2020 One year ago today
Banyans on the Ridge in Pullman has closed after 11 years, but the owners have embarked on a new restaurant downtown that is expected to open this week. Oak on Main, located on 337 E. Main St., is described by owner Michael Byrne as a classic Italian restaurant that he and fellow owner Frank Maryott believe will provide customers with a great meal in a casual environment. Maryott said they were drawn to the Main Street location because they needed a bigger kitchen space to accommodate their growing catering service. The dining space is large as well and can seat as many as 100 people. … A Pullman city official said construction crews hope to finish building the city’s new recreation center near the end of March and the new city hall sometime this summer. Crews were hard at work converting the former Encounter Ministries Church facility on Crestview Street into a space suitable for the city’s offices and recreational programs. Kurt Dahmen, Pullman Recreation superintendent, said the new facilities are intended to provide more space for city employees, recreational programs and the Pullman Senior Center.
2016 Five years ago today
Pullman police officers will be getting a raise after the City Council approved a 3 percent pay bump for 2015, to be paid retroactively, and a 1.75 percent salary increase for 2016. Councilman Al Sorenesen said he was happy the contract was settled and would like to see the next contract begin being prepared soon. “I don’t like operating without a contract, I’m sure they don’t either,” Sorensen said, adding he would like to see the city make payments as they are needed, rather than having to go back to make payments for previous years. … Traci Haselhuhn loves to create. “It’s in me and I have to get it out,” Haselhuhn said. The 36-year-old Moscow resident works as the assistant service manager at the Moscow Food Co-op deli. Before, she practiced massage therapy for 15 years. Art, though, is her full-time passion. Haselhuhn studied art education at the UI so she could pursue her dream of teaching children what art can do for them and for others.
2011 10 years ago today
University of Idaho dramatic writing MFA candidate Mattie Rydalch has been selected as a finalist for the prestigious David Mark Cohen Playwriting Award. Rydalch is the first University of Idaho student ever chosen as a finalist for the award. Her play, titled “Strange Attractors,” debuted as a project in theater professor Robert Caisley’s MFA Writer’s Studio, but had been brewing in Rydalch’s head for several weeks before. It explores chaos theory as applied to human relationships. … Even before they have heard him sing, people ask David Roon if he’s Irish. He’s not. But he has had a love affair with Celtic music for more than 20 years, and when he sings, one might think he is Irish. The Minnesota native who moved to Moscow in 1998 to attend graduate school, has been writing and performing his music for about 10 years. Roon, 40, an instructor in wildlife resources at the University of Idaho, said he’s drawn to Celtic music because of its lyrical style and the way it can somehow be sorrowful and joyful at the same time.
