Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
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Waitsburg High School National Honor Society Advisor Liv Leid shared this recently received email from the American Red Cross, regarding the recent NHS blood drive with The Times readers. Dear National Honor Society, Thank you for coordinating the Monday, April 29, 2019 blood drive. We are very pleased with the drive overall, and the willingness of the donors to share this life saving gift. The efforts of the Waitsburg Community have always been greatly appreciated and their support of the community blood program will go a long way toward...
Dear Editor, The April 17, 2019 now deceased shooter in Lewiston, Idaho was in Idaho from Washington under the terms of an interstate compact, because he had numerous previous felony convictions. Dispatchers noted Cook had recently been hospitalized on a mental hold but had left against doctor’s wishes and made threats to law enforcement. Cook was prohibited from owning a firearm and had a number of criminal convictions, many involving violence. He was convicted in October 2016 of unlawful possession of a firearm and sentenced to one to two y...
Dear Editor, I hope the voters that elected Senator Maureen Walsh are paying attention to her behavior in the Washington Legislative chamber. Lawmakers are expected to be well informed about current issues. Senator Walsh presents a confused understanding of the nursing profession and how healthcare is organized in Washington State. Erik Jonas, RN...
Dear Editor, This is being written in support of our latest Assistant Librarian Shakira Bye, who was recently fired from the job on a serious accusation and for which there is no evidence. We have been told that her dismissal is the ninth such in the last four years. People are asking, why have so many have been let go. These are expensive personnel hirings, and terminations are so damaging. Most of these workers were not given cause. Of course none is required in WA and apparently, none of them really complained, quietly letting it go and...
Dear Editor, Can it be! 30 years flood again? They are predicting cold weather into mid-March. At that time of the year there will be no gradual warmup und the temperature will turn to the 70s overnight. The mountains are full of snow along with all the farmland, add a week of rain, a chinook in the mountains - instant flood. Are you prepared? Is the city prepared? Hope so! Thirty years ago there were three breakouts on the Coppei. FEMA fixed two and I told them about the third above me, but they said they didn’t have the money to fix it. W...
Dear Editor, I am writing to thank Waitsburg residents for sharing the true meaning of Christmas with children in need this past holiday season. Because of the generosity of donors in Waitsburg and across the United States, Operation Christmas Child, a project of Samaritan’s Purse, collected more than 8.8 million shoeboxes in 2018. Combined with those collected from partnering countries in 2018, the ministry is now sending more than 10.6 million shoebox gifts to children suffering from poverty, natural disasters, war, disease and famine. These...
Dear Editor, Has anyone noticed the paradox Waitsburg City Council proposes? It appears ridiculous to me for the City to consider abandoning its offices and functions at its present site in order to relocate to the “Kingdom Hall” the Jehovah Witnesses have put up for sale. Now Council is fussing over what to do about vacant commercial buildings on Main Street. To move City Hall to a location adjacent to the park and swimming pool directly places our local government in a known flood path. Recall that the JW’s building received signi...
Thanks to the Wildhorse Foundation, The Club in Dayton has an improved kitchen. A $13,095 grant from Wildhorse Foundation awarded in December provided for a new floor, new stainless-steel dish washing sinks, wall repairs and a home style cooking range. These improvements will allow the Columbia County Health District to provide cooking classes to members this spring. Thanks to our responsive contractors, the improvements were made during the holiday break so that club programming was not affected. This is the second grant provided to The Club...
Dear Editor: According to 2017 FBI Crime in the United States (https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2017/crime-in-the-u.s.-2017/tables/expanded-homicide-data-table-11.xls) the following murders were committed by the means listed: 15,129—Total murder victims 7,032—Handguns 1,591—Knives or cutting instruments 692—Personal weapons (hands, fists, feet, etc.) 467—Blunt objects (clubs, hammers, etc.) 403—Rifles 264—Shotguns Recently-passed Initiative 1639 placed great emphasis on so-called “semi-automatic assault rifles” yet murders committed...
Dear Editor: The theme of the December 27 City Council discussion about the Parks and Rec Committee and the preservation or demolishing of the Fairground’s grandstands seems to be spiraling down to a silo view of Waitsburg events and continuing program of work. We have an event, Waitsburg Celebration Days, that has been successfully implemented and been a benefit to promoting Waitsburg and Waitsburg businesses that seems to be overlooked in a determination to save the grandstands. Waitsburg Celebration Days is utilized as a promotional tool y...
Dear Editor, On Saturday, Dec. 1, with the Columbia County-Walla Walla County Fire District 2 volunteers and community members, the Waitsburg Resource Center, for the second year, was able to deliver Christmas stockings to children in the City of Waitsburg. Remaining stockings were donated to Santa to deliver to children visiting him at Hometown Christmas. We could not have completed this project without the help of the volunteers, and especially the volunteers at the fire district who, once again, were willing to donate their time on a...
Dear Editor, Just read on page 3 of the 12/5/18 Union Bulletin that after five years of controversy, the “Yakima City Council voted unanimously to follow the will of the people . . .” regarding a project. How many years has the discussion of the Waitsburg Fairgrounds Grandstand been ongoing? In April 2018, the majority of those voting in the city election voted for removal. Thank you Council Member Kevin House for supporting that advisory vote. Rather than support voters and the outcome of the advisory vote, the fate of the grandstand app...
A special thank you to the many friends of John Stellwagen. Our family wishes to thank you for your prayers, your many visits, and your many thoughtful and generous acts of kindness during his illness. John dearly loved this community. Our heartfelt thanks to all of you, The family of John Stellwagon...
Dear Editor, I am urging you to support Chuck Amerein for Columbia county commissioner. He will be a fresh new face in our county government. While experience is helpful, change is good too. I think we need Chuck. He has many qualities that will make for a good commissioner. Leadership – he commanded soldiers Decision Making – His decisions were life and death decisions Business – He has owned and operated 2 fitness businesses which involves people skills, perseverance and a work ethic. Currently he is a journeyman carpenter as well as an in...
Dear Editor, This current race for Sheriff has been contentious. Not necessarily between the two candidates, but amongst their supporters. Some of the more troubling attacks I’ve seen revolve around the support the deputies have shown for Mark Crider. In one previously published UB letter to the editor, a former sheriff’s deputy wrote about the unprofessionalism of the deputies for voicing their opinion on whom the next Sheriff should be. He stated there was “a great deal of quiet support” for Matt Stroe amongst the “professional” deputies. E...
Dear Editor, As the election is winding down, I would like to personally thank Matt. Being Matt’s pastor, I have had the honor to sit front row to this process from beginning to end with the family. I will always remember the conversation that we had when he felt the call to run for Sheriff. I asked him one simple question: Why? He responded: I feel called to serve. Although he was confident that God was leading him in this direction, he had his concerns. He knew the attacks would come against his character, against his family, against his f...
Dear Editor, I am writing to urge you to support Cathy Loftus Shochet for Columbia County Treasurer. Cathy has all the necessary experience to be the next Treasurer. She has been the Chief Deputy Treasurer for 3 years which makes her extremely well qualified to move up to the Treasurer position. She already knows all the routines and computer systems that are used in the Treasurers’ office so there would a seamless transition to Treasurer. Cathy recently received training in the new systems that will be implemented at the office. She has e...
Dear Editor, As the race for Walla Walla County Sheriff continues, I keep seeing and hearing how the Sheriff’s Office needs to go back to the way it was. Why would some of the citizens of Walla Walla County want the operations of the Sheriff’s Office to go backwards? Even though there have been changes at the Sheriff’s Office throughout the years, the last eight years have seen improvements that help serve the citizens of Walla Walla County better. Deputies have also benefited from this with more training, better equipment, hiring of quali...
Dear Editor, Awesome! I’m writing today to encourage you to support my nephew Dain Nysoe for Columbia County commissioner. Yesterday I was driving around and ended up at the ranch, the home where I grew up. It’s so beautiful here! Everywhere you look there is a panorama of color, blue sky, the mountains: it’s awesome. It’s great to be home: this is where the heart is. Dain grew up here too and he loves it like I do. One of my early memories of Dain is when he was a kid and I was driving wheat truck: he would flag me down, “Stop, stop, sto...
Dear Editor, I personally know three people, owners of businesses on Dayton’s Main Street, who left them—closed them or otherwise got out—to take jobs with public agencies that offered benefits that included health insurance. I also know three others--young, talented employees of Dayton businesses--who left those jobs to take employment with public agencies that offered benefits that included health insurance. And I count three storefronts on Dayton’s Main Street that were occupied by private sector businesses, but after lying empty for som...
Dear Editor, At the AAUW Candidates Forum in Dayton, both of the Columbia County Commissioner candidates appeared to be intelligent, conscientious and likeable citizens. The obvious and most important difference, however, was their level of administrative experience. The County Commissioner position is not a political position - - - it is an administrative position. Commissioners are expected to raise and wisely use funds from a variety of sources, administer a budget of about $15 million annually, manage a lot of county employees and their act...
Dear Editor, In these last few days before Election Day I’ve been thinking about respect. In a recent letter to the Union-Bulletin editor a man wrote that he didn’t think being a fighter pilot would make Mark Crider a better sheriff. Crider served this country for 10 years as a Naval aviator, commanding men & women and managing million-dollar budgets. He obeyed orders from superiors while looking out for the welfare of his troops. That is leadership, and that is what will make him a better sheriff than his opponent. Crider served his country in...
Dear Editor, I support Mark Crider for Walla Walla County Sheriff. I was born in Mexico and came to the United States in 1990 at the age of 10. I have lived in Walla Walla since 1992 and attended Walla Walla public schools; graduating in 1999 from WA-HI. As a legal resident, I served in the Marine Corps for four years and received an honorable discharge. After my enlistment, I worked 6 years for BMAC conducting community outreach work as a neighborhood organizer for Commitment to Community. I’ve worked as an intervention specialist at both E...
Dear Editor, For over two decades, I have watched my husband come home shift after shift, proud of the work he does as a Walla Walla County Sheriff’s deputy. I take seriously his career decisions because they affect his life in a way few outside law enforcement understand. Like the other wives whose husbands daily put their lives on the line for this county, I don’t stand behind my husband in support; I stand alongside him. That is why a group of us came together when we saw that Mark Crider was running for Sheriff and that our husbands wan...
Dear Editor, This election year we do not have an incumbent running for County Sheriff. This means that we have an open seat race, and that equates into an opportunity for the citizens of Walla Walla County. It means that it is an opportune time to change direction if needed, to improve and to strengthen what already is functional. To accomplish any of the above, a candidate must have a working knowledge of the needs, challenges and issues that have transpired in our local community. It will take a sense of history to know what needs to be...
