Archive for February, 2012

News brief: Worker shocked by overhead wire in Rochester

Wednesday, February 29th, 2012

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A man doing work on a well at a Rochester fish farm was shocked this afternoon when the boom on the piece of equipment being used came into contact with an overhead power line.

The man, said to be in his 30s, was transported to Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia with life-threatening injuries, according to West Thurston Regional Fire Authority.

His name was not released.

Aid was called about 1:40 p.m. to 173rd Avenue Southwest and Wheat Street.

He had stopped breathing, Lt Lanette Dyer said.

“Bystanders had just stopped doing CPR because he came around,” Dyer said.

The patient was responsive but very confused and sustained burns, including an entry wound on his foot and exit wound on his calf, Dyer said.

He had been working with another man on the ground pulling a well pipe, Dyer said. She did not know the company they were employed by.

West Thurston Lt. Eric Smith said the second worker was not hurt.

“Overhead service lines, most people die when they come into contact with those,” Smith said.

Dyer described the electrical line as a commercial one which would have carried 220 volts.

Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

Wednesday, February 29th, 2012

DRUGS

• The case of three teenagers at Centralia High School was referred for possible charges of possession of marijuana after a school resource officer contacted the boys in a vehicle in the school parking lot during class, according to officer John Panco. Panco said the officer found some marijuana in a baggie in the vehicle about 10:15 a.m. yesterday.

• A 45-year-old Yakima woman was arrested for possession of methamphetamine on the 1300 block of Harrison Avenue in Centralia about 1:30 a.m. today. Sarah F. Hansen, was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Centralia Police Department.

• A deputy found two baggies of suspected methamphetamine when they arrested a 28-year-old Centralia woman yesterday for an outstanding warrant. It happened about 12:30 p.m. at the 100 block of Centralia-Alpha Road. Jennifer A. Juarez was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

THEFT

• Police were called just before 10 a.m. yesterday to 200 block of West Main Street in Chehalis where someone had stolen a U-Haul trailer from Grants Towing sometime over the weekend, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

• Police were called yesterday evening to the 1100 block of G Street in Centralia about a security camera taken from the outside of a residence.

CAT SHOT DEAD IN CENTRALIA

• Centralia police took a report of an individual who shot and killed a cat with a pellet gun in the Ham Hill area on Monday. Officer John Panco said he was not at liberty to say who or discuss any details because the individual has not been arrested. The case was sent to the city’s attorney to determine if any charges will be filed, according to Panco.

Evidence from Salkum murders found in coroner’s office locker

Tuesday, February 28th, 2012

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Evidence from the triple murder in Salkum has turned up in the Lewis County Coroner’s Office, apparently never getting into the hands of law enforcement or attorneys in the case.

Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod said finger nail clippings and hair trimmings from all three victims were found in a sealed bag in the work locker of a former deputy coroner.

2011.1206.booth.close_2

John Allen Booth Jr.

He said today he thought it turned up about a month ago.

John A. Booth Jr., 32, was tried, convicted and sent to prison for life in December for the fatal shootings of David West Sr., 52,  David “D.J.” West Jr., 16, and 50-year-old Tony Williams of Randle.

The three, along with Denise Salts who survived, were found in the home Salts and the Wests shared on Wings Way in the Onalaska-Salkum area on August 21, 2010.

Defense attorney Roger Hunko – who represented Booth – said today he didn’t know anything about it but said he was dumbfounded.

“It sounds interesting,” Hunko said.

Both Hunko and elected Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer say it is a potential appeal issue for Booth.

Normally defense attorneys get to look at all of the prosecution’s evidence in a case.

“Can they try to make an issue? They can try,” Meyer said this afternoon.

Meyer said however, in this case he doesn’t see it as a problem, as the items were mentioned in reports.

Meyer said he plans to disclose the fact to both Hunko and Booth’s appeal attorney they now have this evidence and “see what the defense wants to do about it.”

The evidence was collected at the coroner’s office during the autopsies, according to McLeod.

He said he didn’t know why it wasn’t taken away by the sheriff’s office representative he presumed was in attendance or why it ended up in an employee locker.

McLeod said he called Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher after the discovery.

It’s not clear if anyone knew the evidence was missing.

McLeod was elected the November after the homicides and took office officially in January 2011.

“What we have in place now, if law enforcement is not present we’ll notify them to come over and collect that (kind of evidence),” McLeod said.

There’s no “chain of custody” documentation with it, according to McLeod.

McLeod said his staff had cut the locks from previous employee’s lockers to get inside them and that’s when it was found.

Both Meyer and McLeod said they expect something like this won’t happen again.

“We’ve worked out the issues and I hope we won’t have similar problems in the future,” Meyer said.

Booth’s attorney filed a notice of appeal the day he was convicted.

The former Onalaska resident who was sentenced under the so-called three strikes law said in a jail house interview after his conviction he could “guarantee” he would have a new trial within the next five years.

News brief: Suspicious box draws bomb squad to Chehalis propane storage facility

Tuesday, February 28th, 2012

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS –  A bomb squad was called out to a propane bulk storage yard in Chehalis today when a suspicious box was found against the fence.

Chehalis Police Department Deputy Chief Randy Kaut said someone observed the box on Northwest Prindle Street, at the back of the Cenex facility.

The call came in about 11:20 a.m., according to Kaut.

By about 2:15 p.m. technicians had X-rayed the item and found nothing dangerous, Kaut said.

“It sounds like the box was empty, I’m not even sure why it was there,” he said.

Cenex, with its address on State Street, distributes lubricants, refined fuels and does home delivery of propane, according to manager Sonny Pitts.

There is one giant propane storage tank in the fenced compound off Prindle, Pitts said. The others in the yard are waiting to be filled, he said.

“It wouldn’t have been a good thing,” Pitts said. “I’m glad they spotted it.”

Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

Tuesday, February 28th, 2012

Updated at 3:26 p.m.

POLICE: DAD BREAKS BABY’S LEG

• A 20-year-old Centralia father was arrested after his 5-month-old baby girl was treated yesterday morning at the emergency room for a broken leg. Centralia police called to Providence Centralia Hospital said Lincoln K. Hollis admitted “probably he was a little too aggressive when changing the baby’s diaper,” officer John Panco said. Hollis had brought the baby to the hospital, according to Panco. The child was transferred to Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital and Hollis was booked into the Lewis County Jail for second-degree assault of a child, Panco said.

THEFT OF WIRING

• Someone broke into a fenced compound over the weekend at the 3000 block of Foron Road in Centralia and stole more then 400 feet of electrical wire and welding cable, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. A deputy called yesterday morning to Dulin Construction was told someone cut a padlock to the front gate and also used a sledge hammer to try to get money from a pop machine, according to Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown. The loss is estimated at more than $2,400, Brown said.

VANDALISM

• Police arrested a 19-year-old Centralia woman for allegedly slashing a tire on her ex-boyfriend’s vehicle on the 1000 block of South Pearl Street in Centralia last night. Malyse Bussanich said she was angry, Officer John Panco said. She was cited for third-degree malicious mischief and then released, according to the Centralia Police Department.

DRUGS

• A 43-year-old woman who reportedly tried to leave Safeway in Centralia with more than $100 of unpaid for merchandise last night was arrested for shoplifting and subsequently for possession of heroin, according to the Centralia Police Department. Rebecca S. Rycraft, of Olympia, was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to police. How much of the drug found wasn’t noted in a police report, according to Officer John Panco.

WRECK

• The driver of a pickup truck was taken to Providence Centralia Hospital for evaluation after a collision with a semi-truck on U.S. Highway 12 in Ethel yesterday morning. It happened near Oyler Road about 8 a.m., according to the Washington State Patrol. One of the big rig’s fuel tanks fell off and spilled roughly 20 gallons of fuel, according to state patrol Sgt. Lucas Brandon.

Tenino man still not found

• The Thurston County Sheriff’s Office conducted a “thorough search” on Friday of the Tenino-area home and property belonging to 66-year-old Victor Shumate, missing since mid-January. He was not found, according to sheriff’s Sgt. Ray Brady. Shumate has a home on the 17000 block of Mima Acres Drive Southeast and gets around by foot and bicycle. The sheriff’s office last week asked the public for information on his whereabouts, as his neighbors have not seen him since Jan. 13.

Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

Monday, February 27th, 2012

CENTRALIA MAN WAKES UP TO PROWLER IN HOME

• Deputies were called just after 1 o’clock this morning to a home in north Centralia where a resident awoke to someone sneaking into his house. The 27-year-old man at the 100 block of Sawall Avenue said he heard the back sliding door open and heard a couple of footsteps inside before they left, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. A deputy checked the area finding only foot prints in the snow, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said.

SHED BURGLED IN CHEHALIS

• A deputy was called on Saturday morning to a burglary of a storage shed on the 100 block of Snow Peak Lane in Chehalis. Among the items taken sometime since the previous Monday morning were a Honda generator, power tools and two 100-foot extension cords, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

PT CRUISER STOLEN

• Chehalis police were called about 10 a.m. on Saturday to Southwest 10th Street near Main Street where a gray 2002 PT Crusier had been stolen overnight.

PARTS TAKEN FROM VEHICLES

• A deputy was called to the 1600 block of Rice Road outside Chehalis on Friday where someone had been stealing parts from cars. The resident, an 80-year-old man, said he thought it had occurred over the previous month, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Missing from his 1970s vehicles are an alternator, a a radiator,two carburetors, two valve covers, two batteries and an air cleaner, according to Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown.

ATTEMPTED BREAK-IN AT TAVERN

• A deputy was called Saturday morning to an attempted break-in to the Headquarters Tavern on Front Street in Mineral. An employee had been called by the alarm company about 2:15 a.m., according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Window trim and an air conditioner unit were damaged, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said. Nothing appeared to be stolen taken but surveillance video will be reviewed, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said.

TAXI DRIVER RIPPED OFF

• Police were called about 6 p.m. yesterday to the 1500 block of Delaware Street in Centralia when a passenger fled a taxi cab without paying his $5 fare, according to the Centralia Police Department.

DRUGS AT SCHOOL

• A deputy was called Friday morning to Onalaska High School where a 16-year-old student allegedly took his father’s medical marijuana and tried to sell it at school, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The incident is under investigation.

RIFLE IN TRUCK GETS DRIVER ARRESTED

• A 35-year-old Centralia man was arrested following a traffic stop yesterday evening on the 1200 block of Mellen Street in which an officer observed a rifle in the cab of the truck next to the driver, according to the Centralia Police Department. Daniel L. Haubrick is currently not supposed to possess firearms because of a protection order naming him, according to officer John Panco. Haubrick was booked into the Lewis County Jail.

VANDALISM

• Chehalis police were called late Saturday afternoon to Southeast Third Street and Washington Avenue where someone had thrown a rock into the windshield of a car.

Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

Sunday, February 26th, 2012

POLICE: MAN MADE UP REPORT OF WOMAN’S THROAT CUT

• Aid and police called to a Centralia apartment early this morning to a report a woman had cut her throat from “ear to ear” found no victim, but arrested a man for making a false report. It happened about 4:20 a.m. at the 600 block of West First Street, according to Centralia police. Arriving officers spoke to the caller and he refused to give them more information, according to police Sgt. Carl Buster. A check inside the apartment turned up an individual who was fine, Buster said. The caller, Brian K. Wilson, 32, of Yelm, reportedly refused to cooperate, became combative and was detained after a Taser was deployed, according to Buster. Wilson was booked into the Lewis County Jail.

STOLEN VAN TURNS UP

• Centralia police were called about noon yesterday about a “suspicious” van found on the 1500 block of Windsor Avenue in Centralia. It was a van that had been stolen the day before, according to the Centralia Police Department.

THEFT OF PURSES

• A purse left in a shopping cart yesterday at the 1100 block of Harrison Avenue in Centralia was reported stolen.

• Police were called yesterday morning about a purse stolen the night before while its owner was at a tavern at the 100 block on South Tower Avenue in Centralia.