Articles written by Dian Ver Valen
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 180
Columbia County Ramps Up Code Enforcement
DAYTON – In June, planning and building employees began the process of updating Columbia County’s ordinances regarding the violation of building codes and the regulation and abatement of public nui...
The Pride and Joy of Dayton
DAYTON – You probably didn't know that the colorful, hanging baskets of flowers that brighten Dayton's Main Street all summer were nearly 30 years in the making. Dayton Development Task Force m...
Temporary Dump to Open Late This Month
DAYTON – Columbia County has a plan for reopening the transfer station (dump) by the end of August, and citizens won’t have to go anywhere new. The temporary facilities will be located at the cur...
Columbia Pulp Begins Purchase of Local Straw
STARBUCK – Columbia Pulp LLC hasn’t broken ground yet on its 449-acre pulp mill near Lyons Ferry, but “exciting movement” continues to happen behind closed doors, according to Columbia County Planning...
Wheeled All-Terrain Vehicles Approved for City Streets
DAYTON – Dayton City Council approved an ordinance Monday night allowing wheeled all-terrain vehicles, or WATVs, on city streets. No members of the public spoke at the final hearing regarding this l...
Dayton Prepares for 2015-2016 School Year
DAYTON – The school year will begin on Tuesday, Sept. 1, for all students in the Dayton School District. New students as well as returning students are encouraged to attend registration on W...
Arson Unlikely in Several Dayton Fires
DAYTON – Arson has been ruled out in four of the five suspicious fires here between June 28 and July 22, according to incident reports released by Columbia County Fire Marshal Kim Lyonnais on M...
Health System to Lose Two Leaders This Fall
DAYTON – Leadership changes are in the works for the Columbia County Health System. Board Chair Ted Paterson and interim CEO Jon Smiley will both leave the organization at the end of September. The r...
Architects Selected for Hospital Remodel
DAYTON – Columbia County Health System leaders have selected an architect team for the planned $5.5 million Dayton General Hospital upgrade, they announced last week. Two architects responded to t...
Teen Scene: 'What We Did for Summer Vacation'
DAYTON – When teachers at Dayton High School ask their students to write an essay on what they did over their summer vacation, more than two dozen will have a ready answer: Teen Scene. Teen Scene i...
Columbia County Plagued with Fires
DAYTON – Fires are on just about everyone's mind right now. In Columbia County, investigators are struggling to reach conclusions regarding five fires in the last four weeks. "We're just swamped w...
Archeologists Accused of Artifact Theft in Columbia County
DAYTON – Three out-of-state, professional archeologists were charged last week in Columbia County Superior Court with theft of prehistoric artifacts from the Umatilla National Forest and W...
Blue Creek Fire Mostly Contained
WALLA WALLA – Residents of the back country in Columbia County and elsewhere in the Touchet Valley watched the spread of the Blue Creek Fire east of here with unease over the last week. It has been s...
County Considers Funding Starbuck City Hall Renovations
DAYTON – Columbia County Commissioners are considering a request by the Starbuck Town Council to assist with renovations to Starbuck City Hall, following a letter received earlier this month r...
Celebrating 35 Years of Adulthood
The Dayton High School class of 1980 made sure the crowd at this year's annual Alumni Parade in downtown Dayton knew who they were. . ....
Fire Closes Transfer Station
DAYTON – Columbia County Commissioners declared an emergency Friday afternoon following an early morning fire at the county transfer station on South Cottonwood Street that destroyed most of the n...
Dayton Home Destroyed by Fire
DAYTON – Investigators from Walla Walla were on scene last week trying to determine the cause of a fire that seriously damaged a home here early last Wednesday. The house at 119 E. Commercial Ave., o...
No Pavement for Mead Road
DAYTON – County residents Julia and Skip Mead implored Columbia County Commissioners at last week’s public hearing to turn down an offer by Portland General Electric to pave a portion of Mead Roa...
Feelin' Groovy at Foodstock
Dayton resident Alicia Walker helps her 5-year-old daughter, Audrey Walker, tie dye a t-shirt at their booth during Saturday's Foodstock 2015 festival at the Blue Mountain Station just west of Dayton...
Daytonites Urged to Conserve Water
DAYTON – Don’t panic, says Dayton Public Works Superintendent Jim Costello. Washington may be locked in a record-breaking snowpack drought, but Dayton’s city wells are at the same level as they have...
Full of Jive!
Members of the Dayton High School class of 1960 rode their float past the courthouse during Saturday's annual Alumni Parade....
Another Home Consumed by Fire in Dayton
DAYTON - Firefighters were called Wednesday night to yet another house fire here, this time just west of town off Highway 12 on Bowman Hill Road. The flames were visible beginning at about about 10...
ATV Ordinance Receives Support
DAYTON – Dayton took the first step in a move toward allowing wheeled all-Terrain vehicles, or WATVs, on city streets at a public hearing in the St. Joseph’s Catholic Church Parish Hall on Monday nig...
Another Dayton Home Destroyed by Fire
DAYTON – Investigators from Walla Walla will try Thursday morning to determine the cause of a fire that seriously damaged a home here early Wednesday. The house at 119 E. Commercial St., owned by l...
County Dump Closed by Friday Morning Fire
DAYTON – Columbia County Commissioners declared an emergency Friday afternoon following an early morning fire at the county transfer station on South Cottonwood Street that destroyed most of the n...