Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Sorted by date Results 1478 - 1502 of 1905
DAYTON – For nearly two years, Columbia County Emergency Manager Lisa Caldwell has reported on her department's failing computer systems, which include the 911 phone system and the computer-aided dispatch software that county public safety communications employees use to track calls for service and the location and activities of emergency services personnel in the field. The phone system is still on hold – at least until July, she told commissioners Monday, at which time the state will det...
DAYTON – Start saving your plastic and set aside April 22 for an afternoon with your kids, because the Best Western Plus Hotel and Suites in Dayton is once again bringing its Earth Day celebrations to town. "Earth Day is a good reminder for us all to focus on recycling," said Dayton's Best Western General Manager Eleanor Specht. "To date, we still cannot recycle plastic in Dayton." And so for Earth Day, Best Western Plus of Dayton, which has won several awards for its efforts at being e...
DAYTON – Dayton resident Andrew J. Churchill, 43, was arrested last week and formally charged Monday with three counts of assault and threats to kill. Witnesses called in the incident on Jan. 27, after Churchill allegedly pulled a gun on an adult male family member in the back parking lot of Blue Mountain Station. Churchill and his wife operate a business that sells items at the Port of Columbia facility. Witnesses stated that Churchill did not fire the gun but did finally put it away; he t...
DAYTON – How many people does it take to run a 9-hole golf course in Columbia County? The logistics and complications relative to this question have troubled county commissioners, public works employees, country club members and local golf aficionados for the last month or so. This week, arrangements were made in a commissioners' workshop to appease the majority of interested parties for at least another season. Operations will not likely change this year, and fees will increase by just over 8...
DAYTON – Dayton criminal defense attorney C. Dale Slack will become Columbia County's new deputy prosecutor beginning April 1, according to Rea Culwell, the county's prosecuting attorney. "I'm excited," Slack said. "I think I can do a lot of good there and continue to serve the county, just in a different role." Current deputy prosecutor, Abbie Broughton-Marsh, is leaving the prosecuting attorney's office at the end of March to take a job in Phoenix, Ariz., as an assistant U.S. attorney for the...
DAYTON – Columbia Pulp plans to break ground at its building site on Highway 261 near Lyons Ferry this March or April, according to Company President John Begley. “And it will be about a year until we’re up and running,” he told The Times last week. Melissa Shumake with the Columbia County Planning Department told county commissioners in their board meeting last week that Columbia Pulp plans to “bring in a check” for its building permits on the first day of February. County Planning Director Ki...
DAYTON - Residents of the Touchet Valley and across southeast Washington lost phone and Internet service for several hours on Friday when a CenturyLink fiber line was reportedly cut. Columbia County residents lost the ability to call 911 for over two hours, until the Columbia County Public Safety Communications Center was able to get 911 calls rerouted to an emergency call center in Everett, according to Columbia County Emergency Manager Lisa Caldwell. The outage began at approximately 2 p.m., a...
DAYTON – Although the board didn’t take official action last week, the Dayton School District has announced that it intends to place an $800,000 capital-improvement levy on the April 10 ballot. “The board hasn’t taken action yet because the resolution and ballot measure are still being written,” said Superintendent Doug Johnson. “But unofficially they said, ‘Yeah, this is a good thing to do.’” The board will vote on the official language and timing of the ballot measure at its regular Feb. 4 me...
Dayton Elementary School Teacher Ginger Bryan is hoping to raise enough money through www.donorschoose.org to buy six iPad mini tablets for her combined second/third grade classroom this year. As of this week, 13 donors have contributed $996. Bryan has $1373 to go. "My school is filled with hardworking students who [are] actively engaged in the learning process every day," Bryan posted on her donations page. "They are responsible and hard-working kids who need opportunities to excel with cutting...
DAYTON – The Columbia County Health System board of directors decided last week to hire an outside firm to help them determine how best to spend the $5.5 million bond approved by voters in November. The hospital district will contract with Stroudwater Associates, a national firm whose consultants design solutions for healthcare, according to Interim CEO Jon Smiley. “They will evaluate our need and provide us with recommendations,” Smiley said. The assessment conducted by Stroudwater will cost...
DAYTON – Dayton resident Marshall Hernandez, 53, of 605 Country Village Court, has been arrested on suspicion of arson, reckless burning, and possession of stolen property. Hernandez was arrested last Thursday morning without incident, after it was reported that he had set fire to a fifth-wheel travel trailer, a residence and a bag of garbage in the 200 block of South Willow Street in Dayton. Residents at the location were able to extinguish the fires before any major damage was caused. The f...
DAYTON – Dayton teens Katie White and Mary McHaffie have been announced as this year's Columbia County Fair Hostesses. White, 16, is the daughter of Luke and Dawn White. She is a high school student attending Walla Walla Community College this year. Mary McHaffie, also 16, is the daughter of Robin and Bill McHaffie. She is homeschooled. These childhood friends and fellow participants in various 4-H programs, Community Bible Church events, Awanas programs and swim team events will represent C...
DAYTON – The Columbia County Health District's board of directors will decide Thursday whether to hire an outside firm to help them determine how best to spend the $5.5 million bond approved by voters in November. "We really need to be good stewards of the public dollar," said Ted Paterson, a member of the board. "That's why we're looking at turning to an outside firm before we race into selecting an architect and a contractor and progress into a final design." In November, voters in the h...
DAYTON – A 2013 report published by the Washington State Department of Health states that one in six adults in Columbia County currently smokes cigarettes. Bearing those statistics in mind, the Columbia County Health System's Wellness Program each January is focused on tobacco cessation. Beginning next week, CCHS is offering a "5 Days to Quit" class that is open to the public. The classes, taking place from Jan. 26-30, will be from 7-8 p.m. in the cafeteria at Dayton General Hospital. R...
DAYTON – Have you ever wondered who pays for those gorgeous baskets of flowers that hang in downtown Dayton through the spring and summer? Or who is responsible for the creation of the new playground located next to the Dayton Historic Depot by the caboose? One part of the answer is the dedicated members of the Dayton Development Task Force and its partner organizations; the other part is – you. The task force, which has been working to improve downtown Dayton over the last 31 years, is a tax...
DAYTON – Although developmental disability services for eligible Columbia County residents are no longer administered locally, Walla Walla County coordinators were "delighted" to share with county leaders last week that a local woman, Mary Ann Ward, will lead Columbia County's employment services program. Ward, who provides employment support at the Lillie Rice Center, in Walla Walla, is well known in Dayton. Columbia County Commissioners were pleased to hear that Ward would coordinate local e...
DAYTON – A Dayton man will serve up to 41 months in prison after agreeing to a plea deal on charges relating to sexual photos he took of an underage girl in 2013. Robert Bridwell, 65, pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of a minor last week, which is a class B felony. According to Columbia County Prosecutor Rea Culwell, Bridwell is scheduled to be sentenced in Columbia County Superior Court on Feb. 18. He is currently being held in the Columbia County jail. Bridwell was arrested on Sept. 1...
DAYTON – Matthew Warren is an 18-year-old with a goal, one he has worked hard to realize and is on the brink of reaching. This Dayton High senior hopes to work someday as an agricultural commodities trader with an emphasis in Chinese language and business. "I see a lot of opportunity in studying Chinese," he said. "China is a developing country that has the largest market in the world yet still has a lot of third-world conditions waiting to be improved." Warren wants to study international busin...
DAYTON – More than two dozen Dayton residents have banded together to support the permanent hiring of Dayton Middle and Senior High School Principal Kate Wenzl. They call themselves "Keep Kate," and last Wednesday they appealed to the Dayton School Board to do just that. "As a group, we just want you [the board] and her [Wenzl] to know that we support her and hope you decide to keep her where she is," said Dayton resident Mary-Jeanne Smith. Smith also apologized to the board, on behalf of the g...
DAYTON – The Dayton School Board will likely decide at their regular meeting on Wednesday whether to put its proposed capital levy before voters in April or wait until the November general election. The board plans to have an unrelated executive session at 6:30 p.m., its usual start time, and expects to begin the regular board meeting at 7:30 p.m. (Check the district website for any changes or additional information at www.daytonsd.org.) After voters defeated a $25 million school bond measure in November, the school board came up with a much s...
DAYTON – The Columbia County Commissioners decided last week to establish regular workshops in addition to their twice-monthly board meetings. The workshops will begin in February and take place from 10 a.m. until noon every Monday in the commissioners’ board room on the third floor of the courthouse. The commissioners will also meet from 1-3 p.m. on the second Monday of each month to tour various county road projects and other major developments. The commissioners did not indicate how long the...
DAYTON – In November, voters approved the Columbia County Hospital District’s $5.5 million bond levy measure for major renovations to Dayton General Hospital. This winter, the district hopes to establish its game plan for the project. On Wednesday, the district’s board of directors will meet with hospital and clinic staff, a Washington Hospital Association facilitator, and interested members of the public at an all-day retreat beginning at 8 a.m. in the Best Western Hotel on East Main Street in...
DAYTON – The Columbia County Commissioners have agreed to "begin the process of switching power providers" for the Columbia County Courthouse and county public works building from Pacific Power & Light to Columbia Rural Electric Association. The unanimous decision to move forward on the change came during a special meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 31, in the commissioner's board room. It was Commissioner Chuck Reeves's last day in office. "I'm ashamed that we've fiddled and diddled for this long and h...
