Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Sorted by date Results 1310 - 1333 of 1333
Dear Editor, I urge the people of Washington State to elect Charlie Wiggins for Supreme Court Justice. I don't have enough room to tell you why Charlie is the best candidate because I must inform you about the justice Charlie is running against, Richard Sanders. Judges cannot do anything that would create an improper appearance that he or she might favor a party to a case. Justice Sanders was disciplined by the Washington State Commission on Judicial Conduct for improperly personally interviewing sexually violent predators with cases pending...
Dear Editor: The Commerce Committee of the Commercial Club of Waitsburg is excited to share a new project. The vision of the project is to silhouette each of the downtown buildings with lights. The committee members have researched lighting and found that LED rope lights are very attractive and are the most economical, using only pennies of electricity for any given building each day. Marilyn and I have received many favorable comments about the lights on the Plaza during the Christmas season. One of the most gratifying comments came from a...
WALLA WALLA - After Lucy's passing early last week, we were keen on getting another dog but decided to look into adopting one instead of going to a breeder. That was after we had briefly considered the idea of getting a Lakeland Terrier (a cross between Lucy's breed, an Airdale, and our other dog, Snowy, a Fox Terrier) and found out the closest Lakeland Terrier breeder is well past Boise and charges $1,200 for a puppy. $1,200!?! You gotta be kidding me! Hey, we thought, there are far too many un...
"A wide net catches the most Ð ish." That was 23-year old Jordan McCandless's approach to fÐinding a job. He claimed job-hunting as a 40-hour per week com- mitment after graduating from Whitworth Univer- sity in Spokane. And after countless applications and interviews, he still had no luck fÐinding a job. Jordan described his dreams of one day becom- ing a U.S. Senator, and was willing to work any sort of job or internship to get his foot in the door. He said, "My main concern is mak- ing su...
The holidays are winding down. Your living room floor is littered with shards of wrapping pa- per and crushed cellophane bows. The trash can out the back door is sixty-five percent full of cardboard; the other thirty-five consists of crumbled styrofoam and hacked-open plastic clam- shells. The new toys were fun, but after a while Junior's remote control gizmo will suffer a fatal one-vehicle collision with Cousin Ellie's leg, and that twenty-seven- in-one screwdriver ding- dong you got Uncle...
Whether an accurate reflection or not, a community is often judged based on its school system. For a relocating couple with children, the quality of the school district in which a house is located will often be as much a deciding factor in buying a home as the size of the living room. Entire websites are devoted to ranking school districts by test scores, student/teacher ratios, ethnic makeup and more. A positive accomplishment reflects well on us all. Last week, as reported on Page 1, Waitsburg Kindergarten teacher Pamela Nolan-Beasley...
A h, prom. It comes but once a year and for only a few years in a given lifetime. It's opulent, flashy, hyperbolistic, and occasionally controversial. (Remember last year's vig- orous debate over a certain highly divisive set of grind- ing rules? Good, neither do I.) They say it's the best event of the best days of your life, the very crème de le crème of the high school experience, a magically sub- lime event where every girl is a princess and every boy minds his manners and all your dreams come true. I'm not going. I attempted to explain this...
The talent show on Satur- day evening was a big suc- cess. The Citizenship Class from the middle school was overwhelmed by the support the community gave them in helping to raise funds for the Brooks family to reestablish their home following a fire. The dessert donations for the silent auction were amazing and the selection very diverse. The bidding became pretty competitive and was fun to watch. The Citizenship Class or- ganized the talent show and students from both the high school and middle school preformed for two hours. Admission was by...
Dear Editor, We just want to say thank you to ALL that have helped us. This would include the Waitsburg Fire District 2, Co- lumbia County 3, and Waits- burg Ambulance Service. And not just agencies that are expected to show up in emergencies, but our com- munity as well. Those of you that have come forward and helped with washing clothes and dishes or donated clothing, household items and financial donations to help us get back into a house. A special thank you to those that participated in the Talent Show, Saturday. We feel so very blessed...
I n 2009, the first year of the Waitsburg Prescott combine, all of two Ju- bilee athletes participated in the program: one in football and one in track. This school year (2012 - 2013), athletes from the ranch for at-risk teenage boys in Eureka took up 34 slots on Cardinals and Ti- gers teams, including 11 in football, 5 in cross country, 8 in basketball, 5 in wrestling and 7 in baseball. We say "slots" here because a number of athletes play multiple sports. In the Sports Section of this week's...
Sometimes national news hits home. It did recently for the Columbia County Health System when CFO John Hennessey announced that the local health service will likely see a reduction in Medicare payments of around $93,000 in the next 12 months. The federal budget sequester, which made across-the- board budget cuts to many federal agencies, also caused reductions in Medicare payments to healthcare providers. "Our income is about 55% Medicare," said CCHS CEO Dale Polla, stressing that any changes in that federal pro- gram have a big effect...
I read with real interest the guest editorial written by Sheriff John Turner (that ran in the Walla Walla Union- Bulletin). Although the article left me with more questions that I had previously, I was intrigued to learn the miscommunication between Sheriff Turner and the county commissioners. It is without integrity for a county commissioner to serve as a liaison for a department, discuss ideas for securing sorely needed equipment for the deputies, take credit for appearing as if he is on their side, and then later conveniently fail to recall...
Pioneer Portraits used to be interesting news of yesteryear, not just morbid rehashings picked up from the police blotter. Maybe this negative fixation is necessary to market newspapers today, and, too, it's bound to be grander entertainment for those of us who've led spotless lives; who have never done anything for which we've needed to be forgiven, anything we've had to pay society our dues for, to atone for, to regret, and finally, for those with the strength to work our way back into that society as useful and reliable and respected...
Correctional Industries (C.I) provides jobs and skill training for inmates at the correctional facilities administered by the Department of Corrections. These jobs provide employment and a modest income for the inmates, a skill that is transferable when seeking employment once released, and provides a savings to the taxpayers in the products they produce. I served as the General Manager for C.I. at the WSP until budget cuts resulted in the loss of my job back in 2010, so I am familiar with the local operations. I question then, why C.I. is...
There are many ways I'm patriotic. I can let people know how I support and respect our country. I can celebrate holidays that show patriotism. I can always support the flag. Those are the three ways I will give in detail on how you and I can show patriotism. It is easy to let someone know you are patriotic because there are many ways. One way is to tell someone that you're glad to live in America. Or you could say that you believe America is a great country. Lastly, you could say that you prefer America over other countries. Those are three...
Two weeks ago, the Times ran its weekly Pioneer Portraits column as it has for many years. For the second time since the newspaper changed hands in late 2009, it prompted a letter to the editor, which we have published on this page. The letter from Kate Reeve objects to rehashing local residents' past offenses, particularly for those who have since bettered their lives and become contributors to the community. She also asks for the same exception for those who have since passed away. Before we get into our response to the letter, it's worth...
WAITSBURG - Jana Moser embraced her grandson once more. The four-year-old Daniel came up to nuzzle and kiss her again. It seems like he can't get enough of her affection and she can't get enough of his. It wasn't just because Moser and her husband, John, live in Ellensburg and it had been a while since they have visited their son, the Rev. Bret Moser, his wife Bethany, and their five children in Waitsburg. Rather, it's almost as though grandmother and grandson never had the experience of close...
In popular motivational business culture, the saying goes that there's a word in Chinese that has a double meaning, representing the concepts of "danger" and "opportunity" all in one. The word is "weiji." A closer analysis reveals that "weiji" is a compound word of which the first part, "wei," can indeed mean "danger," while the second one, "ji," can mean any number of things depending on what it is paired with. The possibilities range from "airplane" to "chance." Some language scholars suggest that its pairing with "wei" turns the meaning of...
