Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Sorted by date Results 280 - 304 of 5688
DAYTON — Mayor Zac Weatherford called the Dayton City Council to order at 6:00 p.m., October 10, 2023. Weatherford and council members Teeny McMunn, James Su’euga, Michael Smith, Kyle Anderson, Dain Nysoe, and Shannon McMillen were present; Laura Aukerman was absent. Tammy Ketterman, from the Columbia County Assessor’s Office, briefed the Council on property tax options for the City, explaining terms such as “banked capacity.” Ketterman’s presentation was strictly informational as a prelude to preparing next year’s budget, so no action was ne...
DAYTON - The Club, Dayton's afterschool program, offers an innovative middle and high school music program beginning Monday, October 25. The organization will again partner with Walla Walla Music Organization (WWMO) to introduce students to skills needed in the music and live sound industry. Instructors from WWMO will be on hand to work with high school students on Mondays and with middle school students on Wednesdays. They will learn basics in music production, audio engineering, recording,...
WAITSBURG — The Waitsburg Parks and Recreation board completed a second survey asking the community to provide input on the direction of the district. The survey showed respondents continue to want the Waitsburg Parks and Recreation District and Friends of the Waitsburg Pool to keep working to make a community pool a reality. The survey results collected in September 2023 showed clear top priorities. Respondents were asked to rank a collection of priorities that ranged from building and improving infrastructure to creating activities and h...
DAYTON-An informational meeting about Proposition 1, the measure to create the Columbia County Pool District, was held on September 27, 2023, in the Delany Room at the Dayton Memorial Library. This was the second of three meetings planned by organizers to share information and answer questions about the measure appearing on the November ballot. Lisa Naylor presented a PowerPoint presentation and was joined by Chuck Beleny and Kevin Rust. Diane McKinley was unable to attend. Their presentation...
WAITSBURG - The fourth Waitsburg Happening will occur on Saturday, October 7. This Saturday, the businesses on Main Street will be celebrating National Old Farmers Day. Expect to see tractors, combines, hay bales, horseback riders, and enjoy special cocktails, entertainment, and treats. There will be vintage tractors and combines from Rob McKinney and Ed Burlingame displayed throughout town between 3 p.m and 6 p.m. The Plaza Theater will play "The 1919 Walla Walla Tractor Show." Artist Barb...
DAYTON-This month, in the Columbia County Rural Library District newsletter, Interim Director Ellen Brigham addressed concerns she has heard from the community about the library's connection to the American Library Association. First, she explained that the ALA does not dictate the policies at the Dayton library. Brigham said, "As far as I can tell, the ALA doesn't even have sample policies for libraries to pull from. When the Library Board drafts library policies, it looks at what has worked...
DAYTON-When Dain Nysoe retires on Dec. 31, after twelve years on the Dayton City Council, a new city council member, Joann Patras or Devin Greenup, will take his place. "I have enjoyed serving on the city council, but at the same time, I look forward to the end of my term in office," said Nysoe, who is grateful to have served along with other dedicated public servants. Nysoe said he appreciates the recent uptick in attendance by the public at council meetings and hopes more people will attend in...
DAYTON – The Dayton School Board met in the High School Library at 6:33 p.m. on September 20, 2023. School board members present were Chair Jeffrey McCowen, Zac Fabian, Grant Griffin, and Aneesha Dieu. Superintendent Rich Stewart was also present. The board seat held by Korinda Wallace remains vacant since her resignation was announced at the June 14, 2023, meeting. The Board approved the consent agenda, including approval of Madison Richardson as the district’s student representative, a $1,000 donation to DHS Athletics from Van Ausdle Tir...
DAYTON-Mike Spring and Randy Schafer are running for Port of Columbia Commissioner representing District 2, the seat being vacated by Genie Crowe. "The Times" spoke with Spring and received a prepared statement from Shafer. Candidate Mike Spring Spring is excited about the future in Columbia County and believes with help from the community and through his gift of perseverance, much can be accomplished. He explained, "The primary goal of a port district is economic development for its...
WAITSBURG – Waitsburg Council member Jillian Henze and her older sister, Alison Beaudry, are golfing buddies. They play together about once a month every year during golf season. It’s a bonding time for them but it has a competitive side. “She has always been able to outdrive me,” Henze explains. “She would hit the ball much harder than me, but it’s usually off in the trees somewhere. I can hit the ball straight, but it takes me two hits to get the distance she can get in one.” Henze has bee...
DAYTON – The Kiwanis Club of Dayton, Washington, celebrated its 100th anniversary last year. The group was first organized at the Dayton Hotel on October 19, 1922. Like many fraternal organizations that started in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Kiwanis is organized around chartered local groups connected functionally and financially to an international governing body. Kiwanis International, established in 1915, states its mission as "dedicated to improving the world one child and one c...
DAYTON - Proposition 2 will not appear on Columbia County's general election ballot this November. Columbia Superior Court Commissioner Julie Karl ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, Neighbors United for Progress, Elise Sever, and Gerald Kaiser, in their lawsuit to block the measure from the November ballot. The hearing was held on Wednesday, Sept. 20, at the Columbia County Courtroom in Dayton, Wash. After entering the courtroom, Karl asked the filled courtroom to observe proper decorum. She...
DAYTON – The Columbia Port Commissioners held their regular meeting at 5 p.m., September 13, 2023, in the Port Office. Commissioners present were Genie Crowe, Seth Bryan, Johnny Watts, and the Executive Director, Jennie Dickinson. Dickinson opened the meeting with a discussion of the current and 2024 draft budgets. She will complete the final 2024 budget and schedule a public hearing in October. Reporting on port assets, Dickinson said Cedar Rain signed a new two-year lease at Blue Mountain Station. Abbi Russell, Senior Communications S...
DAYTON - Neighbors United for Progress (NUP), a political action committee in Dayton, has produced a booklet in response to the effort by citizens sponsoring Proposition 2 to dissolve the Columbia County Rural Library District. Authored by Tanya Patton and Diane Longanecker, both of Dayton, the booklet provides information about the history of Dayton's Public Library and the creation of the Columbia County Rural Library District. It also includes the official wording of the proposition for the...
DAYTON- The Dayton City Council held its regular meeting at 6 p.m. on September 12, 2023. Mayor Zac Weatherford and council members Teeny McMunn, James Su’euga, Michael Smith, Kyle Anderson, Dain Nysoe, Laura Aukerman, and Shannon McMillen were in City Hall. Sheriff Helm gave a report during which he discussed the increasing graffiti problem in the City of Dayton but did not discuss a solution. The first public comment period opened with a resident asking if the City of Dayton would take over the library should the Columbia Rural Library D...
DAYTON - Waitsburg's Natalie Knudson, a freshman at Walla Walla High School, has been dancing since age four. Erika Greenup, recently of Dayton, has been sewing since age six. Her husband, Devin, had a knack for contorting his face in all sorts of funny ways. His parents called him the next Jim Carrey. These are the new directors who are working hard on this fall's Touchet Valley Arts Council (TVAC) production of "The Little Mermaid," scheduled for a 13-show run beginning November 9 at the...
WAITSBURG-It was a beautiful sunny day for the annual Pioneer Fall Festival at the Bruce House in Waitsburg on Sunday, September 17. An occasional gust of wind blew through, but it did not deter visitors from all the festival had to offer. After the morning community church service on the front lawn of the Bruce House, the Waitsburg Historical Society recognized Barbara Danforth as the 2023 Pioneer of the Year. Danforth, a lifelong resident of the area, was accompanied by her daughter Susie as...
DAYTON-Waitsburg's FFA and 4H students brought their animals, skills, and competitive edge to the 2023 Columbia County Fair held in Dayton from September 8 though 10. Both groups did well, earning many Grand Champion and Reserve ribbons to acknowledge their hard work. FFA advisor Nicole Abel said of the event, "The Columbia County Fair is a great time to connect with the community, friends and family. A small fair where there is not much outside distractions. People can celebrate local...
COLUMBIA COUNTY–In an emergency hearing on Wednesday September 6, 2023, the Columbia Superior Court issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) preventing the County from printing ballots for the November general election that include Proposition 2. Neighbors United for Progress asked the court for a fourteen-day TRO, citing irreparable harm to voters should the rural library district dissolution measure be placed on the ballots. A lawsuit filed by NUP on August 29, 2023, asserts that City of Dayton voters would be denied constitutional voter a...
WAITSBURG—As luck would have it, the timing of a recent call to Waitsburg’s Deanna Coulston was almost perfect. Getting in touch with Coulston to talk about the P.E.O Sisterhood (Philanthropic Educational Organization) Chapter BE revealed that the local group will celebrate 100 years of existence in May 2024. “This is great!” Coulston said in a recent interview. “Our chapter started in 1924, and we’ll soon be starting to make plans for how to celebrate next year.” Waitsburg’s Sisterhood has...
DAYTON-It takes an army of good-natured volunteers to put together the displays for the Columbia County Fair at the Pavilion. There are over thirty booths and displays in the Pavilion, featuring food preservation, garden and produce, baking, floral, fine arts, needle craft and sewing, photography, quilting as well as booths advertising businesses and fraternal organizations. For each, there are superintendents who are there to accept the entries and display them to be judged. Rose Englebrite...
WAITSBURG—Everyone in the Touchet Valley knows where to find Waitsburg Grocery. Some may not have realized that the building is the home of Masonic Lodge #16. Waitsburg’s current lodge was constructed in 1913 for $26,000 after the original structure was lost to fire. Members rebuilt with a second floor for Masonic use, reserving the ground floor for a local business. For decades, that business has been Waitsburg Grocery, now owned and operated by Jamie Allen. “That way, the lodge would have...
WAITSBURG-The the Waitsburg Historical Society proudly announces Barbara Danforth as the 2023 Pioneer of the Year. Danforth never thought in her wildest dreams that she would one day be "Pioneer of the Year." Both sides of her family were pioneers in Oregon but moved to the farm outside Waitsburg in 1928. "I was stunned as I never dreamt I would receive such an honor," said Danforth. Born at the original Walla Walla General Hospital on May 6, 1930, Barbara was an only child and raised on a farm...
The 2023 Walla Walla Fair and Frontier Days wrapped up this weekend. With four days of livestock showing, three nights of PRCA Rodeo, a near-record breaking demolition derby, and a full house at the Beach Boys Concert, fun was had by all!...
WAITSBURG-On Monday, August 28, 2023, Scout Troop 337 convened a Court of Honor at the Lions Club building in Waitsburg. The troop is a joint Cub Scout and BSA Troop with a history in Waitsburg. After years without scouting, Troop Committee Chair Sarah Roberts, Cubmaster/Committee member Jon Roberts, Scoutmaster Justin Stegall, and Assistant Scoutmaster Tim Hollingsworth began meeting in March to bring back Troop 337. The first official troop meeting followed in April. The evening's events on...
