Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
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OLYMPIA—Monday, October 18, was the deadline for workers in specific sectors, including private and public healthcare, state employees, and education, to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or risk losing their jobs. As the deadline neared, concerns about the mandate’s impact on healthcare staffing and services have raised throughout the state. A spokesperson for Providence St. Mary Medical Center and the Providence Medical Group in Walla Walla said their hospital has a high compliance rate that would not significantly impact its ope...
DAYTON - A regular meeting of the City Council was held using Zoom at 6 PM, October 13, 2021. During public comment, Sheriff Joe Helm announced that he had appointed Deputy Cesar Rivera as Chief Deputy. The Sheriff also stated that the department was preparing for the opening of deer hunting season and the influx of visitors which that entails. He also mentioned that the increased patrolling of Main Street for traffic violations would continue. The City Council approved the minutes from the...
PENDLETON, Ore—Recent precipitation and cooler weather conditions across the Umatilla National Forest has decreased fire danger, prompting fire managers to lift all public use restrictions pertaining to recreational chainsaw use, smoking, and off-road travel, effective 12 a.m. on Oct. 15, 2021. • The public is encouraged to practice safe campfire principles when recreating in dispersed and developed campsites. Forest officials recommend the following campfire safety precautions: • Campfires should be in fire pits surrounded by dirt, rock,...
WAITSBURG-Whether you're a soup-season person or a spooky-season person, there's no arguing that autumn is here! If you're a spooky-season person, it is time to head down to Mr. C's Smoking Co. or Nancy's Dream Garden Center. Each business received plenty of Schulke Pumpkins to go around. The Schulke Pumpkin Fundraiser is in its fourteenth year of fundraising for the Ronald McDonald House in memory of Cooper Schulke, who passed away in 2002 after a long battle against a brain tumor. In 2007,...
WAITSBURG—A letter signed by the Waitsburg City Council and the Mayor was published in The Times and sent out to residents of Waitsburg last week. The letter referenced the 2020 flood and the city’s need to make repairs to the affected areas of the levee within city limits. The letter said the city could not make the necessary repairs unless they received approval from all property owners in the affected area. The letter said that while 75% of the property owners in the area had agreed to gra...
DAYTON – The Dayton School Board met for a work session at 6 p.m. on October 6, entirely online using Zoom. Including the school board members, about 22 people participated in the Zoom meeting. The meeting opened with the Pledge of Allegiance. Superintendent Strot began with a brief discussion of his plan to share substitute teachers between the Dayton, Prescott, and Waitsburg school districts in an attempt to ameliorate the shortage of substitutes. Next, Strot moved on to a discussion of r...
WAITSBURG-Efforts to repair the Touchet River levee that runs along Preston Avenue could be moot if the City of Waitsburg does not get 100% approval from homeowners, including private and state, to repair the existing levee. In September, the Waitsburg City Council, joined by Senator Perry Dozier and John Wells, Senior Engineer at Anderson Perry & Associates, held a second informational meeting for property owners on rearmoring the existing levee. The city contacted private property owners...
DAYTON-The Columbia County Commissioners met for a regular meeting on October 4. Commissioners Rundell and Hall were present at the meeting. Commissioner Amerein was absent from the Monday morning meeting. The commissioners' meetings will be moved from Monday to Tuesday starting this month. Charles Eaton reported on behalf of the Columbia County Public Works. He presented a resolution to award the Bosley Bridge Emergency Repairs consulting contract to Anderson Perry & Associates of Walla Walla....
DAYTON-Local retired farmer and Port of Columbia Commissioner candidate Jack Miller recently cut ties with the Columbia County Conservatives, saying that he did not agree with the dangerous core beliefs of the political group. "I didn't agree with a lot of the things that they were espousing, to the point I decided that I did not want to be associated with them in any way," Miller said. "And that was that." The group, which has become known for its anti-vaccination and anti-masking rhetoric,...
DAYTON—The Economic Development Steering Committee held a regular monthly remote meeting on October 5, 2021. Martha Lanman, Columbia County Public Health Administrator, announced that there were 21 active cases, with more than 20 tests performed that morning. She commended the Columbia County Health System for their ongoing hard work as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. She clarified that the COVID-19 case count is still a roller coaster in the county. She observed that cases seem to taper s...
OLYMPIA—After more than a year delay, a statewide single-use plastic bag ban went into effect on Friday, October 1, for Washington’s retail, restaurant, and grocery stores. Washington joins eight states, including Hawaii, California, and Oregon, and multiple cities across the country in efforts to reduce plastic consumption and pollution. The state legislation passed in 2020 and was set to go into effect in January 2021. The delay was caused by limited access to compatible bag materials. Lik...
WAITSBURG-Fifteen-year-old Makenna Barron is a busy gal. A sophomore at Waitsburg High School, she plays volleyball and basketball, is involved in speaking and livestock FFA projects and chapter leadership, serves as the Associated Student Body Secretary, and has been active in 4-H for nearly eight years. She loves theater and will play the part of Liesl in the upcoming production of "The Sound of Music" at the Liberty Theater this fall. If she's not doing something mentioned above, you can...
DAYTON--Ron Asmus, owner of Ron Asmus Homes, Inc in the Tri-Cities, is moving ahead with construction of the new Assisted Living Facility units and he expects construction to begin within the next thirty days. The monthly cost of each leased unit, originally calculated at $12,000 each, has shot up an additional $2,000, because of the high cost of lumber and other building materials, according to CCHS CEO Shane McGuire at last week's hospital board meeting. "Everything is more expensive, right...
WALLA WALLA-The Seattle Rock Orchestra will perform two different live concerts at Gesa Power House Theatre on October 8 and 9. On Friday, October 8 at 7:00 p.m., Seattle Rock Orchestra will explore the softer side of the music of Led Zeppelin, offering an intimate evening out that draws on the classic rock band's acoustic compositions from across their entire discography. The program will feature the songs "Going to California," The Battle of Evermore," Thank You," The Rain Song," Babe I'm...
DAYTON—The Dayton School Board met Wednesday, September 15, for a regular school board meeting. Business items on the agenda included a review of multiple out-of-endorsement teachers, consideration for substitute teachers’ payment raise, and adopting a new social studies/history curriculum. The meeting was halted after the consent agenda was approved and the public comment portion of the meeting began. School board candidate Aneesha Dieu spoke during this portion of the meeting, but com...
Cameron and Angelica Hedges are new to Waitsburg and are wholeheartedly embracing small-town life. "I love it out here, so far," said Angelica Hedges about Waitsburg. "It's much slower paced than what we are used to." The Hedges family moved to our quiet little town from Los Angeles County in California after Cameron accepted the lead pastor position at Waitsburg Christian Church. The couple moved to Waitsburg roughly one month ago, with their daughters Abigail and Avah and their niece, Shylo....
WAITSBURG—Plenty of new Waitsburg business owners attended the regular Waitsburg City Council meeting last Wednesday. Recently sold buildings along Main Street, include the former Anchor Bar and the Whoopem Up Hollow Cafe. Tom and Judy Bennett purchased the former Anchor Bar at 128 Main and attended the meeting to introduce themselves to the council. Bennett said the couple had received a very warm welcome from community members since purchasing the building earlier this month. Mauro and Connie Golvani who recently purchased the former W...
WAITSBURG—The Waitsburg School Board met for a regular meeting on September 16. Secondary Principal Stephanie Wooderchak shared that students and staff are doing well, and the school year is off to a busy but happy start. She said that roughly 95% of all student Chromebook use agreements had been completed. Google Classroom is still being incorporated into daily classroom use, but students are in full-time, in-person instruction. During the first week of school, Wooderchak said, there were m...
DAYTON-The Port of Columbia Commissioners met for a regular meeting on September 8 via Zoom. The Commissioners appointed Shawn Brown as chairman, filling the position left by the late Earle Marvin. "I want to reiterate that I so much appreciate Commissioner Marvin's service to the Port, and I have his wife and family in my prayers as they move forward through this difficult time," Brown said. Port of Columbia Executive Director Jennie Dickinson said that she reached out to Commissioner Marvin's...
DAYTON—The Dayton City Council met for a hybrid meeting on September 8, 2021. Columbia County Sheriff Joe Helm shared that 57 traffic tickets were written over the past month, 38 were within city limits. He said that a new deputy is currently going through his Field Training Officer (FTO) program and that he is doing well. He said that the department hopes to have the new deputy working on his own as soon as training is complete. Sheriff Helm and County Prosecutor Dale Slack are currently p...
OLYMPIA —As students and educators head back into the classroom and restart the in-person learning routine, the Department of Health (DOH) provides behavioral health tips and resources for navigating the emotional responses that children, teens, and adults may have experienced during this exciting and stressful time. The COVID-19 Back-to-Classroom THINK Toolbox is a resource to help with adjusting to the return of in-person school and learning. THINK, which stands for Teaching with Healthcare Informed Neurological Strategies for Kids, is a t...
“My fellow Washingtonians, today marks the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in this country on September 11, 2001. As we remember this tragedy and honor our nation’s resilience, this time is also an opportunity to strengthen our national consciousness and consider what we can keep doing to advance freedom. “Twenty years is a long time, but all of us who lived through these events remember where we were that day. I was in our nation’s capital, serving in Congress, where I saw the smoke rise from the Pen...
WALLA WALLA—The Gang Intelligence Team, a division of the Walla Walla County Sheriff’s Office, working with multiple regional partners, arrested two men in the early hours of the morning last Thursday. The sheriff’s office has spent the past several months collaborating with the Spalding County Sheriff’s Office in Griffin, Georgia, as well as federal law enforcement agencies. Intelligence generated from traffic stops in Walla Walla County led to a joint investigation into two local members of the Pagan’s 1% Outlaw Motorcycle Gang (OMG). Th...
At least three dogs have fallen victim to toxic algae bloom on the Columbia River, just north of the Tri-Cities. The first report was received by the Benton Franklin Health District on Monday, September 13, and by the end of the day, the health officials were looking into the death of two other dogs who were swimming near Leslie Groves and Howard Amon parks. All three dogs are suspected to have been affected by Harmful Algae Bloom, or HABS, rapid growth of algae or cyanobacteria (blue-green...
WASHINGTON, DC—On September 9, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman announced significant enhancements to the COVID Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program, a federal disaster relief loan designed to better serve and support our small business communities still reeling from the pandemic, especially hard-hit sectors such as restaurants, gyms, and hotels. The SBA is ready to receive new applications immediately from small businesses looking to take advantage of these recent policy changes. ...
