Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
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Dear Editor: In response to the Letter to the Editor submitted by Melissa Bryan and Caitlyn Robins regarding the Dayton Chamber of Commerce board, I would like to share my experience and what I have observed. Melissa Bryan was, by far, the most difficult chamber director in over 28 years. Working for Bette Lou Crothers (Chamber Board Member), we have taken on many extra duties during All Wheels Weekend and the months preceding. These duties include stuffing packets, stamping, folding, selling shirts/merchandise/raffle tickets, and helping with...
While drones are coming of age in firefighting, they are also establishing a foothold in restoring fire-scorched forests. Firefighting drones grabbed the spotlight last April 15 as viewers around the world watched Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris go up in flames. It has stood for over 850 years, through wars, natural disasters, and everything in between including the fire. At first, it appeared the iconic building would be completely destroyed; however, French firefighters used thermal vision drones to direct their hoses and get an upper hand of...
Dear Editor, The Club’s six-week summer program wrapped up on August 2, 2019, and all indications are that it was a resounding success. Many area agencies and organizations played a huge role in that success. Columbia County Health System, Columbia County Transportation, Columbia County Public Health, Columbia County Fire District #3, Columbia County Rural Library District, The Liberty Theater, Friends of the Dayton Community Pool, Blue Mountain Counseling, Prescott Parks & Rec District, YWCA of Walla Walla, Lewis & Clark State Park, and the U...
Dear Editor, How do you make change in an organization you have no way of holding accountable? How do you make a statement heard around the community? You resign. You stop accepting the status quo - stop doing the same things while expecting a different result. We as employees of the Dayton Chamber of Commerce can no longer accept a lack of training, negligible participation, and ignorance surrounding the daily operations of the Chamber from our Board of Directors. With this letter we hope to bring to light some of the issues affecting the...
More battery-operated cars and trucks are making their way onto streets and highways, so why not trains? That may not be too far off if BNSF tests are successful. BNSF Railway and Wabtec (formerly GE Transportation) are developing a battery-electric high-horsepower road locomotive--the type that moves freight trains between Seattle and Chicago. Once all the equipment and support systems are in place, the plan is to run tests between Stockton and Barstow, California, (350 miles) beginning in late 2020. BNSF and other railroads are already using...
Dear Editor, Our heartfelt thanks to all who helped put our wheat fire out last Thursday afternoon. The McCaws...
Dear Editor, Heartfelt thanks go out to fire districts and local farmers who responded to our fire this Thursday off the middle Waitsburg Road. With winds and wheat crop fueling the fire, our ranch homestead and buildings were surrounded by flames, and the selfless actions of the volunteer fire crews and farmers are the only reason the homestead was left unscathed. Fire districts in Walla Walla and Columbia counties as well as area farmers, please know how much we appreciate you and the time and effort you dedicate to this area to keep us...
Dear Editor, Last week’s column by Don Brunell tries to address the challenges we share in providing adequate energy supplies but is a disservice to the aggressive efforts of Washington state citizens, businesses and elected officials in developing efficient lasting solutions. By rewriting selected negative news reports on recent legislative decisions in Sweden and ignoring numerous other factors relevant to our very difficult energy choices, he feeds the often promoted attitude that industrialized countries must simply stop progressive policie...
Sweden and Washington State are very similar. Both have strong “green” movements and are quickly moving to eliminate all carbon-emitting fuels from cars and power plants. The caution for Washington elected officials is not to jam through hastily mandate programs which have significant unintended consequences such as has happened recently in Sweden. Washington and Sweden are aggressively working to put more electric vehicles on the road. Transportation is Washington State’s largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, but our GHG levels are p...
While nearly all communities depend on volunteerism in some form or another, I don’t think it’s an overstatement to say that small towns like Dayton and Waitsburg would fail to function without the concern and dedication of the many volunteers that help keep them running. Once one begins brainstorming all the volunteer-based organizations, programs and even individuals that take care the many needs in our communities, it’s hard to find an end to the list. It is our local firemen, board, committee and club members, event organizers and “just...
Dogs are loving companions, watchdogs, hunting buddies and important members of our families. They are also part of the community and can have a significant impact on the relationships between neighbors, city employees and government representatives. The responsibility we have as dog owners extends not just to our dogs’ welfare but to our community as well. No one loves the sound of barking dogs, no one feels safe walking their street if an unleashed dog shows aggressive, potentially dangerous behavior and no one likes to step in anything a d...
With all of the attention on the 50th anniversary of the Lunar landing, many are looking ahead to the next half century of space exploration. Of particular interest is returning to the Moon which may come as early as 2024. For example, Boeing is working on the replacement for the Saturn 5 rocket which lifted the Apollo space capsules into orbit. The centerpiece of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) is the heavy-lift rocket being built to safely carry people and cargo back to the Moon and hopefully, on to Mars. One of the leading proponents of r...
Dear Editor, Waitsburg is called, “One of a Kind”, and from the turnout of volunteers for this year’s Traffic Safety Coalition/the Department of Walla Walla County Community Health Bicycle Rodeo, I couldn’t agree more. Except this year we were joined by many other groups in the area. Volunteers included: The Bicycle Barn, The Christian Motorcycle Association Bikers in Prayer, The Waitsburg Resource Center (Food Bank), The Waitsburg Christian and Presbyterian churches, State Patrol Officer Grandstaff, the Waitsburg School District, parents...
It’s a story I’ve heard too many times in my own life and in the lives of the many small business owners I meet: Person grows up in a small town. Person moves to a city or urban area for college or work. Person yearns to return to the small-town life they love or return to raise their children in the same environment they grew up. However, a lack of job opportunities makes this American Dream unattainable. While it’s heartening to see many of our region’s major metropolitan areas flourish in this unprecedented booming economy, we need to incl...
A column by Gary Hofer All the world is in a curious Babel. Images of trouble flash and tumble and fears rumble. Those who desire power call with ever-greater urgency for more. Yet all the while the world rolls on, never missing a day or an hour. The sun comes up, the chickens cackle and the mourning dove calls. Switch-on harvest; time of gathering, the beginning of preparations for winter, the heartbeat of an ancient rhyme of seasons and work, a song of the gifts of nature and a miracle of earth, rain, soil and sun; where a single seed...
Last week I was reminded that just because I am an avid reader of newspapers and the owner and publisher of this newspaper, I am not a reporter. This hit me when I opened the July 11 Times and found an error I was completely responsible for. First, by giving incorrect information to the managing editor, Dena Martin, then not proofreading the final story before it went to print. As I said, I am not a reporter. I am, however, a publisher so I am printing my first correction: The article "Patriot's Parade Begins with a Dare" states that Anita...
Shortly, after Apollo 11 landed on the moon and astronaut Neil Armstrong took his famous first steps on the dusty lunar surface, some comedian in our army unit at Ft. Knox, KY, posted a sign in our barracks: “Sorry, Drill Sgt., No Green Cheese!” Our basic training drill instructor was already “highly agitated” because President Richard Nixon ordered a “training holiday” so we could watch live television coverage of landing. On July 20, 1969, our unit was supposed to take what was called “Military Stakes.” That test would determine if we...
What happens in China, doesn’t always stay in China. In fact, when it comes to tough new garbage and recycling restrictions, they may migrate elsewhere sooner than you might think. For example, Shanghai is one of the world’s largest cities with 26.9 million people. It is suffocating under mountains of trash its residents generate daily. It lacks an effective recycling and disposal system. “Instead, it has trash pickers to sift through the waste, plucking out whatever can be reused,” The Economi...
Dear Times Staff, Please note the change of address as of August 1. I am writing to tell you how much I am enjoying the newspaper since you have taken it over. What a great job you are doing. The layout is beautiful, and the content is so thoughtful. There is a wonderful energy to the paper now which is reflective of the people that live in the area. My family had a real presence on Main Street and in the area when we lived there. My mom and dad had the TV/electronics shop in the Plaza, the first cable TV to people. The speakers on top of the...
When my parents graduated from high school in 1936, a college education was too expensive for the son of a copper miner and the daughter of a plumber. Eighty years ago, our country was in the middle of the Great Depression and teens took odd jobs to help put food on the table and pay the family bills. In those days no bank would lend money to college students. Following World War II, there was new hope for veterans, The GI bill paid for veterans to complete their college or trade school education. My father, for example, graduated from trade...
Hopefully, when American and Chinese leaders meet to resolve trade differences, talks won’t breakdown and result in a new round of tariffs or product restrictions. It is in both nations’ interests for presidents Trump and Xi Jinping to find common ground. Our state has lots riding on those negotiations. The Brookings Institute points out that Washington would be “the worst off” of any state because 154,000 people are employed in industries that would be affected by new Chinese countermeasures. Especially troublesome is the Chinese indicat...
During the 1992 presidential campaign, then-candidate Bill Clinton famously intoned, "I feel your pain," reassuring voters he understood what they were going through. Since then, similar statements of empathy have become a staple for politicians. But it doesn't always ring true for every constituent. Take family business owners, for example. Family businesses account for 50 percent of U.S. gross domestic product, generate 60 percent of the country's employment, and account for 78 percent of all new job creation, the Conway Center for...
Dear Editor, Hello Dayton --- Thank You! The weekend before the car show (Sunday- June 9 thru Wednesday am – June 12), the Jawbone RV Club from the Lewiston/Clarkston area rolled into town and set up camp at the fairgrounds. There were 11 rigs, 29 people and three couples who stayed at the Best Western on account of their trucks losing their “get up and go” at zero hour. Many of our members said that they had been “THROUGH DAYTON” lots of times but never stopped to take in the town. We thoroughly enjoyed visiting your historical sites, wi...
During World War II, the American GI earned the reputation for being innovative, adaptable and resilient. Nowhere was that more evident than the D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944. For example, Gen. Maxwell D. Taylor, commander of the 101st Airborne Division, was assigned to drop paratroopers and land gliders behind the German lines on Normandy. They needed to secure roads and bridges for Allied tanks, artillery and supply trucks once the Nazi forces were dislodged from their beach fortifications. B...
Dear Editor, Saturday June 8th, I was in Waitsburg for a memorial service at the Catholic Church. I parked behind the church in front of the Richardson’s home. After the service, I was walking to my car and noticed 3 dogs, a Labrador, a German Shepherd, & a Pit Bull, in the fenced yard across the street at 270 W 6th Street. They started barking and running along the fence. I was ignoring them but wanted to be aware of them as well. The pit bull was at the side of the house and started running toward the fence, but instead of stopping, the d...
