Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
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DAYTON - Trucks carrying wind turbine components began moving along Highway 12 through Waitsburg and Dayton last week on their way to the new Tucannon River Wind Project. The project is being constructed north of Dayton by Portland General Electric Co. According to Franco Albi, PGE's project manager, deliveries to the site are expected to continue through the summer and end by early October. "The end date could vary slightly, depending on weather and other factors," he said. Shipments to the...
WAITSBURG - The Waitsburg Lions wrapped up their year at an annual meeting last month where they installed a new slate of officers and presented awards. Mike Bergevin received this year's Lion of the Year Award and Terry Jacoy received the prestigious Melvin Jones Award. "The Melvin Jones Award is the highest award in Lionism," said Past President Guy McCaw. The award was founded in 1973 in honor of Melvin Jones, who founded Lions clubs International in 1971. Jones owned his own insurance agency...
DAYTON - The Columbia County Planning Commission decided on Monday night to revisit the issue of a proposed text amendment to the language in the AR-1 zone to add sales of agriculturalbased products as a conditional use. A public hearing on the matter was held June 9, and immediately thereafter the panel voted against a motion to recommend approval. But they also voted in favor of a motion to reconsider the issue at their next meeting. After several minutes of discussion on Monday, the commissio...
DAYTON - Columbia County Prosecutor Rea Culwell dropped charges earlier this month against Walter Hartwell. He has been released from the Columbia County Jail. Hartwell, 38, was arrested in February and charged with two counts of first degree rape of a child. His trial had been delayed until next month. "We no longer have cooperation of the alleged victim," Culwell told The Times. Culwell said she believes Hartwell is guilty, based on recorded statements the child gave to CPS, but that evidence is not admissible in court. "The victim's...
PRESCOTT - The last, but certainly not the least, of the area high school seniors graduated Friday night as 19 Prescott Class of 2014 students walked amid friends and family gathered in the high school gymnasium to accept their high school diplomas. Commencement speakers were Valedictorian Emily Wilson, Salutatorian Erik Sandoval and High School Math Teacher and Senior Class Advisor Mark Grimm. Wilson, daughter of Jim and Rebecca Wilson of Waitsburg, graduated with a near-perfect G.P.A. of...
WAITSBURG - Finding a place to park when picking up or dropping off children at school may get a bit easier for Waitsburg residents this coming school year. At their June 11 Board meeting, the Waitsburg School Board approved an "add alternate" bid with the City of Waitsburg that will allow for a driveway directly from Main Street into the Academy Street parking lot. In mid-December Waitsburg City Council approved a grant agreement with the Transportation Improvement Board, accepting a $188,385...
WAITSBURG - As the first strains of "Pomp and Circumstance" were trumpeted from the mezzanine of Waitsburg High School's Kison Court, a hush fell over the near-capacity crowd. All present rose to their feet as the state and national flags were borne down the middle of the room to pedestals flanking a cluster of seventeen chairs. Two at a time, arms linked, boys in black robes and girls in red ones strode to the end of the room and took their seats. Thus began the one hundred and eighteenth...
DAYTON - All Wheels Weekend in Dayton is expected to be even better than those that have come before. If that's possible. The Dayton Chamber of Commerce and its All Wheels Committee are pulling out all the stops for the 20th version of Dayton's big car show and town blowout. 400+ custom and classic cars are expected to take part this year. The biggest new event is the free stage show on Friday night: "The Ultimate Elvis Live!" from Las Vegas. Justin Shandor is one of the top young Elvises in the...
DAYTON - The Columbia County Sheriff's Office, with the help of the Walla Walla SWAT team, searched a home at 119 E. Commercial St. on Monday. The execution of the search warrant resulted in the arrest of three people, including two on drug charges. According to a press release issued by the Sheriff's Office, "Multiple occupants were in the home at the time the search was executed; three arrests were made without incident. Deputies located firearms and a substance that appears to be methamphetamine in the home. Deputies found no indication...
DAYTON - The Columbia County Planning Commission voted Monday night to recommend against a proposed amendment to the county's zoning code to add commercial uses to the Agricultural/ Residential-1 zone. The vote came after a public hearing in which more than a dozen people spoke in favor of the amendment. Several written comments in favor were also read into the record. No one spoke against it. The commission's recommendation will now go to the Columbia County Board of Commissioners, who will...
PRESCOTT - Patrons who haven't visited the Prescott library in awhile are sure to be met by a smiling face, though that face may not be familiar. The Prescott Branch of the Walla Walla County Rural Library District - which also includes branches in Plaza Way, Touchet, Burbank, Vista Hermosa and a Walla Walla service center - recently welcomed two new clerks and a new manager. Sharon Psenak, of Waitsburg, was hired as a substitute clerk in April, but moved into the Library Clerk position...
Touchet Valley area libraries are gearing up for their Summer Reading Programs, which begin later this month. This year's kids' Summer Reading Program Theme is "Fizz Boom Read."...
WAITSBURG - Bargain hunters will be out in force, roaming the streets of Waitsburg on Saturday, June 7, for Waitsburg's 17th Annual Community-Wide Yard Sale. Local buyers and sellers traditionally earmark the first Saturday in June to either clear their closets and basement of unwanted items or join the search for bargains (or both). The Waitsburg Commercial Club sponsored the first two-day event -- which boasted 46 sales - in 1998. City streets were literally bumper-tobumper, with many...
WAITSBURG - City Council members were informed at last week's Council meeting that Walla Walla County Prosecuting Attorney Jim Nagle is moving forward to press charges against an individual that logged several cords of wood from the City's watershed up the Coppei River. District court documents state that Nicholas J. Bradeen was charged with two counts of criminal trespass in the second degree and one count of third degree theft, regarding an incident that occurred on April 6. The first count is a misdemeanor and the second a gross...
DAYTON - The Columbia County Health System is considering a significant reconfiguration of the Dayton General Hospital building. In a press release issued last week, interim CEO John Smiley said that the Columbia County Hospital District Board of Directors tentatively plans to seek voter approval in November for a bond levy to provide funds for the project. The amount of the levy has not been determined at this point. It would affect property owners in the Columbia County Hospital Dis...
WAITSBURG - Waitsburg High School is no stranger to the Washington State Achievement Award list, earning the Overall Excellence Award four times - awarded to the top 5% of schools -- as well as awards in a number of other categories. Preston Hall Junior High joined WHS on the award list for the first time year with state recognition for High Progress and Math Growth. Waitsburg Elementary School was also a first-time state list maker this year - on another kind of list. Waitsburg Elementary...
WAITSBURG - Flags snapped briskly in the breeze, with miniature versions dotting the grounds in memory of local veterans, as the crowd gathered at the Waitsburg City Cemetery for the May 26, 2014 Memorial Day Program. Boy Scouts from Troop 332 raised the flag and high school junior Mikala DeRuwe sang "The Star-Spangled Banner." Pastor Bret Moser offered the invocation. K.C. Kuykendall welcomed the audience on behalf of the City Council, expressing thanks for those who gave their lives for our...
DAYTON - Last week, Columbia County Hearings Examiner Andrew Kottkamp approved the conditional use permit application from Columbia Pulp LLC, for the straw pulp facility it is planning to build on State Highway 261 near Lyons Ferry. Kottkamp, a Wenatchee attorney who serves as hearings examiner for several local governments, ruled that facility met all county zoning requirements and that no undue adverse impact was found. Columbia County Planning Director Kim Lyonnais said that the on...
WAITSBURG - Waitsburg School District will be joining schools across the state in dropping the culminating project as a graduation requirement. Last month, Gov. Jay Inslee signed a bill that eliminated culminating projects as a statewide requirement, beginning with the class of 2015, and instead allowed the determination to be made at the district level. At their May 14 meeting, the Waitsburg School Board voted unanimously to drop the requirement. Superintendent Carol Clarke shared with the...
WALLA WALLA - Three candidates filed for election last week to replace outgoing Walla Walla County Commissioner Greg Thompkins. Stephen Ames and Jim Duncan both stated a preference for the Republican Party, while Dale Johnson filed as an independent. Ames is a former Walla Walla County Coroner, and Duncan is currently the County's Emergency Management Director. Johnson is a former College Place and Walla Walla County planning commissioner. Walla Walla County Sheriff John Turner will also be in...
DAYTON - Two Dayton natives, who returned to town to retire after careers away, will face off in the race to replace retiring Columbia County Commissioner Chuck Reeves. Merle Jackson and Dain Nysoe both filed for the position last week, Jackson preferring the Republican party and Nysoe, the Democrats. Jackson worked as a nuclear engineer for many years, based in both Richland and Idaho Falla, Ida. He is currently manager of his family's farm operations in Columbia County. Nysoe worked as a...
WAITSBURG - 2013 Waitsburg Celebration Days Queen, Emily Adams, passed the crown to this year's queen, Megan Morrison, in a coronation ceremony that took place at the May 6 Commercial Club meeting at Waitsburg Town Hall. Royalty court advisors Amanda DeRuwe and Joycelin Munden coordinated the ceremony, which was attended by representatives from several area courts. Commercial Club members, local royalty, and community members enjoyed a dinner catered by Emry and Sandy Kleck of "the Q." Royalty...
