Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
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To the Waitsburg/Prescott School Communities: On behalf of the team, school and community of supporters of Mount Vernon Christian School, I wanted to let you know how impressed we were to have had the opportunity to compete with your Tiger team in the State 2B/1B Boys' Soccer Championship Saturday. My first thought is how humble and gracious your team players and coaches were. They were so very respectful as they competed - appropriately physical, organized and solid in their skill work and establishing of a system. They knew what they wanted...
I t's been two years since I started writing this column. In a way it feels a good deal longer, but sometimes it still seems like I just started yesterday. My very first piece, as those of you who've read me from the beginning know, was a relatively boring list of Christmas gift-shopping tips. Last year, I commemorated this column's first anniversary by offering a slightly less boring list of Christmas gift-shopping tips. This year, as I am completely shot for other inspiration and Black Friday...
On October 3, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation establishing the last Thursday of November that year as a national day of Thanksgiving and Praise. Prior to that time, many American states celebrated Thanksgiving at different times of the year, though usually in autumn, after harvest. According to historical sources (yes, they're online, but they're trustworthy), most Americans consider the first Thanksgiving to have been held by settlers at Plymouth Plantation in 1621, after...
[Editor's Note: November is National Diabetes Awareness Month, and the Columbia County Health System is reaching out to Touchet Valley residents to help them understand the disease, and measures available for prevention and treatment.] What is diabetes? As many people know, diabetes is a group of disorders that characteristically involves the body either not making enough insulin or not using its own insulin efficiently. As we take in food for energy use in the body, most of it is turned into glucose, or sugar for our later use. Our pancreas...
Waitsburg High School gets its graduation caps, gowns, and stoles (flat silky scarf things) through a company called Herff-Jones. The seniors buy their graduation gear this time of year and receive it sometime in the spring. It costs $41 to rent the gown and purchase the cap and stole (the cap being a potential stomping ground for head lice and the stole, due to the fact that it's imprinted with a school and a date, being highly un-reusable). That's all we're required to purchase. (Technically,...
On Sunday morning I got up, put a couple of logs in the wood stove and then walked across the cold wood floor in my bare feet to the kitchen to fill the kettle and make my morning pot of coffee. When I turned on the tap, the water barely trickled out. And then it stopped. I stood there and stared at it in disbelief for about a minute. I turned the faucet back and forth several times. Nothing. I stared at it some more. I'm not normally someone who wallows in self pity, but at this particular...
The Times invites readers to share their thoughts on our Opinion Page. Letters to the Editor can be emailed to us at editor@waitsburgtimes.comeditor@waitsburgtimes.com, or mailed to The Times at P.O. Box 97, Waitsburg, WA 99361. Letters can also be hand-delivered to our office. Letters should be no more than 400 words long. All letters must be signed by the writer(s) using their actual name, and complete contact information for each writer, including address and phone number must be included. We reserve the right to decline to publish any...
[Editor's Note: This week we look back with fondness on the midterm elections just past and hear what some of the experts at national media organizations think about what happened.] In a pre-election interview with CNN earlier this week, Vice President Joe Biden told me that the "President and I have to figure out how to better communicate." That may be true, but what happened last night is not a communications problem. It's a governing problem. Almost 8 out of 10 voters who voted yesterday don't trust the government to do the right thing --...
My reams of Christmas music and my big down coat both come out midway through autumn. I'm one of those people easily wearied by cold, dreary weather (not to mention the accompanying cold, dreary college admissions deadlines), so as soon as it gets chilly enough to induce the blues, I consider it chilly enough to break out the carols. And the cookies, which warrant much less of an objection from my little brother. Some people I know (Hi, Mom!) can get downright scrooge-y when it comes to unseasonably early Christmas displays, the playing of...
This week marked a series of historical anniversaries that, while mostly unrelated, all played important parts in our county's and our state's histories. On Tuesday, we celebrated Veterans Day and honored the sacrifice of the men and women who have served in our armed forces. It was the 96th anniversary of the end of World War I. In fact, many countries in Europe and around the world celebrate November 11 as Armistice Day. Students in schools throughout the Touchet Valley honored veterans on Mon...
The Times invites readers to share their thoughts on our Opinion Page. Letters to the Editor can be emailed to us at editor@waitsburgtimes.comeditor@waitsburgtimes.com, or mailed to The Times at P.O. Box 97, Waitsburg, WA 99361. Letters can also be hand-delivered to our office. Letters should be no more than 400 words long. All letters must be signed by the writer(s) using their actual name, and complete contact information for each writer, including address and phone number must be included. We reserve the right to decline to publish any...
Just over a month ago, we decided it'd be a good idea to get a new cat. We wound up with a wide-eyed little tabby from Black Dog Rescue. (Actually, he's mostly white, but he has a couple big tabby colored spots.) For the first few days, he was a lump - he didn't move much, didn't eat anything, and made next to no noise, although he would purr loudly whenever he was petted. In an effort to get him to come out of his shell, I would pry him out of his kennel and sit for hours with that lump on my l...
I 'm excited to announce my new column, "Q&A with Cathy." I hope you'll submit any questions you may have - whether about the government, jobs, health care, or anything else - and I'll answer them in this series. You can email your questions to QandAwithCathy@mail.house. gov. I look forward to hearing from you! -Cathy Can the Sales Tax Deduction be extended to the citizens of the State of Washington when filing our income tax? Almost a quarter of Americans live in states that do not have an...
Dear Editor, "What would you like to see in a good county commissioner?" A question my friend Dale Johnson has asked as he dialogues with the voters. My answer is to see Dale as a good new county commissioner. Dale has shown that in his work as a responder to disasters. He assisted a multi-faith group rebuild a home for a fire survivor in White Swan near Yakima; a demonstration of his interest and ability to use his construction talents to help people. We worked in New Jersey for nearly a month to help survivors of Hurricane Sandy. Our main...
Dear Editor, I am writing to encourage you to vote "YES" for the hospital levy. I have had a strong relationship with the hospital for the past 50 plus years. I have been a volunteer for the past 12 years, was an employee in the late '60s, and Fred was a 25- year board member. At the time the hospital was built there was a need for surgery, nursery and in-patient care. Over the years, healthcare has changed, especially for rural hospitals. We now have few in-patients, no surgery or nursery, but the physical therapy, lab, emergency and imaging d...
