Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
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WAITSBURG—The Waitsburg City Council met on Wednesday, April 20, for a regularly scheduled meeting. April was the first month that the council offered a Zoom option. The option will be available for future meetings, and log-in information is provided at www.cityofwaitsburg.com with upcoming meeting agendas. Those using Zoom said it was difficult to hear. The city is exploring options to improve the online sound quality for future meetings. Walla Walla County Sheriff’s Office (WWCSO) pro...
Hidden in Plain Sight program scheduled for May. DAYTON – The Dayton School Board held their regular meeting at 6 PM, April 20, 2022, in the High School Auditorium and on Zoom. All members of the board were present in the auditorium, Aneesha Dieu, Zac Fabian, Grant Griffen, Korinda Wallace, and Chair Jeffrey McCowen. Madison Richardson, the student representative, and Superintendent Guy Strot were also present in the auditorium. Only a few members of the public were present in the auditorium, and fewer than ten were listening in on Zoom. The b...
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore is the newest adventure in the Wizarding World™ created by J.K. Rowling. Professor Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) knows the powerful Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald (Mads Mikkelsen) is moving to seize control of the wizarding world. Unable to stop him alone, he entrusts Magizoologist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) to lead an intrepid team of wizards, witches, and one brave Muggle baker on a dangerous mission, where they encounter old and new beasts and clash with Grindelwald’s growing legion of follower...
At their April 12 meeting, the Dayton City Council voted 4-3 to forgo 2 years of work, and about $200,000 to say “no” to purchasing land on which to build a new wastewater treatment plant. After years of research and planning an innovative, economical, and environmentally conscious facility, the majority offered no alternative location or plan. A new wastewater treatment facility was an urgent need when I moved here 11 years ago. It’s been a long and frustrating process for city staff, council, and the public, with many delays and roadblocks al...
Port Director Jennie Dickinson just received recognition from the Dayton Chamber of Commerce as Employee of the Year. Many appreciative community members nominated Ms. Dickinson for this award and were pleased that she was selected to receive it. However, Port Commissioner Seth Bryan seems to want to cast Ms. Dickinson in a negative light whenever the opportunity arises. At a publicly attended Port Commissioners’ workshop on March 23, he said that his understanding of the budget shows the Port operating in the red. At the April 13 Port C...
At the April 12 meeting of the Dayton City Council, the Council members voted against purchasing the property that would have allowed the City to move forward with bringing the wastewater treatment into compliance with Washington State Department of Ecology’s standards. The City has been working to find a resolution for this issue since 2007. That is 14 years of brainstorming, investigations, and research for the best possible solution to bring the City of Dayton into compliance. The Department of Ecology has been patient for 14 years while t...
Several years ago, the City of Dayton was cited by the WA. State Department of Ecology for dumping untreated wastewater into the Touchet River. The city puts 300,000 gallons of effluent into our Touchet River each day. Dayton was not fined because it was making a good faith effort to rectify the problem. The preparatory work for new sewage treatment cost the city over $200,000 prior to the new Council members voting against the project. Now with the “no-vote”, the City may lose the chance to buy the property needed to treat the sewage nat...
February 26, 1932 – April 10, 2022 Dorothy Amelia Gagnon Hall, 90, passed away peacefully April 10th at her home in Walla Walla. Dorothy was born on February 26, 1932 at the home of her grandparents William and Nona Reid on the Lower Whetstone. Her parents were Philip Gagnon and E. Eunice Reid Gagnon. She was the youngest of five children. After Philip's death, Eunice then married Carl Peck and another brother was added to her family. Dorothy was a member of the Days of Real Sport Court and grad...
WALLA WALLA—Jared Hawkins, local attorney and business owner, announces his candidacy for the Walla Walla County Part Time District Court Judge position. Hawkins owns the local law firm Hawkins Law. Throughout his 17 years of legal experience, he has practiced in multiple areas, including criminal justice, municipal law, business law, wills & estates, property law, and administrative law. “As a judge I will rely on my broad and varied experience as an attorney. If elected, I pledge to be respectful and fair to those who appear in judicial pro...
Savonnah Henderson and Andrew Fouts announce their engagement. Savonnah, the framer at Wenaha Gallery in Dayton, is the daughter of Steve and Carolyn Henderson of Dayton. Andrew, who is a mechanical engineer for Lamb Weston in Kennewick, is the son of Marc and Neena Fouts of Kennewick. The couple plans an early September wedding....
OLYMPIA — The Office of the Secretary of State received multiple reports of third-party canvassers presenting themselves as elections officials and going door-to-door across Washington asking residents about their voter information and other election-related questions. These canvassers are not affiliated with and do not represent the Office of the Secretary of State, its Elections division, or any of Washington’s 39 county elections offices. “I want to assure Washington voters that you are under no obligation to answer any questions from,...
WAITSBURG—The Waitsburg School Board met on April 21, 2022, for a regularly scheduled meeting. The middle school robotic class presented an overview of some of the projects they have been working on. The robotics class taught by Colby Starring has been learning everything from inventorying supplies, designing robots, implementing a design plan, and coding. Board member Carol Clarke asked if the students were able to work at home. Students said they could not work at home because they didn’t have access to the field-specific supplies from cla...
DAYTON-Sheriff Joe Helm administered the Oath of Office to three new deputies to the Columbia County Sheriff's Office on Tuesday April 26, 2022. Two of the deputies are lateral hires from other agencies. Deputy Blake Ahlers transferred from the Walla Walla Police Department. Deputy Payden Teel served at the Wapato Police Department before joining CCSO. Deputy David Walling graduated number one in his class at the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission's academy in Burien, Wash....
BAKER CITY, Ore—It’s that time of year again and out in forest are many species of friendly fungi on the forest floor, ready for harvesting. If you know where to look, and what to look for, mushrooms are available to pick for personal consumption within the daily legal limits: one gallon in Oregon and five gallons in Washington. No permit or payment is required to harvest, possess, or transport within these legal limits, provided the mushrooms are not sold or traded but enjoyed by the picker. The 2022 Mushroom Guide is available in three dif...
LYONS FERRY—The ninth annual Swim the Snake event will be held at Lyons Ferry Marina and Lyons Ferry State Park on Saturday, August 13, 2022, beginning at 11 a.m. Swim the Snake consists of a non-competitive, open-water swim and a two-stage, competitive (or non-competitive) kayak or paddleboard relay. The relay route is from Lyons Ferry Marina to Lyons Ferry State Park, across Lake Bryan on the Snake River. Upon arrival at Lyons Ferry State Park, paddlers can enter the water or tag-team with their “paired swimmer” and swim back to Lyons Ferry...
DAYTON – A caboose on an active railroad track is not something most of us have seen in a very long time. Likely, most people under forty have never seen one. Few people have probably seen a caboose emblazoned with large block letters, "WARNING! REMOTE CONTROL." At Dayton's Caboose Park, visitors can see a yellow Union Pacific caboose up close. With its distinctive cupola, it is a great example of the cars once widely used. From the 1830s, cabooses were used to provide shelter for the crews o...
Last weekend, a quick 700-mile trip into Oregon's Union and Baker Counties began rolling decades ago when Waitsburg photographer Bill Rodgers studied botany and geology and then worked professionally throughout the western states. His familiarity with the timeless forces shaping the Earth's subsurface informed his love for the mystery and beauty of the landscapes above. This outing was to seek photographs for Volume VI of "The Blues," to be published later this year by the Blue Mountain Land...
The Dayton Chamber of Commerce held its annual Community Choice Awards Banquet on Wednesday, April 20, 2022. Each year, the public submits nominations for exceptional citizen, employee, business, and youth. This year, the Chamber added two categories to recognize, Start-up Business and Non-Profit of the year. A selection committee, made up of the Chamber Board and community members, selected the winners. Though this year's banquet remained small, the Chamber didn't want to miss an opportunity...
This is among Oregon's finest value brands, especially for Willamette Valley Pinot Noir. Samuel Robert makes two versions of dry, Pinot-based rosé, and both are excellent. The Conscious is priced a buck less than the winery's other rosé, and tastes more like a reserve, which is to say it is more precise and less fruity, with appealing minerality. The flavors are light, elegant and expressive, with watermelon and wild raspberry fruit. It's a fine counterpoint to the more fruity, bold Samuel R...
HS Baseball On Tuesday, April 19, the high school baseball team lost 8-2 and 5-4 to WWVA. No other details were received. Thursday, April 21, the Wolfpack lost their first game to River View 14-4. The teams were tied 4-4 after three innings then the Panthers scored two runs in the 4th and five runs in the 5th to extend their lead. DW struggled to put runs on the board and although they didn't commit any errors, they had a tough time defensively containing their opponent. Levi Boudrieau started...
The day has come, and this is the test; am I ready to travel maskless? I had an early morning flight scheduled for my next sojourn to Los Angeles this last Monday. It’s a dreadful time to wake up and make it to the airport, but it’s nice to get into Los Angeles around noon. More time to hang with friends and eat sushi. But, as luck would have it, I received a text from the airline around midnight advising me that the flight was canceled. They rebooked me to a flight leaving on Tuesday aft...
The new Art Event at Wenaha Gallery features the woodturning art of Louis Toweill, an artist from Yakima. Toweill makes hardwood bowls in sycamore, maple, walnut, and other fine hardwoods. He began woodturning seriously in 2000 and creates bowls, platters, vases, pens, and other items. This show includes some of his most recent work in 'basket illusion' woodturning. These are wood-turned bowls that, while on the lathe, are grooved with horizontal grooves that wrap around the piece. After taking...
Ten Years Ago April 26, 2012 [Photo Caption] Pam Conover fits Waitsburg Elementary student Jake Bradshaw with a helmet for the fifth-grade class’s lesson on bike safety recently in Waitsburg. Twenty-Five Years Ago May 1, 1997 The Quilcene-Brinnon (Wash.) Schools Shellfish Science Club, advised by Charlie Baker, son of Tom and Anita Baker of Waitsburg and a 1971 graduate of Waitsburg High School, and who counts his daughter Molly and sons Tom and Daniel as members of the science club, has won a...
It was around this time of year, many moons ago, that I made my first visit to Waitsburg. After the long dusty drive, the bucolic view of vivid green rolling hills surrounding this picturesque little town felt particularly welcoming. The sun was just starting to set as we arrived, the golden light making the abundant spring blooms in the neighborhood glow. Outside, the air was thick with the unmistakable scent of lilacs. The whole town smelled sweet. Years later, during my first spring living...
