Burbank Community Library

From the Tri-City Herald / May 28, 2009

BURBANK PICKS PROSSER GRAD TO COACH FOOTBALL
By the Herald staff

BURBANK – Columbia (Burbank) has hired Rich Harris as its new football coach, replacing Lance Beeson, who went 3-7 in his only season and led the Coyotes to the regional playoffs.

Harris, a 1991 Prosser graduate who ranks sixth on the all-time Mustangs career list in passing yards (2,949) and completions (192), was the quarterbacks coach at Prosser last season.

From the Tri-City Herald / May 28, 2009

MAN CHARGED IN THREAT WITH A BOMB
By Kristin M. Kraemer, Herald staff writer

A Burbank man was charged Wednesday with taking a bomb to a Pasco home, placing the device at the feet of several occupants and threatening to kill them.

Henry Dewayne Mitchell is scheduled to appear Tuesday in Franklin County Superior Court on one count of felony harassment. He is being held in the Franklin County jail on $50,000 bail.

The May 21 incident at 920 S. Lindsey Ave. drew the Richland Police Bomb Squad, which confirmed for Pasco police that Mitchell’s device was filled with “a chemical compound intended to produce an explosion,” according to court documents.

See the full article here.

Update: The Tri-City Herald reports (June 4, 2009) that Henry Dewayne Mitchell has pleaded innocent and faces trial on July 22, 2009, on one count of felony harassment. See the full article here.

Late Update: A follow-up article entitled MAN’S BOMB THREAT UPSETS RESIDENTS (a bit understated, no?) appeared in the July 8 edition of the Tri-City Herald.

From the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin / May 27, 2009

IN SEARCH OF BIRDS
by Don Davis

Audubon Washington celebrated a new section of The Great Washington State Birding Trail’s Sun and Sage Loop in the Walla Walla area over the weekend of May 15-17. …… The Walla Walla section of the Central Washington Sun and Sage Loop roughly covers from Madame Dorion Park at Wallula Junction to Bennington Lake. …… On the recent weekend, the visitors enjoyed a varied agenda:

* birding at some of the newest sites in the Sun and Sage Loop of the Great Washington State Birding Trail with master birders and local Blue Mountain Audubon Chapter experts; ……

* learning about the geologic history of the area from noted Whitman professor Bob Carson, who made an evening presentation describing lava-flow and flood impacts on the natural history of the area and an in-the-field presentation at Wallula Gap Saturday morning.

See the full article here.

Please note that Professor Carson will be discussing his book Where the Great River Bends: A natural and human history of the Columbia at Wallula at the Burbank Library later this summer. Stay tuned for details.

Update: The Tri-City Herald has this article about “the creation of the Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail” in its Friday (May 29) edition:

TRAIL TO TRACK PATH OF ICE AGE FLOODS
By John Trumbo, Herald staff writer

RICHLAND – Some 12,000 years after the flood waters crashed over Dry Falls and carved through the Wallula Gap, about 40 people gathered at the base of Badger Mountain in Richland on Wednesday to celebrate the creation of the Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail.

From the Tri-City Herald / May 27, 2009

PASCO WOMAN INJURED AFTER CRASHING INTO TRUCK
By Herald staff

BURBANK – A woman suspected of driving under the influence smashed into a truck when she turned in front of it about five miles east of Burbank about 4 p.m. Tuesday, the Washington State Patrol reported.

See the full article here.

Update: The Tri-City Herald has this article in its Sunday (May 31) edition:

PASCO WOMAN DIES OF INJURIES AT HOSPITAL
By the Herald staff

A Pasco woman seriously injured in a collision near Burbank last week has died at a Seattle hospital, according to the Washington State Patrol.

Maria T. Valencia, 31, died at Harborview Medical Center shortly before midnight Friday, the state patrol said.

The state patrol said alcohol was believed to be a factor in the crash.

Today, the Burbank Library celebrated the birthday of our favorite great dane, Shasta, the star of our popular Read to Shasta! program for children. (See this previous post for details.) Approximately 50 people attended the party, and everyone had a great time.

Richard Dickin, a photographer for the Tri-City Herald, stopped by and took some wonderful pictures, including this close-up of Shasta wearing her party hat (below). Fifteen of Mr. Dickin’s photos can be viewed in an online photo gallery on the Herald’s website.

We’d like to thank the Tri-City Herald for its interest in this event, and Walla Walla County Fire District 5 for bringing by a fire truck for the kids to check out. Thanks also to Shasta’s dog friends Angel, Tahoe, and Shreq (and their owners, of course) and to everyone who attended the party.

And finally, thanks to Shasta and her owner Krystal Ellingson for their wonderful support of the library, reading, and the children of Burbank. We hope you had a great birthday, Shasta!

Update: The Tri-City Herald put this photo on the front page of its Saturday (May 23) edition, with the heading “Sharing with Shasta” and the caption:

Jackson Yale, 10, of Burbank, reads Friday to Shasta, the star of the Burbank Public Library’s Read to Shasta program during her third birthday party. Shasta, owned by Krystal Ellingson, right, had a dozen or so human and dog friends to help her devour cake and dog treats. See photo gallery at tricityherald.com.

The Herald’s crowd estimate was off the mark, but the coverage was great!

From the Tri-City Herald / May 21, 2009

Letter to the editor, by Vicki Cleghorn, Burbank

I moved here from Illinois more than 13 years ago and there is something I’ve never understood, and no one I know has the answer.

The state of Washington is hurting for money, correct? Why, then, can’t or don’t the powers that be start charging Oregon (or any of the other non-tax states such as Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire) residents sales tax when they shop here? Isn’t there a lot of income lost for the state because of that caveat?

Last night, the Burbank Book Group discussed Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace… One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. Here’s a description of the book from the Penguin paperback edition:

In 1993 a mountaineer named Greg Mortenson drifted into an impoverished Pakistan village in the Karakoram mountains after a failed attempt to climb K2. Moved by the inhabitants’ kindness, he promised to return and build a school. Three Cups of Tea is the story of that promise and its extraordinary outcome. Over the next decade Mortenson built not just one but fifty-five schools — especially for girls — in the forbidding terrain that gave birth to the Taliban. His story is at once a riveting adventure and a testament to the power of the humanitarian spirit.

As of 2008, Mortenson’s organization, the Central Asia Instititue (CAI), has now built 78 schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and educated 28,000 students. It’s an inspiring story and well worth reading. For more information about the book, visit threecupsoftea.com. Also, a good interview with Greg Mortenson is available here (pdf). In it, he says:

Education in general is a powerful tool to provide alternatives to the illiterate, impoverished areas that are the recruiting grounds for terror. Literate Mullahs control vast swaths of rural, illiterate Pakistan and Afghanistan and their edicts remain supreme. As soon as a society is literate, the Mullah is disempowered and cannot disseminate false information. I often tell people, “The Mullah is not afraid of the bullet, but fears the pen”.

The Burbank Book Group meets on the third Tuesday of every month at 7 p.m. New members are welcome, and the library will provide a copy of the selected book for those who are interested in attending.

Our next book is The Whistling Season, a novel by Ivan Doig, which we’ll be discussing on June 16. For more information about the group, contact the library at 509-545-6549.

From the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin / May 18, 2009

BODY FOUND IN COLUMBIA

WALLULA – The identity of a man’s body that was pulled from the Columbia River on Saturday may take a few days to confirm, although authorities believe it to be a missing Benton County man.

The body was recovered Saturday about 7 p.m. near Wallula by members of the Columbia Basin Dive Rescue and sheriff’s deputies from Walla Walla and Benton counties.

Fishermen had apparently discovered the body about two miles from the Boise paper mill, according to news reports.

Authorities working the case believe the man may be Bradley Jason Novak Jr., 27, who was reported missing May 6 along with his girlfriend, Julianne Elizabeth Keel, 25.

See the full article here.

Update: The Tri-City Herald has an article today (May 21) stating that the autopsy has been completed. KNDU has reported that:

THE MAN FOUND IN THE COLUMBIA RIVER HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED

The body of the man found in the Columbia River near Wallula on Saturday May 16th, has been officially identified by Walla Walla County Coroner Frank Brown, as Bradley Jason Novak Jr. Dental records were used to make a positive ID. There was no evidence of foul play. Cause of death listed as cold water drowning.

Later Update: The Tri-City Herald has this article in its Wednesday (May 27) edition:

BODY PULLED FROM COLUMBIA IS MISSING WOMAN; WAS PREGNANT
By Paula Horton, Herald staff writer

A Benton County woman whose body was found in the Columbia River drowned, County Coroner Rick Corson said Tuesday.

The tentative cause of death of Julianne Elizabeth Keel, 25, is freshwater or cold-water drowning, Corson said. A final determination will be made after results are back from tissue analysis and toxicology tests, he said, which could take 8 to 12 weeks.

An autopsy completed Tuesday afternoon also showed Keel was 5 1/2 months pregnant with a girl, Corson said.

From the Tri-City Herald / May 16, 2009

MOST TEACHERS IN MID-COLUMBIA TO STAY ON JOB
By Sara Schilling, Herald staff writer

……

The Columbia-Burbank district also recently announced that it was laying off four teachers because of the state budget cuts.

But officials there since have determined they’ll be able to save one of those jobs, said Superintendent Lou Gates.

They’ve found some other places in their budget to save money, and it appears they won’t lose some of the funding they expected to under the state budget, he said.

The state budget included a $60.3 million cut to levy equalization, which is given to “property poor” districts — including many in the Mid-Columbia — to help make up for low property valuations. But state law needed to be amended for the cut to be taken, and that didn’t happen during the regular legislative session.

Plans for a special session to be called were scrapped last week.

It’s still a difficult time for the districts, officials said.

In Burbank, “I think our core message is that we will continue to provide the best education possible for our students despite the challenging budgeting process,” Gates said. “We’re confident we have a good educational program and we’ll maintain that.”

See the full article here.

From the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin / May 15, 2009

PORT OF WW COMMISSIONER PLANS TO RETIRE
By Vicki Hillhouse of the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin

WALLA WALLA – Port of Walla Walla Commissioner Fred Bennett, a fixture of the economic development agency for 24 years, announced Thursday he will not seek re-election this fall.

Bennett, 79, said he plans to retire from the Port commission when his six-year term ends late December.

……

His departure will leave an opening for a representative of District 3, the western region of Walla Walla County that includes College Place, Touchet, Lowden, Burbank, Eureka and Clyde — portions of which have been the focus of transportation and business development by the Port in recent years.

……

In the two terms since he returned to the Port, the agency constructed the new airport terminal building, has acquired more land for future development throughout Burbank, welcomed the state-of-the-art Railex facility and its cross-country produce train as well as juice manufacturer Cliffstar and embarked on the expansion of U.S. Highway 12 from Burbank to Walla Walla — a project numerous elected officials never thought would happen in their lifetimes and now is in its seventh phase. Bennett said he’s also particularly proud of the Port’s new water system in Burbank, a source of clean water in a community where water has been riddled with nitrate contamination.

See the full article here.

Update: The Monday (May 25) edition of the Union-Bulletin contains an article about Kathy Small’s announcement that she will run for the soon-to-be-vacant District 3 seat on the Port of Walla Walla commission. However, the story has not yet appeared on the Union-Bulletin’s website. Stay tuned.

Late Update: The Tri-City Herald ran an article about Fred Bennett’s retirement in its July 6 edition.