Articles written by Loyal Baker
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Firefighters knock down three roadside fires
DAYTON–Three separate fires-all of unknown origin-and all burning along SR 12 a few miles east of here were brought under control and extinguished before damage became excessively extensive Friday,...
Dayton School Superintendent to detail opening plans
DAYTON–The community of Dayton is welcomed and invited to join Thursday's virtual meeting of the Dayton Kiwanis Club to hear new Dayton Schools Superintendent Guy Strot explain the plans to start...
Dayton man succumbs to coronavirus
DAYTON–An unidentified Dayton individual has died due to the COVID-19 virus on August 1, 2020, Martha Lanman, administrator of Columbia County Public Health announced Monday, August 3. The victim was a male over 50, Lanman said, who succumbed in...
Primary shakes out State Senate and Superior Court races
DAYTON–A pair of three-way races were winnowed down to two candidates in this week's Primary Election. Advancing to the 2020 General Election will be 16th District Senate candidates Danielle Garbe R...
Commentary
Residents of Our Fair City were saddened to learn this week that the coronavirus has taken one of our own. The subject of nearly everyone for the past several months, which seemed to—so far—be bypassing our neck of the woods, has hit with...
Potential forest fire nipped in the bud
DAYTON–Damage in timber by a fire of as yet undetermined origin was limited thanks to a citizen's sharp eye and prompt response by local fire departments Monday. At about 10:50 a.m., Columbia...
Elk Drug dispenses one millionth prescription
DAYTON–As if celebrating her store's 100th anniversary this year wasn't enough, Dayton's Mindy Betzler walked in Elk Drug-just across Main Street from her store, Dingle's of Dayton–and was...
Washington Primary Election ballots due Tuesday, August 4
DAYTON–Numerous state and local races will be determined by Washington and Columbia County voters when the dust settles after the August 4 Washington State Primary Election. Voters may mail their...
WIAA announces plan for sports seasons
RENTON–The tweeting of referees’ whistles and the crunch and grunt of a well-executed tackle will be absent from the gridiron this fall…but prep football players will get to play a seven-week season in March and April, 2021, according to a...
Dayton Days horse races once captured the Touchet Valley's attention in a big way
Long-time Chronicle reader Herb Bowen brought in a treasure recently-a 16-page magazine geared toward the Dayton Days horse races, published by the Dayton Chronicle in 1940 with the front-page ad for...
Belfry removed from First Christian Church
DAYTON–Faith was put to the test here recently-faith in a large crane and its ability to lift a historic structure from an ailing building. The congregation of the First Christian Church have been...
Bette Lou Crothers announces retirement
DAYTON–"I liked it from the beginning," Bette Lou Crothers says of the insurance business. Crothers announced her plans to retire July 31, 2020, just shy of starting what would have been her...
August 4 Primary Ballots to be mailed this week
DAYTON–Ballots for the August 4 Washington State Primary Election will be mailed this week, according to the Columbia County Auditor, Anne Higgins. The vote will decide local races for Superior Court (Columbia, Garfield and Asotin) Judge Position...
PROFILES in AGRICULTURE
DAYTON–Per longstanding family tradition, combine operations for the year's harvest will commence on July 17-Skip Mead's birthday-with a test cutting off of the Mead Ranch's crop ground in North...
Conceptual plan of Touchet Valley Trail released
DAYTON–The 30-page Touchet Valley Trail Concept Plan 2020, made available recently to the public and forwarded by the Port of Columbia Commissioners to the trail consultant for further preliminary...
Commentary
DAYTON–One of the most frustrating things about the anarchy of late has been the questionable behavior of elected officials, especially those in the People’s Republic of Seattle and its satellite in the governor’s office. Those morons who took...
Dingle's of Dayton 100 years old
DAYTON–Long before there were big box stores or Amazon, the people of Dayton and Columbia County got what they needed at 100-year-old Dingle's of Dayton, which to this day remains one of this fair...
Photo's subjects identified
DAYTON–Debbie Seney recognized her father and his family immediately from the front page of the Dayton Chronicle last week. The family of four in the photo, recovered from within a wall of the build...
Commentary
I’ve got to say the past few months have been incredible…history making. If life ever returns to normal, and some say it will never, it will be interesting to see how rational thinkers frame this tumultuous period in United States history. Look:...
Supt. Doug Johnson's career in rural Washington schools draws to a close
DAYTON–Outgoing Dayton Schools Superintendent Doug Johnson's passion for education in rural Washington state stemmed from his upbringing in the rural community of Chehalis, and carried through to a...
Mystery faces found during building renovation
DAYTON–Renovating an 1896 building yielded a pleasant surprise last week. Kim Lyonnais, who with colleague Blaine Bickelhaupt, is renovating the former Frontier Too Tavern at 211 E. Main Street,...
Dayton RNs, grads of WWCC Nursing Program, pinned
DAYTON–When Walla Walla Community College's Nurse Pinning Ceremony was canceled and with two Dayton students potentially going to miss this landmark ceremony in the life of a Registered Nurse, the...
Commentary
This week it would be appropriate to pontificate about the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, ad nauseum, and about the governor and mayor of the People's Republic of Seattle turning their backs on a mass violation of law and order. Instead, this will be...
D.H.S. holds drive-in graduation
DAYTON–Fifteen members of the Dayton High School Class of 2020 completed their senior year of high school with a COVID-19-modified graduation ceremony here Saturday, June 6. Principal Kristina...
Commentary
Meanwhile, back at the ranch… Last weekend was, to borrow a phrase from Garrison Keillor, a quiet one in our home town. It wasn’t so quiet in other parts of our nation, if you were bothering to watch the news on television. On one news program,...
