Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Sorted by date Results 962 - 986 of 5665
Olympia—Washington State’s Guaranteed Education Tuition (GET) program opens Sunday, November 1, for a new enrollment period, providing families a fresh opportunity to start saving for future college costs while their children are young. The 2020-2021 enrollment period runs through May 31, 2021, with a unit purchase price of $133. As a 529 prepaid tuition program, the State of Washington guarantees that a family’s GET savings will keep pace with in-state college tuition and state-mandated fees. While Washington tuition rates are the basis for G...
WALLA WALLA—Walla Walla County has seen a drastic uptick in COVID-19 cases, with more than 300 cases being reported over the past two weeks. On Sunday, November 1, sixty positive cases were reported, which has been the largest daily case count for the county since the beginning of the pandemic. Health officials say they are seeing evidence of increased transmission at social and religious gatherings, long term care facilities, and institutions. Smaller outbreaks are occurring at some businesses, with the larger outbreaks at institutions and l...
Free public presentations on history, politics, music, philosophy, and more WALLA WALLA-Through the Walla Walla Public Library, the Humanities Washington Speakers Bureau talks are free and available to the public. The program compiles a roster of presenters who are professors, artists, activists, historians, performers, journalists, and others-all chosen not only for their expertise but their ability to inspire discussion with people of all ages and backgrounds. Most recently, Washington State...
DAYTON-Columbia County Emergency Management Director Ashley Strickland usually devotes ninety percent of his working time to the E911 Dispatch Center and the remaining ten percent to emergency management. That went out the window during the first six months of the year. He found himself spending only ten percent of his time with the Dispatch center, and the other ninety percent in emergency management, all because of the February flood and the COVID-19 pandemic. "The county has a responsibility...
The Green Giant outside of Dayton, Washington gets a needed refresh with paint and weed maintenance....
OLYMPIA — With seven days to go until the Nov. 3 General Election, the Office of the Secretary of State is reminding voters to return their ballots as soon as possible. Voters are encouraged to return their ballots by placing them in any of the nearly 500 ballot drop boxes statewide. Drop-box locations can be found by logging in to VoteWA.gov, as well as on the Secretary of State’s Office website. Ballots may also be returned by U.S. mail—no postage required—but must be postmarked by Nov. 3...
DAYTON—Only the top seven applicants out of a field of thirty have been chosen to receive funding from the Washington State Public Works Board for their broadband projects. The Port of Columbia was not among them, having ranked in the middle of the field at number twelve by the board last Friday. “What this shows is there is a huge need for better broadband service and not enough funding to go around,” The Port’s Executive Director Jennie Dickinson said Dickinson said the Port’s applicati...
As many people know, Mike Ferrians recently resigned as manager of the theater. The Touchet Valley Arts Council (TVAC) thanks him for all he has done for the theater and hopes he will participate in future live productions. The TVAC and staff have been working for several months in efforts to reopen the Liberty Theater. Many changes have been implemented at the theater to meet state-mandated guidance to keep guests, staff, and volunteers as safe as possible and allow us to legally reopen and remain open as a business. Unfortunately, the process...
WAITSBURG—The Waitsburg City Council met Wednesday, October 21, for a regularly scheduled meeting. Due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, the council is meeting via phone conference. Call-in information is available on the City’s website, www.cityofwaitsburg.com. City Administrator Randy Hinchliffe reviewed the second payment application for the Taggart Road Waterline/Extension project. The second payment included paving services on the new Hazelbaker Road and water line repair/replacement. Con...
PRESCOTT—The Prescott School Board met Thursday, October 22, via Zoom call for their regularly scheduled meeting. Prescott School Board members are Chairman Preston Brock, Vice-Chair Kevin Chabre, Director Eva Madrigal, Director Erik Young, and Director Jacob Stueckle. John Graham, Apollo Solutions Group representative, was accompanied by Mike Fuentes, Division Manager and mechanical engineer, to help answer technical questions for a solar array project that the school district has been e...
DAYTON—Dayton School District Superintendent Guy Strot talked about the effect the COVID-19 challenge was having on staff and students when he addressed the school board at last week’s meeting. He said he is very proud of the staff and students in the elementary school and in the middle and high schools for following the rules and following the District’s Reopening Plan. The teachers are doing an amazing job of “soldiering on” during this stressful time. There is a good working partnersh...
WAITSBURG—Honeycrisp, Fuji, and Gala are all names we recognize. How about Fall Jeneting, McAfee, and Nero? Thanks to the work of Dave Benscoter and the Lost Apple Project, you may become familiar with a couple of recently-rediscovered lost apple varieties. The Lost Apple Project came to be after Dave Benscoter was asked to help pick apples for a friend outside of Spokane. Benscoter grew up around apple trees and quickly determined that none of the fruit was usable, but he couldn’t quite kic...
WAITSBURG-The Waitsburg Celebration Days (WCD) board of directors met Monday, October 26 at 7 p.m via Zoom call. The board met to elect a new president, vice president, and an advertising director. Directors had to postpone the election until the November meeting, as they had not yet had any volunteers step up with interest. Waitsburg Celebration Days is a volunteer-led non-profit, formed in 2013 to continue community celebrations originally hosted for over 100 years by Days of Real Sport. WCD...
Well, that escalated quickly. Our weather has gone from a pleasant and mild fall to a midwinter's frozen tundra practically overnight. It took the better part of a day to get above freezing. And so it goes, another turning of the wheel-toes in socks, socks in boots. The parkas are out, and before you know it, we'll be back inside, once again relegated to the confines of the indoors, daydreaming about spring. All-season gardeners know better. Winter gardening using container pots keeps the...
In September, wildfires that tortured the Pacific Northwest did a number on the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife's (WDFW) Swanson Lakes Wildlife Area (Swanson Lakes), located about 10 miles south of the town of Creston. Swanson Lakes is a 21,000-acre tract of native grasslands nestled among the channeled scablands of the Columbia Plateau. Shrub-steppe and riparian/wetlands comprise the dominant habitats, and much of the area is rangeland, with some old Conservation Reserve Program...
Calling all goblins, ghouls, and ghosts! Halloween is still happening in the Touchet Valley, with some minor adjustments. Social distancing will be enforced at all events listed below for the safety of all the spooky participants. Per state guidelines, face masks will be required in addition to a costume mask. Halloween costume masks are not accepted forms of face coverings. Downtown Waitsburg plans on getting spooky on Saturday, starting at 4 p.m. with David Long, Walla Walla DJ, providing music at the Fire Station on Main. Does anyone know th...
WAITSBURG-The coronavirus has highlighted some unexpected heroes over the past ten months. The Waitsburg School District has had a handful of heroes step up and go far above and beyond their typical duties this school year. "Our para-eds and our kitchen staff... they have been working their tails off this year," Superintendent Mark Pickel. "Last week alone, they put together 1,700 meals to go." During a 'normal' school year, paraeducators can be found assisting in the classroom, often offering...
DAYTON-Since he was hired in Dec. 2018 as the Columbia County Engineer and Public Works Director, Charles Eaton finds himself wearing more hats than ever. His responsibilities include multiple departments within the Public Works Department. Operations is responsible for county road maintenance. Engineering is responsible for designing or improving projects, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) services responsible for mapping, and Equipment Replacement and Rental (ER&R) responsible for...
WAITSBURG-The Waitsburg School Board met Thursday, October 15, for a regularly scheduled meeting. The Board is still meeting via Zoom video call. Secondary Principal Stephanie Wooderchak reported that school has been going well overall, given the circumstances. She said that the parents had been a huge help troubleshooting the technology problems that sprung from the Chromebook distribution and remote learning. "People are having honest conversations and are making adjustments when we experience...
DAYTON—County Treasurer Carla Rowe presented the third-quarter financial statement to the Board of Columbia County Commissioners last week. She provided them with the following predictions based on various sources, including the Dept. of Revenue, the Municipal Research and Services Center, and webinars regarding banking environments, investment bond market, and government publications. Financial recovery from the COVID-19 impact to counties is not expected to occur until the latter part of n...
WASHINGTON—The Washington State Department of Health (DOH) released a set of guidelines to help keep communities healthy with Halloween just a few weeks away. When planning your Halloween celebration, it is important to bear in mind that Governor Inslee’s Safe Start plan limitations are still in effect. Walla Walla County remains in Phase 2 of the reopening plan. As a general reminder, folks must limit gatherings to less than five people who do not live in your household, and group members must...
Halloween hopefuls have been dreading this since March when memes began to surface on the internet message boards regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. The idea was determined: put the mask on now to save Halloween. Skeptics were present in the comment sections of SubReddit pages, insisting that there would be no Halloween without a safe and efficient vaccine. Well, here we are six months later. #QuarantineHalloween approaches as Walla Walla County rests in Phase 2 of Gov. Inslee's Safe Start Plan....
OLYMPIA—Washington State Parks today announced its 2020-21 winter schedule, with more than 100 parks remaining open for camping or day-use activities. The winter schedule is available online at https://tinyurl.com/y2u6mkbd. More than 100 parks will remain open during the winter, while about 22 parks are closed until dates in March, April or May. State parks offer ample opportunities for those who enjoy camping in the winter months. Campgrounds that remain open are less crowded, and more campsites are available on a first-come, first-served basi...
DAYTON-Trina Cole, Administrator for the City of Dayton, told attendees at the city council meeting last week about plans for city and county representatives to enter into mediation over the terms of the Interlocal Agreement for Law Enforcement, Dispatch Services, and Court Services, the County provides to the City. County Commissioner Ryan Rundell, who was at the meeting, said a location had been identified and the date is set for Nov. 5. During the council meeting concerning an application to...
STARBUCK-Gerry Grubbs has been hired by the Starbuck School District as the next superintendent to take over for retiring superintendent Kevin Graffis. What does he think of Starbuck? "It is a beautiful little town and school," he said. Grubbs said the Starbuck school feels like school must have been one hundred years ago. He likes the multi-age classrooms. He said what the school lacks in supplemental resources; it makes up for with a smaller number of students and more personalized teaching....
