Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Sorted by date Results 149 - 173 of 997
Approved - 381 (27.73%) Rejected - 993 (72.27%) These preliminary results were available just as The Times was going to press Tuesday. We will have in-depth coverage of the Dayton School Bond Levy special election in our upcoming May 1 issue....
PRESCOTT - "Do we have the green light? Are we good to move ahead?" asked artist and Pomegranate Center founder and executive director Milenko Matanovic. Attendees at the April 15 Prescott Vacant Lot Project Open House responded with an enthusiastic round of applause. A $25,000 grant from the Pomegranate Center, along with their decades of experience working alongside communities to create gathering spaces, will allow Prescott to transform the empty, burned-out lot between the Tuxedo Tavern and...
WAITSBURG - Waitsburg residents will see a six dollar increase in their next utility bill. The increase, which brings the base water rate to $33.90, was approved at the April 16 City Council meeting in order to meet imminent water line repair needs. The rate adjustment arrives on the heels of a 3% increase that took effect in January. City Clerk Randy Hinchliffe originally proposed an increase of $4.90 in December 2013 in order to fund needed line upgrades and well repairs. That proposal was...
to serve as a temporary PIO in Darrington, Wash., last week. Columbia County Commissioners gave their blessings as Ver Valen left her local post to work in the small town that was ravaged by the effects of the recent landslide on State Route 530 near Oso, Wash. Ver Valen currently works as operations manager for Columbia County Emergency Management and Public Safety Communications and as PIO for emergency management and the sheriff's office. She is a former editor of The Times. In 2012 the...
DAYTON - The Dayton Chamber of Commerce has named Andrew Holt as its new Executive Director. Holt started on April 7th. He replaces Brad McMasters, who resigned in January. Holt previously served as tourism services manager for Tourism Walla Walla from 2010 to 2012. There, he oversaw social media, the visitor's center, and worked on several projects, including the performing arts comm ittee and the regional signage project. Last year he worked as sports information director for Whitman College....
WAITSBURG - Waitsburg Celebration Days Weekend - May 17-18 -- is still in the planning stages, but one young lady has been hard at work, actively representing Waitsburg and Celebration Days for months. Queen Candidate Megan Morrison was selected to the Celebration Days Royalty Court in November and will be crowned Queen in a May 6 coronation ceremony. Morrison tried out for court in November and began her royalty duties in December by appearing in the Dayton and Waitsburg Christmas Parades and...
DAYTON - The Dayton Development Task Force is holding their second annual Community Spring Clean-up Day next Saturday, April 12 from 9 am to noon. Columbia County residents are invited to help the Task Force spruce up the town in preparation of summer event and tourist season. Bring your family and your gloves, rakes, shovels, clippers, garbage bags, brooms, and other clean-up tools and meet at Caboose Park at 9 a.m. Teams will be assigned to work in specific locations, such as public landscaped areas near the Caboose, along Commercial Street,...
ASOTIN - Judge William D. Acey announced his retirement as Superior Court Judge for Washington's Hells Canyon Circuit on March 31. His retirement will take effect April 30. Judge Acey has served in that position, which covers Asotin, Columbia and Garfield Counties, for 13 years. In his Letter of Resignation to Governor Jay Inslee, Acey said, "I appreciate the confidence the citizens of the Hells Canyon Circuit have reposed in me the last 31 years." Prior to being elected to his current position in 2000, Acey served as Asotin County District...
DAYTON - Carl Robanske has a love of travel, a desire to serve God and compassion for people less fortunate than himself. He has put those passions to work as founder and chairman of the Walla Walla-based nonprofit organization Embracing Orphans. Over the past five years, Robanske and Embracing Orphans have made a real difference in the lives of many young people in the Caribbean Island nation of Jamaica. The organization has bought new cribs and built two playgrounds for a government owned...
WALLA WALLA - It’s difficult to think of Joanna Lanning without thinking of animals. The two just go together. Those who know her can affirm that truth. When Lanning is scheduled to lead the children’s message at church, the question is not what she will talk about, but what animal she’ll use to demonstrate her point. To say she is a favorite of the children is an understatement. As an animal enthusiast, nurturer and natural teacher, her work at the Pioneer Park Aviary in Walla Walla is perf...
DAYTON - Voters in the Dayton School District will decide this month whether to approve a bond levy to provide funding to complete a major renovation of the school facilities here. The bond of $19.955 million would fund the majority of the project, which is projected to cost $24.254 million. The project would be the first major renovation at Dayton Schools in 30 years. The Dayton School Board created a facilities committee more than a year ago, made up of teachers, school administrators, sc...
WAITSBURG -Both the City of Waitsburg and Walla Walla County show significant drops in crime across the board in 2013. Walla Walla County Sheriff John Turner gave an update at the March 17 Waitsburg City Council Meeting, and said he is proud of a department that is "doing a good job." Turner presented the Sheriff's Office year-end report, noting drops in assault, burglary, larceny and motor vehicle thefts in Waitsburg in 2013. "This is a good trend and we'll do everything we can to keep that...
WAITSBURG - After listing former Citizen of the Year recipients, Tom Baker asked attendees at the March 18 Commercial Club meeting to rise. "If your name doesn't start with 'J', sit down . . . If you've already won the award, sit down . . . Look who's left!" Enthusiastic applause erupted and the audience laughed as still-standing Larry and Deanne Johnson eyed one another in surprise. "We were under the pretense that we knew who was receiving the award, and it wasn't us!" said Larry later. The...
DAYTON - A Dayton man who has been charged with first degree rape of a child appeared in court last week. According to the Columbia County Prosecutor's Office, Walter Hartwell is scheduled to go to trial April 22 and 23. Hartwell was arrested last month and charged with initiating sexual contact with an 11-year-old child. He is being held in the Columbia County jail, with bond set at $100,000. A hearing to set a trial date for Levi Helgerson, who is charged with first degree assault of a child, is scheduled for April 3. Helgerson was arrested...
DAYTON - Residents of Columbia County will soon have several safe and secure places to dispose of unwanted prescription drugs. Blue Mountain Counseling, working with the Columbia County Sheriff's Office, is preparing to install prescription drug drop boxes in three locations in Dayton. According to Laura Tolman, who is prevention coordinator at Blue Mountain Counseling in Dayton, the county has received a grant of $16,000 to help reduce substance abuse in the county. The money is bein...
PRESCOTT - In a swift six minutes, Prescott's School Board discussed and passed a motion to continue, status quo, in the WP Athletic Combine agreement through the 2014-15 school year. The vote took place during a March 19 Special Meeting. During the meeting, members expressed a desire to communicate and work cooperatively with Waitsburg, using the coming year to address issues that have been raised before reassessing the combine. Earlier this month, Prescott had presented Waitsburg's Sc...
WAITSBURG - In what Ken Cole Jr. described as "a weird offshoot of community service" a group of locals are forging ahead with plans to bring casual family dining back to Waitsburg. The demolition of the long- vacant White Stallion restaurant was slated to begin Wednesday. Investors hope to have the tentatively named Whiskey Creek Sports Bar & Grill up and running in its place as early as October. Dan Cole, Ken Cole, Jr., Guy McCaw and Byron Seney, along with wives Trina, Elizabeth, Lynn and...
DAYTON - On the morning of February 19, 1945, Owen Agenbroad was one of the Marines in the fifth wave of landing craft that hit the beaches on the island of Iwo Jima in the South Pacific. He was 21. The battle of Iwo Jima lasted 36 days and was one of the deadliest of World War II. More than 10,000 American and Japanese servicemen died and hundreds of thousands were wounded. This week, Agenbroad, now 90 and a long-time Dayton resident, is returning to Iwo Jima for the first time since the battle...
WAITSBURG - It was standing-room-only in the Preston Hall science room March 12, as parents and school staff waited to offer input during a School Board work session preceding the regular board meeting. Thirty minutes had been allotted to discuss the current 4th - 6th grade class configuration, which is presenting "instructional and scheduling challenges," according to Superintendent Carol Clarke. The session ran well over an hour and still didn't allow time for everyone to comment. Due to...
WALLA WALLA - Walla Walla County Commissioner Greg Tompkins announced Monday that he will not seek re-election this year to a fourth term. He will finish out his current term, which ends Dec. 31. "I am proud of what we have accomplished in the past 11 years," Tompkins said in a letter to his fellow commissioners. "I also believe we have laid the framework for continued progress in both the near and distance future with the work we have done." Tompkins was first elected to his District 3 seat in 2002. Earlier this month,, former Walla Walla C...
