Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
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WALLA WALLA-The 2020 ArtWalla grant season is open for applications until November 16. Arts Education Grants include the Arts Build Community (ABC) Grant for organizations creating arts programming for the community and the Dan Dunn Memorial Grant for individual artists of any discipline. "These introductory grants are perfect for young or emerging artists and budding organizations," said ArtWalla board member Natalie Lyons-Cohen. With the mission of enriching local artistic vitality and...
STARBUCK-Wally and Joanne Knouf are finalizing plans to purchase the Starbuck/Lyons Ferry Marina KOA business from Steve Klontz representing 7 K's Enterprises of Washington, Inc. The Knoufs are the KOA concessionaires, operating the campground, restaurant, and store at the marina. They will take over from Steve Klontz on Nov. 1. The Knoufs were "work campers" at the KOA when Klontz took over as concessionaire from Jim and Angela McArthur, in 2018. They were hired by Klontz to manage the day to...
Thursday morning, I met up with my friend and local businesswoman, Regina, to have breakfast at Locally Nourished in Dayton. As soon as I drove up and parked in front of this café, I felt welcomed by the beautiful greenery forming an arch over the doorway. Walking in, I was struck with the casual and elegant design of the dining room. The menu and menu boards are clear and easily read from a distance. There is a display case with the daily specials and staples promising fresh seasonal treats...
Stubble and Clouds, 2020. A beautiful fall landscape, photographed from Middle Waitsburg Road by local photographer and accomplished home chef, Bill Rodgers....
WAITSBURG-At the September City Council Meeting, Waitsburg City Council members voted to memorialize Elmer Hazelbaker, a man with a rich history in Waitsburg. The Taggart Road Extension, which connects Taggart Road and Highway 12 at the end of the city limits, was named Hazelbaker Road in September. The project, which began in 2019, is getting close to being finished with crews moving in to pave last week. The road extension aims to improve traffic safety along Taggart Road. At the regular City...
DAYTON-The Columbia County Public Health Administrator shared information about COVID-19 at last week's meeting of the Board of County Commissioners, and it was mostly positive. Martha Lanman said the last time anybody in the community tested positive for COVID-19 was on Sept. 2, and that person has since recovered. The schools are open for in-person learning, Personal Protective Equipment supplies are stable, and a strong collaborative partnership has developed between the Health Department, em...
DAYTON—Shane Laib is leasing the building at 262 East Main Street for use as an indoor marketplace. For the past several months, he has been busy with painting, installing new carpet and lighting, and creating individual spaces for vendors when the marketplace opens in October. Vendors were displaced when VS Mainstreet, a vintage/antique mall at 245 East Main Street, closed its doors earlier this year, and some of them will be moving to the Main Street Marketplace. “All of the vendors still des...
STARBUCK-Zonia Dedloff was appointed mayor at a special city council meeting on Sept. 22. She replaces Richard Ells, who has resigned, in part, for health reasons. City Clerk, Jan Ells, has also turned in her resignation, effective Sept. 30. The Ells are planning on traveling and enjoying their retirement. Zonia Dedloff has lived in Starbuck for fifty years. "I love Starbuck. I always have," she said. Dedloff has served on the city council for the past four years and was the Mayor Pro-tem...
9- year survivor tells her story DAYTON—Eileen McMunn, “Teeny” to those who know her, is an eighteen-year survivor of breast cancer, an amazing feat considering her cancer was identified as triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). This type of breast cancer is not fueled by estrogen and progesterone receptors, or by HER2, a type of protein. It accounts for 15-percent of breast cancer in the Caucasian population and 35-percent in the African American population Though TNBC cancer can have the s...
DAYTON-Librarian Kristie Korslund said Dayton Memorial Library staff attended a conference on Space Planning Progress last November. They learned about traffic flow and how to maximize patron enthusiasm for library collections. When patrons are finally allowed back inside the Dayton Memorial Library, they will be pleased to see what has taken place since the building closed in March because of COVID-19. The library board and staff have moved forward with making upgrades on the main floor level...
Things will look different, but Waitsburg students will return to the classroom on Monday WAITSBURG—Starting October 5, the hallways at Waitsburg schools will be full of students again, actually half of them at a time. Students will return to class two days a week, in ‘A’ or ‘B’ groups. On Monday and Tuesday, group A will attend classes at their respective school. Group B is scheduled for Thursday and Friday. Wednesday is reserved for independent work and targeted assistance, as well as deep c...
WAITSBURG-The Waitsburg Gun Club has a busy schedule for October. With hunting season just around the corner, the volunteer-run gun range has training, sight-in days, and trap shoots planned. On October 3, at 9 a.m, the Waitsburg Gun Club will be hosting a Range Safety Officer (RSO) training. Range Safety Officer training teaches volunteers the necessary knowledge, skills, and temperament essential for organizing, conducting, and supervising safe shooting events and activities, as well as range...
PRESCOTT-There are more than 20 years of combined early childhood education experience making up the Prescott ECEAP program. Lead teacher Sofia Mercado, Assistant teacher Karlie Mathews, and Family Support Specialist Marina Cortez offer quality early childhood education for their second year in a row. "The Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program, or ECEAP, is a whole child, comprehensive, family-focused preschool program, providing free services and support to eligible students," Mercad...
STARBUCK-If you see a traditional dugout canoe paddling down the Snake River over the next couple days, wave and say hi! Willow Bill is completing his second trek to the ocean, but not before stopping to share his love of willow branch art with students at Starbuck School. Since 1998, Nevada resident William Gouldart, best known as Willow Bill, has taught kids how to build reindeer out of willow branches. In 2016, December 2-9 was declared Willow Reindeer Project Week in the state of Nevada....
STARBUCK-The first thing you notice when you meet Starbuck School District Superintendent Kevin Graffis is what a big man he is. Graffis has played professional football, and as he begins to talk, his love of sports comes across. Just two years into his first teaching job in Bridgeport, Wash., he was tapped by the San Francisco 49ers to play professional football. He said he played two preseasons with the 49ers but didn't make the final cut; and ended up playing in the United States Football...
WAITSBURG-Columbia-Walla Walla County Fire District 2 is excited to announce the new fire chief, Michael Moynihan, from San Francisco, California. Chief Moynihan began his position as the first paid fire chief in the history of CWWFD2 on Monday, September 21. Born and raised in San Francisco, Moynihan has more than 30 years of firefighting experience. He began as a firefighter/EMT with a volunteer fire department, very similar to the one that serves Waitsburg and the surrounding area. He took...
WAITSBURG—Waitsburg School District will be returning to in-person instruction on Monday, October 5. The decision to reopen schools for in-person instruction, which many school and health department officials believed would wait until the end of the first quarter, was an ‘unexpected surprise’ to Superintendent Mark Pickel. Superintendent Pickel announced the reopening on September 17, following a school board meeting. In a public notice, he stated the decision was made in collaboration with the faculty, school board, and the Walla Walla Count...
WAITSBURG—The Waitsburg School Board met September 17, via Zoom meeting. High School Principal Stephanie Wooderchak said that the school year was going smoothly though there have been some issues with the students’ Chromebook laptops. Some computers were equipped with the wrong cords, and some had login issues. Wooderchak noted that the IT provider, NexGen, had installed shortcuts for Zoom and Google Classrooms, which many of the students reported they appreciated. Waitsburg FFA will be att...
WAITSBURG—The Waitsburg City Council met Tuesday, September 15, via conference call. All members of the Council were present. The Council reviewed an application for the first of a series of payments for work done on the new Taggart Road extension. Sharpe & Preszler Construction Company requested a payment of $345,066.74 to cover the cost of total work completed and materials on hand, to date. The Council approved the Taggart Road extension in 2019; however, construction was paused due to the f...
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the second woman to serve on the Supreme Court and a pioneering advocate for women’s rights, died on Friday at her home in Washington, D.C. She was 87. The cause was complications of metastatic pancreatic cancer, the Supreme Court said. “Our nation has lost a justice of historic stature,” Chief Justice John Roberts said. “We at the Supreme Court have lost a cherished colleague. Today we mourn, but with confidence, that future generations will remember Ruth Bader Ginsbur...
DAYTON-Kim Clark, General Manager of Bluewood Ski Resort, said the forecast is for a "good, strong snowfall all winter long," and he is keeping his fingers crossed. Clark said the goal for the upcoming ski season is normal operations with as few disruptions as possible. "We know there is a huge pent up demand out there, as shown by our spring season pass sales. We're excited about the season ahead and can't wait to welcome guests back up to their hometown ski area." Bluewood Ski resort is part o...
STARBUCK-The town of Starbuck, nestled between Hwy. 12 and Lyons Ferry Marina, northeast of Dayton, has a small school district serving forty students. All of the District's students, except for three who are distance learning, are being taught in real-time, since school began on Aug. 25. Luann Truesdale, the office administrator, spoke of all the work that has gone into preparing the school to meet COVID-19 requirements for returning students. She said "bubblers" were disconnected from...
A massive smoke cloud covered Washington with heavy smoke over the weekend A supermassive cloud of smoke blanketed parts of the Pacific Northwest over the weekend, leaving many areas in the 'hazardous' air quality range. Fires are still raging across Washington, Oregon, and California, creating a plume that meteorologists expect to hang around for a while. The fire season has been fueled by an unusually dry, hot summer, with the last measurable rain dating back to July, which measured less than...
WAITSBURG-How do you make tired volunteer firefighters smile in the middle of one of the worst fire seasons on record? If you ask the local Girl Scouts, it is as easy as donating a few cases of cookies. Columbia-Walla Walla County Fire District 2 happily accepted a generous donation of twelve cases of Girl Scout cookies last week, as a 'gift of caring through the council.' While donating leftover cookies is a normal thing, according to troop leaders Brandi Hollingsworth and Amber Lambert, the...
OLYMPIA—Today, the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) released the latest statewide situation report, which reflects an overall decline in COVID-19 activity as of late August. The report also highlights encouraging signs that keeping our distance, limiting gathering size, and wearing face coverings are working to slow the spread of the disease. Report findings include: The reproductive number (how many new people each COVID-19 patient will infect) was close to one in western Washington and above one in eastern Washington as of A...
