Articles written by Michele Smith
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Dayton terminates county planning and compliance contracts
DAYTON—The Dayton City Council voted last week to terminate interlocal agreements with the county for Planning Department and Code Compliance Services. City Administrator Trina Cole said the reason behind last week’s decision is so the city can...
Ranger districts provide updates
DAYTON-Personnel from the Pomeroy and Walla Walla Ranger Districts of the Umatilla National Forest hosted a public meeting in Dayton last week to share information about the Districts and discuss...
Dayton High School held its 138th graduation ceremony on Saturday
DAYTON-Family and friends crowded the Dayton High School gymnasium on Saturday to hear Class of 2019 Valedictorian Neylan Bryan and Salutatorian Tatumn Laughery deliver their speeches, and to cheer as...
Neylan Bryan is DHS Valedictorian and Tatumn Laughery is Salutatorian
DAYTON-Dayton High School 2019 graduates will receive their diplo- mas in a commencement ceremony on Sat., June 8 at 1 p.m. in the Dayton High School gymnasium. Neylan Bryan The Dayton High School...
DHS hosts Mentor Round Table
DAYTON-For high school students, having the opportunity to meet with people from many walks of working life is important as they begin their journey into life after high school and the arena of the...
Relocating and delisting wolves is under consideration
DAYTON—Region 1 Director of Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (DWFW) Steve Pozzanghera, came before the Board of County Commissioners last week to present a Periodic Status Review for gray...
Dayton welcomes possible alternative to retain current wastewater treatment facility
DAYTON—At last week’s regular city council meeting, City Administrator Trina Cole spoke about a meeting that recently took place between city officials and representatives from Washington Water...
New nursing legislation poses negative impact on hospital budget and care quality
DAYTON-In his report to the Hospital Board of Commissioners on April 23, CEO Shane McGuire talked about how a recent legislative ruling limiting nurses to eight hour shifts in a twenty-four-hour day,...
County-wide flood control zone district is topic of public outreach meetings
DAYTON-At the Fairgrounds Pavilion last week, Columbia County Engineer Charles Eaton and Kirk Holmes, an engineer with consulting firm PERFEET, spoke about the intention of the Board of Columbia...
Self-defense is topic at Citizen's Academy
DAYTON-"We're hardwired for violence. The fact that you are sitting here right now means for generations and generations, there were people in your background who knew how to operate in violence, or...
Adopt-a-Storefront Program gets underway in Dayton
DAYTON-The Dayton Chamber of Commerce, the Dayton Development Task Force, local organizations and Main Street businesses kicking off a program to beautify Dayton's Main Street. The Adopt-A-Storefront...
Dayton City Council April Report
DAYTON—City of Dayton Mayor Craig George presided over a lengthy city council meeting last week, which will be his last before he retires on Apr. 30. “I really want to thank the council. I’ve be...
Fish and wildlife habitat improvement plan is underway for Touchet River
DAYTON-The Walla Walla and Columbia Conservation Districts are the lead agencies for a restoration and improvement plan for fish and wildlife habitat on the Touchet River, from the SR 125 bridge at Waitsburg, upstream, into the upper reaches of the...
Blue Mountain Heritage Society honors Columbia County veterans
DAYTON-The patriotic display honoring Columbia County veterans has been moved from the Smith Hollow Country Schoolhouse to the Palus Museum, at 426 E. Main Street. "The display was popular and...
Repowering planned for Marengo wind turbines
DAYTON-PacifiCorp is investing $3.5 billion to build four new wind projects and upgrade its Wyoming, Oregon, and Washington wind fleet. The upgrade includes "repowering" the 78 wind turbines at...
Retail garden nursery planned for Blue Mountain Station
DAYTON-Beginning on April 19 the Blue Mountain Station Co-op will be open on Tues. through Saturday, from 10 a.m. until 6 p. m., said Patricia Sacha, the manager of the Co-op market. Sacha said on...
Waitsburg-to-Dayton Multi-use Path discussed at Cup of Joe
DAYTON—About forty people gathered in the Delany Room last week to help kick off the first in a series of discussions regarding the planned 9.7-mile Waitsburg-to-Dayton Multi-use Path. Alexandra Stone, a landscape architect with the National Park...
Railroad History
DAYTON-Railroad enthusiast and author Thomas Hillebrant spoke about the history of the Walla Walla and Dayton Rails at the Dayton Historic Depot on Mar. 21. Hillebrant said there was a "great clamor"...
Potential litigation propels BOCC to interface with library board
DAYTON—If an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, then why doesn’t the county have a dedicated human resources manager? Now, issues surrounding Shakira Bye’s termination from the...
Friends of the Dayton Community Pool broadens its vision
DAYTON—The Friends of the Dayton Community Pool has revamped its name and purpose. “We kept running into community conversations that talked about how lovely it would be to have a community or multi-purpose center in our county,” said...
Dayton March City Council Update
Urban Growth Area land swap proposal moves forward DAYTON-City of Dayton Mayor Craig George will pass his gavel to Mayor Pro-tem Zac Weatherford on April 30. George read a letter of his resignation...
Golf board and fairgrounds committee work together for improved facilities
DAYTON—The Friends of the Fairgrounds committee and the members of the Touchet Valley Golf Board are working together to create great resources for Columbia County. That was the take-away message...
Piecing Together a family history through Genetic DNA
WALLA WALLA-On Feb. 28 at Whitman College, 1979 Whitman Graduate and Board Trustee Stephen Hammond presented his program: Piecing Together a Family History through Genetic DNA. The presentation was...
Ryan Rundell is new Columbia Co. Commissioner
DAYTON-It took just ten minutes of deliberation behind closed doors for Columbia County Commissioners Mike Talbott and Chuck Amerein to select Ryan Rundell to fill the vacant seat on the Board of...
Orozco trial date set for July
DAYTON – Columbia County Prosecuting Attorney C. Dale Slack said the Benjamin Orozco murder case has been re-set, from March 11 to July 8. Slack said May 8 is the deadline for the exchange of all ev...
