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  • Dayton Levy Vote Certified

    Dian Ver Valen, The Times|May 14, 2015

    DAYTON – A final count of votes on Tuesday confirmed the failure of Dayton School District’s $800,000 capital-improvement levy. It was a close vote, but just 48.9 percent of residents voted to approve the measure. A 50-percent approval was required. A majority of voters inside city limits approved the levy, according to the election results posted online, but voter turnout was lower in the city than in previous years where support for the district had been strong, according to Dayton Sch...

  • CCHS Releases Stroudwater Report

    Dian Ver Valen, The Times|May 14, 2015

    DAYTON – Directors of the Columbia County Health System are wrestling with a tough decision: What will the community need from its hospital in the next five to 10 years? "With legislative changes to Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements and the rapid technology changes going on, this is hard to figure out," CCHS Chief Operations Officer Shane McGuire said. "There is so much going on in healthcare right now, I feel bad for the board coming in once a month and trying to keep up with everything g...

  • Citizenship Awards Received

    Dian Ver Valen, The Times|May 14, 2015

    Dayton seniors Matthew Warren and Sarah Phillips are recipients of this year's P.E.O. Citizenship Award for possessing good qualities of character (honesty, courtesy, amiability, morality and punctuality), achieving high scholarship, and participating in a number of community and school activities. They are pictured here with Susie Payne, a member of the P.E.O. Citizenship Award Committee. P.E.O., which stands for Philanthropic Educational Organization, is an international group whose mission...

  • Students Clean Up Dayton

    The Times|May 14, 2015

    Dayton High School students, including many in the Students Helping Each Other (SHEO) club, helped clean the alleys and other out-of-the-way places near Steve's Grocery, around the high school and along the Touchet River dike in April. . ....

  • Senior Center Repairs Underway

    Dian Ver Valen, The Times|May 14, 2015

    DAYTON – Columbia County Commissioners are moving forward with repairs to the Columbia County Senior Center on E. Washington in Dayton. "This is a good, functional and well-used building," said Commissioner Merle Jackson. Jackson met Tuesday morning at the center with Zella Powers and Barbara Gibson, members of the Senior Center Board, as well as County Engineer Andrew Woods and Courthouse Maintenance Supervisor Dave Finney, to decide on maintenance projects. New flooring and a leaky roof w...

  • Celebration Days Camping Available

    The Times|May 14, 2015

    WAITSBURG – Campsites will be available at the Waitsburg Fairgrounds on Friday and Saturday nights during Waitsburg Celebration Days weekend, May 15 and 16. Camping is available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Bring an ATV and spend the night or enjoy the Burgers, Band and Brew without having to worry about driving home. Campers should enter the rear of the fairgrounds via College Street, the dirt road between the track and the City Cemetery, off East 8th Street. Travel past the pig barns to where the ATV’s will unload for the Poker Run...

  • Dayton School Levy Still Trailing

    Dian Ver Valen, The Times|May 7, 2015

    Superintendent wonders how to engage community in school-upkeep conversation DAYTON – The Columbia County Auditor's Office counted 61 additional ballots last Friday, but the new results don't show much change for the Dayton School District's $800,000 capital improvement levy. The proposal now trails by 23 votes out of 1,160 cast, a slightly larger difference than was reported after the initial count last Tuesday when results trailed by 21 votes. This election requires a simple majority, or 50 pe...

  • 'Lemonade! Get your lemonade!'

    Dian Ver Valen, The Times|May 7, 2015

    DAYTON – This little community was abuzz with activity Saturday, both at the annual street sale on South 3rd Street as well as all along Main Street and beyond, where Dayton sixth graders hollered and coaxed passersby to support their cause and buy a glass of lemonade. One grinning young man pedaled about in the Weinhard Hotel's surrey with a tray of full lemonade cups in the front basket, his digital device playing music and a sign on the back reading, "Musical Lemonade Taxi." In front of C...

  • Treasure Hunters

    The Times|May 7, 2015

    Bargain hunters lined South 3rd Street in Dayton on Saturday morning . . ....

  • Co. County Granted Extension on Tucannon Road Reconstruction

    Dian Ver Valen, The Times|May 7, 2015

    DAYTON – Columbia County road projects old and new were presented in April to county commissioners. To assist with one major new project, the county road department has hired two engineering interns for the summer to inventory and prioritize roads with clear-zone issues. The Federal Highway Administration defines a clear zone as the total roadside border area, starting at the edge of the traveled way, available for safe use by errant vehicles. This area may consist of a shoulder, a r...

  • County Proceeds with Emergency Services Software Agreement

    Dian Ver Valen, The Times|May 7, 2015

    DAYTON – Columbia County signed an interlocal agreement with the city of Walla Walla in April to share in the purchase and installation of a new computer-aided dispatch and records management system for the county dispatch center and sheriff’s office. The new system replaces an 18-year-old program that has reached “end of life,” according to Columbia County Emergency Manager Lisa Caldwell. For roughly $236,000 and a few thousand dollars per year in fees, Columbia County will gain access to a top...

  • Dayton FFA Members Keep Busy, Look Forward to State this month

    The Times|May 7, 2015

    Dayton's horticulture class and members of FFA worked with the Columbia County Soil Conservation District in April taking . . ....

  • Dayton FFA Places 8th at State

    The Times|May 7, 2015

    Dayton's FFA Agronomy Team placed 8th in the state this year and will be receiving recognition on stage at the state convention this month. In other Dayton FFA news, the robotics team did not rank high enough to compete in the Regional Event in Cheney, but FFA advisor Kristina Knebel said, "We were still very happy with how we did in the district events. Being placed 8th at Ellensburg was a high achievement for us!" At the state convention in May the following DHS seniors will be competing and...

  • Dayton Levy Trails by Two Percent

    The Times|Apr 30, 2015

    DAYTON - Tuesday’s preliminary election results showed that the Dayton School District’s $800,000 capital improvement levy proposal was trailing by 21 votes out of 1,099 cast. The Columbia County Auditor’s Office said 29 ballots remained to be counted. Addition ballots mailed by Tuesday may be added to that total. The remaining ballots will be counted and the election certified on May 12. The Times will have more election coverage soon on its website: www.waitsburgtimes.com....

  • Hospital Board Continues to Mull Plan for $5.5 Million Levy

    Dian Ver Valen, The Times|Apr 30, 2015

    DAYTON – The Columbia County Health System Board of Directors agreed last week at their monthly meeting that they need to move forward with a decision on how to spend the $5.5 million hospital levy approved by voters last fall. “One way or another, we need to make a decision tonight or by the next meeting on how we’re going to move forward,” said Ted Patterson, board president. “We promised the community we were going to do something with this money and we need to do it.” In February the board h...

  • Plants and More At 3rd Street Sale This Weekend in Dayton

    The Times|Apr 30, 2015

    Dayton High School FFA students prepared last week for the annual FFA plant sale. The sale continues this weekend during the 12th annual 3rd Street Sale in Dayton on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Local churches and community organizations will participate in the blocks-long sale. Meanwhile Dayton sixth graders will sell lemonade at their own stands all along Main Street in Dayton on this day. The Blue Mountain Station Artisan Food Market is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The FFA plant sale will...

  • Churchill Pleads Guilty to Assault

    Dian Ver Valen, The Times|Apr 30, 2015

    DAYTON – Dayton man Andrew J. Churchill, 43, pleaded guilty to multiple domestic violence assault charges last Friday in Columbia County Superior Court and was sentenced to seven months in county jail. Churchill was arrested in January after witnesses at Blue Mountain Station stated he’d pulled a gun on an adult male family member in the back parking lot where he and his wife operated a business selling items at the Port of Columbia facility just west of Dayton. According to the arresting doc...

  • Dayton Clinic, Hospital Welcomes New Doc

    The Times|Apr 30, 2015

    DAYTON – The Columbia County Health System has hired Dr. Kurt Frauenpreis as the newest member of its team. Dr. Frauenpreis has just signed the contract and will begin seeing patients at Columbia Family Clinic, in Dayton, and at Dayton General Hospital in mid-July, according to CCHS interim CEO Jon Smiley. Dr. Frauenpreis, who received his MD from the American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine in 1988, comes to Columbia County from the Pinedale Medical Clinic in Pinedale, Wyoming. He completed his residency at the University of O...

  • Earth Day at Best Western Hotel

    The Times|Apr 30, 2015

    Local children celebrated Earth Day last week at Best Western Plus of Dayton . . ....

  • Artisan Soaps on Main Street

    Dian Ver Valen, The Times|Apr 30, 2015

    DAYTON – Azure Mountain made a subtle entrance to downtown Dayton retail this spring, opening a handcrafted, artisan soap shop next door to Manila Bay Café on East Main Street. No grand opening or "loud" signs or displays in the window have alerted visitors and locals to the new shop, which is just how Art and Brenda Hall want it. "We want people to see our sign and be curious enough to come inside and see what we have to offer," Brenda said. And the couple both work full time, so the shop is on...

  • Elementary Welcomes Secretary

    Dian Ver Valen, The Times|Apr 30, 2015

    DAYTON – Jeannie Lyonnais has joined the team in the Dayton Elementary School office this month as full-time secretary. Her smiling face is new to the front desk but not to the district. She has worked at the school for the last 28 years on and off. Jeannie and her husband, Kim Lyonnais, moved to Dayton in 1986. They were both born and raised in Spokane. Kim is now the Columbia County Planning Director, a department he has managed in the past but took a short break from to work in planning in W...

  • Local Artist Finds Joy in Jewelry Making

    Dian Ver Valen, The Times|Apr 30, 2015

    DAYTON – Anna Steinhoff is determined to find beauty even in everyday life. She makes rings and necklaces out of bullet casings and Swarovski crystals and crafts bracelets out of leather and metal. This Dayton mother and wife, though not, she insists, a "girly girl," has carved a niche in the local jewelry business – and her pieces are on sale now at Azure Mountain on East Main Street. "It's awesome to see something I made on a complete stranger," she said. Like Art and Brenda Hall, who hav...

  • Dayton FBLA Honored in Spokane

    The Times|Apr 30, 2015

    Dayton High School FBLA received awards in a number of events at the state Business Leadership Conference in Spokane earlier this month. Two Dayton members are serving as state officers: Taylor Frame serves as state parliamentarian, and Keelin Hovrud is the southeast region vice president. Taylor Frame placed first in Local Chapter Annual Business Report, and her work in this area lead to DHS receiving a chapter Gold Seal recognition. Frame and Keelin Hovrud placed first in Desktop Publishing....

  • 2015 Columbia County Fair Kickoff

    The Times|Apr 30, 2015

    This year's Columbia County Fair Hostesses, in the center not wearing hats (l to r) Katie White and Mary McHaffie, were joined by fair royalty . . ....

  • Columbia Co. Deputies Arrest Two of Washington's Most Wanted Criminals

    Dian Ver Valen, The Times|Apr 30, 2015

    DAYTON – Columbia County Sheriff's Office deputies arrested two of Washington's most-wanted criminals here last Wednesday night during a traffic stop in the 800 block of East Main Street. The couple, 29-year-old Jose Isidro Cisneros of Pasco and 22-year-old Breanne Nicole Rutherford of Walla Walla, were part of a Washington's Most Wanted report posted April 11 online. U.S. Marshals in the Tri-Cities, Pasco police and Department of Corrections officers out of Walla Walla were hunting for this w...

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