The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON⎯Parents of Columbia County children are invited to bring their little ghouls and goblins to the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office Halloween afternoon for trick or treat goodies again this year. Now in its ninth year of operations, Sheriff Joe Helm, his staff and volunteers are once again offering trick or treat goodies the afternoon of October 31st between the hours of 3:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. Volunteers will be at the front steps of the Columbia County Courthouse during those hours distributing bags of goodies donated by members of the community at large. Donations of candy from the public for this event can be brought to the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office in the Courthouse from now until October 28th.

For the seventh year, members of Columbia County Fire District #3 will also be on hand with emergency vehicles on display, as well as offering free hotdogs to feed hungry trick or treaters this year.

The tradition of local law enforcement handing out treats on Halloween night goes back over 30 years but was discontinued several years ago due to budgetary issues and the lack of volunteers. Nine years ago, Liz Quigg approached then-Sheriff Walt Hessler and offered to spearhead the effort and resurrect the tradition. Sheriff Joe Helm has enthusiastically agreed to continue the tradition under his administration. For the past nine years, the program has provided goodies to hundreds of children in our community, and that number is growing each year. It is anticipated that even larger numbers of children will show up again this year.