The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

STATE FUNDING DROPS

DAYTON - Columbia County and the city of Dayton will not receive as much money through the state's local government financial assistance program as initially indicated. The state is not providing as much money as in past years to the program and the figures are calculated based on how much real estate tax is collected in the county, said Columbia County Treasurer Audrey McLean. The county will receive about $150,000 less than expected, and Dayton will receive $9,600 less than anticipated.

McLean said the money benefits the county's current expense fund and helps shortfalls in 40 different county agencies including public works, fair, mental health, soldier's relief, EMS and domestic violence protection, to name a few. At the city of Dayton, the money also goes to the current expense fun that funds parks, law enforcement, animal control and other services.

"It will have a pretty good impact," McLean said of the reduction. "Everybody is going to have to tighten their budgets."

McLean could not say what specific impact will be or if personnel will be cut. She said the county commissioners will make those decisions.

Trina Cole, Dayton's clerk-treasurer, said the city budgeted conservatively and increases in other tax distributions the city receives should reduce the effects of the recent cut.

VISTA HERMOSA'S BEST

PRESCOTT -- Four academically talented students from Vista Hermosa Elementary School in Prescott attended math and writing classes for three weeks at Stanford University earlier this month.

The students, all sixth and seventh graders, were Christopher Gutierrez, Jocelyn Granados, Anna Flores and Osiel Guerrero. Each of these students speaks Spanish as his or her first language.

The school has enrolled its students in this program, called the Center for Talented Youth talent search, for the past three years. To attend, each must achieve a particular score on the School and College Ability Test and receive standardized test scores the 95th percentile. Finally, they have to submit a teacher recommendation.

The students not only spent time learning during the program, but also met students just like them from all over the world.

DAYTON FOOTBALL RALLY

DAYTON - There will be a Dayton High School Football rally at 5:45 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 1 at the football field. The community is invited to attend.

CITIES DISCOURAGE BURNING

WAITSBURG - The cities of Dayton, Starbuck and Waitsburg through their counties are applying for money from the Department of Ecology for services that encourage residents not to participate in illegal burning.

City Clerk-Treasurer Trina Cole said the Department of Ecology has about $2 million worth of money it would like to disperse to urban growth areas and cities that under 2006 legislation outlawed burning to keep air clean.

The city of Dayton is applying for $15,000 that would provide curbside trash pickup for residents twice a month from March through October. In 2009, the city received a similar grant for trash pickup from April through October.

Mayor Darcy Linklater of Starbuck said his town is applying for $6,000 that would level a piece of land and provide ecology blocks that would contain leaves, lawn clippings and brush until a chipper or shredder could be brought in.

The city of Waitsburg hopes for about $30,000 to purchase a chipper, said Clerk-Treasurer Randy Hinchliffe.

The applications for the grant money are due in about one week and the cities will find out in December if they receive the desired amounts.

BUS RULES CHANGE

DAYTON - The Dayton School District is changing some rules about who can hop on a bus to school. Students in kindergarten through fifth grade can ride the bus if they live in an area that's unsafe. Whether it is unsafe will be determined by a committee of local citizens. Students in sixth through eighth grades may be able to take the bus, but the district needs to find out what the capacity is first.

Students, kindergarten through fifth grade, who live near one of these stops can catch the bus to and from school each day:

- 7th Day Adventist Church

- Corner of Race and 4th Avenue

- Senior Center (3rd and Washington)

- Corner of 1st and Patit

- Fairgrounds parking lot (Commercial and

Pine)

- Corner of Cameron and Pine

- Cameron and Cottonwood (Behind the grandstands)