 billion in state funding for local water and sewer projects, school construction, mental-health facilities, colleges and universities, and, other construction. While there is general a...
Dear Editor, Seven years ago my wife, my dog and I retired to Dayton to escape the increasing chaos in the Tri-cities. I had seen the Salmon Bake posters in years past but never bothered to even read the fine print. (I can’t explain why.) This year a good friend convinced us (as in sold us tickets) to attend. For the unknowing this event occurs annually as a fundraiser for the Waitsburg Lion’s Club. The proceeds go to help people in need in the local community. If you’ve never been, you don’t know what you missed. The food is all excelle...
Dear Editor, After reading the Fairgrounds Committee article on page 1 and 5 followed by the letter on page 4 in The Times dated September 21 regarding the Waitsburg fairgrounds grandstands, I thought about the imminent demolition of Dayton’s East grandstands. It is my understanding that the demo is scheduled to begin in October. However, I hope our commissioners will decide to postpone this action. I believe Mr. Nicely should be asked to evaluate our grandstands for repair and restoration before it is too late. It seems there is conflicting i...
Dear Editor, Previously I wondered how much more time and money should be invested in determining the fate of the Waitsburg Grandstands. The city has taken about a year so far and Randy had to request progress reports several times from the Spokane engineer who, it seemed, wanted more money to expand the scope of the study. Interesting that when informed it was unlikely the city would go for the expensive options it only took the engineer a couple of hours to state “…So tearing it down may be the best solution…” After attending the Fairgro...
One of my tasks every evening is to find the cat and get him in the house. He’s an indoor/outdoor cat, but he prefers to sleep inside at night, even though he isn’t always ready to turn in when I am. And he’s the same color as the dead grass around our house, so he’s hard to find. After a few fruitless searches around the property, I got the great idea of outfitting him with a GPS tracking device. That way, even if he was hunting mice in a dense thicket of brush, I’d be able to find him with...
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At last count firefighters were battling 82 major wildfires in 10 western states. The fires have already scorched 2,300 square miles of forests and range lands, dislocated thousands of people, and burned hundreds of homes and buildings. This has been the third worst forest fire season on record prompting western congressional members to add billions to emergency hurricane relief legislation It isn’t over yet. The cost of fighting fires already broke this year’s U.S. Forest Service budget. It...
Unfortunately, autocorrect was less-than-helpful in last week’s edition of The Times. Eleanora Montgomery shared that she, Karen Huwe, and friends, went river rafting in Riggins, Idaho. We must have made a typo and Word then “corrected” the word “rafting” to the word “farting.” The ladies would like it made clear that they went rafting, not farting. At least we were able to add a bit of levity to an otherwise gloomy week of national news. On the positive side, this gives us the opportunity to include a submission we received from a staffer who...
It’s Fair time in Columbia County. Kids and adults throughout the Touchet Valley will come to Dayton to celebrate a tradition more than a century old. This year’s Columbia County Fair starts Friday and runs through Sunday. Fairs are an American tradition of course, held in nearly every county in the country. They celebrate the deep agricultural and pioneering history of our forefathers. But fairs were held long before the founding of our country. Roman provinces held fairs that were hol...
Yes, that’s right. Don’t let the near-triple-digit temperatures fool you; summer vacation is over. Kids in Dayton and Prescott are back in school already, and Waitsburg’s kids will hit the books next week. Every year at about this time, newspapers everywhere write optimistically about the excitement of the upcoming new school year. They also give a stern warning to all of us drivers: “Watch out for kids!” Let me add my voice that. Our kids are a grade older, but they’re still kids. And they’re n...
