The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON - The Times based in Waitsburg has been qualified to bid on the contracts to publish legal notices for Columbia County and the City of Dayton.

The newspaper based in Waitsburg and circulated throughout the Touchet Valley can now also publish legal notices for private law firms that run probate notices, foreclosure sales or other legal notices.

Attorneys with these matters for publication are encouraged to call the Times for rate information and other details: 509-337-6631, publisher Imbert Matthee said.

Columbia County Superior Court Judge William Acey signed an order last Thursday making Touchet Valley Publishing Llc., the holding company of the Times, an approved legal newspaper, thus making it a paper of record for attorneys' legal notices and eligible to submit a bid for the government legal notices work now exclusively performed by the Dayton Chronicle.

"It is hereby ordered, adjudged and decreed that the petition in this matter is granted and the Times approved as a legal newspaper (Chapter 65.16 RCW) for and within Columbia County, WA, and the City of Dayton, WA.; and the clerk of this court shall post and keep posted in a prominent place in her office a list of the newspapers published in this county which are approved as legal newspapers," according to Acey's order.

In court, Acey said he had received correspondence from Chronicle owner and publisher Jack Williams objecting to the qualification of the Times, but that he saw no "sustainable" legal argument against it.

As far as can be documented, it would be the first time a newspaper with its headquarters outside the county can publish attorneys' legal notices and has an opportunity to make a bid on the legal notices local government agencies are required to publish.

The Times expanded its coverage of Columbia County in late 2009 and opened an office in Dayton last year. The presence of its news gathering office and its status as a weekly publication of general circulation in the county meet the legal requirements for qualification under state law.

The times now plans to ask city and county officials to put out a request for bids to print their legal notices.

"We're delighted to have a chance to compete for this business," Matthee said. "It's a natural extension of our commitment and goal to be the most comprehensive source of news and information in the Touchet Valley."

The Chronicle received its designation as a county newspaper of record in 1957, when owners Pat O'Neil and Hugh O'Neil changed the name of their publication from "Chronicle Dispatch" to "Dayton Chronicle."

Waitsburg attorney Vaughn Hubbard acted as legal counsel for the O'Neils at the time. His son, Mike Hubbard, was legal counsel in the petition for recognition and qualification filed by the Times this year.

In a letter to Judge Aceh, Williams cited possible technical reasons why the Times should be denied its qualifi- cation and argued some local government officials see no need for it.

"I urge you to deny this offhand attempt by the Times to become the paper of record," Williams wrote in his letter. "I feel there is no justification in making this change, the county commissioner I spoke with sees no need for the change, nor does the hospital board of commissioners."

Williams said the Times should offer proof of being published in Columbia County and proof that it mails via a periodicals permit in the county or the city of Dayton.

But Matthee said state law does not require this distinction and that there are other communities where a competing newspaper has been qualified based on news gathering and circulation activities required under state law .

Williams did not show up for the hearing Thursday, a notice for which was published by the Times' attorney for two consecutive weeks in the Chronicle on Aceh's previous orders. Aceh asked if there was anyone interested in speaking on the matter aside from Matthee and Hubbard or if anyone objected to the qualification order he was about to sign.

No one stood up to address the court.