Burbank Community Library

Here’s a digest of Burbank and Wallula news items from the last few weeks:

• The Tri-City Herald and the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin recapped the November 3 elections with stories about Terry Nealey’s victory over Laura Grant here and here and stories about Rob Dunning’s victory in the Port of Walla Walla race here and here. [November 3 & 4]
• A breakdown of election results by county is here. Walla Walla County results that are relavent to the Burbank/Wallula area are excerpted below:

WALLA WALLA COUNTY RESULTS

Initiative Measure 1033  (lower property taxes)  rejected state-wide
Yes: 5,250 | No: 5,788

Referendum Measure 71  (domestic partnerships)  approved state-wide
Approved: 4,352 | Rejected: 6,763

Legislative State Representative (Dist. 16 Pos. 2)
Laura Grant: 4,992 | Terry R. Nealey: 6,235

Port Commisssioner (Dist. 3)
Clarence Anderson: 3,582 | Ronald Dunning: 5,403

• The U-B reported that “a five-woman, seven-man jury found Aaron R. Weissenberger guilty of second-degree theft” in a staged robbery of the Burbank Sun Mart in April. [November 4]
• The Tri-City Herald ran a story about a Burbank woman who pleaded innocent to allegations she tried to buy two packs of cigarettes with a $5 bill doctored to look like a $50. She faces trial Janunary 11 on one count of forgery. [November 6]
• The Herald reported that a 49-year-old Pasco man is facing drunken driving charges after colliding with a semi-truck Wednesday night near Burbank. [November 13]
• The U-B reported that “plans to develop a new business park in Burbank are well on their way. Port of Walla Walla executives met Thursday to discuss the new development, among other topics. The Burbank Business Park Conceptual Master Plan shows the potential location as a stretch of 30 small lots that run along U.S. Highway 12 just before the Snake and Columbia rivers meet. These lots will be sold to businesses to create a cluster of stores, professional offices and potentially living spaces.” [November 13]
• The Mid-Columbia Koi and Pond Club will hold a Christmas party Dec. 5 at the home of Randy and Jisica Watkins, 102 Off Place, Burbank. [November 14]
• KNDU ran a segment (video only) about a Burbank man received new heart and a “second chance at life”. [November 17]

From the Tri-City Herald / November 20, 2009

FRIENDS OF BURBANK LIBRARY MEETS SATURDAY
By the Herald staff

Friends of the Burbank Community Library annual meeting and silent auction will be from 2 to 6 p.m. Saturday at the Burbank library, 875 Lake Road.

The friends will hold a short meeting at 2 p.m. with the celebration beginning at 3 p.m. The afternoon will include a potluck, entertainment, door prizes, a silent auction and raffles. They also will announce officers for 2010 and the Volunteer of the Year. Auction items include holiday items, baked goods, tickets for the Tri-City Americans hockey games and more.

Proceeds will support library programs including an upcoming kindergarten visit where each Columbia Elementary kindergarten student will receive a free book. For more information contact the Burbank Library at 545-6549 or visit wwrurallibrary.com/burbank.

From KNDO-KNDU / September 29, 2009

KNDU COATS FOR KIDS SCHOOL CHALLENGE

Kadlec Regional Medical Center is proud to bring you the 7th annual KNDU Coats for Kids School Challenge. Kadlec Regional Medical Center will donate $200 to every group who gathers 100 or more coats between now and December 7th, with Kadlec contributing $500 to the school getting the most coats and a trophy sponsored by KNDU-TV. ……

You can bring your new and gently used coats to the following locations to help your school become the winner! ……

Burbank High School
787 Maple St.
Burbank, WA 99323

Time to clean out those closets, Burbank!

The new edition (August 1, 2009) of the Columbia School District Newsletter has the following:

This summer Andrew Kramer, our Technology Director, has been making several changes in district technology. The district website will be changing to www.csd400.org. The old site will continue to work for now, but soon will change. Our email addresses are also new. Everyone’s new email will be firstname.lastname@csd400.org (example: andrew.kramer@csd400.org). All staff emails are available on the district website under Contact Us. (Email sent to our old address will continue to work until further notice.)

And this:

SCHOOL SUPPLIES — School supply lists are available for pick up at the administration office or can be found online at www.csd400.org. Click on your school link, then the Resources link, and then the school supply list link.

Here are direct links to school supply lists by school:

• Elementary School (pdf)
• Middle School (pdf)
• High School (pdf)

The first day of school (for 1st through 12th grade) is September 2 and the full academic calendar for 2009-2010 is here (pdf). It’s coming up quick!

From the Tri-City Herald / July 15, 2009

BURBANK SCHOOLS LOSE $83K TO STATE CUTS
By Sara Schilling, Herald staff writer

Columbia School Board in Burbank has adopted a $9.46 million general fund budget, capping months of work to save money amid deep state funding cuts.

The budget for the coming school year is down about $83,000 over 2008-09 largely because of the state cuts to K-12 education, which total in the hundreds of millions for the 2009-11 biennium. State legislators slashed funding to K-12 and higher education and other programs to help balance a $9 billion deficit.

The biggest hit for Columbia-Burbank was to Initiative 728 money. Districts use that to shrink class sizes, typically by hiring teachers. Columbia-Burbank’s I-728 funding dropped from $410,000 to $114,000 because of the cuts, said Business Manager Debbie Williams. Still, the district worked hard to make the most of its money and “I feel that we still preserved most of the programs,” Williams said.

There are 2.2 teaching positions being eliminated, but because of attrition, only one teacher is being laid off, Williams said.

Two district classified workers also are retiring. Their positions have been factored into the budget but may or may not be filled depending on enrollment, Williams said. Classified workers include bus drivers and food service employees.

See the full article here.

We just received word from a patron of the library that the Burbank Cooperative Preschool has been closed due to budget cuts at Walla Walla Community College. It’s not clear whether the Community College’s other cooperative preschools in the region have also been closed.

This is certainly unfortunate news for the Burbank community and the preschool’s dedicated staff.

From the Tri-City Herald / June 6, 2009

IT’S TASSEL TIME IN THE MID-COLUMBIA
By the Herald staff

…… Columbia High

Columbia High School graduates were greeted by family and friends holding giant “Congratulations!” helium balloons and bouquets of flowers as they walked into the school’s gym in purple caps and gowns.

But before the ceremony began, the 70 members of the Class of 2009 scattered into the crowd to present their parents with a single yellow rose.

Valedictorian Libby Campbell told her classmates not to be afraid of the future, while salutatorian Courtney Roaden said graduation isn’t an end, but a beginning to an “amazing journey.”

“As we gather here tonight, we are in the presence of a moment,” Roaden said. “… This is the moment that we begin our future. … This is it. This is our moment.”

Instead of making predictions for the future, Seth Shelton opted to reminisce.

He talked about how in eighth grade, they had a yoga session in the high school baseball field and how two classmates tried to raise worms and hamsters in their middle school locker. When he reminded everyone how they beat Finley in football — at Finley’s homecoming — when they were sophomores, the seniors cheered.

Shelton then repeated a quote he said he found on the internet: “If at first you don’t succeed, do it like your mother told you to. She’s always right.”

See the Tri-City Herald’s Columbia High graduation photo gallery here.

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 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 Tri-City Herald / May 15, 2009

MID-COLUMBIA GRADUATION SCHEDULE
Compiled by Herald staff

June 5

* Columbia High School, 7 p.m. at the school’s football field, 787 Maple St., Burbank.

See the full schedule here. And congratulations, Seniors!

Update: The Columbia High School class of 2009 is pictured in the Union-Bulletin’s graduation supplement included in the Sunday edition (May 17) of the paper.