The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

WAITSBURG - Ken Graham, longtime Dayton resident and former pub­lisher of the Blue Mountain News, became the eighth publisher of The Times based in Waitsburg this week.

Graham, who was hired at the community newspaper's editor a year ago, agreed on Jan. 1 to buy its holding company, Touchet Valley Publishing, from owner Im­bert Matthee. He takes over as publisher beginning with next week's issue.

The Times, which marked its 136th year last year, will be in very good hands, said Matthee, who had to move his family back to Bain­bridge Island for personal reasons.

"Ken is deeply rooted here and cares a great deal about this community," he said. "He has been a trusted newsman for many years. He has already brought a lot of integrity to The Times and will make it an even better product for readers in Waits­burg, Dayton, Prescott and Walla Walla."

Matthee moved back to Bainbridge Island a year and a half ago. In April, he took a new fulltime position as executive director of Wash­ington State Smile Partners, a nonprofit providing pre­ventive dental hygiene to low-income kids and seniors in the Puget Sound area.

Matthee bought The Times from Loyal and Kathy Baker in November of 2009 and made significant im­provements to the newspaper and its building, initially with the help of his wife Karen. Under his ownership, the newspaper added pag­es, color, expanded sports coverage, a website and a Facebook page. And, with increased coverage of Dayton, he turned The Times into the go-to news source in the Touchet Valley.

Matthee

The Times se­cured status as a news­paper of record in Columbia County in 2011 and obtained the contract to publish legal notices for the City of Dayton the following year. It was already a newspaper of record for Walla Walla County.

"I feel honored and privi­leged to have had an oppor­tunity to serve our readers in the valley," Matthee said. "Now, it's time for Ken to take The Times to the next level. I wish him all the best as the next in a long line of successful Times publish­ers. "

Graham said he has en­joyed his year as The Times' editor and looks forward to taking on a larger role.

"I'm committed to mak­ing The Times the best news­paper it can be," he said.

The Times was found­ed by entrepreneur C.W. Wheeler in 1878 and has been published continuously since then. It is one of the oldest weekly newspapers in the state of Washington.