Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Sorted by date Results 124 - 148 of 997
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...
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...
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...
