Archive for July, 2010

Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

Thursday, July 29th, 2010

POLICE BRIEFLY CHASE HIT AND RUN DRIVER

• A car that fled police in Centralia last night and sped down Interstate 5 to Chehalis before vanishing has been recovered, according to authorities. The Ford Concord was found stuck near the railroad tracks by Chestnut Street in Centralia, according to police.  They did not report when it was found or if the driver was with the vehicle. The motorist was driving recklessly and at high speeds trying to elude officers, according to the Centralia Police Department. Chehalis police saw it come off the freeway at 13th Street and pass Penny Playground going north on Cascade and Chehalis Avenues, according to police. It was last seen on North National Avenue heading back to Centralia, Chehalis police Sgt. Rick McNamara said. The pursuit began about 5:25 p.m. when it failed to stop for an officer dispatched to Starbuck’s on Harrison Avenue after the car was involved in a minor collision in the parking lot and left before police arrived to make contact with those involved, according to police. A Centralia police supervisor terminated the pursuit not long after it began because the risks involved in a chase outweighed the necessity of an arrest for the alleged violation, Centralia police reported this morning. The car was impounded so officers could search it, police said.

FREEWAY MOTORIST SAID WINDOW SHOT WITH BB GUN

• Chehalis police were called yesterday evening by an individual who said they were traveling north on Interstate 5 when somebody shot a  BB gun at the side passenger window from an area next to the freeway near 13th Street.

BAIL BOND LICENSE STOLEN

• Chehalis police were called yesterday about the theft of a credit card and identification along with a bail bond license to a business on Southwest Chehalis Avenue.

CAR TROUBLES

• A wallet and medication were reported stolen from a vehicle on the 400 block of West Magnolia Street in Centralia, according to a report made to police just before 5 p.m. yesterday.

• Police were called about 7:15 a.m. yesterday to the 1300 block of Logan Street where somebody had broke out the windows of a vehicle, according to the Centralia Police Department.

WOMAN JAILED FOR RACIAL SLUR RELEASED

• The 38-year-old woman arrested Tuesday night in Centralia for malicious harassment for allegedly threatening her neighbor using a racial slur was released from jail yesterday afternoon pending further investigation. The Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office has not file any charge.

News brief: Body discovered at Riffe Lake

Thursday, July 29th, 2010

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Lewis County sheriff’s detectives are examining the scene on Riffe Lake where a body was found last evening.

The find on the shore’s edge of the East Lewis County lake was reported about 6 p.m. last night by boaters, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

Sheriff’s Cmdr. Steve Aust said it is badly decomposed and they have no idea who it is.

“We can’t tell if its a male or a female but it does appear to be an adult,” Aust said.

Deputies had to access the area, in a remote cove on the northwest portion of the lake, by boat, according to Aust. Detectives began processing the scene about 7 o’clock this morning, he said.

The west end of the 17-mile lake is about two and a half miles east of Mossyrock.

Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010

CENTRALIA WOMAN ARRESTED FOR THREATENING NEIGHBOR

• A 38-year-old Centralia woman was jailed last night after she allegedly threatened bodily harm to her neighbor. Police were called about 8:15 p.m. to the dispute at South Silver and West Pear streets. Lori A. Stout, 38, was arrested for malicious harassment and booked into the Lewis County Jail., according to the Centralia Police Department. Police said several people in the area witnessed the incident. She reportedly used the “N” word, according to Officer Gary Byrnes. Because the racial slur was paired with a threat, the arrest is considered a hate crime, Byrnes said. He said this morning he didn’t know what the argument was about or what she threatened to do.

TEENS CAUGHT TRYING TO BREAK INTO HOUSE, SHERIFF’S OFFICE SAYS

• Two teenage boys were arrested after they reportedly tried to break in to a home on the 2000 block of Sandra Avenue outside Centralia and were spotted and chased by a resident. The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office was called about 12:20 p.m. took a 15-year-old male and a 16-year-old male into custody. The Centralia residents were booked into the Lewis County Juvenile Detention Center for attempted residential burglary, sheriff’s Cmdr. Steve Aust said. Their names were not released because they are juveniles.

HAY FIELD FIRE

• About three quarters of an acre burned yesterday west of Chehalis at the 200 block of Bunker Creek Road. Five firefighters from Lewis County Fire District 6 responded to the approximately 2 p.m. call. District 6 Firefighter Mike Goodwillie said it was a hay field and might have begun in one of several small piles of cut hay pieces. No structures were threatened, Goodwillie said.

News brief: Yet another motorist nods off and crashes

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

The state patrol responded to a rollover crash on state Route 508 overnight, a wreck they blame on the driver falling asleep.

Troopers and aid were called about 3 o’clock this morning to the scene south of Chehalis, about two miles east of Interstate 5.

The 19-year-old driver, Daniel S. Holmes of Chehalis, suffered cuts to his head and hand and was taken by ambulance to Providence Centralia Hospital, according to the Washington State Patrol. He was treated and has been released, a hospital spokesperson said this morning.

Holmes’ 1993 Dodge Dakota was described as totaled.

The pickup truck was westbound and when Holmes nodded off, it drifted onto the left shoulder and rolled one time, coming to rest wheels down in a ditch, according to the investigating trooper.

The trooper reported he expected Holmes would be cited for wheels off the roadway.

Ambulance service relocates near Winlock

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010
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South Lewis County EMS’s new base is now at the corner of state Route 505 and North Military Road in Winlock

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

WINLOCK – The paramedics who respond to 911 calls in South Lewis County have a new home, a new name and and an increased presence at night.

South Lewis County EMS has moved its quarters to a spot about a half mile west of Interstate 5, to the corner of state Route 505 and North Military Road, near Winlock High School.

The group of eight medics will soon be known as Lewis County Medic 1. And they’ve altered their work schedule so two people will be on duty 24 hours a day at the new site.

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Fire Chief Grant Wiltbank

The most visible change is their quarters. They began moving the Fourth of July weekend.

Lewis County Fire Districts 2 and 15 spent $300,000 out of their reserves to purchase the four acres which hold a newer three-bedroom house and a double garage tall enough to park the ambulance indoors, according to Grant Wiltbank, chief of the Toledo-area fire district and executive director of the shared ambulance service.

“The idea was to secure a site that might be used for a joint station in the future,” Wiltbank said last week.

The property sits immediately south of the vast acreage adjacent to Interstate 5 that is expected to one day grow into an industrial park.

It’s all zoned for industrial use and once the area gets water and sewer and development begins, it would have become prohibitively expensive to move there, Wiltbank said.

Their former base was a 1970s single-wide, one bedroom mobile home that was in rough shape when they got it, Wiltbank said. It sat just north of state Route 505 at exit 63 just west of the freeway.

“It worked for what we needed,” Paramedic Kirk Johnston said when he returned from a call to the 2,200-square-foot house one afternoon early last week. “This is just so much … there’s no comparison.”

A big change is being able to park the ambulance inside. The spacious garage will really help, especially in the winter time, said Paramedic Delaney Haddow.

“When it snowed and stuff, we’d have to unbury the ambulance to get out,” she said.

The group, officially named the Interlocal Organization of Lewis County Fire Districts 2, 7 and 15 serves the areas of Toledo, Vader and Winlock, and also responds in Ryderwood. It continues to house three of its paramedics next to the Lewis County Fire District 5 station on Jackson Highway at Avery Road East. Those crews serve the areas covered by fire districts in Napavine, Onalaska, Salkum and Mossyrock.

Inside the new place is a comfy couch and two recliners, and even a bonus room being furnished with hand-me-down exercise equipment. Outside the front door is South Military Road which drops directly into Vader.

Most of their medical calls are for problems such as difficulty breathing or chest pains, but in the summer the calls for trauma go up, the two paramedics said. The changes help carve seconds off response times, according to Wiltbank.

Call volume for the emergency responders feels like it’s at least doubled since she began with South Lewis County EMS in January 2002, Haddow said as she showed off the new quarters. That should only continue, they think. The long term growth in Lewis County is expected in the south portions, according to Wiltbank.

The schedule change means there will be two paramedics on duty at night, where before there was only one.

“We’re also doing transports from Morton General Hospital to wherever they need to go,” Haddow said. “So like last night, I took somebody from Morton to St. Pete’s, so that left a paramedic on duty.”

The groups’ revenue comes from the fees charged for transports.

They’re now doing business as Lewis County Medic 1, a change that should help the public more easily understand what they do, the two medics said.

That will show up on their paperwork, on new uniforms and over time, with the re-lettering of their rigs.

“South Lewis County EMS was just too long of a name,” Johnston said. “People would say, what’s that?”

Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

Tuesday, July 27th, 2010

STABBING SUSPECT RELEASED WITH NO CHARGES

• The 19-year-old Centralia resident arrested Friday night for allegedly stabbing a 25-year-old Centralia man was released from the Lewis County Jail this morning without being charged. The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reported yesterday the two males got into a fight at a party on the the 200 block of Blanchard Road prompted by a fight between two females. It was a gathering of about 50 people. The victim, whose name was not released, was hospitalized and treated for four knife wounds to his abdomen before being booked into jail. A folding knife was recovered at the scene. Lewis County Prosecutor Michael Golden said his office didn’t want to let the suspect go, but there were questions of self-defense to be answered and he also didn’t have evidence from any witness putting the knife in the suspect’s hand. It will be tested for DNA, Golden said. The 19-year-old had been arrested and booked for first-degree assault. Golden said this morning the 25-year-old reportedly had the 19-year-old in a headlock and was punching him in the face, before the stabbing. While police can make an arrest if they have probable cause a person committed a crime, the prosecutor’s office decides whether to file a charge based on if they have evidence to prove a charge beyond a reasonable doubt, according to Golden. The case remains under investigation.

BREAK-INS

• Centralia police were called about 2:30 a.m. today to an unidentified business on the 700 block of Harrison Avenue and told somebody entered its office and removed cash and a computer, according to the Centralia Police Department.

• Centralia police reported wire was stolen from a house under construction on the 600 block of South Ash Street. The call about the burglary came just before 9 a.m. yesterday.

• The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office was called about 3:30 p.m. yesterday to a report of a theft from the 5000 block of Jackson Highway outside Toledo. Taken from a storage shed sometime between Thursday and Sunday were golf clubs, a shop vac, a rolling tool box, another tool box with Craftsman tools and something sheriff’s Cmdr. Steve Aust called a Craftsman combo kit saw, which included a drill. The loss is estimated at $750.

• The Thurston County Sheriff’s Office took a report yesterday afternoon that somebody broke a lock and entered a home on the 5500 block of 222nd Avenue Southwest north of Centralia that hadn’t been checked on for several days. The executor of the estate said nothing appeared to be missing, and items of value were untouched, according to the sheriff’s office. It happened sometime between last Tuesday and Sunday.

• Somebody cut a two foot by four foot hole into the side of a greenhouse at the Happy Hen Farm in Rochester, according to a report made to the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office. The vandalism at the 8600 block of 180th Way Southwest occurred sometime after 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday and 10 o’clock the following morning, sheriff’s Lt. Chris Mealy said this morning.

BROKE OUT WINDOWS

• Centralia police were called just after midnight last night to the 300 block of North Gold Street to take a report somebody had smashed several windows out a vehicle.

METH ARREST

• A 60-year-old man was arrested for possession of methamphetamine yesterday evening in Centralia following a traffic stop near South Silver and Jefferson streets, according to police. Dale R. Williamson, of Chehalis, was found to be driving with a suspended license and during a search as he was arrested, an officer discovered suspected methamphetamine in his clothing, according to the Centralia Police Department. He was booked into the Lewis County Jail.

CHEHALIS ARREST

• Chehalis police arrested an individual about 1:30 a.m. today for unlawful possession of a firearm. The name of the man arrested following contact with an officer at Northwest West Street and Northwest Rhode Island Place was not readily confirmable.

SECOND SKYDIVER INJURY IN TWO DAYS

• A 24-year-old skydiver was hospitalized with an injured ankle after a hard landing on Sunday at the Toledo Airport. It followed a similar accident the day before when a 25-year-old was hurt there. Aid was called about 7 p.m. Sunday and told by witnesses the man’s chute got tangled or something while he was still about 30 feet above the ground, according to South Lewis County Paramedic Delay Haddow. He was taken to Providence Centralia Hospital.

WEEKEND COLLISION NEAR EVALINE

• Two people were hospitalized after a collision near Evaline that left both vehicles with significant front end damage on Saturday night. Lewis County Fire District 5 was called just before 9 p.m. the area of Pleasant Valley and Conrad roads, according to District 5 Firefighter Brad Bozarth. The male driver of a Honda car and the female driver of a pickup truck were both taken to Providence Centralia Hospital, Bozarth said this morning. A passenger was reportedly uninjured.

News brief: Top post at Littlerock prison changes

Tuesday, July 27th, 2010

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Cedar Creek Corrections Center at Littlerock is getting a new superintendent next month, a man who also has been tapped to assist in finding a spot to build a new 1,000-bed prison for Washington state.

Doug Cole’s appointment takes effect August 15, according to the Washington State Department of Corrections.

Cole is currently the superintendent at the women’s prison at Purdy and previously served as an associate superintendent at McNeil Island Corrections Center, according to Belinda Stewart, a spokesperson for DOC. He has extensive experience in security management, Stewart said.

“He has been in corrections for a long time, he came up through the custody ranks,” Stewart said.

Cedar Creek’s current superintendent Jane Parnell will move to take Cole’s post at the Washington Corrections Center for Women near Gig Harbor.

Cedar Creek is a minimum security prison that houses offenders within four years of their release. The Bordeaux Road facility holds 480 inmates.

In addition to being in charge of Cedar Creek, Cole – a Mason County resident – will serve as the prison division’s liaison for the siting and design of a new facility.

DOC plans to construct a what it calls a new male reception center, in part because Washington Corrections Center in Shelton was never built for that purpose, which is currently serves, according to Stewart. A decision hasn’t yet been made about where it will go.

“We want it on the I-5 corridor,” Stewart said. “That just makes it easier for families to visit.”

Prisons Director Dick Morgan said in a news release Cole a good fit for his new duties.

“Doug has extensive experience with prison construction and his expertise will ensure progress is efficient and meets the needs of the agency,” Morgan stated. “This project is a huge undertaking and it’s critical that we have the right person heading up the effort for our division.”

DOC reports the prison population has changed drastically in the past year. The state agency has reduced 1,056 beds this year in response to a decreased offender population and a projected decline of incoming offenders in the future, according to the news release.