Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
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Ten Years Ago September 23, 2010 [Photo caption] Dog handler Ann Moser from Idaho Mountain Search and Rescue and her Giant Schnauzer Watson examine Bob Bulota's cabin in Starbuck for scents. [Photo caption] Cycle Oregon brought 2,250 cyclists to Waitsburg last week. Most of them camped, dined, showered, and nurtured their equipment at the city's fairgrounds. Resembling a modern version of a Roman encampment, the gathering was by far one of the largest in the town's history, easily tripling the...
Ten Years Ago September 16, 2010 [Photo caption] Bill and Jan Zuger at one of the historic buildings on his grandfather’s homestead off Highway 124 near Bolles Road. The land is now farmed by Bill’s son, Greg. [Photo caption] Pacific Power Regional Community Manager Bill Clemens hands over a check for $1,000 to Loyal Baker, president of the Ye Towne Hall board in Waitsburg. The grant will allow the board to buy custom-made, insulated, and updated doors for the 1928 building in downtown Waitsburg. You’re invited to the rededication cerem...
Ten Years Ago September 9, 2010 Last Classroom Speech: Recently retired elementary school teacher Pam Conover reaches for the microphone to thank those who came for her retirement reception on Aug. 29 at Waitsburg’s Multipurpose Room. Conover served the district as an educator for 35 years. [Photo caption] Races in the annual Tour of Walla Walla event enter Main Street via Bolles Road, After five years of hosting the tour, Waitsburg has built a reputation as a bike-friendly town. Twenty-Five Y...
Ten Years Ago September 22, 2011 It was a day of Victorian fashion, museum tours, buffalo, corn on the cob, and Butlers at Waitsburg’s Fall Festival on Sunday. The attendance was anything but sparse. Bill Thompson was a good friend. I share that distinction with scores of folks in this community and extending the population to Palouse. He died September 17, 2011, in Waitsburg. He was 81 years old. Nancy Metro has been recently hired by the Walla Walla Catholic Schools in the new position of director of admissions and community relations. [...
Ten Years Ago September 15, 2011 [Headline] Daytonites: You Own It, You Fix It. Council wants households to pay for “side sewer” repairs. Waitsburg resident Jane Butler, age 90, has deep family roots in the Touchet Valley through her husband, Bob. Butler has lived in town for about 50 years, non-consecutively, and is being honored for her family history with the Pioneer of the Year award from the Waitsburg Historical Society. “I feel honored,” Butler said of the award. Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas Kovach of Bellevue, Wash. and Mr. and Mrs. Paul Be...
Ten Years Ago September 8, 2011 This year’s Columbia County Fair will be held September 9-11 will bring new entertainment, more education, bull bash, and beer garden that will surely delight fairgoers. I was behind the counter at the Coppei Coffee shop last week when he walked in. He donned a well-worn canvas hat, a big backpack, and two sticks that looked like ski poles. With all that gear on, the diminutive elderly man stepped right up to the cash register and made his inquiry. [Photo caption] Between Walla Walla County Sheriff’s Deputy Ger...
Ten Years Ago September 1, 2011 After recent bicyclist-vehicle collisions that resulted in death and injuries in 2011, local authorities are asking vehicles to be on the lookout for bicyclists, and they’re telling bicyclists to take precautions to stay safe. Just as some residents in the Touchet Valley were watching the news about Hurricane Irene making landfall on the East Coast on Sunday, they were suddenly taken aback by a local weather event of their own. After late afternoon clouds gathered over Waitsburg, winds picked up out of nowhere a...
Ten Years Ago August 18, 2011 [Photo caption] Fire fighting trucks rush to the scene behind the Whetstone home of Steve and Joan McMunn, where a local farmer disked a larger buffer area to keep the flames at bay. The fire started half a mile to the west at the home of Dave and Joyce Koschmeder. Local fire fighting officials said several area farmers helped them keep the fire from damaging two homes. [Headline] “One of the Best Years” Despite numerous challenges, 2011 yields and prices lift crop prospects in Touchet Valley. During patrols in...
Ten Years Ago August 11, 2011 Mead is wine made from honey instead of grapes. A new winery, Mace Meadworks, featuring the buzzing bee’s nectar in its wine is opening on Main Street in Dayton soon. [Photo caption] Waitsburg resident Gary Hofer and a bronze statue of his great grandfather, Sen. George Norris, in McCook Nebraska. Norris, whose efforts were instrumental in pushing through the Rural Electrification Act 75 years ago, was born 150 years ago himself. Before William Shakespeare became a well-known playwright, he was an actor with P...
Ten Years Ago August 4, 2011 Former Waitsburg resident Adam Hermanns, who pleaded guilty earlier this week to armed robbery and residential burglary, was sentenced to 13 ½ years in prison, the maximum term possible under state sentencing guidelines. Jillian Beaudry, an editor and reporter for the Daily World in Aberdeen, Wash, will become the new managing editor for the Times based in Waitsburg, the newspaper’s publisher announced Monday. She will replace Dian McClurg, the previous managing editor who left the paper in May. Celebrate the gr...
Ten Years Ago July 21, 2011 2011 Harvest Issue: Better late than never Delayed by a cold, wet spring, growers look forward to good yields from wheat, peas, and garbanzo harvests. [Photo caption] Fear factor: Susan Hosticka of Dayton is covered by honeybees during a beekeepers’ field day at Washington State University. This “bee beard” didn’t cause her a single sting. Dayton’s Liberty Theater is bringing Buck, an award-winning documentary, to its screen this Friday. The film follows real life “horse whisperer” Buck Brannanman on his life jour...
Ten Years Ago July 7, 2011 [Photo caption] Alex the Clown rides atop the elephants during Thursday evening’s show of the Carson & Barnes circus on the outskirts of Dayton. When Imbert Matthee bought the Times in fall of 2009, the Dutch immigrant was as excited about owning two Main Street buildings as he was about having his own newspaper after a long career as a daily news reporter, editor and columnist. Coffee and an occasional French-syle pastry being his favorite and only breakfast, Matthee said he can’t wait for Coppei Coffee’s door to op...
Ten Years Ago June 30, 2011 Farmers in the Touchet Valley are predicting their harvest this year will be at least a week later than usual with fields in the Prescott and Waitsburg areas ready by the third week of July and in Dayton by early August. [Photo caption] Jennifer Flemming, visiting her mother Jacci Wooten for the weekend, cozies up to an Elvis impersonator from Walla Walla at the season’s first farmers’ market Saturday. Art enthusiasts from across the Touchet Valley visited the historic Boldman House on a sunny but breezy Sat...
Ten Years Ago May 26, 2011 Amidst concerns over the spread of a highly contagious equine virus in the region, Dayton Days organizers Tuesday night decided to cancel two days of Pro West rodeo this weekend. The Dayton Days parade, though horseless, will take place at 10 a.m. Saturday, as will the Queen’s Coronation dinner on Friday and the Queen’s luncheon after the parade. It’s not every day Chandra Richardson and Caitlin Riley get to beat up their principal. But Andy Maheras actually welcomes their screams, kicks and punches because it’s...
Ten Years Ago May 19, 2011 For more than eight decades, several Dayton and Waitsburg families with FFA (Future Farmers of America) and 4-H have made the annual trek the first full week in May to the Spokane Fairgrounds to compete in the Junior Livestock Show of Spokane May 3-7. This year was the organization’s 76th year. Adams sisters Beka, 15, and Emily, 12 are each in the lead of a big event in the Touchet Valley. Beka, who was DRS Queen last year, will be in the Waitsburg parade as the Queen of Dayton Days this year. Dayton Days is next w...
Ten Years Ago May 12, 2011 [Photo credit] A member of the Atomic Bombshells burlesque dance group from Seattle entertains wine enthusiasts during Charles Smith’s spring release party on Saturday. The weather in the Snake River area may still have rain and chill in the air, but the recreational boating and fishing season is underway. “The catfish are biting like crazy,” said Jim MacArthur, who runs the Lyons Ferry Marina on the Snake near Starbuck with his wife Angela. [Photo credit] Val Woodworth and fellow Lions Club members prepare ribs...
Ten Years Ago May 5, 2011 It isn’t every night that the lights are on at two in the morning in Joan Helm’s home on Fourth Street. Or that her table is laden with four different kinds of scones, egg dishes and tea. Or that champagne (well, actually, sparkling cider) is chilling in the fridge for a special toast. [Photo caption] Vestas technician Tony Mathews has one of about 150 permanent jobs related to the wind energy industry in the five-county area. A new alliance hopes to add momentum to the sector’s job growth here. The Power House Theat...
Ten Years Ago April 28, 2011 The largest circus to come to Dayton in more than a decade, the Carson & Barnes Circus has the second-largest herd of elephants in the country. Local residents will have access to the circus grounds to witness the care and feeding of these and many other animals on the morning of Thursday, June 30. The Walla Walla area is growing in popularity as a wine destination, and some weekends, travelers can’t find a place to stay in town. Wine critic Paul Gregutt and filmmaker Karen Stanton-Gregutt are banking on all that an...
Ten Years Ago April 21, 2011 [Headline] Dayton Cut & Wrap expands business. Dayton business owners Jim and Connie Westergreen have big news for small ranchers in Columbia and Walla Walla counties. The couple will soon expand their meat processing operations to include a USDA-inspected butchering facility in Dayton and a second retail shop in Walla Walla. Managing a small, nonprofit theater is not an everyday kind of job. One of Reid Helford’s fondest, early memories when she first started as manager of the Liberty Theater in downtown Dayton m...
Ten Years Ago April 14, 2011 Give Bart Baxter and Tiffany Laposi a few months to work on the Whetstone Pub building and you’ll be able to dine with James Dean. By summer, he may well be giving you his cool gaze from the wall of the couple’s 1950s style restaurant that will be called “Betty’s Diner.” [Photo caption] Motocross racers put on a show during the annual Bash at Ski Bluewood Sunday, marking the resort’s last day of the skiing season that was the first for its new owners. Inserted in this week’s edition of the Times, you will find som...
Ten Years Ago April 7, 2011 What’s the Point? Cardinal pierced by javelin wonders why Oregon still allows use of dangerous steel-tipped spears. Preliminary election results for Waitsburg’s city government show incumbent Mayor Walt Gobel and the current five city council members returned to office by a landslide. With 357 votes cast, Gobel obtained 276 votes compared to challenger Bart Baxter’s 64 votes. [Photo caption] Karen Mohney and Skip Carpenter in front of Preston Park tile display which brought together student artists from the three...
Ten Years Ago March 31, 2011 Sheriff John Turner doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry. The Walla Walla County’s new top law-enforcement official is thrilled he can make adjustments to the patrol schedule that provides 24/7 coverage is his jurisdiction. He’s pleased some members of his new team bring many years of law enforcement experience they can use to offer in-house training to his deputies. At the same time, Turner is deeply concerned that his budget is being cut. [Photo caption] Leroy Cunningham, founder of Rural Green Youth Enter...
Ten Years Ago March 24, 2011 During the past several years, all has been relatively quiet on the meth front. But in recent months, it appears that local production and consumption of the drug are back on the rise, according to law enforcement officials in Walla Walla and Columbia counties. It was like a scene from the Sherwood Forest. Men, women, and children tromped through the woods carrying bows and quivers filled with arrows, but this wasn’t Robin Hood and his band, nor was it Merry Auld England in the 12th century. [Photo caption] T...
Ten Years Ago March 17, 2011 •[Photo caption] The months-long logistical project for the components of the Lower Snake River Wind Energy Project in Garfield County has begun. Here, a transport of a nacelle makes its way through Waitsburg on Highway 12. It’s the part that sits behind the three blades and hub, and generates the electricity from the mill’s rotation. In all, truckers are making nearly 1,192 trips to bring the major components for 149 towers to their construction sites in Garfield County and will be coming through the Touchet Valle...
Ten Years Ago Mar 10, 2011 [Headline] Baxter to challenge Gobel for Mayor [Photo caption] Members, parents, siblings, and coaches from 17 eastern Washington youth wrestling teams gathered in Waitsburg for the first tournament of the five-week Little Guys wrestling season. The 10 a.m. flag salute at Kison Court included an Honor Guard. Nearly 500 competitors participated in this first big tournament hosted by Waitsburg. Senior Bulldog Dain Henderson stood before a crowd of teammates, schoolmates, coaches, and family to read from the page, “I a...
