Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
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ASOTIN - Washington Governor Jay Inslee last week appointed Clarkston attorney Scott D. Gallina to replace Superior Court Judge William Acey, who resigned in April. Inslee attended Gallina's swearing-in ceremony here on Friday. Gallina, 50, is currently a member of the Clark and Feeney law firm in Lewiston, Ida. In his new position, he will serve the Hells Canyon Circuit, which covers Asotin, Garfield and Columbia Counties. Gallina will have to stand for re-election this year for the remaining...
WAITSBURG - This year's Waitsburg Celebration Days Parade Marshals -- Gary Thomas and Jeff Broom -- are as native as you can get to Waitsburg without actually being born here. Thomas has invested decades of service in the former Days of Real Sport racing event and Broom has been involved in nearly every other aspect of the community, and the new Celebration Days event. Gary Thomas was born in Walla Walla to parents Don and Wilma. The family moved to a home on Middle Waitsburg Road in 1945 when...
DAYTON - Columbia Pulp LLC has announced that it will open an office on Main Street in Dayton later this year. The firm has entered into agreement to rent the former Betzler Chiropractic office at 164 E. Main Street, beginning in June. "We will be working to get the office ready, and hope to open sometime in the summer," said Columbia Pulp President John Begley. Columbia Pulp has acquired 450 acres of land on Highway 261 in northwestern Columbia County near Lyons Ferry Marina. On a 40 acre...
WAITSBURG - The Frog Hollow Band - voted Best Local Band in the Union Bulletin's People's Choice Awards the last four years running - is becoming as much a part of the fabric of the Touchet Valley as wheat fields, Walla Walla Sweets, fine wine and hot air balloons. The band will say "thank you" to their supportive fans with a free party on May 31at 7 p.m. at the Walla Walla Elks Lodge, in celebration of the release of their CD album titled "Days Like These." Singer/songwriter Zach Winters of...
DAYTON - Candidates around Washington State will file for elective office next week. The state's official filing period runs from May 12 through 16. Walla Walla and Columbia Counties both have a large number of offices open this year. In both counties, the auditor, assessor, clerk, treasurer, sheriff and prosecutor positions are open this year. Walla Walla County also has a separate elected coroner position open. All are for four-year terms. In Walla Walla County, Sheriff John Turner has...
WAITSBURG - Waitsburg Public Works Director Dan Katsel is one of five Washington state award winning "water pros." The first week in May is National Drinking Water Week, the week when the state Department of Health (DOH) honors the work and dedication of water system operators who work to make Washington water some of the safest and best-tasting tap water in the world, according to a DOH press release. "It takes an incredible amount of knowledge, dedication and hard work to keep water systems...
WAITSBURG - "Parting is such sweet sorrow." Waitsburg 7th and 9th grade students will likely echo this Shakespearean sentiment as they say good-bye to Shakespeare Walla Walla educators Thomas Beebe and Josh Haddock who wrapped up a four-day Living with Shakespeare workshop in Waitsburg on Friday. Budget constraints and rising program costs may prevent the school from offering the program next year. Students laughed as they learned when The Times visited workshops in both grades on Friday. In...
WAITSBURG - Waitsburg's City Council approved a Main Street Bridge Feasibility Study by the Army Corp of Engineers at their April 16 Council meeting. It is hoped that the study will eventually result in funds to help replace the Main Street Bridge, which is a flood hazard. City Clerk Randy Hinchliffe says the City has been researching ways to replace the bridge for "a very long time." The State won't help with funding because of the classification and project backlogs. The US Army Corps of...
DAYTON - Ian Smay said he was more than surprised when he learned he took first place at the FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) state conference a couple of weeks ago in the Computer Applications competition. "I had no idea I'd do that well," the Dayton High School junior said. Smay was one of eleven members of Dayton's FBLA team who received ten topfive finishes at the conference. Some were individual competitions and some were in teams. The Computer Applications event, which Smay won,...
DAYTON - Members of the Dayton schools' Facilities Committee will meet later this month to decide how to move forward after the school improvement bond levy that was put before voters last week went down to a big defeat. The preliminary results posted on election night showed that 993 voters cast votes to reject the measure, compared to 381 voting in favor. 56.52% of registered voters in the district cast ballots in the special election. The county web site says 46 ballots are yet to be counted....
WAITSBURG - Waitsburg High School Principal Stephanie Wooderchak "saved the best news for last" as she announced, at the April 17 school board meeting, that Waitsburg High School has received the Overall Excellence Award in the state's 2013 Washington Achievement Awards - an honor reserved for the top five percent of Washington elementary, middle and high schools. WHS had held the title for four out of five years, since the award's inception in 2009. A total of 413 schools received recognition...
Approved - 381 (27.73%) Rejected - 993 (72.27%) These preliminary results were available just as The Times was going to press Tuesday. We will have in-depth coverage of the Dayton School Bond Levy special election in our upcoming May 1 issue....
PRESCOTT - "Do we have the green light? Are we good to move ahead?" asked artist and Pomegranate Center founder and executive director Milenko Matanovic. Attendees at the April 15 Prescott Vacant Lot Project Open House responded with an enthusiastic round of applause. A $25,000 grant from the Pomegranate Center, along with their decades of experience working alongside communities to create gathering spaces, will allow Prescott to transform the empty, burned-out lot between the Tuxedo Tavern and...
WAITSBURG - Waitsburg residents will see a six dollar increase in their next utility bill. The increase, which brings the base water rate to $33.90, was approved at the April 16 City Council meeting in order to meet imminent water line repair needs. The rate adjustment arrives on the heels of a 3% increase that took effect in January. City Clerk Randy Hinchliffe originally proposed an increase of $4.90 in December 2013 in order to fund needed line upgrades and well repairs. That proposal was...
to serve as a temporary PIO in Darrington, Wash., last week. Columbia County Commissioners gave their blessings as Ver Valen left her local post to work in the small town that was ravaged by the effects of the recent landslide on State Route 530 near Oso, Wash. Ver Valen currently works as operations manager for Columbia County Emergency Management and Public Safety Communications and as PIO for emergency management and the sheriff's office. She is a former editor of The Times. In 2012 the...
DAYTON - The Dayton Chamber of Commerce has named Andrew Holt as its new Executive Director. Holt started on April 7th. He replaces Brad McMasters, who resigned in January. Holt previously served as tourism services manager for Tourism Walla Walla from 2010 to 2012. There, he oversaw social media, the visitor's center, and worked on several projects, including the performing arts comm ittee and the regional signage project. Last year he worked as sports information director for Whitman College....
WAITSBURG - Waitsburg Celebration Days Weekend - May 17-18 -- is still in the planning stages, but one young lady has been hard at work, actively representing Waitsburg and Celebration Days for months. Queen Candidate Megan Morrison was selected to the Celebration Days Royalty Court in November and will be crowned Queen in a May 6 coronation ceremony. Morrison tried out for court in November and began her royalty duties in December by appearing in the Dayton and Waitsburg Christmas Parades and...
WAITSBURG - It's a rare occasion when the field on the west side of the Highway, on Waitsburg's south side, receives more attention than Izzy the camel's turf on the east. But such was the case last week. Dozens of Waitsburg students joined Mc- Gregor Company staff and Ag Center for Excellence representatives in an FFA-hosted Nutrients for Life Field Day in Perry Dozier's field on Thursday afternoon. FFA Vice President Kimmie Hamann spearheaded the event as the culminating activity in Waitsburg...
DAYTON - The Dayton Development Task Force is holding their second annual Community Spring Clean-up Day next Saturday, April 12 from 9 am to noon. Columbia County residents are invited to help the Task Force spruce up the town in preparation of summer event and tourist season. Bring your family and your gloves, rakes, shovels, clippers, garbage bags, brooms, and other clean-up tools and meet at Caboose Park at 9 a.m. Teams will be assigned to work in specific locations, such as public landscaped areas near the Caboose, along Commercial Street,...
ASOTIN - Judge William D. Acey announced his retirement as Superior Court Judge for Washington's Hells Canyon Circuit on March 31. His retirement will take effect April 30. Judge Acey has served in that position, which covers Asotin, Columbia and Garfield Counties, for 13 years. In his Letter of Resignation to Governor Jay Inslee, Acey said, "I appreciate the confidence the citizens of the Hells Canyon Circuit have reposed in me the last 31 years." Prior to being elected to his current position in 2000, Acey served as Asotin County District...
DAYTON - Carl Robanske has a love of travel, a desire to serve God and compassion for people less fortunate than himself. He has put those passions to work as founder and chairman of the Walla Walla-based nonprofit organization Embracing Orphans. Over the past five years, Robanske and Embracing Orphans have made a real difference in the lives of many young people in the Caribbean Island nation of Jamaica. The organization has bought new cribs and built two playgrounds for a government owned...
WALLA WALLA - It’s difficult to think of Joanna Lanning without thinking of animals. The two just go together. Those who know her can affirm that truth. When Lanning is scheduled to lead the children’s message at church, the question is not what she will talk about, but what animal she’ll use to demonstrate her point. To say she is a favorite of the children is an understatement. As an animal enthusiast, nurturer and natural teacher, her work at the Pioneer Park Aviary in Walla Walla is perf...
DAYTON - Voters in the Dayton School District will decide this month whether to approve a bond levy to provide funding to complete a major renovation of the school facilities here. The bond of $19.955 million would fund the majority of the project, which is projected to cost $24.254 million. The project would be the first major renovation at Dayton Schools in 30 years. The Dayton School Board created a facilities committee more than a year ago, made up of teachers, school administrators, sc...
