Archive for March, 2013

Read about recovered Winlock eagles take to the skies …

Sunday, March 31st, 2013
2013.0330.eaglerelease_2

Courtesy photo by Marilyn Trippe

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

KOMOnews.com caught video of the six bald eagles as they were released yesterday off Harkins Road in Winlock, birds that last week were near death after feeding off euthanized horses in the same area.

One was an adult male, the others youngsters.

West Sound Wildlife Shelter on Bainbridge Island cared for the eagles who were found stumbling and crashing around a pasture by neighbors last weekend.

See the video here
•••

For background, read “Rehabilitated Winlock eagles to return home tomorrow” from Friday March 29, 2013, here

Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

Friday, March 29th, 2013

JUST ODD STUFF

• A 35-year-old Centralia man was arrested about 2 p.m. yesterday after he allegedly walked into traffic at West Main Street and Harrison in Centralia and intentionally hit a passing vehicle. Ranier P. Wagner was booked into the Lewis County Jail for disorderly conduct and malicious mischief, according to the Centralia Police Department.

• A 33-year-old homeless man was arrested yesterday morning after he was allegedly threatening people as he rode his bike in the area of the 1700 block of Cooks Hill Road in Centralia. Terry L. Bryan, who is from Chehalis, appeared to be under the influence of some type of drugs and was booked into the Lewis County for disorderly conduct, according to the Centralia Police Department.

• A 49-year-old Centralia woman was arrested for disorderly conduct around noon Wednesday when police discovered she was walking in the middle of the street at North Tower Avenue and East Pine Street in Centralia. Barbara A. Heppe was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Centralia Police Department. Heppe was booked for the same thing last week and the week before.

DOMESTIC DISPUTE

• Centralia police arrested a 36-year-old Centralia man about 7 p.m. yesterday after he allegedly physically prevented his wife from leaving their home during an argument. Robert D. Hutcherson was booked into the Lewis County Jail for unlawful imprisonment, but released from jail this afternoon.

DRUGS

• Centralia police arrested two people about 6:20 a.m. today for possession of methamphetamine and fourth-degree domestic assault. Nathaniel S. McDrummond, and Kayla K. Cunha, both 24 and both homeless were booked into the Lewis County Jail after contact with officers at the 1000 block of Eckerson Road, according to the Centralia Police Department.

THEFT

• Centralia police took a report on Tuesday afternoon that someone broke into the Borst home on the 2500 block of Pioneer Way and stole a clock.

• A deputy was called yesterday to vacant residential property on the 100 block of Nikula Road West in Winlock where someone had broken in and left with three folding chairs and a cable box sometime since noon the day before. Damaged were two windows and a mercury vapor light, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

• Centralia police were called to the 500 block of South Tower Avenue on Tuesday afternoon where someone had attempted to break into a shop and likely got an electric shock when they cut a large wire outside, according to the Centralia Police Department.

• A utility trailer and tools were reported stolen on Tuesday from the 300 block of N Street in Centralia, according to police.

UPDATE FROM THE COURTHOUSE

• Murder defendant Weston G. Miller is scheduled for a change of plea this coming Wednesday, not for the murder count but for the second-degree unlawful possession of firearms charges which were filed at the same time after his house guest was fatally shot a year ago in his Centralia home. Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher said yesterday it was at the request of Miller and Miller’s attorney and he presumed it was for “strategic” reasons. Miller’s trial for first-degree murder in the death of 43-year-old David Wayne Carson is still on the calendar for the week of April 15. He was initially charged with five counts of second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm but one of those has been dropped by prosecutors. Meagher said a gun has to actually be a functioning firearm but police were afraid to test fire it.

AUTHORITIES POINT TO WALL HEATER IN COUNTY SHOP FIRE

• The fire that destroyed the Lewis County road department shop east of Glenoma on Friday night appears to have originated with a 10-15-year-old Cadet heater. Whether it malfunctioned, there was an electrical issue or perhaps over time dried out the wood behind it isn’t yet known, according to Paulette Young who is the risk and safety administrator for the county. Young described the heater as one that was installed in the wall, set at a certain temperature and generally left turned on. The large metal building and its contents are a total loss, she said. Among the items destroyed were four 12-yard dump trucks, two front-end loaders, other heavy equipment, trucks and smaller tools, according to Young. The new replacement value for the equipment alone would be around $2 million, Lewis County public works director and county engineer Tim Elsea said today. Elsea said a temporary office has been set up on the site, with power getting hooked up to it today. “It’s definitely a tragedy, without a doubt,” Elsea said. “Seeing those guys go through it is very hard.” About nine road department employees begin and end their workdays at the site, where their tools were stored, he said. The heater was originally put in  a room with a well head, but since was used to keep sandbags dry, according to Young. Elsea said he’s asked supervisors to go out and make sure they don’t have those types of heaters installed in any of the other four similar shops around the county. Elsea said he didn’t know when the last time was the county fire marshal inspected the building. They won’t know the final cost of the fire until after they meet with their insurers next week.

AND MORE

• And more, such as arrests for DUIs, shoplifting, trespassing, warrants, misdemeanor assaults; responses for non-injury collisions, burglary alarms, broken window, suspicious people, and concerns about an upset former patient calling Steck Clinics … and more.

Rehabilitated Winlock eagles to return home tomorrow

Friday, March 29th, 2013
2013.0326.eagleintreatment_2

Courtesy photo by West Sound Wildlife Shelter

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

The bald eagles poisoned last week as they fed off horse carcasses in Winlock have recovered and are set to be released tomorrow back in the same area they were found.

“It’s mating season, we need to get them back out there,” Lisa Horn, executive director of the West Sound Wildlife Shelter, said today.

The six birds were taken to a center in Olympia and then transferred to the Bainbridge Island wildlife hospital on Sunday where they received around-the-clock care, including an antidote. They were critical, Horn said.

When they arrived, some were vomiting and convulsing, others were unconscious, she said. By Tuesday, four of them had been moved to an outside cage where they were regaining their strength.

Horn said they ingested meat from two horses which had been euthanized four days earlier and left in a field.

The potent drug pentobarbital sodium is used by veterinarians for humane, painless and rapid euthanasia.

Bald eagles are no longer listed as an endangered species, but are protected by the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. They can’t be hunted or harmed and even the use of their feathers and body parts is highly regulated, said Joan Jewett, a spokesperson for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Fish and Wildlife authorities are investigating the situation, according to Jewett.

“We’re in the early stages,” she said.

A violation of the act is a misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of one year in jail and $100,000 fine, for each bird, she said.

The (Longview) Daily News reported on Wednesday a seventh eagle rehabilitated in Portland was released back to a Winlock pasture.

One is an adult male, the rest are 2-years-old or younger, with just one of those juveniles being female, according to Horn.

“They are all doing really, really well,” she said.

Horn estimated each day of treatment cost more than $3,000.

West Sound Wildlife Shelter announced today the formation of a fund specifically to care for bald eagles at their clinic, that would also include educational outreach.
•••

For background, read “Read about at least seven bald eagles accidentally poisoned in Winlock …” from Tuesday March 26, 2013, here

Ambulance accident near Adna sends four to hospital

Friday, March 29th, 2013
2013.0329.amrwreck.trim_2

Courtesy photo by Zachary Sanchez, Grant’s Towing

Updated at 11:41 a.m.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – An ambulance on its way to the hospital with a patient wrecked early this morning west of Chehalis.

It was about 3:20 a.m. when the vehicle left the roadway at Twin Oaks and Cousins roads. Four individuals were taken to Providence Centralia Hospital with what a news release described as minor injuries.

Personnel from Lewis County Fire District 6 and American Medical Response were conducting the transport, according to the news release issued by a volunteer from a neighboring fire agency.

It was an AMR ambulance which sustained what was described as major damage.

The Washington State Patrol is investigating, Lt. Laura Hanson of Lewis County Fire District 5 wrote.

District 6 Chief Tim Kinder was unavailable this morning to respond to questions.

A spokesperson for AMR said he believed the vehicle hit a soft spot at a curve.

“It didn’t tip it over, it kind of put it at an angle,” AMR Director of Communications Brant Butte said.

The patient was strapped in tight, so suffered no injuries, Butte said. The crew of two AMR medics escaped with just bumps and bruises, he said.

Butte didn’t know who the fourth individual was, but said sometimes responders from the local fire district jump in for the transport.

He said he didn’t know anything about the patient, other than they were unhurt.

“The thing is, everybody is okay,” Butte said.

The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office responded about 4:15 a.m. to investigate and said the ambulance rolled down an embankment on the north side of the road and came to rest on its top.

The patient was a male being transported for a medical emergency, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said.

Whether the 26-year-old driver, from Lacey, is ticketed, remains to be seen, according to Brown. That will be decided after the state patrol’s technical investigation is finished, Brown said.

The sheriff’s office requested the state patrol because it was a company vehicle, it was an ambulance, there was a patient involved and there are potential liabilities, Brown said.

 

Girlfriend of police informant accosted; bystander stabbed

Thursday, March 28th, 2013
2013.0328.justin.razor_2

Justin Razor, with scuff marks on his forehead, is charged today for assault, intimidating a witness.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The fight last night in Centralia that ended with a stabbing was over a snitch, and someone stepping in to defend the informant’s girlfriend against a couple now charged with intimidating a witness, according to authorities.

Justin Razor, 27, and Emily Satcher, 23, went before a judge this afternoon in Lewis County Superior Court. His bail was set at $75,000; hers at $35,000.

Defense attorney Bob Schroeter described Satcher as a straight-A student at Centralia College with no previous run ins with the law, who is only thinly connected by one comment to police to her boyfriend’s issue involving the witness.

Both Satcher and Razor are charged however with first-degree assault and intimidating a witness; either as a principal or as an accomplice.

The stabbing victim, Oscar A. Paguaga, was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with a stab wound to the side of his chest that appeared to have punctured a lung and cuts to his arm and leg, according to charging documents.

According to charging documents, the informant told police he recently received text messages from Razor, threatening to put him in the hospital after breaking his face open, and telling him they know who his girlfriend is and where they hang out.

The informant stated to police he believed the messages were about him recently assisting police as a confidential informant in the arrest of one of Razor’s friends; he is expected to testify as a witness in the case, charging documents state.

Last night’s events outside an apartment building on  the 600 block of North Washington Avenue began when the informant’s girlfriend, Leticia, arrived to visit friends and a black Trailblazer blocked her in, then two people jumped out and yelled that her boyfriend was a snitch, according to charging documents.

She said she knows Razor and Satcher, the documents state.

Charging documents then go on to give the following account:

Paguaga heard the commotion and came out of his apartment to tell the couple to leave.

Police this morning described that Paguaga came to his girlfriend’s aid, but charging documents indicate Leticia is actually the informant’s girlfriend.

Leticia said Razor attacked Paguaga, they fought on the ground and Satcher jumped on top of them.

Leticia and some other women at the scene pulled Satcher off and a man arrived and helped get Razor off Paguaga. That man was bitten by Razor.

Razor and Satcher fled in their vehicle but were subsequently apprehended by law enforcement.

Police have confirmed the text messages came from two phone numbers belonging to Razor and Satcher. Detectives were in the process today of getting search warrants to look through their cell phones and the vehicle.

Police, arriving about 9:30 p.m., questioned witnesses, and reported this morning Paguaga was stabbed by an adult male. Charging documents don’t specify which of the two did it.

Razor and Satcher live together outside Chehalis. Their arraignments are scheduled for next Thursday.

 

News brief: Man stabbed during dispute outside Centralia apartment complex

Thursday, March 28th, 2013

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Two Chehalis residents are jailed after a fight last night outside a Centralia apartment building in which a man was stabbed.

Police describe the participants as acquaintances who were engaged in an ongoing dispute.

The victim, whose name, age and hometown weren’t immediately available, is hospitalized with a chest wound, according to the Centralia Police Department.

Police responded just before 9:30 p.m. to a dispute involving several people at the 600 block of North Washington Avenue in Centralia.

Officers were told a couple in a Chevrolet Trailblazer were threatening a woman and when the man came to her – his girlfriend’s – aid, he was jumped by the couple in the vehicle, according to police.

The SUV fled the area before police arrived, but was located by Chehalis police, according to Sgt. Stacy Denham.

Justin Razor, 27, and Emily Satcher, 23, were arrested for first-degree assault and booked into the Lewis County Jail.

Gunshot-wounded suspect from failed jewelry store heist arrested this morning

Wednesday, March 27th, 2013

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Police arrested a suspect this morning in last week’s downtown Centralia jewelry store burglary that ended in gunfire when the adult son of the shop owner who lives upstairs woke up and confronted an intruder rifling through a showcase.

Jeremy Salewsky fired one round that police now know struck the burglar in the lower back, according to the Centralia Police Department.

Officers called about 7 a.m. last Wednesday to Salewsky’s Jewelry shop on the 200 block of North Tower Avenue learned that two masked males fled the area, leaving a trail of dropped jewelry and getting into two getaway cars each with a female behind the wheel.

Detective Sgt. Pat Fitzgerald said today they arrested Justin D. McPherson, 29, of Auburn, as he was being released from a Tacoma hospital about 10:30 a.m. today.

“He’s got an extensive criminal background, he’s well known to police in the Renton, Kent, Auburn area,” Fitzgerald said.

Police are still looking for the getaway cars, described as a red newer model Mercedes and a silver newer Toyota Scion FRS – or a Subaru BRZ. Both had tinted windows.

McPherson’s injury was serious, and detectives actually figured out the following day he was at Providence St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tacoma, according to Fitzgerald. They didn’t however, contact him until this morning, Fitzgerald said.

The bullet was a 45 caliber ACP.

Video surveillance images at the hospital showed a woman in a red Mercedes dropping McPherson – with a gunshot wound – off there about 8 a.m. last Wednesday, according to police.

When the woman, his girlfriend, arrived on Friday evening to visit McPherson, police arrested her, police revealed today. Jennifer Nordyke, 30, of Auburn, was booked into the Lewis County Jail for burglary.

Fitzgerald said the offense for Nordyke is the same, whether she entered the building or not. Sort of like as an accomplice, he said.

The break-in occurred about 6:30 a.m., though Jeremy Salewsky called his father first, and then police were notified.

Fitzgerald said he saw no reason for the younger Salewsky to get in any kind of trouble for shooting the intruder, in the back or otherwise. A final decision on that matter would be up to the prosecutor’s office however, he said.

When police investigated, they found someone had entered the store by cutting a hole in the wall of an adjacent empty business. They broke through the back door of the vacant building next door, Fitzgerald said.

“We’re still trying to make that connection, of how they knew about that place,” he said.

Police were told the masked intruder left through the same hole in the wall.

Detectives continue to pursue leads regarding other aspects of the case, Fitzgerald said.

It’s still not clear what if anything is missing from the jewelry store.

“There was a lot of property left in the adjacent building, and a trail outside,” Fitzgerald said.

Nordyke is being held on $35,00 bail. McPherson will likely have a bail hearing tomorrow afternoon in Lewis County Superior Court.

Police are still looking for their other two suspects, and the cars. Fitzgerald is asking anyone with any information to call detectives at 360-330-7680.

•••

For background, read “Breaking news: Centralia jewelry shop burglary interrupted with gunshot” from Wednesday March 20, 2013 at 10:27 a.m., here

2013.0320.2009mercedesbenz_c-class_sedan_c350-sport_prq_evox_10_500.trim_2

Centralia police say the getaway cars looked like these.

2013.0320.scionorsubaruBRZ-FRSfront QTR.trim_2