BRIEFS

ASIA TO GET TASTE OF WAITSBURG

WAITSBURG - This "One of a Kind" town will get an­other shot at fame and acclaim as Main Street goes interna­tional on Discovery Channel's Fun Taiwan early next year. Camera crews, producers and the show's host, Janet Hsieh, were in Waitsburg late Tuesday afternoon with winemaker and downtown building owner Charles Smith. The show, part of the Asian Discovery Channel's Fun Washington series, will air sometime around February of next year on Asia's Discovery Travel and Living Channel. The show is aired in English and is viewed across the con­tinent as well as in Australia and New Zealand, Hsieh said. The show will center on Walla Walla's winemaking industry, but Smith convinced Hsieh to bring the cameras to Waitsburg to include his friends Jim German and Claire Johnston, owners of the Jimgermanbar. "The idea is anytime we can see Waitsburg in the media, it's a good thing," Smith said.

ORV LAW PUT BACK TO BED DAYTON - Despite Jeff Turner's plea for a re-vote on the off-road vehicle ordinance killed in a tied vote of the Dayton City Council last month, city leaders decided to stick with their earlier decision. No ORVs on city streets, was the ruling. Turner, a longtime resident of Dayton, presented several pages of research to the council addressing concerns ex­pressed last month by the city's safety committee. Many of these concerns were cited as reasons for rejecting the pro­posed law, councilors said at the time of the vote. But councilor Merle Jackson, who was acting as mayor pro tem at the Sept. 13 meeting and didn't cast a vote on the issue, was quick to quash the issue.

"You're all looking to see how I will vote," he told the audience of roughly two dozen citizens Monday night. "I'll tell ya what. I'm going to vote against it, and we may as well drop it now."

Jackson said that while he is an ORV owner and he ap­preciated Turner's research, "I think that this is the wrong time to bring this up."

Jackson said he and councilors are busy dealing with budget-crunching and news from the state that "every day gets a little worse" regarding the city's projected revenue for 2011.

Citizens will have an opportunity to view the final pro­posed draft of the city's 2011 budget at the Oct. 25 meeting.

NEW DEPOT STATUE DAMAGED

DAYTON - Many in town are disgusted after learning that the brand new bronze stationmaster statue installed just one week ago outside Dayton's Historic Depot has been vandalized. Depot board member and Dayton resident Duane Dunlap was on the scene when the discovery was made on Saturday around mid-afternoon. "I got some warm, soapy water and washed off a dark, sticky liquid which I still think was either Coke or Pepsi," Dunlap said. Unfortunately the acidic substance, which ap­pears to have been poured over the statue's head, left light spots on the statue that could not be removed. Upon closer inspection, Dunlap also discovered that the stationmaster's glasses had been bent and broken. The statue, a life-sized bronze piece of a stationmaster and his dog, was created by Keith McMasters and unveiled on Oct. 2 during the town's annual Dayton On Tour event. The depot, with the help of local donations and fund-raising efforts, commissioned the statue for $77,000.

CREATIONIST CONFERENCE

WALLA WALLA - All are invited to a Creation Confer­ence Sunday at 6:30 p.m. and Monday at 7:45 p.m. in the Walla Walla Seventh Day Adventist Church, 2133 S. Howard Street. Mike Riddle, an educational specialist and former U.S. marine, will open the conference with "Is Genesis Rel­evant Today?"

For more information, call 509-337-6245.