A look back at 2020

The year 2020 started as most any other year then, for both Columbia County and the nation, went off the rails.

If February, conditions were right for a flood event which devastated county roads, some properties and did millions of dollars of damage to the county and region.

Then came snippets of information about a potentially deadly virus from China, and by March, schools and most businesses were shut down.

It was a tumultuous year and one which won’t be soon forgotten.

Here we recount the events, week by week, from 2020, continued from the January 7 edition, due to space constraints.

FEBRUARY

17). The school boards for both Waitsburg and Dayton met for their monthly meeting and voted to accept the students’ choice of sports mascot of Wolfpack

Carlos Norris’s third time returning to the state wrestling tournament ended after the 138 lb. senior lost the second match and fought his way up through the consolation bracket to finish fourth. The tourney was held February 21-22.

MARCH

5). A special ceremony was held in the Columbia County Superior Court at the courthouse on February 28, in honor of Karl Burnstad, a seven-year-old who was presented with a Lifesaving Award for saving his mother Tracy’s life during a medical emergency last November.

Historic hardware store Dingle’s of Dayton was broken into in the early morning hours of March 3, and an estimated two dozen pocket knives and one flashlight were taken, store owner Mindy Betzler reported to the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office.

Community groups address CCRLD issues. Increased contention between the Board of Trustees at the Columbia County Rural Library District (CCRLD) and a group of community members, some of whom are past employees of the library and members of the Facebook group Concerned Friends of CCRLD, created by Dale Slack, over the past year.

The Dayton FFA Agriculture Sales (Ag Sales) team of four, Elijah Talbott, Kaylene Slack, Kira Boggs, and Josiah White, competed against five other groups at the District VI contest in Colton, Wash., on February 26 and celebrated a second-place victory which qualified them for the state competition.

12). Columbia County Presidential Primary voters gave their support to Democratic candidate Joseph R. Biden, with independent Bernie Sanders trailing by over nine points in tabulations of ballots for the March 10, 2020, Washington State Presidential Primary.

Dayton Chamber postpones Brix & Brew Benefit Auction fundraiser until May 8, announced Molly Weatherill-Tate, Chamber Manager.

Coronavirus precautions taken in schools.

To actively protect residents of the Booker Rest Home, Director of Nursing Katie Roughton, RN, stated visitors to the facility must be adults and the visit must take place in the resident’s room. This does not apply to end-of-life situations.

Columbia County Commissioners adopted resolution 2020-16 to release funding to readily respond to any future confirmed cases of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the county.

A 2019 lawsuit alleging Columbia County Public Transportation violated provisions of the Public Records Act has been dismissed in the Columbia County Superior Court.

19). Five more Columbia County residents were tested for coronavirus over the weekend with results expected by midweek, Martha Lanman, administrator for Columbia County Public Health Department, reported in last Monday’s Board of County Commissioner meeting with department heads.

School closes amid COVID-19 Pandemic. It was a surreal day for Dayton students, staff and families on March 17, as kids went to school for the last day before the mandatory six-week school closure, due to the Novel Coronavirus pandemic.

City Declares State of Emergency. The City of Dayton held an emergency telephonic meeting Tuesday evening to approve a resolution “proclaiming a state of emergency and providing emergency temporary procedures to respond to the CoVID-19 pandemic.

The Port of Columbia joined in a discussion about the Touchet Valley Trail with some concerned community members during the meeting on March 11. Earle Marvin stated “Anderson Perry and Associates, architects and engineers of Walla Walla, Washington, is currently under contract with the Port of Columbia to perform a preliminary engineering and conceptual design study of the Touchet Valley Trail between Dayton and Waitsburg

A 17-year-old Waitsburg youth transported to Dayton General Hospital Monday night following a single-vehicle rollover on Whiskey Creek Road. Nicholas P. Knudtson, 17, of Milton-Freewater, Ore. was driving a 2010 Dodge 2500 pickup that was totaled in the mishap.

At the recent National Honor Society ceremony, six new members, Alicia Apodaca, Jordyn Helm, Sagelyn Kilts, Lillian Patterson and Mikel Vance, were inducted.