Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
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Ten Years Ago August 15, 2011 It was never Wyatt Withers' sole inspiration for going in the Navy, but once he had decided to join it certainly helped having a grandfather who had served in the same branch many decades ago. Choosing to be "seasick over digging a fox hole," longtime local farmer Jack McCaw went to amphibian training school in preparation of the Allied invasion of Japan when the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He became part of Gen. Douglas MacArthur's...
Ten Years Ago August 18, 2011 Seattle-area residents who tuned into their local National Public Radio affiliate this week were introduced to none other than Waitsburg’s Bret Moser, Jim German, Claire Johnston and Jack Miller. Seattle-based KUOW focused on Waitsburg in a second segment about the so-called “Cascade Curtain,” a physical, and some would say cultural and political, divide between the west and east sides of the Cascade Mountains. In his show “Waitsburg: When East Meets West,” reporter...
Ten Years Ago August 11, 2011 The Green Giant has a hole, a giant hole. It’s squarely in the center of his tunic, which the jolly big guy dons with wreath and leafy boots on the steep hill overlooking the edge of Dayton like the town’s own “Hollywood” sign. Gary Lowe wants to fill the hole and if you’re a strapping high schooler, he’ll want your help late next month to complete the green tunic on the football field-sized figure, marking the last phase of a project that started almost two decades ago. “We’ll finally be done,” said Lowe, an opt...
Ten Years Ago August 4, 2011 Jillian Beaudry, an editor and reporter for the Daily World in Aberdeen, Wash., will become the new managing editor for the Times based in Waitsburg, the newspaper’s publisher announced on Monday. She will replace Dian McClurg, the previous managing editor who left the newspaper in May. “We are lucky to be able to welcome someone of Jillian’s caliber and enthusiasm to our small staff,” Times publisher Imbert Matthee said. “She is well regarded in our state’s n...
Ten Years Ago July 28, 2011 For T. J. Hersey, running her father's grocery store in Dayton is a way for him to live on. Hersey is now a third-generation grocer in the town. Her grandfather, H. W. Stephenson, came to Dayton in 1938 from Portland, Ore., and he opened up a grocery in 1944. Hersey's father, Gail Bennet, took over in 1961 and ran the neighborhood Steve's Grocery on Fourth Street until he passed away last year. Twenty-Five Years Ago August 1, 1996 Waitsburg's Days of Real Sports...
Ten Years Ago July 21, 2011 Susan Hosticka always wanted to do a "bee beard" to prove the hard-working insects are really quite gentle and harmless despite their reputation to the contrary. Late last month, during a field day for the state's beekeepers association at Washington Sate University, she finally had her Fear Factor moment when 4,000 bees crawled and buzzed around her shoulders, neck and head. "Not a single sting," said the co-owner of Octopus Garden Honey on South Touchet Road near...
Ten Years Ago July 14, 2011 When you hear Bobbi and Barney Chambers talk about Sophie, Cleo, Denny, Lone Star and Superdude, you'd think they're talking about a circus family of seven that's not getting enough quality time together. "We don't see them enough," Bobbi Jo Chambers says about her loved ones. "We're putting on too many of these shows." But the couple from Cottonwood, Idaho, a town about two and half hours from Dayton, is actually pining after more time with their show mules, some of...
Ten Years Ago July 7, 2011 When they bought their Keystone Montana 5th wheel in September, Lynn and Paul Mantz-Powers knew it would be months before they'd retire. But they were so excited about the prospect of hitting the road and adopting a new nomadic lifestyle this summer that they practically moved out of their adjacent family home on Bolles Road and into their 400-square-foot travel trailer. One's a cowgirl. One's a mother of two. One's a chef. One's a graduate winemaker. One's a...
Ten Years Ago June 30, 2011 Waitsburg residents and visitors noticed several weeks ago how each of the entrances to town – eastbound Highway 124, northbound Highway 12 and westbound Highway 12 – got new welcoming banners with the words “Waitsburg A-Waits You,” a phrase coined by Mayor Walt Gobel to invite travelers to the downtown area one block off Highway 12. In addition to the six new banners at city entrances, the city also put up 10 new downtown banners on the streetlights to complement the existing 11, and mounted 44 hanging baskets...
Ten Years Ago June 30, 2011 The Port of Columbia’s Blue Mountain Station project received another boost when it was awarded a Challenge Grant of $5,000 by Pacific Power for marketing the project. Port Commission Chairman Gene Warren accepted the check from Pacific Power Regional Community Manager Bill Clemens. “Now that the Phase 1 infrastructure is in the ground, we are ready to site our first business at Blue Mountain Station," said Jennie Dickinson, manager of the Port of Columbia. Waitsburg-Prescott graduate Kris Cady got the opp...
Ten Years Ago June 23, 2011 One Main Street merchant noted that on Saturday morning, All Wheels looked more like Christmas Kickoff than the hot-tarmac Father’s Day weekend car show Daytonites and visitors have come to expect. But even though the number of families coming to the mobility extravaganza was down this year, the number of cars on Main Street was as big as ever and very few participants complained about the weather. Half a lifetime ago, Danny Cole made a gutsy move. He was only 25 when he got the help of two silent partners, his d...
Ten Years Ago June 9, 2011 It may seem ironic that Waitsburg Valedictorian Austin Beasley chose a quote from a famous high school dropout to inspire his fellow high school graduates. But the saying from McDonald's fast food chain founder Ray Kroc was on message when it comes to being successful in life. “Where there is no risk, there can be no pride in achievement,” Beasley quoted Kroc as saying. “It is no achievement to walk a tightrope laid flat on the floor.” Summer vacation starts Friday for hundreds of kids in the Touchet Valley. It will...
Ten Years Ago June 2, 2011 An equine virus cut the number of entries in the Dayton Days parade by more than half, but the community showed up for the annual pageant nonetheless and spirits were high, organizers said about Saturday’s sunny event. “The community support was great,” said Claudia Nysoe, director of the Dayton Chamber of Commerce, which sponsors the parade. “It was a small parade but big in spirit.” Thiry-two kids and five chaperones of the Salt & Light Youth Choir will leave June 18 to go on tour in the Seattle area. Under the...
Ten Years Ago May 26, 2011 [Headline] Dayton Parade a Go, Rodeo a “No”: Fear of equine virus prompts cancellation, parade to be horseless. “Thank you to all our Veterans who keep us safe and free.” Those were the words of parade co-announcer Fred Hamann Saturday morning moments after Perry Dozier flew his twin-engine Cessna Golden Eagle low over Main Street in a salute to Waitsburg and those who served their country in conflicts since World War II. April Students of the Month for Waitsburg Elementary are Sierra Vezina (4th Grade), Taylor...
Ten Years Ago May 19, 2011 City Clerk Randy Hinchliffe has the approvals in place and now it’s up to the City Council to decide at their regular monthly meeting Wednesday night whether to allow Fire District No. 2 to use the old apple warehouse or “bunk house” east of the McGregor plant for a training exercise—a firefighting exercise. That would mean the 90-year-old building, which was deemed by a Portland-based engineer several years ago to have good “bones,” to be burned to the ground, its remains to be shoved into its own basement and filled...
Ten Years Ago May 12, 2011 A construction crew uncovered two murals painted inside the Legion Hall building in 1938. The works are being restored. Val Woodworth and fellow Lions Club members prepare ribs for the annual Rib Feed at the Don Thomas Pavillion on the edge of the Fairgrounds Saturday. The event drew a crowd of 700 this year, up slightly from last year. The club prepared more than 900 pounds of ribs for the evening, which coincided with Spring Release weekend in the Walla Walla area. Rain came and went during the day, but the sun...
Ten Years Ago May 5, 2011 Early Friday morning, Helm and a dozen Waitsburg-area ladies joined an estimated 2 billion people around the globe to watch one of the biggest wedding ceremonies of all time. “Everyone has a Super Bowl party, so why not a Royal Wedding party?” said Helm, who stayed for Charles and Diana in the 70s and remembers seeing the coronation of Queen Elizabeth on television when she was a young child. Martha Lanman, of Lewiston, is Columbia County’s new public health administrator. Waitsburg PE teacher Jeff Bartlow showe...
Ten Years Ago April 28, 2011 The largest circus to come to Dayton in more than a decade, the Carson & Barnes Circus has the second-largest herd of elephants in the country. Local residents will have free access to the circus grounds to witness the care and feeding of these and many other animals on the morning of Thursday, June 30. Wine critic Paul Gregutt and filmmaker Karen Stanton Gregutt are banking on the area’s popularity as a wine destination, and their own connections to make their new company, Waitsburg Cottages, Llc., a success. ...
Ten Years Ago April 21, 2011 Nearly 600 riders paid a visit to Waitsburg and its surrounding countryside, including this secluded spot on Bolles Road north of town, this past weekend during the 15th annual Tour of Walla Walla. This 3-day, 4-stage cycling race brought bicyclists from all over to Waitsburg’s downtown, its eateries, and its places of lodging. Say your good-byes to Reid Helford and welcome new Liberty Theater Manager Kirsten Schober at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 20. The celebration includes a free showing of My Life as a Dog f...
Ten Years Ago April 14, 2011 Bart Baxter and Tiffany Laposi are opening a 50s Diner in Waitsburg, give them a few months to work on the Whetstone Pub. Inserted in this week’s edition of The Times, you will find something new and special. It’s a tabloid newspaper that looks a bit like the Blue Mountain News, The cover shows Dayton’s Stationmaster statue and the clock in Waitsburg’s Main Street with rolling spring wheat fields behind them. This, we are proud to announce, is our first Touchet River Valley Visitors Guide. Prescott singer/...
Ten Years Ago April 7, 2011 The Walla Walla Union Bulletin and the Dayton Chamber of Commerce will offer a free Facebook Seminar on Monday, April 11, at 6 p.m. at the Dayton Library in the Delaney Room. Social media coordinator Jeremy Gonzalez will show guests how and why using social media like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter to grow their businesses. Twenty-Five Years Ago April 11, 1996 The annual Junior Livestock Show in Waitsburg April 5-6 was a success, sponsors report. Participants included Millie the bulldog who put on her game face for...
Ten Years Ago March 31, 2011 Dubbed the Hee-haw Honeys, Columbia County Fair Board Vice President Debbie Bailey, Secretary Christine Broughton, volunteer LeeAnn Literal and President Miranda Bowen performed a skit during Saturday’s kickoff. While the wind and early spring rains still descend on the Touchet Valley more than rays of sun, Erin Horan is already busy planting this year’s garden at the Monteillet dairy farm. The Blue Mountain Chapter of Pheasants Forever reported a successful annual banquet in late February. The chapter reports it...
Ten Years Ago February 24, 2011 [Headline] From the Drug Front: Meth is Back: With Threat to Tri-County Drug Task Force, Sheriffs Fear Setback In Local War on Drugs It was like a scene from Sherwood Forest. Men, women and children tromped through the woods carrying bows and quivers full of arrows. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, hundreds of modern-day archers, with compound bows priced between $15-$1,200, wearing synthetic, camouflage fleece and hiking boots, swarmed the forest hills at Tucannon Campground for the annual 3-D target shooting...
March 8 Attempted fraud. Touchet Unwanted phone calls from an inmate at the Umatilla County Jail. Waitsburg Hit and run with property damage. Burbank March 9 Female subject reporting possible harassment at work and home by unknown individuals. Prescott March 12 Domestic Dispute between boyfriend and girlfriend where a vehicle was damaged. Waitsburg Computer fraud. Walla Walla County March 13 Unknown subject damaged locks on a gate at the entrance to a property in Walla Walla County. Walla Walla County. Warrant service, use of drug...
Ten Years Ago March 17, 2011 Seated on an original bar stool, project manager Jim German points to the first bay of the former American Legion building which owner Charles Smith is turning into a new “working man’s bar.” In the footsteps of The Troublemakers the Up-And-Coming band, Rezonators performed a benefit for the aviary. The Times is pleased to announce that longtime photographer, sports enthusiast, and local resident Tracy Daniel has joined the newspaper as its first dedicated sports writer and photographer. Together with Publi...
