Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
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DAYTON—A $7,612 grant from the Wildhorse Foundation has helped enable the Touchet Valley Arts Council (TVAC) to address several safety and energy efficiency needs at the annex building adjacent, and integral to, the Liberty Theater in Dayton. The Wildhorse Foundation grant was combined with a smaller grant of $3,222 from the Sustainable Living Center in Walla Walla to complete energy efficiency and electrical safety upgrades. This project included adding insulation to the pre...
The gap on Waitsburg's Main Street got a little larger when the building at 103 Main was demolished Tuesday morning. The building was damaged by fire last September when the adjacent structure, at 109 Main, which housed Hugs, Gifts and Collectibles at the time, burned to the ground. The 103 Main building was deemed unfit for occupancy (use) by the building inspector, following the fire. City administrator Randy Hinchliffe says he encouraged J.P. Kelly, the building’s owner, to fix rather than d...
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WALLA WALLA-Upstairs, and down the hall of a brick-and-mortar building on Walla Walla's Main Street sits one Gerald Matthews; part artist, part exhibit. Matthews is a retired actor most famously known as the voice of Sugar Bear, the suave Sugar Crisp cereal mascot and the little man in the Ty-D-Bol ad. Matthews has spent the last 30 years creating a madhouse of irreverent sculptures that whirl and buzz as a social commentary referencing Dadaism, Surrealism and Absurdism. Astounding and...
Urban Growth Area land swap proposal moves forward DAYTON-City of Dayton Mayor Craig George will pass his gavel to Mayor Pro-tem Zac Weatherford on April 30. George read a letter of his resignation to the Dayton City Council during last week's council meeting. "It has been a pleasure and an honor to have served as your Mayor, and I want to thank the council for their great work and support these past years. We have all worked very hard for the betterment of Dayton," he said. George and his...
DAYTON—This year’s annual Liberty Theater spring variety show is “the best-of-the-best by the cream-of-the-crop,” according to co-directors and choreographers Julia Mead and Patti Jo Amerein. “Show Stoppers!” a musical revue highlighting favorite numbers from the past 17 fall productions, hits the Liberty stage March 29-31. Theater veterans Mike Ferrians, Elizabeth Jagelski, Brenda Henderson, Amerein and Mead “picked each others’ brains” to come up with a list of favorite numbers. But they are k...
DAYTON—Representatives of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, shared fish and wildlife habitat updates in a public meeting at the Delany Room in Dayton on Feb. 28. The representatives shared specifically about the stream and upland habitat restoration work the Tribes are conducting near Dayton and addressed questions from the public. Presentations were delivered on management activities in the Rainwater Wildlife Area property as well as multi-year restoration work p...
DAYTON—The Friends of the Fairgrounds committee and the members of the Touchet Valley Golf Board are working together to create great resources for Columbia County. That was the take-away message on Monday when the golf board members met with the county commissioners. Bill Ayotte, owner of Chicken Bill’s restaurant, at the golf course, said there are rumors that the golf course people want to take land from the fairgrounds for a soccer field. “Our golf group has no intention to take over anyth...
WALLA WALLA-On Feb. 28 at Whitman College, 1979 Whitman Graduate and Board Trustee Stephen Hammond presented his program: Piecing Together a Family History through Genetic DNA. The presentation was part of the Archaeology Institute of America Walla Walla Chapter lecture series, and in honor of African American History month. An avid genealogist, Hammond has spent hours delving into classical family history research and DNA research to clinch that history. "I tend to talk people's ears off,"...
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Saturday night's Jimmy Durante fundraiser at the Dayton Eagles was a roaring success. The final tally hasn't been totaled but Auxilary member Barbara Fullerton said that the event brought in more than last year, which was $8,000. The Durante fundraiser follows in the steps of philanthropist Jimmy Durante who donated to "Help da kids." Each year the Eagles Auxiliary runs the event and chooses a child-centered group to donate to. This year's proceeds will be split between the 4-H Endowment Fund...
DAYTON-It took just ten minutes of deliberation behind closed doors for Columbia County Commissioners Mike Talbott and Chuck Amerein to select Ryan Rundell to fill the vacant seat on the Board of County Commissioners. The Commissioners also interviewed Kaye Eaton and Thomas Konen on Monday night at the Columbia County courtroom, before heading in to executive session. It's a big responsibility," Rundell said, minutes after being sworn in. "It's an honor to be picked. They had good candidates to...
WAITSBURG – The deadline for Declarations of Candidacy for Waitsburg City Council closed on March 10 one candidate short of a full slate of five members. The filing process will reopen with applications accepted for an additional three days, from March 11 to Wed., March 13 at 4 p.m. Council incumbents Terry Jacoy, Kevin House, Jim Romine, Kate Hockersmith all submitted applications, as did incumbent mayor Marty Dunn. There were no new applicants, according to City Administrator Randy Hinchliffe. Incumbent council member K.C. Kuykendall, who h...
WAITSBURG – Waitsburg-area farmers Perry and Darleen Dozier have withdrawn their request for a text code amendment that would make water bottling operations a permitted use in all resource and agricultural districts in Walla Walla County. The proposal was hotly debated in the county but Doziers say pushback was not a factor in the decision. The text amendment, which was on the County’s 2018 Annual Docket of Comprehensive Plan and Development Regulations, was withdrawn on Wed., March 6, according to Walla Walla County Principal Planner Lau...
Feb. 25 Welfare check on suicidal subject at a home on Preston Avenue. March 8 Waitsburg residents came in to WWSO to report identity theft....
Banner Bank Customer Services Representative Kim Julian alerted Waitsburg photographer Bill Rodgers to the presence of "snow rollers" just west of Prescott last week. Rodgers was quick to document the scene. "A rare sequence of weather events resulted in the formation of snow rollers in many of the fields around Waitsburg on March 7. A freezing rain that evening formed a hard slick crust on top of the previous snow. Later that night, about 2" of wet snow fell, and a 15 mph wind came up. Because...
DAYTON-Ashley Strickland is the county's new E911/Emergency Management Director and he has brought an impressive skill set with him in his new job. Strickland brings the knowledge he gained while working on a statewide radio system for the State of Ohio, along with prior experience in Columbus, Ind., where he oversaw the merger of four dispatch centers and twenty-one agencies into one center. He has also served as a fire captain in Columbus In Ohio, Strickland said he was responsible for one...
Unlike parents with their children, I hope it's acceptable for reporters to have favorites. There are a couple of folks that I love to interview, and Jeff Broom was one. Jeff passed away on March 4 at Dayton General Hospital. He will be missed, but not forgotten. Because of his community activism and his breadth of knowledge, I had the opportunity to speak with Jeff fairly often in the course of reporting for The Times. I have greatly missed his input and wisdom as he fought health issues in rec...
Several locals enjoyed a good time at a paint party hosted by the Commercial Club at Town Hall last week. Above: Ladies are hard at work on their paint-by-number projects....
Nationwide program aims to improve family engagement and student academic success DAYTON – Dayton Memorial Library's first Prime Time Family Reading event, on March 6, was a great success with 60 people and 19 families in attendance. The nationwide program strives to build thought and conversation between children and families through reading. Prime Time Family Reading is a six-week program funded through a grant from Humanities Washington and is free to participants. Each evening begins with a...
DAYTON – Columbia County Prosecuting Attorney C. Dale Slack said the Benjamin Orozco murder case has been re-set, from March 11 to July 8. Slack said May 8 is the deadline for the exchange of all evidence that is intended for use in the trial. This will be followed by arguments dealing with the admission of certain evidence in the trial, at a hearing set for May 31, at 1:30 p.m. in Superior Court. Pretrial and readiness will be heard on June 5, with the actual trial taking place July 8-19, Slack...
Board members Katie Leid, David Bailey, Justin Jaech and Fred White were present. *Bill Dowdy asked the Board to consider supporting the reinstatement of the High School Fall soccer program, which had been canceled for 2018-19 due to a lack of participants and partial forfeiture of the 2017-18 season. Dowdy believes there may be 25 students in Dayton and Waitsburg interested in playing next year. The issue will be referred to Athletic Director Nicki Luper and the DW Combine Committee. *Discussion regarding classified staff and state...
OLYMPIA, Wash. – Last week, the Washington State House of Representatives approved House Bill 1674, sponsored by Representative Skyler Rude (R-Walla Walla). The bill replaces the term “alternative with “personalized” in statute when referencing programs that allow students to fulfill public education requirements outside the traditional classroom. Rude said the change is intended to remove the stigma attached with the term “alternative.” “Names matter. The term ‘alternative’ signals to students who participate in these courses that what...
Pomeroy test plant drives DOE fee schedule changes and increased incentives OLYMPIA – In an effort to encourage innovative approaches to pollution reduction, the Washington Department of Ecology is proposing to offer facilities a three-year, 75-percent reduction in permit fees for engaging in market research and development of products or processes that reduce pollution. The proposal, as presented in a DOE media release, used the Columbia Pulp straw pulp mill as an example of a facility that cou...
