Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Sorted by date Results 569 - 593 of 997
DAYTON - The owners of the remodeled Woody's Bar & Grill, now called Threshers, said they have zero-tolerance for troublemakers and have banned four local individuals from the premises after a fight broke out on opening night Friday, April 13. "We've said time and again that we'll close the place down before we become a dive bar," co-owner Curtis Seiss said. "We don't want this sort of thing to happen." The otherwise successful re-opening of the bar following 10 days of remodeling ended an hour early when Columbia County Sheriff's deputies...
DAYTON - A group of Dayton students spent a day of their spring break to paint murals advocating for respect and the end of bullying. Amer icorps member Brittney Jacobs was assigned to complete a service learning project during her time working at Dayton Middle School and she had the idea to address a problem she has seen at the school - bullying. "It's something I personally see that needs help in the community," Jacobs said. Peggy Gutierrez, a prevention specialist with Blue Mountain Counselin...
WAITSBURG - It's Wednesday night. All is quiet throughout the tree-lined streets near Waitsburg's historic Bruce Mansion, except on the corner of Fourth and Orchard. You have to strain to hear it, but when you get closer to the home of Brian and Wendy Richards, the muffled thumps of the steady beat and bass notes emerge from somewhere underground. The weekly practice of the Frog Hollow Band, arguably the most popular country rock group in the Walla Walla Valley, is well underway. Down in the...
Dear Times Readers, Your April 19, 2012, edition of the Times will be one day late. The company that provides our printing services had a technical issue that caused the delay. For more information, please call us at 509-337-6631. Thank you for your continued readership of The Times. Jillian and Imbert...
DAYTON - Blue Mountain Station will soon be a flurry of activity. Blue Mountain Station, a proposed organic and natural foods processing facility and foodie attraction, has just been approved for $750,000 from the state legislature. And the Port of Columbia, which is behind the project, has a big to-do list. The ground was broken at the station's site in Dayton about this time last year. The site will hopefully one day have many buildings full of organic and natural food companies. And now,...
WAITSBURG - The state legislature recently approved $10.35 million to build the Southeast Area Skills Center at Walla Walla Community College that will hopefully allow its doors to open for Dayton, Prescott, Waitsburg, Touchet and Walla Walla students in the summer of 2014. The goal of the skills center is to enroll students in technical education to make them employable upon graduation. It will not cost families extra for students to attend. "This is to provide opportunities for kids who wanted to be ready after graduation," said Doug...
WAITSBURG - With more and more students pulling out of the Waitsburg School District, the school board will be making tough budget choices that may include staff cuts for the next school year. Superintendent Dr. Carol Clarke said this school year the district had 305 students enrolled in K-12 education, online learning and Running Start. With a small kindergarten class currently registered at only 12 kids, high gas prices and families moving out of town, the district is projecting enrollment will decrease to 280 students, Clarke said. The schoo...
DAYTON - For the first time last weekend, Dayton High School teacher Steve McLean took four of his students to a regional robotics competition and came home with a trophy. "It's something like I've never seen before in my life," McLean said. McLean and his students, Alex Eaton, Demitri Tziouvaras, Lincoln Riley and James Costello, traveled to Central Washington University with their robot last weekend to go up against teams from Boise, California and even Seattle. Local cities Rosalia and...
WALLA WALLA - A Walla Walla mother of two and educator has always known she was going to run for public office and has set her sights on current County Commissioner Perry Dozier's seat. Chris Blackman, 42, is ready to bring new ideas and perspectives to the table. She filed with the county to run against Dozier for the District 2 seat in the August primary. Dozier is also running to maintain his seat. "She's very driven," said Blackman's campaign committee chairwoman, Tracy Custoldi. "She hasn't...
WAITSBURG - For the second year in a row, there won't be any horse racing in the Touchet Valley. In February, the Washington State Racing Commission asked our local tracks to submit the dates they would like to hold races, but neither Dayton nor Waitsburg put their names in, sources say. The board that organizes Dayton Days and the board that organizes Days of Real Sport cannot afford to host racing events this year because insurance costs have more than doubled from two years ago, said Terry...
PRESCOTT - Two Prescott High School students spent their class time in Home Economics to sew dresses for needy children in Africa. Their teacher Susan De- Ruwe is part of the educational sorority Alpha Gamma, which provided $50 for materials and fabric if students spent their time on creating the dresses. DeRuwe said the dresses are very simple, made of fabric she purchased at St. Vincent De Paul or even pillow cases. Her two students Adriana Benito, 18, and Eva Esquivel, 16, made 10 dresses...
WAITSBURG - The Waitsburg City Council has a new council member, KC Kuykendall, after Monday's annual election. Results from the election were posted at Waitsburg City Hall and show that of the 320 ballots turned in, the council members didn't change much but for the spot vacated by former councilman Orville Branson. In the results, the most votes went to Kevin House, with 262, followed by Karl Newell, 245, Kuykendall, 243, Marty Dunn, 226 and Scott Nettles, 216. "I'm just really pleased to have...
DAYTON - The Columbia County Health System board meeting last Thursday was a call to staff and board members to communicate positivity about the hospital district and to leave the past in the past as it hunts for a new CEO. Current CEO Charlie Button announced his resignation earlier this month to take on a high-level position at a larger hospital. The board members of the district spent four hours March 22 in a retreat to talk about the search for a new CEO. At the general board meeting later...
DAYTON - - Dave Finney is the new courthouse maintenance supervisor for Columbia County. But he was the previous one too. Actually, Dave Phinney maintained the courthouse for more than 30 years and retired about two years ago. The position had been filled in the interim by a couple of different people. But, at the beginning of 2012, the county opened the position fulltime and a new Dave Finney applied and was selected. Finney began his new job at the courthouse earlier this month and he is...
WAITSBURG - Those who use more water this summer may be paying more out of pocket. The Wai t sburg Ci t y Council last Wednesday night heard a proposal that would tack on an extra 20 cents to the current overage rate for those who use more than the base amount of water provided to residents. And this proposal may actually be approved. The council had already considered two proposals to increase water and sewer rates. But the council members could not support either and both died for lack of...
WAITSBURG - Perry Dozier didn't want to be a farmer, nor a county commissioner. After graduating with a bachelor's degree in economics, Dozier, a Touchet Valley resident all of his life, wanted to be a pilot. In 1986, he worked for a bit of time as a commercial airplane pilot. But, there was an influx of pilots at that time and some new rules in the industry. After pursuing that dream for about three years, Dozier gave up on that career and continued his family's tradition of farming. Dozier's c...
STARBUCK - Recent burglaries in Starbuck and Dayton are creating a feeling of insecurity in Columbia County. According to the Columbia County Sheriff's Office, it has taken 13 reports of residential burglary and 13 reports of commercial burglary in 2012 as of March 15. Two of these commercial burglaries occurred in Starbuck. This number is high so early in the year compared to the annual numbers of burglaries reported in 2011 and 2010. In 2011, the sheriff's office received a total of 34 reports of residential burglary and 13 reports of...
PRESCOTT -- Deb Tiedemann was so young at the time, she doesn't even remember exactly when she first started singing songs. The household she grew up in Livingston, Mont., in the late 1960s was always filled with her parents' favorite tunes. Her dad, who was a trucker, would play Jim Reeves, Tammy Wynette, Hank Snow, Hank Williams and Dolly Parton at the house. Tiedemann herself was partial to Mel Tillis. "There was just something about his voice," she said. "I just loved to hear him sing."...
DAYTON - Community members reacted with mixed emotions to the announcement that Columbia County Health System CEO Charlie Button has resigned from his position for greener pastures in May. The district released a statement Monday saying Button, whose contract was up for renewal in early April, is moving on to take a top job at a larger and undisclosed critical access hospital in another state. Button, whose tenure as CEO has been controversial, has held the position for the past four years...
WAITSBURG - Local Republicans are thrilled by the impressive turnouts at the two Republican Caucuses in Walla Walla and Dayton last weekend. At the Wal la Wal - la County Fairgrounds last Saturday, Waitsburg resident Tom Baker said about 700 to 1,000 people crammed into the commutiy building to give their preference for the Republican Party candidate. In Dayton at the Delany Building, about 75 people turned out, said Marilyn England, the treasurer of the Columbia County Republican Central Committee. The results, as reported on Monday, put...
DAYTON - The Columbia County Health System may be facing a 10 percent cut in Medicaid reimbursement funding from the state that would reduce the hospital's budget by $55,000 to $60,000 each year. Usually, the state gives about $38 million to critical access hospitals like Dayton's each year to fully reimburse these hospitals. Based on how much the state gives these hospitals for Medicaid, the federal government also matches some of that money. District CEO Charlie Button said a large proposed cut last November of 76 percent of Medicaid...
By Imbert Matthee the Times SPOKANE - The Dayton Bulldogs are guaranteed a state trophy after defeating the La Conner Braves in a riveting 39-37 come-from-behind victory. They now advance to the 4th/6th place game against Wahkiakum, which beat Lake Roosevelt 65-60 in an equally tight playoff Friday afternoon. After trailing 0-8 in the first quarter against the Braves, the Bulldogs appeared to wake up from their slumber and began firing on all four, evening the score 16-16 at the break and surpassing LaConner 29-20 in the third. The Dogs, who...
