Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Sorted by date Results 1131 - 1155 of 1333
Commercial Club President Robbie Johnson grew up in a tiny western Washington town called Rosburg, about 20 miles north of the Astoria, Oregon. Drawing from a far-flung population of about 2,500, Rosburg had only one grocery store/gas station not much bigger than Waitsburg's Jackpot and it was better known for the things it didn't have than the things it did. A parade was one of those things Rosburg didn't have. And the proud hometown tradition here is one of the reasons Johnson, who moved to town 11 years ago, appreciates being in Waitsburg....
Every time a transport convoy with wind mill parts passes through Dayton, we can imagine some Columbia County residents might find the sight bittersweet. The components - giant blades, nacelles, cones and tower sections - are on their way to Garfield County, where Puget Sound Energy is moving ahead with the first phase of its Lower Snake River Wind Energy Project: the construction of 149 windmills. The building of the towers has been a benefit to the entire Touchet Valley as construction workers spend their money on gas, food and lodging in...
WALLA WALLA - The line stretched out the door outside Charles Smith's wine tasting room on Spokane Street Saturday night. The 20s, 30s and 40s somethings who came for the weekend's hottest spring release party were carefully checked against the reservations list, carded, wristbanded and let into the chic brand-new outlet near the heart of downtown. Waitsburg's own Sharon and Larry Clinton were on hand to help see the guests in. Sharon, of course, works as Smith's business manager. Except for a...
Washington easi ly adopted medical marijuana by initiative in 1998, with 59 percent of the vote. That strong public support remains today. A recent poll found that 84 percent of Washington voters favor "allowing patients with terminal or debilitating conditions to possess and consume marijuana if their doctors recommend it." Unfortunately, the law is not working as the voters intended. This is why Senate Bill 5073 - currently under consideration in the Legislature - is so important and needs to...
A n Associated Press story recently reported how the federal government would respond if Washington expands medical marijuana dispensaries: "The U.S. attorney for Eastern Washington has warned landlords they could face forfeiture of their properties if they rent to medical marijuana shops." The story noted that federal law prohibits marijuana use, quoting U.S. Attorney Michael Ormsby as saying, "We intend to use the full extent of our legal remedies to enforce the law." Following voter approval...
Dear Editor: I am prompted to write because of the Opinion column in the April 14 edition. It mentioned happening upon a bench in the park with a memorial inscription. Deana Land Anderson was my wife until October 11, 1991 when an auto accident in western New York state ended her life way before her time. We deposited her ashes in the Touchet River at Waitburg in 1992. She had been born in 1937 in Waitsburg on the living room couch of her parents' home on Preston Avenue and by a fortuitous chain of events, we ended up on the same bowling team...
I n the two decades we lived in the Seattle area, we made a lot friends. Some of them were Asian immigrants and one of those was Sary Math. Sary was born and raised in Cambodia, but he isn't ethnic Khmer like most Cambodians. He belongs a to fairly large ethnic minority known as Cham, a people who hail from the ancient kingdom of Champa that once stretched from the coast of Vietnam well into Thailand. At some point during that Indochina's equivalent of the Middle Ages, many Cham converted to Islam and settled along the Mekong River, where they...
Dear Editor: Let ' s set the recor d straight. Mayor Walt Gobel has always, his entire adult life, been involved in youth activities. His idea of having a student representative on the city council was an idea that he has worked on developing since his election in 2010. He contacted the school officials and has worked on this idea, setting policy and researching it since 2010. His idea has not been pushed forward because Mr. Baxter wanted to get more youth involved in our community. The swearing in of a student representative last Wednesday...
For those of our readers who paid attention, you already spotted the "soft" unveiling of the name for our planned new coffee shop on Waitsburg's Main Street. You would have seen it in the first-ever Touchet River Valley visitors guide we released in collaboration with the Blue Mountain News earlier this month. It was in the form of a "Coming This Summer" ad in the guide's dining section. But we'll give you the real scoop about its origin here, or at least the reasons why we chose the name....
I t's all about heart. We continue to be encouraged by the community service projects initiated by the young people of our valley. Managing Editor Dian McClurg wrote a HeartBeat column earlier this month about the Draw the Line project led by Dayton High School junior Nicole Lambert, intended to keep kids and adults off alcohol. Last week, we ran a story about Waitsburg High School junior Fletcher Baker joining the Waitsburg City Council as a youth representative (incidentally, we'd like to underscore that this was an initiative of Mayor Walt...
WALLA WALLA - Despite the most wishful fantasies about growing coffee in greenhouses somewhere in the hills around Waitsburg, it's obvious that sourcing one's coffee shop product here fresh isn't a possibility. The plants just won't grow well above or below the nice, warm, tropical band around the equator, just like grapes require certain conditions that seem to be ideal just seven miles from town in, say, Spring Valley. And traveling the world to buy individual batches of green beans, then...
Before the last votes for the recent city elections were in, Mayor Walt Gobel and the members of his caucus determined that the coming year would be different from their first. Waitsburg residents overwhelmingly voted Gobel and the current council back to office, preferring continuity over change. Challengers Bart Baxter and Greg McVey received support from some quarters, but overall, voters decided to give the incumbents another year to continue on their path. Many of them believe this council has paid attention to the right priorities:...
Many of us have enjoyed the Lewis and Clark Trail State Park off Highway 12 between Dayton and Waitsburg. Lewis and Clark Trail State Park is located on what is one of the first homestead sites in Washington Territory. James Bennett homesteaded the 160 acres in1854. In 1867, Bennett traded Mr. Bateman a team and a wagon for rights to the land. Driving onto their property with a wagon, the Batemans went right over the saplings which are now the stately pines growing in the park. The tops of the trees are still bent as a result of that early...
I nserted in this week's edition of the Times, you will find something new and special. It's a tabloid newspaper that looks a bit like the Blue Mountain News. The cover shows Dayton's Stationmaster statue and the clock on Waitsburg's Main Street with rolling spring wheat fields behind them. This, we are proud to announce, is our first Touchet River Valley Visitor's Guide, a collaborative venture with the Blue Mountain News. It is supported by members of the Touchet Valley Tourism Alliance. Among other things, the alliance's marketing committee...
As the city elections draw to a close, we would just like to take the opportunity to thank our current mayor and council members. In our little section of town, it has been quite peaceful and uneventful. No letters from the city imposing mandates on what we can and cannot do with our own home. Honestly, we really haven't followed Waitsburg's political stuff like we should have this last year, but it has been nice not to feel like we "had to"!! Just a quick "Thank You" for a job well done!! Randy and Dana Moon, Waitsburg...
Ms. McVey's remarks (in her letter to the editor published in the Times on March 31), critical of our current city council members, just makes me tired all over. She is not satisfied with simply being critical of the "council," she goes for the whole ball of wax, blaming the voters of Waitsburg. It is not unreasonable to believe her opinion expresses her confusion of Waitsburg operations and goals. Why would she be concerned if the council meets once or four times a month, if she does not attend the council meetings? Additionally, urging...
More than half the student body at Dayton High School has pledged this spring to steer clear of alcohol, and close to 60 adults in the community have promised not to provide alcohol to minors. "It's exciting," said Dayton junior Nicole Lambert, who is leading the youth component of "Let's Draw the Line" in Columbia County through her internship at Blue Mountain Counseling. "Let's Draw the Line" is a campaign through the Washington State Coalition to Reduce Underage Drinking. The aim is to "Draw...
Wake up Oregon high schools! Your track and field athletes are using potentially lethal weapons that could be made much safer without any effort. Of course, track and field involves a lot of activities that are risky, such as pole vaulting, discus, shot and hurdles. But few, if any, of those are as easily changed to avoid injury and few, if any, are as fast and as sharp as the "weapon" in question here: the javelin. On Friday, Cardinal Kayla Huxoll was hit in the leg by an unprotected, steel-tipped sports spear, a type that has been banned in...
