Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
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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...
One of the first couples I met in Waitsburg was Sandra and Lupe Torres. They owned the building next door to the commercial property I bought in 2015. They owned Nothing New Antiques, one of only a few businesses open on Main when I arrived. After moving to town in 2004 and looking for a new adventure, the Torres bought and restored their building, including lodging upstairs. They embraced the history of their building and incorporated many of the original features into their remodel. Sandra...
Station Eleven Book by Emily St. JohnMandel Series Produced by HBO "Because survival is insufficient," a message from Star Trek that is spray-painted on the lead wagon of a post-apocalyptic traveling Shakespeare troupe. Station Eleven is not about pandemics. It is about family, community, art, and loss. It is not the typical post-apocalyptic story; there are no zombies or mutants to fight. Just regular people who survived a deadly swine-flu pandemic that wiped out 99% of the world's population....
The Wrestler's Daughter by Markeeta Little Wolf The locally anticipated and internationally renowned memoir by Markeeta Little Wolf is now available on Amazon. Years ago, decades ago, I found a postcard of a wrestler with clenched fists and a beautiful headdress. The attitude of confidence, with eyes full of humor, made him the perfect talisman for my studio. The card has lived on my easel ever since. After moving to Waitsburg, I met Markeeta Little Wolf, who has confidence and humor, a...
The Thursday Murder Club: A Novel By Richard Osman Meeting in the Jigsaw Room at a retirement village, four friends take up the tradition of amateur sleuths in murder mysteries. It does become apparent that each brings their own strengths and experience to their work. Elizabeth is the founder of the group and digs through cold cases from the files of her friend, Penny Gray, a former police officer who is in a coma at the village’s nursing home. Joyce is a retired nurse who serves as the principa...
The Return by Nicholas Sparks Published September 2020 New York Times bestselling author Nicholas Sparks returns with a book in the tradition of his best-selling books Dear John and The Lucky One. The story follows an injured Navy doctor, Trevor, to his family home. He returns to a dilapidated cabin he inherited from his grandfather to regroup from devastating injuries sustained in Afghanistan. Of course, there is a complicated love interest, Natalie, who keeps him at a distance even though...
I first ran across this series while scrolling for something to watch this fall. I assumed Why Women Kill was a reality show about murderesses. I wasn't interested. However, after a recommendation from my brother-in-law, I decided to give it a try. Luckily it is not a reality show but fiction and scripted. The series is a darkly comedic drama, reminiscent of the 1955-65 television show Alfred Hitchcock Presents. It has plenty of murderers. Some kill by accident and some very deliberately. Not...
This week I went to Walla Walla to see Wes Anderson's new movie The French Dispatch. The film was entertaining and one of Anderson's best. In each production, he brings back members from his eccentric troupe of actors, this time including Bill Murray, Adrian Brody, Tilda Swinton and Edward Norton. He also surprises us with some new faces, Benicio Del Toro and Timothee Chalamet. There is also an army of extras, with many cameos from Hollywood. The story is close to my heart, it focuses on a...
Dead Like Me Some of the scariest characters in afterlife lore are grim reapers. Shadowy skeletal figures, in hooded black robes, carrying a scythe who take souls to their final destination. Dead Like Me offers a very different take on these dark characters by portraying reapers as ordinary, though dead, people stuck in limbo. They are tasked with guiding souls to their afterlife before they themselves can move on. The main character, George (Ellen Muth), is killed after being hit in the head...
The Litte Paris Bookshop by Nina George, translated by Simon Pare Reviewed by Todd Vandenbark, MLS. Library Director, Columbia County Rural Library District, Dayton, WA Floating on the banks of the Seine River in France is a barge where Monsieur Perdue has a bookshop. He considers himself as a "literary apothecary" and uses his intuitive sense of what a person needs to "prescribe" novels about the hardships of life. Perdue's gift has helped to mend broken hearts and wounded souls for his custome...
Last week, I took a trip to British Columbia to visit friends, see some art, go to the season opening of the Symphony and eat. Seems like ages since I stayed in downtown Vancouver and was curious to see how it has fared over the pandemic. First I had to get into the country. At the time of my trip, U.S. citizens were allowed to cross the border by car or flight. I used the ArriveCAN app to make sure I had the current travel information. I chose to drive, allowing me to take too many clothes,...
This month, one of the most talented people I know has moved to town. David Gignac has been a close friend, fellow artist, co-exhibitor, and collaborator since I met him decades ago on Whidbey Island. It always amazes me but never surprises me, the ingenious way his mind works. It is always a joy to work on big and small projects, art and building, theater, and real-life problem-solving. I love living in Waitsburg and always hoped I could entice him to make this his home. When Jeff and Gayle Bro...
DAYTON—Washington state’s legislation on police reform went into effect on Sunday, July 25, and has left many police officials across the state without needed clarification. Concerns over changes to police response based on House Bill 1054 and House Bill 1310, sponsored by State Representative Jesse Johnson, were discussed at an August 2 Columbia County Commissioners meeting. The State Legislature passed the police accountability measures in response to national, state, and local calls to reform policing after the deaths of unarmed Black Americ...
WAITSBURG—Recently, I received a voice message from a number I was not familiar with. The message claimed there were actions filed on my social security number for fraudulent activities. The recorded message said I needed to call the provided number before they begin legal proceedings. This is not the first call or email I have received from someone identifying themselves as a financial or government agency. Before I started getting calls like this, my parents received similar messages. One incident involved my very intelligent and computer-sav...
Miracle Workers TBS, three seasons, (2019-) Miracle Workers is a comedy series that uses the same ensemble cast in different storylines for each season. The storylines are from the writings of humorist Simon Rich. The first season is based on Rich's 2012 novel "What in God's Name." It takes place at Heaven Inc.'s corporate headquarters, where God, played by Steve Buscemi, is a little bored and looking for new interests. Feeling frustrated with how Earth and humanity have turned out, he starts...
I have owned dogs living in apartments and houses. My first dog, Tupac, a miniature dachshund, lived with me in an apartment in Seattle. Apartment life means no yard, so we would go for walks around the neighborhood and local dog parks. Walks were when he could do his "business." Unpaid, of course. After Tupac found the perfect spot and checked his p-mail, I would pull out a poop bag, open it up, slip my hand in and pick up his gift-to-mom. I can't lie; that first bagful was a test of my love...
Three blokes became five. Sergeant Kevan Maas and Deputy Sheriff Aaron Stites checked in with local businesses on Main Street in Waitsburg on Tuesday. Building and business owners were happy to have a chance to discuss local policing issues and opportunities to work with the WWSO on outreach and community programs....
WAITSBURG-The Waitsburg City Council met on July 1 for a council workshop. The meeting was open to the public and attended by ten members of the community. There was no public comment period during the meeting. Per the public notice dated June 29, any questions or comments could be passed on to the City Council via City Hall, located at 147 Main St., P.O. Box 35, Waitsburg, WA 99361, or (509) 337-6371. The first item on the agenda regarded City Hall. City Administrator Randy Hinchliffe...
WAITSBURG — Many state, county, and city officials ask the public to celebrate the Fourth of July without home fireworks this year. The Pacific Northwest is experiencing extreme heat conditions causing serious concerns over health and fire safety going into the Fourth of July celebrations. Even though the risk of fire increases significantly during extreme heat conditions, under Washington state law, local jurisdictions cannot impose temporary bans on fireworks. The times to purchase and use fireworks in the state are regulated under RCW 7...
Waitsburg—On Wednesday, June 9, the Friends of the Weller Library met for their regular monthly meeting. The meeting was held at the Weller Library in Waitsburg and attended by approximately 30 people. Karen Huwe, past president of the group, welcomed everyone before turning the meeting over to new president Lisa Winnett. After the last meeting’s minutes were read and approved, Winnett opened discussion on the City Council’s possible decision to surplus the library. She said the group knew nothing of the plan until they read it in The Times...
WAITSBURG—The May 19 City Council meeting was scheduled to include a public hearing concerning the possible sale of 212 Main St, which houses the Weller Public Library. A much larger than usual crowd attended the Waitsburg City Council meeting. Over 40 people were there specifically to attend the public hearing. Many people were concerned that the proposal was about closing the library altogether. Comments supported the library, and many wanted to keep the library in the historic building on Main Street. Mayor Marty Dunn opened the regular coun...
