Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Sorted by date Results 51 - 75 of 295
DAYTON – The Columbia Port Commissioners held their regular meeting at 5 p.m. on December 13, 2023. Commissioners Seth Bryan, Johnny Watts, and Executive Director Jennie Dickinson attended at the port office and Genie Crowe via Zoom. Dickinson updated the commissioners on five leases. The Desperado Cowboy Bullets and Blue Mountain Co-op renewed their leases for two years. Rae’s Studio in the Cameron Street CoWorking building extended its lease for another year. The Columbia County Conservation District signed a new lease for the garden spa...
DAYTON- Mayor Zac Weatherford called the Dayton City Council to order at 6:00 p.m. on December 5, 2023. Council members Teeny McMunn, James Su’euga, Michael Smith, Kyle Anderson, Dain Nysoe, Laura Aukerman, and Shannon McMillen joined Weatherford at City Hall. Jasmin Helm presented results from the Community Needs Assessment completed by the Coalition for Youth and Families under the Columbia County Department of Public Health. She said the coalition hired Tanner Accountants & Advisors (TAA) to help the department address the issues i...
DAYTON -Friends and supporters of Lisa Naylor found a creative way to bring attention to her need for a kidney donor. This thoughtful group of residents helped Naylor mount a large sign on Joanne and Bill Poolman's barn on eastbound Highway 12. The sign with Naylor's image gives contact information on how to become a living kidney donor. Anyone interested in becoming a living kidney donor should contact Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center for more information. There is an online questionnaire...
DAYTON – The Dayton School Board met in the High School Library on November 15, 2023. School board members present were Chair Jeffrey McCowen, Zac Fabian, Aneesha Dieu, Ryan Paulson, and Grant Griffin. Superintendent Rich Stewart and student representatives Madison Richardson and Lila Hutchens were also present. One of the Board’s first actions was to approve Lila Hutchens as a student representative to the Board. She joins Madison Richardson as the second student representative. The student representative and ASB reports recap student act...
DAYTON- Mayor Weatherford called the Dayton City Council to order at 6:00 p.m., November 7, 2023. Mayor Zac Weatherford and Council Members Teeny McMunn, James Su’euga, Michael Smith, Kyle Anderson, Dain Nysoe, and Shannon McMillen were at city hall. Laura Aukerman participated using Zoom. Washington State Representative Joe Schmick attended the meeting and spoke during the first public comment period. Schmick said Dayton should have a policy to charge fees for public record requests, in part to cover staff time. He advised the city to amend it...
DAYTON —YWCA Walla Walla will open the waitlist on for its new childcare center, RoseMary’s Place, coming to Dayton in Columbia County. The waitlist for the YWCA-operated childcare facility will open promptly at 7 a.m. on November 15, 2023, at ywcaww.org/rosemarys/. Families in Dayton, Waitsburg, and neighboring areas needing childcare services this spring are encouraged to make note of this date and add their names to the list. The center is set to officially open its doors on April 1, 2024, and the first names on the time-and-date stamped lis...
DAYTON – The Dayton School Board met in the high school library at 6:30 p.m. on November 1, 2023. School Board Chair Jeffrey McCowen, members Zac Fabian, Aneesha Dieu, Grant Griffin, and Interim Superintendent Rich Stewart were present. After approving the consent agenda, the Board interviewed Ryan Paulson for the vacant School Board position. Paulson was the only applicant and answered several questions from the board members. The Board approved Paulson’s appointment after an executive session. He will be sworn into office at the next meeting...
DAYTON-This year's fall musical at the Liberty Theater is Disney's "The Little Mermaid," a story familiar to many of us from two Disney movies and the older, original fairy tale. It's the story of a young woman growing up, following her dream, and finding herself. It's also the story of a loving parent learning to understand who their child has become and letting them go into the world. And finally, it's the story of two families with different cultures learning to accept each other as their...
DAYTON – The Dayton School Board met in the High School Library at 6:35 p.m. on October 18, 2023. School Board members present were Chair Jeffrey McCowen, Zac Fabian, and Grant Griffin. Superintendent Rich Stewart and Student Representative Madison Richardson were also present. Aneesha Dieu was not present. The board seat held by Korinda Wallace continues to be vacant. The Board approved the consent agenda, which included approval of Emily Uptegrove as a volunteer cheer coach, an FFA Dress Attire Donation from Candy Jones, scheduling a s...
DAYTON — Mayor Zac Weatherford called the Dayton City Council to order at 6:00 p.m., October 10, 2023. Weatherford and council members Teeny McMunn, James Su’euga, Michael Smith, Kyle Anderson, Dain Nysoe, and Shannon McMillen were present; Laura Aukerman was absent. Tammy Ketterman, from the Columbia County Assessor’s Office, briefed the Council on property tax options for the City, explaining terms such as “banked capacity.” Ketterman’s presentation was strictly informational as a prelude to preparing next year’s budget, so no action was ne...
DAYTON - The Club, Dayton's afterschool program, offers an innovative middle and high school music program beginning Monday, October 25. The organization will again partner with Walla Walla Music Organization (WWMO) to introduce students to skills needed in the music and live sound industry. Instructors from WWMO will be on hand to work with high school students on Mondays and with middle school students on Wednesdays. They will learn basics in music production, audio engineering, recording,...
DAYTON-An informational meeting about Proposition 1, the measure to create the Columbia County Pool District, was held on September 27, 2023, in the Delany Room at the Dayton Memorial Library. This was the second of three meetings planned by organizers to share information and answer questions about the measure appearing on the November ballot. Lisa Naylor presented a PowerPoint presentation and was joined by Chuck Beleny and Kevin Rust. Diane McKinley was unable to attend. Their presentation...
DAYTON-This month, in the Columbia County Rural Library District newsletter, Interim Director Ellen Brigham addressed concerns she has heard from the community about the library's connection to the American Library Association. First, she explained that the ALA does not dictate the policies at the Dayton library. Brigham said, "As far as I can tell, the ALA doesn't even have sample policies for libraries to pull from. When the Library Board drafts library policies, it looks at what has worked...
DAYTON-When Dain Nysoe retires on Dec. 31, after twelve years on the Dayton City Council, a new city council member, Joann Patras or Devin Greenup, will take his place. "I have enjoyed serving on the city council, but at the same time, I look forward to the end of my term in office," said Nysoe, who is grateful to have served along with other dedicated public servants. Nysoe said he appreciates the recent uptick in attendance by the public at council meetings and hopes more people will attend in...
DAYTON – The Dayton School Board met in the High School Library at 6:33 p.m. on September 20, 2023. School board members present were Chair Jeffrey McCowen, Zac Fabian, Grant Griffin, and Aneesha Dieu. Superintendent Rich Stewart was also present. The board seat held by Korinda Wallace remains vacant since her resignation was announced at the June 14, 2023, meeting. The Board approved the consent agenda, including approval of Madison Richardson as the district’s student representative, a $1,000 donation to DHS Athletics from Van Ausdle Tir...
WAITSBURG – Waitsburg Council member Jillian Henze and her older sister, Alison Beaudry, are golfing buddies. They play together about once a month every year during golf season. It’s a bonding time for them but it has a competitive side. “She has always been able to outdrive me,” Henze explains. “She would hit the ball much harder than me, but it’s usually off in the trees somewhere. I can hit the ball straight, but it takes me two hits to get the distance she can get in one.” Henze has bee...
DAYTON – The Kiwanis Club of Dayton, Washington, celebrated its 100th anniversary last year. The group was first organized at the Dayton Hotel on October 19, 1922. Like many fraternal organizations that started in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Kiwanis is organized around chartered local groups connected functionally and financially to an international governing body. Kiwanis International, established in 1915, states its mission as "dedicated to improving the world one child and one c...
DAYTON – The Columbia Port Commissioners held their regular meeting at 5 p.m., September 13, 2023, in the Port Office. Commissioners present were Genie Crowe, Seth Bryan, Johnny Watts, and the Executive Director, Jennie Dickinson. Dickinson opened the meeting with a discussion of the current and 2024 draft budgets. She will complete the final 2024 budget and schedule a public hearing in October. Reporting on port assets, Dickinson said Cedar Rain signed a new two-year lease at Blue Mountain Station. Abbi Russell, Senior Communications S...
DAYTON- The Dayton City Council held its regular meeting at 6 p.m. on September 12, 2023. Mayor Zac Weatherford and council members Teeny McMunn, James Su’euga, Michael Smith, Kyle Anderson, Dain Nysoe, Laura Aukerman, and Shannon McMillen were in City Hall. Sheriff Helm gave a report during which he discussed the increasing graffiti problem in the City of Dayton but did not discuss a solution. The first public comment period opened with a resident asking if the City of Dayton would take over the library should the Columbia Rural Library D...
DAYTON - Waitsburg's Natalie Knudson, a freshman at Walla Walla High School, has been dancing since age four. Erika Greenup, recently of Dayton, has been sewing since age six. Her husband, Devin, had a knack for contorting his face in all sorts of funny ways. His parents called him the next Jim Carrey. These are the new directors who are working hard on this fall's Touchet Valley Arts Council (TVAC) production of "The Little Mermaid," scheduled for a 13-show run beginning November 9 at the...
DAYTON- The Dayton City Council held its regular meeting on August 8, 2023. Mayor Zac Weatherford and council members Teeny McMunn, James Su’euga, Michael Smith, Kyle Anderson, Dain Nysoe, and Shannon McMillen were in City Hall. Laura Aukerman was absent. Sheriff Helm gave a report during which he discussed the increasing graffiti problem in the City of Dayton but did not discuss a solution. In his report for the county, Commissioner Ryan Rundell said the county hired Jan Strohbehn as the Public Health Director. Strobehn had most recently b...
DAYTON-I recently knocked on the door of Dayton's Historic Depot at 222. E. Commercial Street. Kristina Blake, the new Manager of the Depot as of June 13, greeted me in period costume clothing. She's fully into her latest post. She wasn't dressed up for just our interview, however. "I'm going to be in period clothing all the time at work. I want visitors to feel they've walked into another time." Blake said. Talk about getting your history on. "Actually, it's a whole package deal," she says. "I...
DAYTON – The Dayton School Board met at 6 p.m. on July 19, 2023, in the high school library. School board members present were Chair Jeffrey McCowen, Grant Griffen, and Zac Fabian. Aneesha Dieu was not present. Superintendent Rich Stewart was also present. No members of the public attended in person or by using Zoom. The board approved the consent agenda, including the approval to hire Sam Korslund as the middle school head football coach and the resignation of Kelly Steinhoff as a middle school LAP paraprofessional. Stewart said online s...
DAYTON – The Columbia Port Commissioners held their regular meeting at 5 p.m. on July 11, 2023, in the port office. Commissioners present were Genie Crowe, Seth Bryan, Johnny Watts, and the Executive Director, Jennie Dickinson. Dayton Mayor Zack Weatherford gave a presentation on using the port’s railroad right-of-way to lay sewer lines for the city’s new wastewater treatment plant project. The pipe would generally be laid on the north side of the track connecting the gravity sewer line at Commercial and Stedman Roads to the area near the p...
DAYTON-Three local veterans were awarded Quilts of Valor at the War Memorial in Dayton on Independence Day. Quilts of Valor is a non-profit organization created in 2003. It has presented over 327,000 quilts to comfort service members and veterans touched by war. Linda Clarys is a member of Quilts of Valor and has been creating quilts through the program for local veterans since 2019. She pieces and sews the quilts, with help from others, including a quilter who machine quilts the finished...
