The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

WAITSBURG - Reporter Morgan Smith, with roots in the Olympia area and ties to Waitsburg, is joining the Times staff as its dedicated Dayton reporter.

Smith was hired Feb. 3 and will be joining the Times team as a freelance reporter until she begins full-time at the end of May.

Smith, 22, is finishing up her degree at Washington State University. There, she studies English and has participated on her college campus newspaper in many capacities, including reporter, photographer, columnist, managing editor and editor in chief positions.

She is also part of the campus group that puts together a student literary journal.

Smith grew up in the Olympia area and graduated from Black Hills High School.

She enjoys music, poetry and tinkering with computers and the newest technology.

After graduation, she will reside in Walla Walla with her significant other, Isaac Huether, who is studying nursing at Walla Walla Community College.

Huether is a graduate of Waitsburg High School and has family in the Touchet Valley.

In early summer, the couple plans to move to Waitsburg with their cat named Jude.

Bringing Smith on board at the Times will allow the newspaper to cover the Touchet Valley better than ever before, said Publisher Imbert Matthee.

Smith will be covering Dayton sports as well as Dayton City Council, Dayton School Board and Columbia County.

"We're excited to have her on staff," Matthee said. "She'll be key to our plan for our expansion of the paper."

Smith said she is thrilled to join the staff at the Times and she hopes the position will lead her into a career she enjoys.

"I'm super-friendly and the community can always come by and say 'hi,'" she said.

Once full time, the new Times hire is expected to work at the newspaper's Dayton office several days a week.