Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Sorted by date Results 1328 - 1352 of 1905
DAYTON – Investigators from Walla Walla were on scene last week trying to determine the cause of a fire that seriously damaged a home here early last Wednesday. The house at 119 E. Commercial Ave., owned by longtime Dayton resident George "Bill" Waltermire, was reported ablaze by passers-by just after 1 a.m. on July 15, according to local officials. Waltermire has said he was out at a convenience store when he heard the news, Columbia County Sheriff Rocky Miller said. The fire, though p...
DAYTON – County residents Julia and Skip Mead implored Columbia County Commissioners at last week’s public hearing to turn down an offer by Portland General Electric to pave a portion of Mead Road north of Dayton. “We are passionate about our freedom and privacy,” Julia Mead told all three commissioners and the boardroom full of listeners last Wednesday. “We don’t have to let PGE impose their liberal ways on us... Please, please, please do not pave Mead Road!” Commissioners Merle Jackson and D...
SEATTLE/PORTLAND – Lael Loyd, manager of Dayton's Wenaha Gallery, may have not known anyone else who took part in the Cascade Bicycle Club's 2015 Seattle-to-Portland ride, but she says she was far from alone. Loyd said she felt and experienced the presence of friends and family with every push of the pedal during the 206.2 mile ride earlier this month. "It was literally the best experience of my life," Loyd said of the ride. "I've finally found my thing. It took me 30-plus years to realize I h...
Dayton resident Alicia Walker helps her 5-year-old daughter, Audrey Walker, tie dye a t-shirt at their booth during Saturday's Foodstock 2015 festival at the Blue Mountain Station just west of Dayton on Highway 12. . ....
DAYTON – Don’t panic, says Dayton Public Works Superintendent Jim Costello. Washington may be locked in a record-breaking snowpack drought, but Dayton’s city wells are at the same level as they have been since 1982, he told the Dayton City Council last week. But don’t get complacent either, Costello added. “We are hammering the heck out of water in this community,” he told council. “And we can’t predict the future of our water. We’re pumping millions of gallons.” And how has our usage looked re...
Members of the Dayton High School class of 1960 rode their float past the courthouse during Saturday's annual Alumni Parade....
DAYTON – Dayton took the first step in a move toward allowing wheeled all-Terrain vehicles, or WATVs, on city streets at a public hearing in the St. Joseph’s Catholic Church Parish Hall on Monday night. City councilors approved the first reading, by title only, of an ordinance allowing licensed drivers 16 and older to operate WATVs on city streets with a speed limit of 35 miles per hour or less. Councilmember Kathy Berg opposed the ordinance. Such a move would put the city in line with Was...
DAYTON – Scouts from Dayton Boy Scout Troop 332 returned home Saturday, following a week at BSA's Camp Baldwin, a high-adventure camp located on the eastern slope of Mt. Hood. The boys reported having a great time at what may be the troop's last campout, unless new leadership steps forward. Camden Costello of Dayton, and Tom and Seamus House, Skylar and Brayden Wood and Daltin Lambert, all of Waitsburg, spent last week at Camp Baldwin with Assistant Scoutmaster Bill Warren and parent c...
Sentencing/Resolution: Bobby G. Burgess, 49, Kennewick; sentenced to serve 40 months in state prison following guilty plea entered on charge of second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. Additional charges of second-degree criminal trespass and second-degree unlawful transportation of fish or wildlife dropped as part of plea agreement. Joshua A. Roska, 33, Dayton; sentenced to serve one day in county jail, with credit for time served, for possession of a dangerous weapon. Roska was originally charged with possession of a stolen firearm and...
DAYTON – Recent College of Idaho theatre arts graduate Edith Dull participated in her first theatrical performance on Dayton's Liberty Theater stage as a nine-year-old. That experience set her on her current educational path that she's hoping will extend to the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow. This weekend, Dull is hoping her fellow Idaho actors will experience the same enthusiastic support and encouragement that she grew up with on the Liberty stage. On July 18 and 19, Dull will d...
DAYTON – The Blue Mountain Station Co-op is sponsoring its second annual FoodStock event Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. FoodStock features food, live music and fun activities. Last year's event took place on the anniversary weekend of the famous 1969 Woodstock music festival. However, since that date conflicts with the Gentlemen of the Road Tour event in Walla Walla next month, FoodStock was moved up a few weeks, according to co-op board member Brad McMasters. "We didn't want to compete with t...
DAYTON – The annual gathering of Dayton High School alumni is this weekend. Festivities begin Friday night as classes celebrating milestone anniversaries gather to build their parade floats. Many activities are in store on Saturday, including: Alumni Parade – 10 a.m. on Dayton's Main Street – Members of classes with milestone anniversaries will ride floats down Main Street during the annual parade. Alumni Annual Meeting – 11 a.m. in the Dayton Historic Depot Courtyard Open House at the Depot ...
DAYTON – The city of Dayton is considering allowing licensed all-terrain vehicles, or ATVs, on city streets. City Clerk Trina Cole said she has drafted an ordinance, with input from the council's safety committee, that will go before the city council, and the community at three public hearings, before the council will vote on it. The first hearing will be the Monday meeting next week at 7 p.m. Dayton resident and ATV aficionado Matt Wiens spoke to the city council last month urging city l...
DAYTON – For several months, community leaders have discussed plans for an after school program for Dayton school children. Planning has been a collaborative effort, and funding has not yet been secured, but the ball is still rolling. School officials tried, at the end of the school year, for a grant to help fund the program but were unsuccessful. “I think it would be a good thing to continue planning to meet and discuss options for the future of some type of program,” Superintendent Doug Johns...
Investigators are still searching for the cause of a fire late Sunday night that destroyed two homes on East Washington Avenue in Dayton. "Honestly I don't know if we'll ever find out what started it," Fire Chief Rick Turner, of Columbia County Fire District 3, told me on Monday afternoon. "We're still working on it, but the fire completely destroyed the house, and any little bit of evidence there was is probably gone." Nobody was injured in the fire, which started at 11:25 p.m. in an...
DAYTON – Many people in Columbia County know what it's like to wake to the sound of roosters crowing. Even in some parts of town. For the caffeinated at heart in Dayton, a rooster in the morning means so much more. It means fresh coffee, conveniently located right off of Highway 12 on the western edge of town, served by the chipper, smiling and often psychic Judy Rowland. "People hardly ever have to order," Rowland said, claiming that she has memorized 95 percent of her customers' favorite d...
A visitor and his son get a close-up photo of a '32 Ford Highboy Roadster during the Show N Shine at last weekend's All Wheels Weekend event in downtown Dayton. Crowds were large and the weather was great for the 21st annual event....
DAYTON – Anyone driving Highway 12 can see it. The wheat fields are ripening quickly. Gone are the rolling green plains. In their place are fields of shorter-than-normal, already golden grains. And it's still June. The heavens haven't blessed the Touchet Valley with rain in quite some time. And with temperatures predicted to reach the triple digits over the weekend, any additional moisture to the ground before harvest is improbable. Local farmers have mixed feelings about the drought. The s...
DAYTON – Do you know your county building and permitting rules? Columbia County suggests you reacquaint yourself with them because officials have asked the planning department to brainstorm a way of “adding teeth” to current ordinances. Jake Davis, Greg Abramson and Kim Lyonnais, with the Columbia County Planning Department, presented information last Wednesday to commissioners on a county-wide problem with building-code violations. Dilemmas include everything from residents running unlicensed s...
DAYTON – The cause of death remains unknown in the case of Shirley "Ben" Gano, the 88-year-old Oregon man whose body was found near Starbuck last week, Columbia County Coroner Rea Culwell told The Times on Monday. Preliminary results from Monday's autopsy, however, indicate that the manner of Gano's death was natural, according to Culwell. More tests will be conducted, but at this time the cause of death could not be determined "due to the condition of the body," she said. Gano's body was locate...
DAYTON – Columbia County has filed criminal charges against county resident Darlene M. Savage, 70, alleging that she has been maintaining an unpermitted salvage or junkyard on her South Touchet Road property for over a year. The misdemeanor charge, filed in district court on June 12, followed a report signed by the Columbia County Planning Department Director Kim Lyonnais earlier that week stating that this particular property has been a problem since at least 2011. The junk, vehicles and o...
Dayton WWII veteran Owen Agenbroad (top photo) was the first Everyday Hero to tell his story last Thursday at the Dayton Memorial Library as part of this summer's reading program . . ....
DAYTON – Columbia County Commissioners signed the Blue Mountain Station development agreement last week with the Port of Columbia following an uneventful public hearing earlier this month. Little discussion took place regarding the 20-year plan for the property owned by the port just west of Dayton city limits. County commissioners unanimously agreed to the plan, which details how the phased development of Blue Mountain Station aligns with the county’s current comprehensive plan and zoning res...
Scenes from the Show . . ....
DAYTON – The cast is mostly set for this year's fall musical. The Wizard of Oz will be performed at Dayton's Liberty Theater in November and December. Co-director Mike Ferrians just released the following cast list: WIZARD OF OZ: TVAC PRODUCTIONS 2015 Directed by Mike Ferrians and Brenda Henderson CAST LIST: Dorothy Gale - Savannah McFarland Dorothy Understudy - Melissa Petrello Hunk/Scarecrow - Cougar Henderson Hickory/Tinman - Chad Pearson Zeke/Lion - Tony Sykes Wicked Witch - Roz Edwards G...
