Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Sorted by date Results 220 - 244 of 997
DAYTON - Columbia REA has donated $50,000 to the Dayton Development Task Force as part of a local tax incen- tive program that was recently approved by the state. The money will be used in the Task Force's efforts to im- prove the economic health of downtown Dayton. In return, Columbia REA will receive a 75% credit on their Public Utilities Taxes paid to the state in 2014. Columbia REA CEO Les Teal said he felt that the tax in- centive program was an excellent way for the co-op to make a difference in Dayton. "We're part of this community, and...
DAYTON - Cody Snider, 17, of Dayton, was found dead Saturday morning by a Columbia County employee near the Rock Hill Transfer Station here. The discovery was made shortly before 10 a.m., when the employee ar- rived to open the station. According to a press release from the Columbia County Sheriff's Office, Snider had apparently fallen approximately 150 feet from the top of the cliff above the transfer station. It was unknown when he fell, since the transfer station had been closed since...
Due to holiday printing schedules, advertising and news dead- lines for the next two issues of the TImes - December 26 and January 2 - will be Monday at noon....
WAITSBURG - The Waitsburg School Board spent a good portion of their December 11 meeting attempting to establish a dollar amount to seek for the upcoming schools maintenance and operations levy. The levy request will be put in front of voters in February. The board unanimously agreed to ask for $532,000 in 2015 and $548,000 in 2016. The 2015 amount trans- lates to $4.08 per $1,000 of assessed property value, at 2013 assessed rates, which could change and lower that amount slightly. The 2016 amou...
WAITSBURG - Waits- burg's City Council replaced the city's one-year morato- rium on recreational marijuana sale and production - which expires this month - with a marijuana zoning ordinance during Monday night's City Council meet- ing. The ordinance was ap- proved as presented, with an amendment providing for collective gardens. City Administrator Randy Hinchliffe presented a draft ordinance limiting the processing, production and sale of recreational marijuana to the city's industrial zones....
WAITSBURG - A high speed car chase through Waitsburg's city streets cul- minated with a wreck in a wheat field and the K-9 unit capture of a hiding offender. The driver, Skyler Glasby, 25, and passenger Phillip Fetner, 29, were both ar- rested at the scene. On Dec. 14, according to a Columbia County Probable Cause report, a Columbia County Deputy was return- ing from the transport of a prisoner to Walla Walla County when he spotted a 1997 Mercury heading in the opposite direction. The officer re...
WAITSBURG - On Jan- uary 12, 1970 "hellip; a small group of Waitsburg people, after recognizing a need, met together to see if an ambulance service could be started in Waitsburg. It could, it was, and it still con- tinues to be a vital part of our community, serving Waits- burg and surrounding areas. We are very proud of the Waitsburg Ambulance Ser- vice and the volunteers that keep it going." Those words are taken from a president's letter written by Waitsburg Ambulance Service (WAS) Board...
DAYTON - The Dayton Schools and the Columbia County Sheriff's office will hold a joint public forum next week to provide information about school safety and law enforcement, and to invite public input on those issues. The forum will be held De- cember 17 at 6:30 p.m. in the auditorium at Dayton High School. Columbia County Sheriff Rocky Miller said the forum is part of his effort to encour- age public input on how the Sheriff's office is doing and what improvements are needed. " I ' ve been walk...
WAITSBURG - Volunteers from the Waitsburg Fire Department spent a good chunk of Thanksgiving weekend cutting down the com- munity Christmas Tree and setting it in its place of honor in front of the Plaza Theater on Main Street. They also decorated the Main Street light posts in preparation for Waitsburg's 28th annual Hometown Christmas event. A tradition, by its very defini- tion, is born of sameness. And while Hometown Christmas always maintains the familiar comfort of a well-loved tradition,...
WAITSBURG - The Waitsburg School District is conducting an online survey to gain public input prior to a potential ballot measure for a replacement Maintenance and Operations levy next year. The survey is available on the Waitsburg Schools' web- site at www.waitsburgsd.org. Participants can also get a printed copy of the survey at the district office at 184 Academy St. The district is requesting that surveys be completed by December 11. Next year, the Waitsburg School District is planning to ask taxpayers in the district to approve a new levy...
DAYTON - The Dayton School District is inviting citizens in the district to attend one of three public "facility forums" to learn more about proposed major upgrades to school facilities and to provide feedback. The forums will be held in the high school audito- rium at 6 p.m. and last about 90 minutes. They will be held on the following dates: - Wednesday December 11 - Thursday December 19 - Wednesday January 15 The meeting agendas will include: - Review of the Study and Survey completed by BLRB Architect/Engineer- ing - Potential renovation...
DAYTON - The Columbia County Sheriff's Office re- ported late Tuesday that deputies have arrested a juvenile male they believe is connected with the threatening note that delayed Dayton schools last week. The subject was arrested Monday and formal charges are still pending. No further information was available at press time, and the case is still under active investigation. Dayton schools opened two hours late on November 25, after a school custodian found a threatening note on the high school entrance early that morning. Deputies and fire...
WAITSBURG - Last week's public information meeting regarding a pro- posed water rate increase was pushed back a month, but the City doesn't have the luxury of waiting to address current water system needs. Letters inviting the com- munity to attend the Novem- ber City Council meeting and offer input or ask ques- tions regarding a potential water bill increase were included with Waitsburg residents' most recent utility statements. While a handful of individuals did show up to that meeting, the...
DAYTON - According to the Columbia County Sher- iff's Office, a female student at Dayton High School re- ported last week that a man she didn't know attempted to entice her into his vehicle. She said the man had a white beard and was driving a white sedan. She reported that he asked three times and she declined all three times. Sheriff's Office spokesperson Dian Ver Valen stressed that anyone witnessing a similar incident should report it immediately, so that deputies can attempt to locate the offender. The Dayton School District has reported t...
DAYTON - Schools here started two hours late Mon- day morning after a threatening note was discovered on the entrance to the high school by a custodian at about 6:30 a.m. The hand- written note is reported to have threatened harm to the schools and its students if the schools held classes this week. According to Columbia County Sheriff's Of- fice spokesperson Dian Ver Valen, sheriff's deputies, local fire fighters and other responders secured district buildings by 10 a.m. All streets with...
DAYTON - Imagine a teacher taking his students on a field trip and leaving one or two behind. Inconceivable, some might say. Yet this is just how former President George W. Bush described the country's dysfunctional education system in 2001 when he proposed the No Child Left Behind Act. No Child Left Behind introduced federal standards to our nation's schools. Though Bush's ideas for education reform were both well-received and strongly criticized, they drew attention to a new way to look at...
DAYTON - One of the lead stories on Tri-Cities TV station KEPR's eve- ning news broadcast on November 13 was about two potentially racist incidents that occurred in Dayton reently. The Walla Walla Union-Bulletin reported on the same stories on its front page that day. On the night November 6, firefighters from Colum- bia County Fire District 3 responded to a small fire that was set in the lawn near Day- ton Elementary School. The fire had been burned into the grass in the shape of a swas- tika,...
DAYTON - Voters in the Dayton School District will likely be asked in April to approve a major bond levy measure to finance the first comprehensive school reno- vation here in 30 years. The District's facilities review committee last week decided to proceed with a plan that is projected to cost $24.2 million. About $19.5 million of that would be funded by the bond, to be repaid by local property taxes. The remain- der would be covered by state matching funds. Dayton School Superintendent Doug Jo...
