Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Sorted by date Results 1437 - 1461 of 1908
Dave Finney, Columbia County Courthouse maintenance supervisor, planted all new roses on the courthouse grounds on March 16. Seven-year-old Dayton resident Moriah Hagg and her family helped Finney install the 20 plants where roses have been tended on the grounds for many years......
DAYTON – Columbia County has not yet moved forward in its plan to switch power providers for the courthouse and county public works office from Pacific Power & Light to Columbia Rural Electric Association. The county commissioners, on former Commissioner Chuck Reeves’s last day on the board, voted unanimously Dec. 31 to “begin the process” of changing power providers for these two county buildings for reasons of reliability, better quality of power, and the potential for lower utility rates....
DAYTON – The Dayton School Board last week approved the hiring of Paul Shaber as middle school/high school principal beginning in the 2015-2016 school year. The vote was unanimous, with board member Joe Heuther not in attendance. The vote was taken during the board's regular meeting, last Wednesday evening, after an executive session lasting approximately 90 minutes. Shaber, an Idaho math and science teacher, was one of four finalists for the position, all of whom met with the community, t...
Dayton photographer Nick Page admires the heavens as he stands on a hilltop outside of Dayton . . ....
DAYTON – Robert E. Bridwell, 65, of Dayton, was sentenced to 41 months in prison last week in Columbia County Superior Court after pleading guilty to sexual exploitation of a minor, a Class B felony. Bridwell was arrested on Sept. 16, 2013, at his home in Country Village Courts after a lengthy investigation led the Columbia County Sheriff's Office to suspect he was guilty of misconduct with at least one underage female. He was charged with 35 felonies upon his arrest, including sexual e...
DAYTON – Sixty-eight-year-old Robert G. Klingenstein, of Dayton, will serve six months in the Columbia County Jail after pleading guilty in January to possession of marijuana with intent to manufacture or deliver, a Class C felony. His sentence, which was within the standard range of zero to six months for this type offense, was handed down by Columbia County Superior Court Judge Scott Gallina last week. Sentencing was delayed for several weeks while Klingenstein attempted to find inpatient t...
DAYTON – John Garrett Waltermire, 24, pleaded not guilty last week to all charges associated with the March 2 break-in at Inland Cellular in downtown Dayton. He was arrested March 7 after a short foot pursuit by Columbia County Sheriff's deputies and Washington State Patrol troopers. The Dayton man was arraigned last Wednesday in Columbia County Superior Court on the charges of second-degree burglary, a Class B felony; second-degree theft, a Class C felony; malicious mischief, a gross m...
First Appearance: Desiree D. Klein, 36; entered not guilty plea on charges of possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine) and three counts of endangerment with a controlled substance. Klein was living with Monty N. Dunn at 721 S. 3rd Street in February where deputies served a search warrant and allegedly recovered drugs. Klein’s three children were also living in the home. Sentencing: Michael A. Cameron, 30; sentenced to 90 days following guilty plea on charge of possession of a controlled substance (meth). Trials Set: William H. R...
DAYTON – Rachel Cortez may be new to Columbia County and her profession in public defense, but she's determined, she loves her new home, and she's known for nearly 20 years that she wants to dedicate her life to just such a job. Effective April 1, former public defender Dale Slack will join the Columbia County Prosecutor's office as deputy prosecutor. And although Cortez, who is 29, just arrived in Dayton as Slack's associate in January of last year – she will take Slack's place as the cou...
DAYTON – The March-December museum season is underway for Dayton's Smith Hollow School and the Palus Museum, but both are suffering the loss of local advocate Elizabeth Thorn, who passed away in February. Thorn helped make both local museums possible. "Elizabeth is missed, but we carry on," said friend and fellow history lover Diane Longanecker. However, with Thorn gone the museums now lack a cadre of docents to fill all the shifts. Longanecker said the Blue Mountain Heritage Society is h...
DAYTON – Dayton School District and the Columbia County Health District each received $77,000 this month from the William W. and Jessie B. Day Charitable Trust. Representatives from the U.S. Trust Bank of America presented the checks, along with an update on the status of the Day Estate farming operation and the trust’s investment portfolio, to school and hospital directors at an annual luncheon on March 10. “It’s a little higher than we budgeted for,” Dayton Superintendent Doug Johnson s...
Columbia County Commissioner Dwight Robanske (l) presents longtime Dayton resident Ron Groom with a plaque on March 18 commemorating 25 years . . ....
DAYTON – Columbia County Commissioners met on Monday with the Washington State Liquor Control Board and two dozen citizens to discuss the issue of allowing recreational marijuana businesses in the county. After many hours of discussion, the three county leaders voted unanimously to extend the moratorium for another six months. “The easy thing would be to ban it,” Commissioner Mike Talbott stated before the vote on Monday. “But I’m not sure I’m ready to say ‘ban it,’ because I think the peopl...
Both Waitsburg and Dayton high schools inducted sophomores into National Honor Society last week. . ....
The event center at the Running T Ranch just outside of Dayton was filled with philanthropists Friday night during the Dayton Chamber's annual Blue Mountain Brix & Brew Benefit Auction. . ....
DAYTON – Dayton FFA students in the robotics program are gearing up for their second competition later this week. They ranked 19th out of 29 teams earlier this month in Spokane. "They had a great time, and they've really been committed to giving as much time to the project as they need to," said teacher Kristina Knebel (formerly Peterschick), who teaches ag classes at Dayton High School. The students, 18 total in the class, came up with the design and helped work on the robot. But nine s...
DAYTON – They say that only a planner understands what goes on in the planning office. Columbia County Planning Director Kim Lyonnais has managed planning and building departments most of his life. But this month he’s really learning the ins and outs of daily management of his department. He’s had to – he’s been running the office on his own. “I’ve really been enjoying it actually,” he said in an interview with The Times last week. “I like getting in and doing the work, being hands on. I’m rea...
DAYTON – It's hard to find the right person to ask about the juvenile fish pond at the Dayton City Park. Technically the city owns the pond and the water right that allows it to exist. The Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife operates the pond because it's stocked by the state with trout annually. And Steven Martin, with the Snake River Salmon Recovery Board, has sometimes had a hand in managing it because his agency seeks to ensure we always have fish in our waterways. When citizens...
Dayton senior Bonnie Laib goes in for another of her many layups during Saturday's donkey basketball match in the Dayton . . ....
DAYTON – On Monday, March 16, Columbia County Commissioners will meet with the public to decide on the future of recreational marijuana businesses in the county. The board has scheduled a public hearing for 1:15 p.m. in the commissioners’ board room. A representative from the Washington State Liquor Control Board will meet with commissioners prior to the hearing, at 10 a.m., in a meeting also open to the public. The county’s 15-month-long moratorium on recreational marijuana businesses expir...
DAYTON – John Garrett Waltermire, 24, was arrested Saturday after a short foot pursuit near East Jackson Street in Dayton. Waltermire was a suspect in the burglary of the Inland Cellular store on East Main Street here last week. Early on the morning of Monday, March 2, a burglar broke into the cellphone company’s retail store at 151 E. Main St. A witness reported hearing what sounded like a loud crash at approximately 4:30 a.m. Shortly thereafter the witness saw a male with a backpack run...
DAYTON – Members of Columbia County Fire District 3 are getting excited about the new fire station on Patit Road, with its 13,500 square feet and 16 truck bays, brand new living quarters for five firefighters, and enough offices for all the command staff. General contractor Joe Christensen, with G2 Construction out of Tri-Cities, is planning to have the $850,000 remodel of the old Columbia Rural Electric Association building complete by the end of this month. New Assistant Fire Chief Jeromy P...
DAYTON – Columbia County Prosecutor Rea Culwell spoke to the Dayton School Board last week during their regular board meeting in support of interim Secondary Principal Kate Wenzl. The district is in the hiring process right now for a permanent junior high/high school principal. Wenzl is one of four candidates for the position under consideration. "For the very first time in the eight years and two months I've been here, I have no new juvenile cases on my docket," Culwell told the board. She a...
DAYTON – Rick Turner has been the face of Columbia County Fire District 3 for nearly 20 years, but as of January 1, 2017, the chief will return to full-time farming and leave firefighting to the next generation of heroes. Taking his place as chief will be lifelong Dayton resident Jeromy Phinney. Monday was Phinney's first official day as assistant fire chief. He will shadow Chief Turner for the next 22 months, learning the full-time job of running this 45-person department with its four paid sta...
Sunday was opening day for the 2015 trout fishing season, and hundreds of fishermen, fisherwomen, and fisherchildren flocked to the Tucannon River valley for the event. By sun-up, the banks of Spring Lake, Blue Lake (pictured here), Rainbow Lake, and points further south into the Blues were lined with patient guests quietly - and not so quietly - casting and reeling in their lines. At Rainbow Lake, most of the vacant sections of shore were still frozen over on this cold morning. By 9 a.m....
