Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Sorted by date Results 461 - 485 of 997
DAYTON - Interested at- tendees listened to candidate positions and a brief summary of eight measures on the ballot this fall in preparation for the upcoming General Election last Wednesday night at the Liberty Theater. Judge William D. Acey spoke first. Acey, who ran unopposed for his judicial posi- tion, addressed the eight measures on the upcoming ballot. Information about the measures is available on Secretary of State Sam Reed's voter guide website, sos.wa.gov. Columbia County commis-...
WAITSBURG - Waitsburg may have a new team to cheer for this spring. Jorge Martinez and Jeff Knowles, both of Walla Walla, have approached the Waitsburg School Board with their idea of starting a minor-league football team in the Touchet Valley and they want to use Waitsburg's football field for practices and games. The school board last Wednesday night unanimously approved going forward with the proposal for the football team pending final approval of a writ- ten agreement. "The potential for the community is kind of neat," said Stephanie...
DAYTON - In an eco- nomic climate where jobs seem impossible to come by, one local farmer can't seem to hire employees fast enough. Dayton's Warren Orchards is (Above) War- ren Orchards on North Touchet Road in Dayton looks idyllic in early morning light last week. ( Right) Owner Bill Warren loads apples into a truck last Thursday at Warren Orchards. on about 100 acres and pro- duces apples and pears. The orchard is run by Bill Warren who took over in 1994. Warren is now faced with a difficult s...
WAITSBURG - The WP cross country team is raising money for breast cancer pa- tients by selling wristbands. All cross country team members will be selling breast cancer awareness wristbands through Oct. 12 for $2 each. Coach Joanna Lanning said if all of the bands are sold, the team will be able to donate $600 to the Breast Cancer Special Needs Fund at Providence St. Mary's in Walla Walla. The idea for the fundraiser was Lanning's. She said she liked how NFL teams and the Walla Walla Rodeo par-...
WAITSBURG - The Waitsburg Clinic's new Ad- vanced Registered Nurse Practitioner Kortney Killgore- Smith brings emergency room experience to the Columbia County Health System and is ready to take on new family practice patients. Even though she is new to the health system, she's not new to the Waitsburg Clinic. Killgore-Smith spent 30 days working with Advanced Reg- istered Nurse Practitioner Dawn Meicher to learn the ropes of family practice. Meicher had months ago asked the health system to...
DAYTON - Goats were the main event at the ninth annual OctoBoer Fall Finale Boer Goat Show & Buck Futurity show at the Columbia County Fairgrounds. The show brought breeders, exhibitors and owners out to show and see Boer goats Satur- day, Oct. 6, and Sunday, Oct. 7. Show Secretary and Host Terry Brown said she was happy with how the event went. "It was good," Brown said. "We had a lot of new people." Brown said she has been in- volved with the festival since its inception. The event is usually...
WAITSBURG - At the end of August, the Mc- Gregor Company bought about 25 acres of land from the City of Waitsburg, but don't expect any expansion plans anytime soon, accord- ing to company officials. Pat McConnell, the gen- eral manager of retail operations for McGregor, said the land purchase was a wonderful opportunity to keep a Waitsburg branch of the company in operation. "In order to consider Waitsburg for expansion in the future, we need more acres," McConnell said. " The opportunity was...
YAKIMA - The Times Publisher Imbert Matthee was honored with a second place award for his story about a marijuana bust in Dayton in August 2011 at the Washington Newspa- per Publishers Association convention in Yakima l ast weekend. The piece, "It Just Kept Going and Going," was awarded in the "Best News Story - Long" category at the conference. Matthee's story revealed all of the details on the biggest marijuana bust in Washington during 2011. The grow operation dis- cussed in Matthee's story stretched for more than 600 yards along the Eckler...
(Must be 21 or older to consume spirits) As part of The Times' research for the story about Oola's distillery, Publisher Imbert Matthee and Ad- vertising Manager Larry Davidson, an experienced sommelier, visited the jimgermanbar. Bar owner and mixologist Jim German graciously provided them with taste samples of Oola's bourbon, vodka and gin. The only product they did not try was the hot pepper vodka. Here are their preliminary findings: Waitsburg Bourbon Warm and oaky, slightly nutty with a hint of caramel in the nose. Roasted meat notes,...
SEATTLE - Kirby Kallas-Lewis wanted to operate his boutique distillery in Waitsburg. He and his wife KT Niehoff bought the Lounda- gin Building on Main Street four years ago to redevelop as a hotel just at the time Kallas-Lewis began to take an interest in making spirits. For a while he explored the idea of setting up his operation in the basement. Regulations for a distillery on the premises of a lodging establishment, however, proved tough. So, he abandoned his vision for the distillery,...
WAITSBURG - After nearly 20 years of little to no activity at the 10 acres of property the Port of Walla Walla owns in Waitsburg, the piece of farmland will soon become a light indus- trial park. Jim Kuntz, the execu- tive director of the Port of Walla Walla, said the port obtained about 16 acres of land east of the city through donation from the city of Waitsburg and through a land sale in 1993 and 1994. He said the land was always planned for a future light industrial park. Small...
WAITSBURG - The Waitsburg City Council de- cided to level the city's BMX bike track at the north end of town because of lack of use in a 3-1 decision last Wednes- day night. About one year ago, the council discussed leveling the track because it seemed as though the local children weren't using it. Former Councilman Orville Branson provided vocal support for the track that the Lions Club installed years ago. Branson monitored the use of the track for one year and the Lions Club provided $300 to spray the track for puncture vine on the track....
DAYTON - Gerardo Agu- irre-Hernandez and Ramon Estrada-Gonzalez pleaded not guilty last Thursday in Columbia County to charges of growing marijuana and to being illegal aliens in posses- sion of firearms. Both men are expected to appear in court for a two-day trial on Nov. 8 and 9 in Day- ton. Agu- irre- Her- nandez, 41, and Estrada- Gonzalez, 61, were arrested on Sept. 4 in a forested area east of Dayton after the Wash- ington S t ate Patrol's Cannabis Eradica- tion and Reclamation Team...
WAITSBURG - School staff members and administrators are worried students are not getting enough food to fuel their brains because of new fed- eral nutritional guidelines enacted this school year. Susan Wildey, the food services supervisor for the Waitsburg School District, said the amount of food offered for breakfast and lunch by the district's caf- eterias has been reduced this school year. The change in nutritional guidelines for all school districts across the country is because of the...
DAYTON - For one hour every year, Dayton's football field goes dark during the Re- lay for Life ceremony in honor of those who have faced cancer. The only glow on the field during the fifth annual Blue Mountain Relay for Life on Saturday, Sept. 15, came from candles inside hundreds of paper-sack luminaries along the inside of the track. The stage set up in the cen- ter of the field was a congrega- tion point in the darkness, as relay speaker and coordinator Gerry Richter used a small flashlight...
PRESCOTT - Could Prescott and Waitsburg share a full-time deputy to keep the communities more safe? Both the city of Prescott and the city of Waitsburg are working on new contracts for service with the Walla Walla County Sheriff's Of- fice. Prescott Councilman Doug Venn said he would like to explore a coopera- tive venture with Waitsburg to establish the presence of a deputy in their area of the county. The Prescott City Council discussed the Prescott's con- tract with the sheriff's office at...
DAYTON - Contract negotiations will likely come to a close at the end of the month for the new CEO of the Columbia County Health System. CEO candidate Dale Polla, of Missoula, Mont., said he has been in the Dayton area looking for a house to buy after sending a counter offer back to the hospital board negotiation committee last week. The board will likely ac- cept the offer and proceed with the hiring process at the next board meeting on Thursday, Sept. 27, Hospital Board Chairman Ted Pater- son said. The CEO position has been vacant since...
WAITSBURG – Erma Lee Smith will be honored this Sunday as Pioneer of The Year because her family history in Waitsburg is extensive – she hails from the Hales who date back to 1890 in the Waitsburg area. “I’m Pioneer of the Year and turning 80,” Smith said last week. “I’m flying high.” She learned last spring via a letter from the Waitsburg Historical Society that she would be receiving the award this year at the Pioneer Fall Festival. Smith will be honored on Sunday following the 11 a.m. community church service at the Bruce House Museum on...
DAYTON - Two men were arrested on Sept. 4 for growing marijuana and il- legally possessing firearms in a forested area east of Dayton. The two Hispanic men, 41-year-old Gerardo Aguirre-Hernandez and 61-year-old Ramon Es- trada-Gonzalez , were ar- raigned Sept. 6 and will next appear in the Colum- bia County Courthouse on Sept. 20. Both men were charged with one count of manufacturing a controlled sub- stance, a class C felony, and one count of being an alien in possession of a firearm, also a class C felony. The Washington State Patrol...
DAYTON - The Dayton City Council decided the city skate park will remain closed. The council agreed last Monday to keep the park pad- locked until the next council meeting on Monday, Sept. 24, when discussion on the park is expected to continue. The council is asking to hear from more of those in the community who actually use the park before making a final decision on whether to close it permanently. Several concerned citizens spoke out against the students and young adults who have been using the park inappropriately and breaking park rules...
DAYTON – The Columbia County Fair last week- end brought out families, farmers, animals for show and cowboys riding bucking horses. Last Saturday, Phinehas Kerr, age 6, was showing off his 4-H Cloverbuds display in the youth building at the fairgrounds. The Cloverbuds had spent months working on craft projects and he was proud to show off the photos to his mom, Valerie, and allowed her to even take his photo in front of the display. Kerr said with the Clo- verbuds he had made can- dles and e...
DAYTON - Recent van- dalism at the Dayton city skate park was the final tip- ping point for the Columbia County Sheriff's Office after at least three reports of van- dalism, theft and inappropriate behavior in the park recently. The sheriff's office closed the park with a padlock, pending a city council meeting at 7 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 10 at City Hall. It has been almost three years since the park opened after fundraising efforts by a group of 4-H students who call themselves the Colum- bia County Curb Stompers brought in $37,000 to remodel...
WAITSBURG - State testing scores released last Wednesday from school year 2011-12 show some improvement in Touchet Valley schools in math, reading writing and science and some areas that need more work. According to a press release from State Super- intendent Randy Dorn, scores on statewide testing continue to show improve- ment. The scores released were for the Measurements of Student Progress, High School Proficiency exams and high school End-Of- Course Exams. Third through tenth graders were...
