Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Sorted by date Results 526 - 550 of 1893
DAYTON-Newly-elected county officials Carla Rowe, Dale Slack, Anne Higgins and Chuck Amerein are gearing up to assume office on Jan. 1. They met with the Columbia County County Commissioners last week to receive encouragement and guidance. Treasurer-elect Carla Rowe said she would like to receive training in the "underutilized" software program currently used in the Treasurer's Office, and she hopes to meet with individual department heads to discuss streamlining reports. Rowe said she is...
Nov. 14, 2018 DAYTON—The Dayton City Council held the first of three public hearings for the city’s proposed $7,078,230 budget for 2019, during their monthly meeting last week. The budget reflects an increase of 3.9% over 2018’s, and it includes rate increases for water and sewer utilities that will go into effect in January. The proposed increase is $5.95 for sewer and $4.05 for water, for a residential unit within the city limits. Mayor Craig George said the purpose of the increase is to help...
DAYTON—During a presentation to members of the public last week, Washington State Parks Planner Laura Moxham gave an overview of plans being developed for three area state parks: Lyons Ferry, Palouse Falls and Lewis and Clark Trail. Before inviting the public to share their ideas for the parks, Moxham discussed some of the pros and cons of each park. She said that since being designated the state’s official waterfall in 2014, increasing numbers of people are visiting Palouse Falls State Park, up from 85,000 visitors in 2010, to around 190...
DAYTON—Dayton is known as “The Town that Still Believes,” and to celebrate the holidays once again, the Dayton Chamber of Commerce is putting on the 12th annual Christmas Kickoff celebration the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving. On Friday the Backroads Club in Dayton will hold its Ugly Xmas Sweater 5k walk/run, on a 3.2 mile course around town, starting and ending at the Columbia County Courthouse. The race is dog, stroller and wheelchair friendly, and there are cash prizes in individual and group-related categories, said organizer Rache...
More than two years ago, members of the Dayton Kiwanis Club had a vision to send high school students to Washington D.C. to reinforce leadership skills and give them an inside look at democracy in action using the nation’s capital as a living classroom. The club received a donation and a grant from Blue Mountain Community Foundation. The group is called Dayton Kiwanis Road to Leadership. Working with Dayton High School and the Close Up Washington D.C. nonprofit organization, the group offered s...
DAYTON-Dayton Mayor Craig George was given the Citizen of the Year award last week at the Dayton Chamber of Commerce's annual Awards Banquet. George, who is in his third term as mayor, was traveling, and unable to attend the banquet. George recently announced that he will be stepping down from his position early next year. In her introduction to the award, Chamber Manager Melissa Bryan said that George "has shown complete dedication to Dayton, advocating for our community locally and statewide....
DAYTON-Whimsical costumes, confectionary props and a 70s vibe will captivate the audience that turns out to see the Touchet Valley Arts Council's 18th-annual fall musical production of "Roald Dahl's Willy Wonka," which will debut at the Liberty Theater on Nov. 15. The show is based on the book, "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory," by Roald Dahl, and tells the story of the enigmatic Willy Wonka, who stages a contest by hiding golden tickets in five candy bars made in his candy factory. The pr...
DAYTON-Judy Miller, a former Center Manager for Lincare in Walla Walla, is the new Clinic Director for Columbia Family Clinic and Waitsburg Clinic. Miller has been on the job Oct. 22, getting to know the staff in the clinics and hospital. An assessment of the clinics was recently performed by an outside consulting firm, and Miller said she and the staff will be looking into changes that will enhance the patient experience. Miller and her husband, Miles, like to spend time viewing the area...
DAYTON—An endowment to pay for all annual 4-H memberships has just been announced by WSU Dayton Extension Agent Paul Carter. In 2017 the state instituted an annual $25 membership fee for attendance in 4-H, a move Carter says was discriminatory to families having financial difficulties. So he set about to see what could be done to help them Carter said he recently met with the Blue Mountain Community Foundation to start the process of creating an endowment. The initial need is for $10,000 to e...
DAYTON-Kim Clark, General Manager of Ski Bluewood wants to get the word out about $400,000 worth of facility improvements that are sure to make this year's skiing even more "uplifting." "We have just completed the first lift improvement since 1986," he said. Clark said the old platter-pull has been removed and replaced with two conveyor-type lifts, one of which is the 120 ft. Easy Rider, with two separate teaching pods. The other is a completely covered, 400 ft. long, teaching area. The idea is...
DAYTON-Charles Eaton and his wife, Nancy, are looking into housing availability before they leave their home in the Portland area and he begins work as Columbia County's new public works director on Dec. 3. Friday will be Eaton's last day as the Engineering Director for the City of Milwaukee, Ore, he said. The Eatons both agree that living in a small community is preferable to the Portland "rat race." "This looked like the perfect job for me," said Charles Eaton. "I worked in Amity, Ore. for a...
DAYTON—The Columbia County Health System is close to signing a lease for the Port-owned building formerly occupied by Columbia County District Court, according to CEO Shane McGuire. During last week’s hospital district board meeting, McGuire said that the space will be used for the Certified Nursing Assistant program, as well as for an offsite education facility. McGuire told the hospital district commissioners that the first round of payments have been received from Washington Rural Health Acc...
Some people have very few nice things to say about broccoli. Culinary preferences aside, it's worth looking at broccoli closely to marvel at its makeup: each head consists of many little heads – florets – repeated over and over In the world of mathematics as well as art, this is called fractalization: the repetition of the same shape, in various sizes and formats, to create a cohesive whole. "Both cauliflower and broccoli are one big shape, and when taken apart, they are still the same sha...
DAYTON—The Delany Room was packed on Monday night as the Columbia County Planning Commission heard from the public and from stakeholders interested in a Site Plan Development Agreement Application for a proposed bitcoin mining center to be located on Columbia Rural Electric Administration property east of Dayton. After a short presentation from Leonard Ruff, the architect for the applicant, Eastern Mineland LLC, and followed by a lengthy Q&A session, the three members of Planning Commission present deliberated on the merits of the bitcoin m...
DAYTON— Columbia County Planning Director Meagan Bailey presented a list of 10 final docket items for inclusion in the 2020 Comprehensive Plan update to the board of county commissioners last week. However, Docket Items 8 and 9, which drew the most negative response from the public during an October 8 planning commission meeting, were removed. Bailey told the commissioners that Docket Item 8 was a request from the planning staff to revise the AR-2 minimum parcel size, which is a 10 acre/dwelling unit maximum density, and is more commonly called...
DAYTON—The Columbia County Public Transportation Board of Commissioners has placed General Manager Dwight Robanske on paid administrative leave without giving any explanation as to what is being investigated, or why. County Commissioner Mike Talbott said that an investigation will begin this week when attorneys from the state risk pool are brought up to date on the issue. “We don’t know anything, and we’re not going to know anything, until they make their decision,” said Talbott. Meanwhile the CCPT staff will cover duties normally performed...
DAYTON—The state of Washington has recognized the Dayton Elementary and Dayton Middle School for sustained improvement in student assessments over a five year period. “So that’s something to be happy with,” said Superintendent Doug Johnson at last week’s school board meeting. The Educational Service District will host an award ceremony for the schools in their region sometime in the near future, he said. Johnson also said that there are some students in the district experiencing homelessn...
DAYTON—The Washington State Department of Archaeology & Historic Preservation has released a list of ten courthouses to receive grants for rehabilitation projects, and the Columbia County Courthouse is on the list. If state legislators include the rehabilitation projects in their Capital Budget for 2019-21, there could be a new HVAC system installed at the courthouse in November 2019, said county Maintenance Director Dave Finney. Finney said the county has been talking about replacing the aging...
Sometimes, when we're nervous about how a particular endeavor will turn out, we close our eyes and hope for the best. And while this technique does work now and then, it's not the best plan when you're creating an acrylic pour painting. According to Walla Walla painter Joyce Klassen, it takes "imagination, spontaneity, the willingness to get down and dirty in the process, and the courage of knowing when to quit." Specifically, you pour a number of different colored acrylic paints in a cup, then...
DAYTON—Forty businesses participated in the first of its kind Main Street Open House, during Dayton on Tour, according to Chamber Director Melissa Bryan. And as a result, there are several sale offers pending, she said. Bryan said that local hotels and motels were at, or close to, full occupancy during the event. “The Art show at Wenaha Gallery was a smashing success, with 75 folks listening to the astronaut (Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger),” said Bryan. AJ Carriages provided event goers free...
DAYTON—The Dayton chapter of the American Association of University Women held a Candidates’ Forum to allow voters in Columbia County to hear from and ask questions of candidates for local races. Candidates for Columbia County Sheriff, Columbia County Commissioner from Dist. 3 and Columbia County Treasurer all appeared, along with candidates for two local seats in the Washington State House of Representatives. Columbia County Sheriff Columbia County Chief Deputy Joe Helm and Narcotics Deputy Jeff Jenkins share many ideas on how to move the She...
DAYTON-Former astronaut Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger was at the Wenaha Gallery Saturday during Dayton on Tour to present "Rocks to Rockets," the story of her evolution from a third grader inspired by geology and the astronaut Sally Ride to becoming part of a crew aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery. In April 2010 the Discovery, with a crew of 13, lifted off from Kennedy Space Center with six tons of equipment and supplies for the International Space Station. "This was really an awesome time,"...
DAYTON-Woodcarver Tom Schirm won Best of Show and Best in the Nation for the Year, at the National Fish Carving Championship, for his decorative life-sized carving of a west slope cutthroat trout. The event took place Sept. 8 and 9, in Vancouver, Wash. Schirm also won Best of Division for all Miniatures, and Judge's Choice 2nd Best of Show, for his carving of a miniature brown trout, Schirm is a habitat biologist for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife in Dayton. He has been carving...
DAYTON-Western music artist Dave Stamey will perform at the Liberty Theater in Dayton at 7 p.m. on Oct. 18. Stamey was inducted into the Western Music Hall of Fame in 2016. He has been voted entertainer of the year seven times, male performer of the year seven times and songwriter of the year five times by the Western Music Association. In 2010, 2011 and 2013, True West Magazine named Stamey best living western solo musician, and Western Horseman has declared his Vaquero Song to be one of the...
DAYTON-Confectioner Nancy Monacelli said she is looking forward to moving into her new production and retail space in Suite H at the Blue Mountain Station this month. Mama Monacelli's Kitchen won't be open in time for BMS's Oktoberfest event this weekend, but will be open next week, and will be ready to help customers with all their daily and holiday needs, she said. "I'm looking forward to having my whole line in the suite," said Monacelli. The 1,080 sq. ft. suite will have clear sight lines,...
