Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
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WAITSBURG - Widely differing cost estimates between architects and contractors have caused a temporary halt to the interpretive kiosk project at the Wait Mill site. Architects, Jones & Jones originally estimated the cost of the project at $7,000. The kiosk is to consist of a large steel roof, supported by beams, that will over- hang the existing vault at the old mill site. The overhang will provide space for informational panels commemorating both the Lewis & Clark Expedition and the history of...
Wednesday Craig Morgan Concert & Royalty Introductions Thursday Demolition Derby Friday Kids Day / PRCA Rodeo Saturday Cowboy Breakfast Frontier Days Parade Downtown PRCA Rodeo Sunday Cowboy Church Market Livestock Sale PRCA Rodeo For more information on event times and gate prices, see Page 11....
WAITSBURG - This September, many Waitsburg schoolchildren will find the trek to school significantly safer than in recent years. Designating specific ar- eas of town as "hazardous walk routes" will allow for students to be bused to the school, rather than walking in dangerous conditions. In years past, students living east of the Touchet River Bridge were eligible to ride the bus safely to school. Shortly before Dr. Clarke's appointment as Waitsburg School District Superintendent in 2004,...
WAITSBURG - From designing and sewing her own Rainbow formals as a teen to having her designs showcased in British Vogue, Waitsburg native Calley (Andrews) Gonzalez has literally "come a long way, baby!" Gonzalez' designs have traveled from the quiet streets of Waitsburg to fashion shows across the east coast and spreads in magazines around the world. A business that was originally intended as "something I could do at my own pace" has forged ahead at such breakneck speed, Gonzalez is strugglin...
DAYTON - Portland General Electric Company announced it completed purchase of the development rights for a portion of the Lower Snake River Wind Energy Project from Puget Sound Energy on August 2. The purchase includes 116 wind turbine sites in northern Columbia County, east of Highway 12. PGE spokesperson Brianne Hyder said that construction at the site is expected to begin within a month, with completion in early 2015. The new project will be called the Tucannon River Wind Farm. Hyder s...
DAYTON - It may not be the massive invasion of cyclists Waitsburg hosted in 2010, but the 300 cyclists from Bicycle Rides Northwest who descend on Dayton this week will definitely be noticed. The group, which arrives in town on Thursday and will spend two nights at the city park, is making a weeklong tour of northeast Oregon and southeast Washington. Their trip started this weekend in Athena, takes them through LaGrande, Joseph and Asotin before ending in Dayton. Bicycle Rides North...
DAYTON - Reactions to the unexpected departure of Columbia County Health Systems' CEO Dale Polla late last week were mixed. Less than a year on the job, Polla resigned on Thursday following a special executive session of the hospital district's board. Board Chair Lisa Naylor said the parting of ways was mutual. "There was agreement on both sides," she said. "He was a great person to keep things nice and steady, but in this changing world we wanted someone on the cusp of things." In the i...
WAITSBURG - Is the movie on your laptop freezing up? Can't have more than one person in your house gaming or watching videos at one time? Dropping too many Skype calls? Help is on the way as home and business owners can finally hook up to the NoaNet high-speed fiber optics cable that now runs through the Touchet Valley. Waitsburg's Touchet Valley Communications and Dayton's Touchet Valley TV offer download speeds so high applications for it have yet to be invented. But for now, speeds of up to 50 megs will help make streaming a lot more re...
WAITSBURG - In a town like Waitsburg, the start of fire season has an unmistak- able sound. It's not the tone of the Main Street siren, it's the frequency. If composer Claude De- bussy was right about music being the silence between the notes, the composition that announces the most ignitable time of year picked up sev- eral beats this weekend. And if local fire fighting officials are right about the conditions that can feed the flames, this summer could be more wor- risome than previous ones....
(DAYTON) Columbia County Hospital District Chief Executive Officer Dale E. Polla resigned Thursday following a special executive session of the Board of Commissioners. Polla leaves the District after nearly a year of service. The Board of Commissioners cited several compelling factors to Polla’s resignation; including a change in the direction of District's overall management, embrace of the detalls of the coming Affordable Care Act and the long-term operational health of the public hospital. Polla was compensated for the remainder of his e...
WAITSBURG - Megan Mor- rison found her prince long before she became a Princess. The member of the 2013 Waitsburg Court who hails from a household of few means, received 'Tex' as a gift three years ago from an older family friend who no- ticed the 12-year-old was the only one who could handle the feisty old rodeo horse. "Tex was picky," Mor- rison, now 15, said through her tears during a recent interview at an equestrian event in Walla Walla. "If he didn't like you, he'd let you know." The...
DAYTON - Washington Federal, a Seattle-based banking company, an- nounced Thursday that it has entered into an agreement to purchase 51 branches in four western states from Bank of America. Local employees would not comment for the record, but confirmed that Dayton's B of A branch is one of them. A press release issued by Washington Federal said the branches it is purchasing are in Washington, Oregon, Ida- ho and New Mexico. Nine- teen of those branches are in eastern Washington, where...
DAYTON - The Dayton High School and Dayton Elementary School build- ings both received a major overhaul in 1984. That may seem like yesterday to some, but school administrators say the changes made then were designed to meet the school's needs for 20 years. It's been nearly 30, and a new round of renovation is sorely needed, they say. A committee made up of school board members, administrators and staff, and local citizens, has been meeting for nearly a year to discuss a potential renovation...
WAITSBURG – 2013 has already delivered an early heat wave, a late hard freeze, a mostly dry spring and a week long deluge to start the summer. For most residents of Columbia and Walla Walla Counties, these weather anomalies are at best a pleasant change, and at worst a minor annoyance. For area dry-land farmers, these weather events can mean the difference between a wind- fall year and a zero-profit annum. Walla Walla and Colum- bia County climates vary dramatically depending on location. S...
WAITSBURG – A childhood’s worth of memo- ries floods back for Kay Baker as she peruses the photos and memorabilia that she and friend Mary Phillips set up two weeks ago as part of the Huntsville history exhibit now showing at the Wilson-Phillips house on the grounds of the Bruce Mansion. “When most people drive from (Waitsburg) to Dayton they don’t even know Huntsville is there,” said Baker. “They don’t know it exists. And I want them to know there was actually a town there. It was a nice li...
WAITSBURG - The horse facilities at the Waits- burg fairgrounds are expe- riencing new life, thanks to revitalization efforts of local citizens who are forming the nonprofit Blue Mountain Equestrian Center Board specifically for that purpose. A bit shy of the 25 hors- es Councilman and Board Business Manager K.C. Kuykendall had originally anticipated boarding as of July 1, there are currently 16 horses making use of the boarding stalls. In addition, Doug Phipps, currently the only trainer at...
STARBUCK -Thanks to more than a dozen vol- unteers who rolled up their sleeves at Lyons Ferry Ma- rina Thursday, the project that gives wheelchair users waterfront access is one step closer to completion. "It will be good once it's all said and done," Lyons Ferry Marina manager Jim MacArthur said. "This will be a nice addition." MacArthur said the facil- ity for persons with disabilities is still waiting for some additional funding to install a transition strip and safety barriers before it can...
DAYTON - The Longears return to town this year with an expanded schedule over two weekends. The third annual Mule Mania event starts this weekend with workshops for mule and donkey owners Saturday and Sunday at the Columbia County Fairgrounds. More than 150 mules and their owners - and sev- eral hundred visitors - are expected in town for the nine-day event. All events at Mule Mania are free and open to the public. Except for the downtown parade, all activities will be held at the Columbia...
WAITSBURG - "Nei- ther snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds." While the United States Postal Service creed inscribed on the James Farley Post Office in New York City still holds true, it's eastern Washington customers -- not postal workers -- that will need to be a bit more "swift" in getting their mail to the box, come Saturday. That's when mail previ- ously sorted in Pasco will be routed to Spokane for processing...
DAYTON – The Columbia County Emergency Management Department issued a power outage alert to Dayton-area residents for Tuesday and Thursday this week. Public information officer Dian McClurg said Columbia REA’s work on the replacement of a electrical substation may interrupt power service to Dayton residents between 11 am and 4 pm on Tuesday and very early on Thursday morning between midnight and 5 am. “This information may be critical to people relying of life-support devices,” said McClurg, whose agency’s announcement was also designed...
DAYTON - Dayton May- or Craig George was elected President of the Association of Washington Cities last week during their Annual Conference in Kennewick. He will serve a one-year term. The AWC is a non-profit group that represents all of Washington's 281 cities and towns. It is currently in its 80th year. During the past two years, George has served as secretary/treasurer and then vice president of the group's board of direc- tors. George says that the AWC provides many impor- tant services for...
WAITSBURG - Two new steps have been taken on the path to memorialize the site of the former Wait's Mill, which was de- stroyed by fire in September 2009. At Waitsburg's June 19 City Council meeting, city administrator Randy Hinchliffe noted that debris from the W. 7th Street Project was being transferred to the mill site and that a contractor had been selected to build an informational kiosk at the mill. Opp & Seibold has con- tracted to build an informa- tional kiosk, incorporating the brick...
