Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Sorted by date Results 836 - 860 of 864
WAITSBURG - In the spring of 1999, Karen Mohney, then president of the Waitsburg American Legion Auxilia- ry #35, presented the group with the idea of erecting a Veteran's Memorial Wall in Waitsburg. "I just had a passion for wanting to see our local veterans hon- ored and remembered," said Mohney. "We thought the idea was fantastic, but it seemed like 'Mission Impos- sible,'" Auxiliary member B.A. Keve re- called. The American Legion jumped on board and the two groups joined forces to bring...
May promises to be filled with action at the Liberty Theater. The month starts off with a showing of the sci-fi adventure,"Oblivion", followed by the uplifting biographical sports drama," 42". Later in the month, the Liberty gets your heart racing again with "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" and the political thriller", The Company You Keep". "Oblivion", starring Tom Cruise, Morgan Freeman, and Olga Kurylenko takes place on planet Earth after it's been devastated by decades of war. Jack Harper, p...
While I'd wager that most everyone has at least heard of Youtube.com, I wonder how many realize just how useful a tool it can be. Once known mainly as a means of promoting the latest viral frivolity, Youtube.com has morphed into a truly valuable resource. Using Youtube.com for pretty much anything and everything seems to come naturally for the younger generation. My youngest recently prepared for his very first ski trip. When I relayed that a friend suggested he watch a few Youtube.com skiing...
WAITSBURG - "Just Say 'No' to Texting and Driving." That's the name of the campaign Waitsburg High School senior Logan Dozier has created. And he hopes it will have lasting impact on not only Waits- burg teens, but on the larger communities of Waitsburg, Dayton and Prescott as well. Dozier was motivated to create the program because the dangers of distracted driving recently "hit home." While developing the pro- gram has been "a LOT of work" and doesn't count toward any type of school credit or...
WAITSBURG - Deter- mining the best proactive response to the local drug problem received significant attention at last week's City Council Meeting in Waits- burg. Discussion revolved around two main options: instituting a neighborhood watch program and/or re- taining a full-time school resource officer, to be shared between Prescott and Waits- burg. Council member K.C. Kuykendall requested a slot on the council agenda to address the situation fac- ing Waitsburg. "We have a greater than average d...
WAITSBURG - "Little did I realize, 20 years ago, when I walked through an area known as 'The Tracks' in Guatemala City, that I would return some day," said Donnie Henderson, who recently led a team of local women on a ministry mission in Guatemala City. Henderson, Pam Conover, and Debbie Seney, of Waits- burg; Sue Bell of Dayton; and Sherri Sumstine of California visited Guatemala City last month, presenting a women's conference and teaching poverty-stricken women, sewing skills. Henderson and...
DAYTON - Having de- voted 30 years working at the Dayton Memorial Library, Sue Hagfeldt quietly retired as branch manager in March, passing the torch to new manager, Amy Rosen- berg. "Sue insisted on not being honored with a retirement party, but she was so beloved by the community that we still have patrons come to the library and asking where she is," said Columbia County Rural Library Board Chair, Tanya Patton. "Sue has a wonderful way with people, especially children. She will be greatly...
WAITSBURG - April 1 marked the voting deadline for the annual election of Waitsburg's mayor and city council. Walt Gobel ran unop- posed and was re-elected mayor, but the race for the fifth seat on the council is heated. Incumbents Martin Dunn, Kevin House, K.C. Kuykendall, and Karl Newell, all running on the "Truth and Trust" ticket, will be re-elected to their council positions. As of April 9th standings, Debra Callahan, who declared candidacy on March 8, will replace Scott Nettles, by a slim...
"April showers bring May flowers . . ." or, in our case (we hope) grass. You see, we had a bit of a lawn mishap last year. Attempting to ban our grass of clover, hubby inadvertently double-dosed the weed killer, and wiped out the entire lawn. While not pretty, a dead lawn does have some advantages. We saved a bundle on the water bill and mowing was a non- issue. See, every cloud really does have a silver lining. Now, new seed has been sown and we're enjoying the April showers, and, quite...
Fun, frugal family activities that require minimal advance preparation are difficult to come by. Geocaching meets those requirements and more. My son received a GPS for Christmas two years ago and we've been hooked ever since. The Touchet Valley is filled with hundreds of caches requiring nothing more than a GPS to find, though a GPS enabled smart phone will get you by in a pinch. Not only will geocaching get you off the couch and into the great outdoors, it's gratifying and educational as...
I consider myself a reluctant fan of Facebook. I appreciate the way it allows me to keeps friends and fam- ily close at heart. Without it, I wouldn’t be able to view my teenage niece’s photo shoots, admire my baby brother’s lat- est ironwork creations, keep tabs on high school classmates or, most importantly, receive regular updates on the antics of my angelic infant granddaughter. Without Facebook, it’s highly possible I might still be under the impression that “Duck Dynasty” is some kind o...
WAITSBURG - "What highly visible U.S. solar panel corporation that re- ceived a half-billion dollar loan guarantee in the stimulus package went bankrupt in 2011?" " These words were probably derived from what ancient language? Mahatama, stupe, chakra, avatar, kar- ma, banyan, sutra, mantra, musk, nir- vana." Such were the questions faced by six members of the Waitsburg High School Knowledge Bowl team. The team placed ninth in the Washington State Knowledge Bowl Tournament at Ar- lington High Sch...
"At 1:54 p.m. dispatch received the emergency call. At 1:56 p.m. the city fire whistle was sounded. At 1:59 p.m., the City ambu- lance arrived on the scene," read EMS technician Sharon Brooks. Glancing up from the report, she added, "That's when I realized the house fire we were respond- ing to was my own home." By 2:22 p.m. the fire was out and "mop-up" had officially begun. For the Brooks fam- ily, "life as usual" will be some time coming. March 22 started out as a typical Friday afternoon...
DAYTON -- The cozy house on Fourth Street in Dayton is a long way from home for exchange students Barbara Brixoto, of Belo Horizonte, Brazil and Stacy Populo of Nantes, France. The girls have made their school-year home with first- time exchange hosts Carl and Zelm (better known as Z) Hargraves, Texas transplants who moved to Dayton two years ago. The Hargraves were en- couraged to participate in the exchange program by their neighbors who had previ- ously hosted students. "It sounded like fun a...
WAITSBURG - In the band room at Waits- burg High, students pick songs, suggest changes and work together or with music teacher Brad Green to master or adapt the music. In the urban dance ballad Titanium by David Guetta, senior Cheyenne Frohreich works on her Travis picking while senior Matt Hoilman takes a try at bass. In Little Talks by Of Monsters and Men, Green per- forms an accordion solo on an instrument recently donated by Kate Hockersmith, as Alex Leathers plays "the egg." Green pulls up...
The Magill farmstead, nestled among the trees along the South Touchet River, is the current home of foreign exchange students Pedro Barbosa of Patos De Minas, Brazil and Thammanoon (T-Noon) Amorchaiyapitak of Bangkok, Thailand. Valarie and Dan Magill, whose bustling household includes their daughter, son-in-law, three young grandchildren, and a bevy of animals, are vet- eran exchange hosts, having opened their home to 12 students since 2006. Vala- rie, Regional Director for Face the World...
I n last month's review of SketchUp, I credited the discovery to Pinter- est. Truth be known, nearly all displays of astounding creativity and impressive know-how on my part can be attributed to Pinterest. For those unaware, Pin- terest is a visual bookmarking site with a social twist. Users create "boards" in different categories, then "pin" relevant photos and captions. A click on the photo takes you to the original blog or website. Unlike browser bookmarks which often leave me mystified as to...
DAYTON - Dayton High School is brimming with cultural diversity this year as it plays host to six foreign exchange students, representing France, Germany, Brazil, Japan, and Thailand. The Times spoke with Takayuki Inoue of Japan and Nora Mansur of Germany regarding their experience in the U.S. Takayuki (Yuki), a sophomore at Dayton High, is hosted by the Kerekulas, a family who resides in the country with their four homeschooled children. Rural life and a large family provide stark con...
WAITSBURG - At 18 years old, Thibault Marti- nelle is already a seasoned traveler, having visited most of Europe, including France, England, Ireland, Turkey, Italy and Spain, as well as U.S. visits to Florida and Connecticut. Still, leav- ing his home in Waterloo, Belgium to spend the school year in Waitsburg as an ex- change student has been a "one-of-a-kind" experience. Waterloo, with a popula- tion roughly that of Walla Walla, is not a particu- larly large city, but sizeable enough that...
I magine leaving the larg- est city in the world and journeying halfway around the globe to live in a rural town of 1,200. That's precisely what Chao Lei Dai experienced when she left Shanghai, China (pop. 23 million), to spend the school year as a foreign exchange student in Waitsburg. I was delighted to spend some time talking with the charming Chao Lei, who uses Cherry as her American moniker, about life in our country. The desire to experience the American lifestyle goes back a generation...
Ah…it’s that time of year again. The time of year when it’s nigh impossible to read a paper, magazine or watch a television show without being bombarded by visions of chocolate and diamonds. (Sorry, guys, the season appears to be largely marketed to the female persuasion.) The time of year when you are to, in the words of the clergyman from Princess Bride, “tweasure your wuv.” If you haven’t seen the movie Princess Bride, you absolutely must. As a matter of fact, that would make an ideal Val...
Looking for some good, clean fun that won’t cost you a dime? If you’re anything like my boys, Google SketchUp might be the answer. I happened upon a recommendation for this software while browsing Pinterest (another form of good, clean fun). After a brief perusal of the description, I watched a Youtube video demonstration and was hooked. I promptly called my boys in to share the video and see if they were as impressed as I was. “That is soooo cool!” my 13-year-old stated repeatedly. They were...
Participation in the local Troop has doubled in the past year. While participation in high school sports may be declining in Dayton, the local Boy Scouts are expe- riencing a renewed interest. The nine to 11 boys attend- ing Troop meetings is nearly double, compared to recent years. The boys, half from Day- ton and half from Waits- burg, meet weekly to gain knowledge in a variety of merit badge categories and practice leadership, teamwork and survival skills. Their most recent adventure took...
WAITSBURG - The WP girls took their first win of the season in a pre-league nail-biter against the Mac-Hi Pioneers here by a score of 42-38 on December 17. Both teams played hard and remained neck-and-neck throughout the game. At the end of the third quarter the Pioneers were ahead with a score of 27-28. The teams were tied at 33 points early in the fourth quarter, when WP changed tactics in response to the Pioneers' outside shooting abilities. WP went man-to-man in response and took a slight l...
PRESCOTT - The Waitsburg Prescott wrestling team opened their season with the Liberty Invite in Richland on Dec. 14, and their first league meet at Tri-Cities Prep on Dec. 17. WP's David Just (126 lbs.) took third place at Liberty; his only loss was to returning state champion Kain Feltwell from Liberty. But a mistake cost him his second match at the Dec. 17 TCP meet. Just, described by Coach Lanny Adams as a "very technical wrestler," won his first match against White Swan's Oscar Ponce, pinn...
