Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
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DAYTON—The Friends of the Pool (FotP) and the Focus Advisory Group seek volunteers to serve on the proposed Columbia County Metropolitan Park District. The proposed district would be a new, unfunded taxing district to support the construction, maintenance, and operation of a new aquatic facility and other recreational facilities in Dayton and Columbia County. Five volunteers from the community are needed to make up the Park District Board of Commissioners. The Board will initially guide the management of the new district, complete contracts f...
DAYTON— Comments made at the August Columbia County Rural Library Board of Trustees meeting has left many in the community unsettled. During the public comment period elected officials County Commissioner Chuck Amerien and Dayton City Councilmember Laura Aukerman joined others to challenge the board and ask for certain books to be removed from the library’s collection. Since the meeting, comments on social media, including the Facebook page “Dayton (WA) Uncesnsored”, have been critical and often generating anger directed at the library board a...
DW COMBINE—Sam Korslund, DW Combine Athletic Director, is gearing up for the athletic season. Middle School football and volleyball practices will begin on Wednesday, Sept 7. Football will practice in Dayton and Volleyball in Waitsburg. The practice bus will leave from behind the Dayton High School gym at 3:30 PM. After dropping off Dayton’s volleyball athletes at the Waitsburg gym, the bus will turn around to bring Waitsburg’s football athletes to Dayton around 3:45 p.m. Practices will last from 4-6p.m. If not yet registered, parents must...
WAITSBURG-Waitsburg's business community has been growing. Empty buildings have found new owners, and the town has a hotel again. New ventures are joining established businesses to bring food, drink, hospitality, art, and unique products to town. On Thursday, September 1, new and old businesses will participate in a city-wide open house with special events, treats, and glimpses into what is available to residents and visitors. From 4 pm to 6:30 pm, The Royal Block Wine Bar and Hotel will...
Walla Walla-Two legends performed last Tuesday at Walla Walla's newest music venue. Gospel singer Mavis Staples opened the show, followed by blues guitarist and singer Bonnie Raitt at the Wine Country Amphitheater. W3Concerts, with partners CMoore Concerts and Knitting Factory Entertainment is producing the first concert series on the driving range at the Walla Walla Golf Course. The gently sloped range is a natural amphitheater with excellent sound. The evening was hot, over 100 degrees; the cr...
WAITSBURG—On September 21, 2022, Waitsburg City Council will consider bids for 147 Main Street, which until recently housed City Hall. The city decided to surplus the building last year and accepted a bid for the assessed value of $205,000. The accepted bidder planned to build apartments upstairs and create retail space on the ground floor. Unfortunately, the sale fell through in June. The city reopened the bidding process on July 5, 2022, requesting proposals (RFP) for the historic building. Bidders must submit proposals by 2:00 p.m. on S...
Jim Romine is not only a Waitsburg City Council member, retired Walla Walla County deputy sheriff, husband, father, and doting grandfather; he is also a skilled combine operator. Since Romine was sixteen, he has had a passion for harvest work, driving trucks, and operating combines on the most challenging wheat fields in the world. "He loves working grain harvest," said Virginia, his wife, who does not share his passion. She knows the dangers of operating combines and worries about Jim almost...
OLYMPIA—According to the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), it will be a banner year for Washington wheat. NASS just published its new harvest forecast based on June 1 conditions. The forecast predicts that Washington growers will produce 131 million bushels of winter wheat this year, up 85% from last year. The 2021 wheat crop was abysmal due to the extreme drought and heat in Washington state. This year, winter wheat is predicted to yield 73 bushels an acre, which is up 31 bushels an acre in 2021. In a separate NASS report on h...
WAITSBURG/LYONS FERRY-This weekend saw medieval sports and crafts at Preston Park in Waitsburg and an open swim across the Snake River at Lyon's Ferry. Residents and visitors to Walla Walla and Columbia counties enjoy a wide range of intesests and skills. Lisa Naylor, an accomplished open water swimmer, brings her love of the sport to her community by volunteering at the annual Swim the Snake event. Swimmers and paddle boarders are given the opportunity to safely swim across the river from...
It is a wrap, but not. Unlike digital art printed on mylar or polyestor and applied to outdoor walls, this is a painting. Dayton's newest mural was created using brushes and paint by a muralist. Painter Don Brown and his wife Janice from Kennewick are familiar faces in Dayton, having restored several historic murals downtown. This mural, on the east side of the Weinhard parking lot, is Brown's original design and was commissioned by The Weinhard Hotel and the Dayton Development Task Force....
The Port of Columbia County and tenants of Dayton's Blue Mountain Station held its annual Foodstock event on Saturday, July 16. Port manager Tracy Clark, with the help of administrative assistant Kelly Hinds, took the lead in organizing the event this year. The set-up and tear-down of the stage, tents, and seating areas are done with the help of friends, family, and BMS tenants. Local handyman Tim Bren makes himself invaluable each year by delivering, setting up, and taking down the towering wat...
WAITSBURG-The Royal Block in Waitsburg hosts Open Mic nights on the first Thursday of the month at 6 p.m. July's event highlighted the comedy of local stand-up comedian Deanna Tipton. Backed up by Ken Taylor on cello, Tipton shared some Texas humor with the audience. Owners Tiina Jaatinen and Joe Roberts invite musicians, comedians, poets, and spectators to come out and bring their talents and interests. The Royal Block hotel is open seven days a week, the wine bar is open Thursday through...
WAITSBURG—After recent Dayton City Council actions delaying compliance with Department of Ecology guidelines for effluent release, residents of Waitsburg brought concerns to Waitsburg city officials. City Administrator Randy Hinchliffe contacted the Department of Ecology’s Water Quality Program manager Llyn Doremus for guidance. In an email response, Doremus stated that the effluent from the Dayton Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) meets the required permit limits for fecal coliform. “The fecal coliform content measured (weekly) has been signi...
The Bruce Mansion is getting much needed work this year thanks to a grant from the Sherwood Trust. Maurilio Lara is preparing and painting the historic home over the next few weeks....
WAITSBURG-The Waitsburg Historical Society was excited about the visit of three Sherwood Trust representatives on Tuesday morning, June 7, at the Bruce Mansion on Main Street. The plan was to welcome the visitors and arrange a photo accepting the recently awarded grant from the Trust. The Historical Society had applied for a grant to help pay for painting and repairs to the Bruce Mansion. Before the traditional check presentation photo, Sherwood Trust Project Manager Julia Leavitt gave the...
WAITSBURG—Waitsburg residents may, or may not, notice a slight increase in sales tax starting July 1. The Transportation Benefit District (TBD) has been in place for the last ten years. It funds transportation improvement projects, including sidewalks, road maintenance, and major reconstruction projects like the millrace grade crossing improvements completed in the previous year. The city council approved a resolution on November 17, 2021, to put a ballot measure for the February 2022 special election asking voters to authorize a sales and u...
DAYTON – Actions taken by the Port Commisioners at the April 13, meeting may have ended years of work on the Touchet Valley Trail Project. The meeting at the Columbia County Fairgrounds Youth Building was standing room only and well attended on Zoom. Director Jennie Dickinson, Chair Gene Crowe, and Council Members Seth Bryan and Johnny Watts were present. The meeting began with public comments focused on the Touchet Valley Trail Project (TVTP). Concerns from those against the project included f...
PRESCOTT-Kimberly Smith grew up working with horses and cattle in Prescott, Wash. She spent ten years participating in 4-H showing animals, arts and crafts, and photography. Many will remember her days in the Days of Real Sport royalty in 2006, 2007, and 2008. Recently, Smith has become involved with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) wild horse and burro program. BLM manages and protects wild horses and burros on close to 27 million acres of public lands across western states in the U.S. The g...
Waitsburg Commercial Club is holding its Annual Awards Dinner at the new restaurant on April 12. WAITSBURG-A pizza maker and a Bloody Mary mix master walk into a bar. No joke, the bar was the empty Anchor Bar located in the American Legion, post 35, building on Main Street in Waitsburg. Tom and Judy Bennett have embraced the building's history and want to incorporate the essence of the American Legion post and what it once was; good company and good food to their new business American 35. The co...
DAYTON-The Port of Columbia has changed the location for the April 13 regular meeting of the port commissioners. Anticipating an increase in the number of community members who will attend, the port moved the meeting to the Youth Building at the Columbia County Fairgrounds. The meeting will still begin at 5 p.m. The meeting will also be held on Zoom to encourage further community involvement. One reason for the increased public interest is that the Touchet Valley Trail is on the agenda, and the...
WAITSBURG—Next week is the Waitsburg Commercial Club Awards Dinner on April 12, at American 35. Since the club could not hold its annual event during the pandemic, it will be three times the fun this year. The club will be presenting awards for outstanding service from community members and businesses for the past three years. The last winners were awarded the 2019 Service Awards for their work in 2018. This year the honorees will receive 2020, 2021, and 2022 awards. The 2022 dinner is dedicate...
Is it Cake Netflix, 2022 I love a good baking show. Baking is either magic or science, maybe both? And for me, it is usually disastrous. This show challenges bakers to first identify baked goods from the actual items they are made to look like in the Find the Cake round. Three winners move on to choose one of the items to replicate in their own hyper-realistically decorated cake. Each of the three bakers presents their creation hidden within a display of their mimicked items. The bakers use a...
WAITSBURG-This year, residents across the country have noticed some streetlights are turning purple. There have been theories that they scan for COVID-19 vaccinations, wards off vampires, or are just better for the environment. None of this is true. We still have to take our chances with vampires. The change to purple is due to a manufacturer's defect. It could be an issue with the coating or a chip in the LED bulb. There are quite a few in this area. The power company has replaced some only to...
Recently I was introduced to a local police chief who is also a classically trained musician. Doug Boedigheimer is the Police Chief in Milton Freewater, Oregon. He makes the trip out to Orchard Street Studio in Waitsburg to bring his guitars to be set up by my brother-in-law, Joe Patrick. He also comes to talk music. "The first guitar I brought him I had for 31 years, I didn't know about setups and guitar care. I was a music teacher, so this thing has been drug through everything. He turned...
