Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Sorted by date Results 3501 - 3525 of 5642
WAITSBURG – The City of Waitsburg wants to make sure that local representatives know where the city stands on the many important issues that will come before them in upcoming legislative sessions. At their Dec. 21 regular meeting, the Waitsburg City Council voted to adopt a 2017-2018 state legislative priorities list. City Administrator Randy Hinchliffe said he believes this is the first time the city has formulated such a list. Only one of the 18 items on the list elicited concern. That was the...
DAYTON--Benjamin Orozco made his first court appearance in Columbia County Superior Court on December 21. He was charged with second degree murder in the shooting death of Dayton resident Lance Terry, and with first degree assault, in the wounding of Dayton resident David Eaton. Both crimes that took place, in Dayton, twenty years ago. Columbia County Prosecuting Attorney Rea Culwell said that Orozco has entered a not guilty plea to the charges. On July 7, 1996, Orozco and an acquaintance,...
The Triple Nickle chair lift was full Monday morning at Ski Bluewood, as skiers and snow boarders enjoyed the huge snowfalls that have hit the Blue Mountains this winter. Bluewood reported that 142 inches of snow have fallen at the ski area this winter so far. See story on Page 2....
DAYTON-Kim Clark, General Manager of Ski Bluewood, said business over the holidays has been booming. "There are lots of guests. Everybody's happy," he said. On Monday morning the day was sunny with 60 inches of fresh, packed snow at the summit, and 54 inches at the base. "We've had 142 inches so far this year, and we're not even a month into the season," Clark said. Ski Bluewood achieved its earliest opening in the past five years, on Dec. 9. The ski area 22 miles south of Dayton returns to its...
Arraignments -Benjamin Orozco, 42, Nayarit, Mexico; Charged with murder in the second degree and first degree assault for the shooting murder of Lance Terry in Dayton in July of 1996. Sheriff Rocky Miller has been working with the FBI to arrest Orozco who was located in Mexico in March, and has been held there. He was brought to the U.S. and served at the Tri-Cities Regional Airport on Dec. 15. He is being held in the Columbia County Jail on $2 million bail. He will be subject to electronic monitoring if he is able to post bond. Orozco entered...
DAYTON--Since taking over from Donna Hangar as the Columbia County 4-H Club program coordinator in April, Ashley Trevino has been working hard to increase membership, as well as to keep the eleven existing 4-H clubs on track. Trevino said she is happy overall, but would like to add more clubs to the list for older youth. "We have 38% of the middle school enrolled in 4-H. I couldn't be more delighted with this percentage," said Trevino. Trevino would like to see a higher rate of participation in...
DAYTON—Columbia County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Dale Slack will still have a job, in 2017. The Garfield County Prosecutor, Garfield County Commissioners, Columbia County Commissioners, and the Columbia County Prosecuting Attorney have all stepped up to help secure Slack’s position. “Rea gave us permission to talk to Garfield County. Everybody wanted to save Dale’s position,” said Columbia County Commissioner Mike Talbot. Slack will continue to work his normal 35-hour week, with the same pay...
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WALLA WALLA COUNTY – Former Walla Walla County Commissioner Perry Dozier spent the last day of his two terms as county commissioner on Dec. 31. He will continue to serve the county as interim manager of the Walla Walla County Fairgrounds until a permanent manager is hired this spring and looks forward to spending more time with his two college sons and investing more time into his Waitsburg farm. Dozier was recently honored for his service at a commissioner-sponsored employee appreciation event....
Dayton photographer, Nick Page, took this Christmas-card-perfect photograph of a barn and old farm truck, lightly dusted with a layer of fresh snow, just outside Colfax, Wash. Page has captured magnificent images in his recent travels to China, Hawaii, and Iceland but never falls to find comparable beauty right in our very own backyard....
WAITSBURG – 2016 in Waitsburg could be called The Year of Contention. The year kicked off with the city council responding to public outcry by abandoning plans to approve a one-year trial lease with Brandon Kelly, who wanted to operate a race car track at the city fairgrounds. But that was just the beginning of citizens making their opinions known. Voters rejected the school's capital improvements bond and community members shared their views about fairgrounds usage, removal of trees by the c...
DAYTON—An update on the status of the planned Columbia Pulp facility near Starbuck was given by Port of Columbia Manager Jennie Dickinson at the Community Economic Development Strategy meeting last Wednesday. Dickinson told participants that half of Columbia Pulp’s bond sold, but that private equity investors have pulled out of the process. Dickinson said that Columbia Pulp CEO John Begley told her that “due to the inability to close on the equity side of the transaction on the timeline needed for bond cap expiration, the transaction will...
DAYTON-2016 was an eventful year in Dayton and for Columbia County. *** Among the top stories were passage of the Dayton School District capital projects levy and maintenance and operations levy, after their failure in 2015. The four year $1.46 million M&O levy was approved in February. The M&O levy provides 25 percent of the district's budget, and helps support athletic programs, and food services. The levy will be used not only for ongoing maintenance and repairs, and to counter the effects of...
Weller Public Library 212 Main Street, Waitsburg Hours: Mon. and Thurs. 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. Storytime: Mon., 10:30 a. m. “Night School,” by Lee Child (Adult Fiction) – Jack Reacher goes back in time to 1996 when Reacher is still in the army and is sent back to school. His three-man class is a front for a secret mission to uncover the plot behind a message intercepted in Germany which reads “the American wants 100 million dollars.” Reacher recruits the best soldier he has ever worked with: Sergeant Frances Neagley to get their man and save the wo...
Dayton Memorial Library 111 S. 3rd Street, Dayton Hours: Mon., Wed., Fri., 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.; Tues. & Thurs., 12-8 p.m.; Sat., 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Storytime: Wed., 10 a.m “The Littlest Bigfoot,” by Jennifer Weiner – Lonely twelve-year-old Alice Mayfair is shipped off to boarding school where she saves Milli Maximus from drowing in the lake. Millie is a Bigfoot, becomes her friend and Alice swears to protect Millie’s secret. But a league of Bigfoot hunters is on her trail, led by a lonely kid named Jeremy. In order to survive, Alice and Millie have...
Students at Waitsburg Elementary School, Preston Hall, and Waitsburg High School enjoyed a special day of fun activities on Monday, Dec. 19....
DAYTON – A recent settlement with Warren Orchards will help make major environmental improvements to the Touchet River near Dayton, according to a press release from the Washington Department of Ecology. The department says the river provides critical habitat for threatened steelhead. Warren Orchards was fined by Ecology for illegally watering their 100-acre apple and pear orchard along the river, after being ordered to stop irrigating during the state’s historic drought in 2015. As part of the settlement, Warrens agreed to take 20 acres of...
WAITSBURG – The Waitsburg School Board defined district priorities for the 2016-2018 school year in a work session prior to the board’s Dec. 14 regular meeting. Replacement of retiring district superintendent Carol Clarke and guidance with implementation of the capital projects funded by the $3.8 million capital improvements bond, approved in November, topped the list of priorities. Superintendent’s Search Topping the list of priorities was the “completion of a successful superintendent search by the end of March 2017.” The new superinte...
DAYTON – At last week’s Port of Columbia County board meeting, Port Manager Jennie Dickinson said there will be no groundbreaking for Columbia Pulp in December. “Since the election, the bond market is in turmoil,” Dickinson said. “They are wading their way through that tumultuous market. Interest rates on the bond offerings have sky-rocketed, not based on any facts, but just based on speculation and uncertainty, and they are still trying to sort their way through the bond market,” she said. “You go from a 4.5% interest rate, to an 8.5% inter...
DAYTON-Suzi Tasker has opened a new business in Dayton. Beginning last February, Tasker undertook a nine-month course through the Nutritional Therapy Association in Olympia, to become a nutrition practitioner. On May 31, she and her husband, Duane, closed Aardvark Granola Blue Mountain Station, to allow her to concentrate on her studies, she said. Tasker said that two years ago, she was struggling with some health issues that included two major surgeries to remove a benign but recurring tumor....
DAYTON— At last week’s meeting of the Port of Columbia Commissioners, the director of the regional Small Business Development Center in Walla Walla spoke about work he does with potential and established businesses. Joe Jacobs is a Certified Business Advisor and Accredited Business Planning Advisor, and he is part of a statewide network of organizations helping people to start and expand businesses. He also helps companies get ready to sell, he told the commissioners. Since 2012, Jacobs sai...
DAYTON – The “First Night” New Year’s Eve celebration will be held in the Dayton Elementary School Multipurpose room on Dec. 31, from 6 to 9 p.m. The theme for this year is Family Game Night. Offerings include life-size games, family table games, basketball shoot, and team competitions. A cake walk, photo booths, and music and light show, are also planned. Columbia County Health System is providing hot dogs, chips, cookies and water. Drawings will occur at 7, 8 and 9 p. m., with a total of 12 door prizes. Drawings will be done in several...
Waitsburg students celebrated their final day of school before winter break with fun and community service. Grade school children celebrated Polar Express Day by participating in activities based on the popular children's book and watched Homeward Bound at the Liberty Theater. Middle school students decorated cookies, read books, played games, and held a dance-off. High schoolers played games, enjoyed root beer floats courtesy of the Waitsburg Resource Center and a concert by Framing Fables....
WAITSBURG – Should students be allowed to access their cell phones during class? As it currently stands, Waitsburg students must store their phones in a holding box prior to entering their classes. But that may change. Or not. During the public/board comment portion of December’s regular school board meeting, board member Christy House suggested that the district take a closer look at its cell phone policy. House said that the primary way coaches communicate with athletes is via Facebook, but...
Annual Organization Meeting -Unanimously elected Ross Ha:mann as Board Chair. -Unanimously elected Christy House as Vice Chair. Budget Status Report: -Dr. Clarke reported a “relatively strong” General Fund balance of $607,974. Clarke said that in January, appropriations will use actual rather than budgeted numbers and the district will likely see an increase due to a higher actual enrollment than budgeted. Elementary Principal Report: -The lunch ladies transformed the cafeteria into a Candyland and Cocoa with Santa was a success. -El...
