Toppenish student Eric Gutierrez, 17, found his niche at Habitat for Humanity.

I have two bits of news for you:

The last two weeks have been a whirlwind. Most of you are my friends, and you know I’ve been looking to make serious changes in my life. Most of you even know this news before I write it here. As of today I will have been 16 days without a single puff of a cigarette. For me, that is great news. I have tried to quit before, but it hasn’t worked. I tried using patches, and gum and pills. Oh my! But nothing seemed to have a lasting effect. I’ve always wanted to quit, and 16 days ago I did it, and I did it for me. I love my life. I want to live it, without drawing short of breath when I walk down the street.

Last year Toppenish School District set a plan in motion to increase safety for children at Lincoln Elementary located at N. Alder Street. Superintendent John Cerna said the primary purpose for the project is for student safety. The 15,400 square foot parking lot will replace the south-end playground.

The new model will consist of: east-side parent drop-off and pick-up, west-side bus drop-off and pick-up, and the south side will be the parking lot. On the east side of the building will be some parking spots for visitors and handicap. Construction began in early July.

“We’ve wanted to change how we do parking for a while, but it takes time,” Cerna said. 

The project, including lighting, asphalt, drains and labor, will total approximately $45,000. The plan is to be complete before school resumes. Students at Lincoln Elementary will still enjoy a playground at the north-end of the building.

Road construction begins on SR 22. The plan outlines a projected finish date of early October. Travelers should expect a 10-minute approximate stop-time during working hours. Amber Schlenker photo

In an effort to increase road and pedestrian safety, the city of Toppenish and the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) have begun road construction.

The projects are due to frequent collisions on SR22 between Toppenish and I-82, and the possibility of pedestrian- vehicle collisions inside city limits. WSDOT hopes to reduce the number of collisions along the route and improve access for adjacent property owners.

The project will work to complete the objective by constructing wider lanes and shoulders, flattening roadside slopes, updating guardrail, installing new sidewalks with ADA ramps and improving access.
The WSDOT project that began  in early July, will widen and repave the existing roadway from Interstate 82 to Idaho Way on State Route 22.

Sidewalks and other improvements will also be constructed from McDonald Rd. to West First Avenue. The cost of the project will total approximately $4.63 million.

Toppenish Police Chief, Adam Diaz put a plan in motion to provide youth an opportunity for training. This year marked the second annual Toppenish Police Youth Academy.

The four-day course took place July 12-14. The all-day course began at 8 a.m. and ended at 4 p.m. daily. The course involved seminar style instruction as well as hands-on training and scenarios for the students to respond.

Sue Bounds brings birthday wishes to Toppenish Nursing and Rehab Center.

When it felt like her world was falling apart; family, friends and community members gathered around Sue Bounds, in comfort. Through their help, she got through her personal trials and decided it was time to give back. Bounds said she felt like she wanted to do something, but didn’t know where to start.

Wapato-area children enjoy the newly opened swimming pool. The Yakama Nation Wapato Pool opened July 13, after two years of its closure due to funding issues.

When the City of Wapato shut down the local swimming pool due to funding issues, children like the Aranda brothers had nothing else to do.

“We just played our video games all day,” Hugo Aranda, 10, said “but if we wanted to go swimming we would go to the river.”

Corky Kinter, rodeo clown, holds Jacob Schlenker during the 2011 Toppenish Rodeo.

Toppenish—For some, Rodeo is a way of life. For bull-riders Dakota Beck, 19, and  Chris Newsom, 26, it’s a full time job.

Beck, a Moses Lake, Wash., native in the last week will have performed at rodeos in Toppenish, Idaho and Utah.

“We are gone pretty much 365 days out of the year,” he said. “There’s not much that is better than rodeo.”

Beck grew up around rodeos his entire life, and chose to be a bull rider at a young age. Newsom, an Oklahoma native travels with Beck around the nation, year-round.

“We became friends through rodeo, and it just so happened to be convenient to rodeo together” he said.

Newsom said the best thing about rodeo is traveling and meeting new people.

“Drinkin,’ lovin,’ fightin,’ and cowboyin,” is the motto these two full-time bull riders live by.

Newsom only performs at Professional Bull Rider PBR rodeos but Beck performed Saturday in
Toppenish. Though he did not receive a score this weekend in Toppenish, Beck is famous among the rodeo trail as a 2010 Pro West Champion.

The top ten in the circuit rodeos nationally are invite to the finals. Beck made it as second place standing during both nights of the finals.

“I ended up winning the year-end,” he said.

This year’s rodeo hosted more than 150 contestants from all over the United States, in the two-day event, July 1 and 2.

Click the title to read the 2011 Toppenish Rodeo results.

This year's cherry crop, though late, is larger than ever.

A cooler spring season brought this year’s cherry crop a little late.

Roger and Mary Odell began harvesting on their leased property last week.

Last week we heard the news, if you’re gay, you can get married in New York.
That’s right folks, same sex marriage is now OK in New York State. Friday, June 24 Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the legalization of same-sex marriage into law, according to Reueters.com
Like any other big-ticket news item, I heard/read it first on Facebook. I read comments like; “Good job New York, lets follow in their footsteps!” Or others such as; “If we let it be gay we should let lots of other things slide too, like murder and all drugs known to man.”
As you can imagine, the ‘pro’ comments came from my friends on the ‘west side’. And the outraged comments came from right here in our Valley.