Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
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WALLA WALLA – Eleven students from Dayton, Prescott, and Waitsburg began school a a bit earlier than their counterparts, starting classes at SEA-TECH, which follows the Walla Walla School District schedule, on Wed. Aug. 26. The skills center, which is located on the Walla Walla Community College campus, opened last year and offers courses in Health Science Careers, Digital Media, Manufacturing and Welding Technology and Electrical Systems Technology. This year, Waitsburg has a total of six s...
DAYTON – Columbia County Superior Court Judge Scott Gallina has postponed the trial of Levi Helgerson, of Dayton, who is charged with first degree assault of a child. The trial was originally scheduled to begin this week, but was reset for November 2, and may last as many as eight days. According to Columbia County Prosecutor Rea Culwell, problems with Columbia County’s jury notice system left the court with too few potential jurors for the trial. The judge agreed to delay the trial to allow recruitment of a full pool of potential jurors. Hel...
DAYTON – They say that 'absence makes the heart grow fonder,' and that truism turned out to be a career-changer for Dayton's new library director, Dusty Waltner. While pursuing a doctorate degree in geography, Waltner found herself, for first time since her teens, not employed by a library. The realization of how much she missed that work eventually resulted in Waltner earning a library degree and landing her role as the current director of the Columbia County Rural Library District (CCRLD). W...
County has purchased former PGE office on E. Clay for Prosecutor DAYTON – The Columbia County Prosecutor's Office will move to a new location on South Clay Street in Dayton next month. According to Prosecutor Rea Culwell, the Columbia County Commissioners have agreed to purchase the building at 215 East Clay Street, next door to the County Planning office. The sale was expected to close this week. The building formerly housed the Portland General Electric Dayton office during the construction o...
WAITSBURG – Due to the dwindling number of middle school players at both schools, Waitsburg and Dayton school boards have agreed to form an athletic combine for middle school football for the 2015-16 school year. "This will benefit our kids big time," said Waitsburg middle school football coach Jeff Bartlow, who spearheaded the idea. "We want to continue playing 11-man football at the high school and it allows us not to slip down to 8-man. Dayton is playing 8-man right now, but over time, w...
WAITSBURG – About a half dozen people turned out for the organizational meeting of Friends of the Waitsburg Pool, which they hope will become part of the Rural Youth Enrichment Services 501c3, earlier this month. The group nailed down their priorities and immediately began work on their first fundraiser, a pie baking contest, to be judged at Waitsburg's Fall Festival on Sun., Sept. 20. The Friends agreed that their first priority is meeting the needs of children, followed by providing funding a...
WAITSBURG – Waitsburg city administrator Randy Hinchliffe has been awarded the Professional Finance Officer Award from the Washington Finance Officers Association for the eighth year running. The Professional Finance Officer Recognition Program provides an opportunity for members to be recognized for their continued personal development and achievements in the governmental finance arenas. Mayor Walt Gobel recognized Hinchliffe, reading a letter from the Finance Officers Association, at Waitsburg’s Aug. 19 City Council meeting. A portion fro...
Weller Public Library 212 Main Street, Waitsburg Hours: Mon. and Thurs. 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. Storytime: Mon., 10:30 a. m. Circling the Sun by Paula McLain (Adult Fiction): Historical fiction writer McLain transports readers to colonial Kenya in the 1920's where the fearless and captivating Beryl, Markham, a record-setting female aviator is caught up in a passionate love triangle. The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes (Adult Fiction): A masterful twist on the serial killer tale featuring a memorable and...
[Editor's Note: the following information was released Tuesday morning by the Umatilla National Forest Fire Information Office.] ELGIN, Ore. – Firefighters continue to make overall progress containing the Grizzly Bear Complex fire. Direct and indirect firelines were improved and 5% containment was achieved. A new fire started yesterday afternoon near the north edge of the Grizzly Bear Complex. Named Green Ridge, it is burning in mixed fuel (grass, timber, slash). Although 60% contained y...
WAITSBURG – Jim German and Claire Johnston plan to continue living in Waitsburg while striking out on new, not yet fully determined, adventures. But the owners of Waitsburg's jimgermanbar will close that establishment at the end of August. German is in the process of having a "monolithic" pizza oven built on the patio behind jimgermanbar but is not sure that he'll be the one operating it. He is also actively involved with an exciting restaurant transformation in Walla Walla. While he's not f...
Forty-five children, between the ages of five and 18, from Dayton, Waitsburg and surrounding communities entertained the crowds in two performances of the Missoula Children's Theatre production of Aladdin at Dayton's Liberty Theater on Friday and Saturday nights....
DAYTON – Earlier this month, HomeStreet, Inc. announced its plans to acquire the AmericanWest Bank branch here. The transaction is subject to several conditions, one of which is the closing of a previously announced merger between AmericanWest Bank and Banner Bank. Waitsburg's AmericanWest Bank branch will still merge with Banner Bank, as previously announced. Dayton's branch is the only AmericanWest Bank branch not merging with Banner Bank. A press release from HomeStreet said the company's a...
DAYTON – In June, planning and building employees began the process of updating Columbia County’s ordinances regarding the violation of building codes and the regulation and abatement of public nuisances. County commissioners had asked Planning Director Kim Lyonnais and his team to add “teeth” to the current rules. After a brief look around the county, Lyonnais and his department located more than 40 violations of building codes. Problems include everything from residents running unlicen...
An area of more than 2,250 acres is burning this week in the Grizzly Bear Complex Fire in Columbia County. The fire is burning in the Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness, about 20 miles southeast of Dayton. Multiple fires in the area were started by lightning strikes on Thursday. As of Monday, about 50 firefighters were battling the fires, which are 0% contained. Numerous forest roads in the area are closed. Dayton resident David Frame took this photo Friday about a mile west of Godman Springs, looking...
DAYTON – Art has been a part of Monica Stobie's life since early childhood, when she was influenced by her grandmother, a watercolorist. Saturday, Aug. 22, Stobie will showcase her art – primitive rock paintings, prints and sculpture – at an Artist's Reception at Dayton's Wenaha Gallery. Stobie followed her childhood passion and earned an art degree from Eastern Washington University, which she put to use for 15 years teaching junior and senior high art in Walla Walla and Milto...
SEASIDE, Ore. – The kids and I spent much of last week lapping up the sunshine (yes, there was sunshine!) and playing on the beach during a much-needed getaway to Seaside, Ore. Since I was on vacation, I wasn't required to submit much writing for this week's issue of The Times, but I did promise to return with a travel piece. Let me start out by being honest – I have avoided Seaside for years. In fact, the last time I visited, my son, who turned 16 during this trip, was in utero. I enjoy the...
Waitsburg 4-H and FFA members have spent the summer prepping their animals for fair. Last week, parents and kids attended a swine and sheep clinic to learn how to properly show their animals....
DAYTON – You probably didn't know that the colorful, hanging baskets of flowers that brighten Dayton's Main Street all summer were nearly 30 years in the making. Dayton Development Task Force members Scott Hudson and Betty Lou Crothers have dreamt of, discussed and planned for flower baskets downtown since the late 1980s, when the founding members of the task force worked to restored this city's Main Street. "It's an idea that floated around for a long time," Hudson said. "But the idea never r...
PRESCOTT – Best known locally as western singer Cimarron Sue, of the traditional cowboy music duo Nevada Slim and Cimarron Sue, Prescott's Susan Matley has been acting, singing, and writing most of her life. With the release of her fiction novella Small-g City later this week, she will add the title of published novelist to her long list of achievements. Matley says her love of creative writing began when her sister taught her the alphabet at three years old, but she began writing with the inten...
DAYTON – Columbia County has a plan for reopening the transfer station (dump) by the end of August, and citizens won’t have to go anywhere new. The temporary facilities will be located at the current site but away from where contractors will be working to repair and rebuild the permanent facilities. The Columbia County Transfer Station at 500 S. Cottonwood St., where citizens could deposit garbage for transport to a landfill outside of the county, was closed after a July 17 fire destroyed muc...
DAYTON – Dayton resident Aidan J. Gemmell, 18, has been charged with five counts of first-degree child rape, a Class A felony. His first court appearance was last week, where he appeared before Columbia County Superior Court Judge Scott Gallina and was appointed a defense attorney. Gemmell has not yet entered a plea. He has also not been arrested on the charges. “We’re trying to work with him and his family, and they have been cooperative,” Columbia County Deputy Prosecutor Dale Slack told The Times last Thursday. “We don’t want to see him imp...
STARBUCK – Columbia Pulp LLC hasn’t broken ground yet on its 449-acre pulp mill near Lyons Ferry, but “exciting movement” continues to happen behind closed doors, according to Columbia County Planning Director Kim Lyonnais. The company began receiving wheat straw for storage on Monday of this week, board member and LLC manager John Begley told The Times. Columbia Pulp has leased space within two miles of the future site of the mill for the storage of 20,000 to 30,000 tons of straw. “This is all...
Members of the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) battled it out at the Wastekeep Sergeantry Trials on the Waitsburg Elementary School playground on Saturday afternoon. Candidates for sergeant, gallant, yeoman, lancer, steward, and artisan had the opportunity to participate in the trials. Candidates were tested on fighting, dancing, history, heraldry, armor, games, service, and courtly behaviors....
WAITSBURG – Waitsburg is no stranger to horse shows, but this weekend may be the first time one has taken place indoors. On Aug. 8 and 9, hundreds of horses – some extremely valuable – lined tabletops in Town Hall to compete in the Sweet Onion Live model horse show. The event, which is hosted by the North American Model Horse Shows Association (NAHMSA), was organized by Shana Bobbitt of Walla Walla. This is the fourth year for the Sweet Onion Live two-day show, and Bobbitt said she broug...
DAYTON – If you had three wishes, wouldn't one of them be to see your child, grandchild, great-grandchild, niece, nephew or the kid next door perform this weekend in the Missoula Children's Theatre production of Aladdin at the Liberty Theater? Forty-five children ages five to 18 from Dayton, Waitsburg and surrounding communities will enliven the stage with this remake of the classic tale from One Thousand and One Arabian Nights. MCT is the nation's largest touring children's theater, brought t...
