Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
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WAITSBURG-At the Nov. 17 Waitsburg City Council meeting, City Administrator Randy Hinchliffe reported he had purchased the components needed for a splash pad. The pad is being constructed at Waitsburg's Preston Park, so area youngsters have a place to cool off this summer. A splash pad at Washington Park in Walla Walla has become very popular with parents of young children in recent years. Splash pads consist of a concrete pad embedded with various sprinklers, jets, and other water features....
WAITSBURG-Tucked away just before the intersection of Preston and Main, the volunteer-run Waitsburg Resource Center has been quietly and compassionately helping families in need. While her mother and grandmother have been volunteering for a while now, Jesse May Brown decided to offer her assistance about one month ago, when she recognized the need for social media pages. "My mom was talking about some of the events coming up, and I was like, 'you guys really need a Facebook page," Brown said....
WAITSBURG—The Waitsburg City Council met on November 3 for a special meeting to review the preliminary budget for 2022. Before discussing the budget, the council set a public hearing date for the surplus of City Hall, at 147 Main, for November 17. It will be held at the same time as the regular city council meeting at 7 pm at the Lions Club. City Administrator Randy Hinchliffe said the appraisal for the building had not yet been completed. He said that the necessary city property from 147 M...
WAITSBURG—The Waitsburg City Council met on October 13 for a regularly scheduled meeting. Before the approval of the agenda, Mayor Marty Dunn added an item regarding the Touchet River Levee Repair project, which was accepted by the council. During public comment, former council member Terry Jacoy said that in the past, the City of Waitsburg published the status of the municipality around election time. “The elector was able to see the financial status of the municipality,” Jacoy said. “I do...
WAITSBURG-It's the season of change and improvement on Waitsburg's Main Street, and the city's library will not be left out. The Friends of the Weller Public Library was recently awarded $7,000 from Columbia REA's More Powerful Together community grant program. Earlier this year, the City of Waitsburg considered surplusing the building which houses the Weller Public Library, citing lack of ADA accessibility as one of the main reasons. After hearing community feedback, the city opted to keep the...
WAITSBURG—The Columbia-Walla Walla Fire District 2 Commissioners met on October 13 for a regular meeting at the Waitsburg Fire Station. Interim fire chief Colter Mohney asked that a vote regarding a policy update to reflect the statewide vaccination mandates be held either at the meeting or within the next couple of days following the meeting. The mandate, Proclamation 21-14.1, announced on August 20, requires all health care providers, including licensed health care providers and all e...
WAITSBURG-Whether you're a soup-season person or a spooky-season person, there's no arguing that autumn is here! If you're a spooky-season person, it is time to head down to Mr. C's Smoking Co. or Nancy's Dream Garden Center. Each business received plenty of Schulke Pumpkins to go around. The Schulke Pumpkin Fundraiser is in its fourteenth year of fundraising for the Ronald McDonald House in memory of Cooper Schulke, who passed away in 2002 after a long battle against a brain tumor. In 2007,...
WAITSBURG—A letter signed by the Waitsburg City Council and the Mayor was published in The Times and sent out to residents of Waitsburg last week. The letter referenced the 2020 flood and the city’s need to make repairs to the affected areas of the levee within city limits. The letter said the city could not make the necessary repairs unless they received approval from all property owners in the affected area. The letter said that while 75% of the property owners in the area had agreed to gra...
WAITSBURG-Efforts to repair the Touchet River levee that runs along Preston Avenue could be moot if the City of Waitsburg does not get 100% approval from homeowners, including private and state, to repair the existing levee. In September, the Waitsburg City Council, joined by Senator Perry Dozier and John Wells, Senior Engineer at Anderson Perry & Associates, held a second informational meeting for property owners on rearmoring the existing levee. The city contacted private property owners...
WAITSBURG-Fifteen-year-old Makenna Barron is a busy gal. A sophomore at Waitsburg High School, she plays volleyball and basketball, is involved in speaking and livestock FFA projects and chapter leadership, serves as the Associated Student Body Secretary, and has been active in 4-H for nearly eight years. She loves theater and will play the part of Liesl in the upcoming production of "The Sound of Music" at the Liberty Theater this fall. If she's not doing something mentioned above, you can...
Cameron and Angelica Hedges are new to Waitsburg and are wholeheartedly embracing small-town life. "I love it out here, so far," said Angelica Hedges about Waitsburg. "It's much slower paced than what we are used to." The Hedges family moved to our quiet little town from Los Angeles County in California after Cameron accepted the lead pastor position at Waitsburg Christian Church. The couple moved to Waitsburg roughly one month ago, with their daughters Abigail and Avah and their niece, Shylo....
WAITSBURG—Plenty of new Waitsburg business owners attended the regular Waitsburg City Council meeting last Wednesday. Recently sold buildings along Main Street, include the former Anchor Bar and the Whoopem Up Hollow Cafe. Tom and Judy Bennett purchased the former Anchor Bar at 128 Main and attended the meeting to introduce themselves to the council. Bennett said the couple had received a very warm welcome from community members since purchasing the building earlier this month. Mauro and Connie Golvani who recently purchased the former W...
WAITSBURG—The Waitsburg School Board met for a regular meeting on September 16. Secondary Principal Stephanie Wooderchak shared that students and staff are doing well, and the school year is off to a busy but happy start. She said that roughly 95% of all student Chromebook use agreements had been completed. Google Classroom is still being incorporated into daily classroom use, but students are in full-time, in-person instruction. During the first week of school, Wooderchak said, there were m...
WAITSBURG—Emotions were high as parents and caregivers voiced opinions about the recent mask mandate at the Waitsburg School Board meeting on August 23. Secondary principal Stephanie Wooderchak reported that middle and high school business offices were now open, and staff would be available Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-2:30 p.m. School registration was August 23-26. Ice cream socials and open house events were also held this week for middle school students to give them a chance to meet teachers, learn...
WAITSBURG—It was a balmy Waitsburg City Council workshop on August 9, but members were happy to meet for the first time at the future home of City Hall. Due to the nature of a council workshop, no action was taken on agenda items. The City of Waitsburg now owns the property at 106 Main, after approving the purchase in July. During the workshop on Monday, the council began the discussion about the need to remodel the building to make the space work for city employees and the public. Part of t...
WAITSBURG-A perk to living in a small town like Waitsburg is being able to walk your dog in safety. However, the downside to living in a farming community is the inevitable encounters with wildlife. Recently, Waitsburg resident Laura Tolman has seen coyotes close to the Waitsburg Fairgrounds, where she brings Callie, her 80-pound Labrador/Malamute/Husky mix, to run off energy. "One stalked my dog and got within 10, 15 feet. Really close-scary close!" said Tolman. "It looked at me and wasn't a...
WAITSBURG-A small fire broke out in a standing wheat field on Middle Waitsburg Road on August 2. The fire, which consumed an estimated 20 acres of crop, was quickly contained by firefighters from Columbia-Walla Walla County Fire District 2 and Columbia County Fire District 3. The fire was initially reported at 2:51 p.m. Within 15 minutes, quick-thinking farmers Perry Dozier, Glen Smith, and Greg Smith had established a disc line around the fire. In farming communities, it is crucial for the...
WAITSBURG—The Friends of the Weller Public Library met on July 28 at 7 p.m, to discuss the results of a recent community survey. Over 20 community members were in attendance. The overall goal stated by the Friends of the Weller Public Library is to create a space that is bright and vibrant and accessible to all. The community survey, which closed July 21, was available online, on social media, at the library, and sent to library patrons via email and text message. There were 111 respondents t...
Jumping into a truck and charging into a standing wheat fire, or encountering a burning building is not for the faint of heart, but for Captain Miguel Castillo, Columbia-Walla Walla Fire District 2, it is a way to help his community. Castillo was inspired to join the district around seven years ago after watching the devastation left behind by multiple complex fires in the Umatilla National Forest. "I reached out to some of the local guys here, applied, and got on the department," Castillo...
WAITSBURG—The Lions Club building was packed during the July Waitsburg City Council meeting, with nearly fifty residents gathered with concerns about recent property purchase, the current Weller Public Library's building and its governing entities, and inquire about a recently-surplused horse barn. Residents in attendance included mayoral candidate Kate Hockersmith, council candidates Jillian Henze, Rebecca Wilson, and Randy Charles. Park and Rec commissioner candidates Bart Baxter, Beth D...
WAITSBURG-A fireworks ban may be in Waitsburg's future as community members and leadership grow concerned about ongoing dry conditions, heightened fire danger, and overall weather changes. The potential ban was discussed at the July 21 City Council meeting. If a ban was implemented the soonest it could take effect in Waitsburg would be June 2023. Washington State laws govern the regulation of fireworks, including what days fireworks can be sold and when they may be discharged. The laws do allow...
WAITSBURG—Recently, I received a voice message from a number I was not familiar with. The message claimed there were actions filed on my social security number for fraudulent activities. The recorded message said I needed to call the provided number before they begin legal proceedings. This is not the first call or email I have received from someone identifying themselves as a financial or government agency. Before I started getting calls like this, my parents received similar messages. One incident involved my very intelligent and computer-sav...
WAITSBURG—The Waitsburg School Board met July 22 for a regular meeting. The school board is meeting in a hybrid fashion, via zoom and in-person. Dayton-Waitsburg athletic director Sam Korslund discussed a possible schedule-change proposal, which he presented to the Dayton School Board the week prior. The schedule that the DW Combine Committee had proposed had all indoor sports games played in Dayton, with football and baseball games played in Waitsburg. Korslund acknowledged that he had r...
WAITSBURG—Fire season is here, and the Columbia-Walla Walla Fire District 2 has the run logs to show it. Over the last month, the district has responded to ten fire calls, ten medical calls, and two combination calls, for a total of 22 responses. The district’s commissioners met on July 14, in person for the first time in over a year. Fire commissioner meetings will now be held at the Waitsburg Fire Station, on Main Street, on the third Wednesday of the month. Commissioner Anne Higgins informed...
WAITSBURG—The Friends of Weller Public Library gathered at Town Hall with nearly forty community members on July 14, to brainstorm ways to keep Weller Public Library at its current location on Main Street. President Lisa Winnett said that there was a letter written by the Board of Trustees, to the City of Waitsburg, stating that all library leadership is against moving the library. The city recently purchased the former NW Grain Growers building at the north end of Main Street, with the i...
