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POMEROY–High School graduate Maddy Dixon has signed to play basketball at the University of Providence in Montana. In addition, she was named Score Book Live's Senior Girl Athlete of the Year in 1B and voted the 1B Southeast player of the year in volleyball and basketball. Dixon was also selected as an all-state first team performer in volleyball with a totaled 368 kills and 204 blocks as a middle blocker, and led the Pirates to their fourth state championship with a sweep of Oakesdale. In b...
OLYMPIA–Throughout Washington State residents have celebrated Independence Day with community events that feature food, music, entertainment, and public fireworks displays. These displays are a safe way to enjoy fireworks, conducted by licensed, trained professionals. However, many community fireworks displays will be not be held this year due to social distancing requirements. The Washington State Fire Marshal's Office (SFMO) recognizes that many residents may choose to purchase and d...
POMEROY–The Board of Commissioners for the Garfield County Fire District (GCFD) met in executive session to discuss offering the position of Fire Chief to James Cleveland, Jr. during a special meeting on June 24, 2020. A motion was made to offer him the position with the proposed employment package and an unspecified start date, which was approved unanimously. Cleveland, currently living in Ashburnham, Mass., was invited for a visit to Pomeroy on June 17 through June 19, 2020. He and his wife visited and met with the officers and c...
POMEROY–Firefighter, EMT and Walla Walla Community College Fire Science student Kyson Fruh, has been working for the Garfield County Fire District (GCFD) full time since April 27, 2020 extending through the summer, covering a void in the department experiencing a short-fall in personnel. While working at the GCFD as a Firefighter and EMT, his other duties include helping to keep the vehicles clean and stocked with supplies, completing incident reports and EMT calls, assisting with training s...
POMEROY–Sanford Bates has retired from a 37-year career in teaching, with 34 years spent with the Pomeroy School District, teaching Chemistry and Physical Science, but mostly Biology and Spanish. Bates was born in Spokane, Wash., in 1959, and soon after moved to Edmonds, Wash., where he grew up and graduated from high school in 1977. From there he moved to Ellensburg, Wash., and attended Central Washington University (CWU). He graduated from CWU with a B.A. degree in Education in 1981, with a m...
POMEROY–Local elementary teacher Sandra Bates, has retired after a 21-year career. Her former students, parents, staff and administration here will miss her invaluable service. She will be most remembered as one of the favorite primary grade school teachers, who was a warm, friendly, kind person with a smile on her face. Bates was born in Yakima, Wash. in 1959. Her family moved frequently until she was eight years old, but then settled in Selah, Wash. where she grew up and graduated from high s...
POMEROY–Music teacher Marcus Pedersen has spent 35 of his 38-year career here at the local School District and loved every minute of it. He says what he will miss the most is spending time with the kids, and getting to play with and conduct the Pep Band. He added that he will also miss the great staff of the Pomeroy schools. Pedersen was born in Wenatchee, Wash. in 1955, but because of his family moving several times as he grew up, he attended and graduated from Pullman High School in 1974. H...
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” – Viktor E. Frankl...
With the state’s budget outlook in the news, discussion of a capital gains tax is occurring with greater frequency. There is one piece of information that is consistently left out, however: the fact that a capital gains tax is an income tax. This important detail dramatically changes the political and legal framework for the debate. On the political side is the fact the voters have rejected 10 straight income tax proposals, including 6 proposed constitutional amendments. On the legal side is the fact a graduated income tax would require a const...
Many years ago this month, I was invited to the 75th Annual Southwestern Saskatchewan Sheep and Woolgrowers/Stockdog Trials in Maple Creek, Saskatchewan. The night before the big do, I sat in Bernice’s kitchen as she cut leg o’lamb into one-inch squares for shish kabob. I was helping Skewer. The banquet was sold out, over 400 expected so there was a lot of cutting and skewering. “How ya gonna cook this meat?” I asked. She explained she had four backyard BBQ grills lined up with an engineer and a fireman for each. Sounded good to me. Saturday af...
A. F. Branco...
This is the second half of a two-part series on the history of healthcare in Garfield County with this week's focus on the Pomeroy Medical Clinic (PMC). The origins of the PMC have ties to several families of Pomeroy. In 1886, the Schuelke family arrived in Garfield County. Alfred Schuelke was the grandfather of Louise Munday. He purchased a dairy farm in 1919 on the land where the clinic is presently located at 446 Pataha Street. Louise Munday has fond memories of watching the cows cross walk...
POMEROY–Working takes much of my time which limits getting together with my friends harder. I am trying to be responsible, but I also want to be with my friends. You can’t always do both. I like what I am doing, it keeps me active and gets me out in the public. But my friends, on the other hand, don’t like that they only get to see me when they come to the pool to swim and I am lifeguarding. I still have one or two nights a week to hang out with them, but they say I am wasting my youth. I guess...
WALLA WALLA–Blue Mountain Community Foundation have made general operating grants available for charities and nonprofit organizations affected by the Covid-19 pandemic through a streamlined process beginning July 1, 2020. Organizations addressing food and hunger, housing and homelessness, health and mental health and child and youth programs are the immediate focus. Eligible applicants are tax-exempt 501(c)3 charitable organizations and public agencies in the counties of Columbia, Garfield and Walla Walla in Wash., and Umatilla in Ore. Up to $...
NEW YORK–American Banker magazine has ranked five Oregon and eleven Washington banks among the top 200 community banks in the country. The magazine named BEO Bancorp of Heppner, Ore. to the list based on average return of shareholder equity between 2017 and 2019. Banks with less than $2 billion in assets were eligible. “It is exciting to be recognized in American Banker magazine among some of the most admired and well ran banks in the country,” said Jeff Bailey, President and CEO of Bank of Eastern Oregon. “We have an extremely dedicat...
Ten Years Ago June 30, 2010 Johnny Capwell’s push to resurrect the white “P” on Volcano Hill has resulted in the return of the large letter that had traditionally decorated the hill for decades until recent years. With help from Grant Morgan this “P” is a more permanent structure, while the numerals that follow—right now the number 38 signifying Johnny’s year of graduation—are still formed from painted rocks and subject to change as usual. Due to circumstances beyond the control of the VFW, they will not have their traditional Fourth of July...