Archive for September, 2014

A thank you breakfast with firefighters

Tuesday, September 30th, 2014

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Centralia firefighters are showing their gratitude for the recent passage of their levy by cooking breakfast for the public on Saturday.

Pancakes, eggs and sausage will be on the house for members of their community, paid for by International Association of Firefighters Local 451 and the Riverside Firefighters Association.

Heading up the kitchen crew will be Lee Coumbs, board of commissioners member.

“The reason is just to say thank you,” Riverside Fire Authority Firefighter and union president Rick LeBoeuf said. “Thank you for voting for the levy, thank you for supporting us.”

The fire department that protects more than 180 square miles in and around Centralia last month asked citizens to consider a new maintenance and operations levy, to supplement a steeply declining budget. The department had already seen a nearly 30 percent loss in response forces this year, and the levy money was meant to stabilize personnel and services at the current level.

It passed with just over 65 percent of voters saying yes.

The open house and community appreciation breakfast begins at 7:30 a.m. and runs until 11:30 a.m. It will be held at Riverside’s headquarter’s station at 1818 Harrison Avenue in Centralia.

Tours of the station will include opportunities for children to board the fire trucks and ambulances, according to LeBoeuf.

They’ve combined the event with an opportunity to help those who are working to reopen the Pearl Street Veterans Memorial Pool.

Fire Chief Mike Kytta says being supporters of people having a safe place to swim, they’ve invited individuals from the pool to be on hand to answer questions and accept donations toward its restoration.

What: Open house and community appreciation breakfast
When: Saturday, Oct. 4, 2014
Time: 7:30 a.m. until 11:30 a.m.
Where: 1818 Harrison Avenue, Centralia
Cost: Free, but donations will be accepted on behalf of Save The Outdoor Pool

Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

Tuesday, September 30th, 2014

BREAK-INS AROUND CHEHALIS

• Chehalis police were called about 11 a.m. yesterday to another shed burglary, this one on the 700 block of Southwest Cascade Avenue. Sometime during the night someone got inside the unlocked structure and left with drills, speaker, an amplifier and other items, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

• Someone shattered the glass front doors to a vacant convenience store on the 3300 block of Jackson Highway outside Chehalis, according to a report made yesterday to the Lewis County Sheriff’s office. The damage is estimated at $1,000.

• A deputy was called yesterday to the 100 block of Carter Lane outside Chehalis where someone had kicked in the entry door to a shop building. Nothing was missing, but the damage is about $200, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

VEHICLE THEFT

• The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reported this morning that a 1997 Nissan pickup was stolen from the 200 block of Mandy Road near Toledo sometime on Saturday or Sunday. The 54-year-old owner described the vehicle as white with blue stripes and worth about $2,500, according to the sheriff’s office.

• A pickup truck belonging to the county and stolen from the the Southwest Washington Fairgrounds last month turned up yesterday abandoned on the 100 block of August Road in Cinebar. The Chevrolet S10 with a broken out back window was valued at $500, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

MARIJUANA PIPE SEIZED FROM GRADE SCHOOLER

• Police were called to Olympic Elementary School in Chehalis yesterday after a teacher was notified a fourth grader had been showing around a possible marijuana pipe. That’s what it turned out to be and the item was confiscated, according to the Chehalis Police Department. There was nothing to indicate the child had used it; he said a ninth grader gave it to him, detective Sgt. Gary Wilson said. It’s unlikely any criminal offense would be pursued, because of the boy’s young age, according to Wilson.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, driving with suspended license; responses for dispute, protection order violation, suspicious circumstances, collisions on city streets, misdemeanor theft such as mountain bikes stolen from a front porch  … and more.

•••

CORRECTION: This post has been updated to reflect the correct grade school where Chehalis police were called about a student with a pipe.

Read about wanted woman sought near Morton found in Lakewood …

Tuesday, September 30th, 2014

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

The (Tacoma) News Tribune reports the 31-year-old woman accused of trying to run down one Fife police officer and then shooting at another was ordered held yesterday on $5 million bail.

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Yolanda Lund

Yolanda Lund, reportedly pregnant and shot by police during the incident, had been been sought by law enforcement since Aug. 11, a search that nine days later led to a home on the 800 block of Davis Lake Road in Morton. About a half dozen officers and deputies went to the residence that afternoon but did not find Lund or her suspected accomplice.

Q13 Fox.com reported Lund was arrested Friday in Lakewood and hospitalized for treatment of a gunshot wound to her chest.

News Tribune reporter Adam Lynn writes Lund is charged with two counts of first-degree assault, drive-by shooting and attempting to elude police and that not guilty pleas were entered on her behalf.

Read more here

News brief: Ritchie Brothers hit by rogue demo derby

Tuesday, September 30th, 2014
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The aftermath at Ritchie Brothers Auctioneers. / Courtesy photo by Lewis County Sheriff’s Office

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

It appears as though someone snuck onto the Winlock area property of the world’s largest auctioneer of heavy equipment and held an unsanctioned demolition derby with four large trucks over the weekend.

The break-in was reported yesterday to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office, who estimate more than $15,000 in damage to three of four 2010 International Cargo trucks.

Unknown suspects entered into the fenced yard and drove the trucks around the gravel lot, leaving them with side impact damage, according to the sheriff’s office.

“These are big yellow Penske rental trucks have been turned over to Ritchie Brothers,” Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said.

A bucket truck on the premises also sustained broken windows, possibly from a rock, according to Brown.

Ritchie Brothers Auctioneers is on the west side of Interstate 5 on the 200 block of Ritchie Lane.

The incident is believed to have occurred sometime after 10:15 a.m. on Saturday and before 9 a.m. yesterday.

One injured in Grand Mound house fire

Tuesday, September 30th, 2014
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The attached garage is consumed by flames, while the rest of the home is heavily damaged inside. / Courtesy photo by West Thurston Regional Fire Authority

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Firefighters called about a garage fire with an explosion in Grand Mound last night arrived to find a single-family home heavily involved in flames and a fallen power line arcing in the front yard.

“We just had to work around it, spraying water from a distance,” West Thurston Regional Fire Authority Chief Robert Scott said.

The one-story house is a total loss, Scott said.

Crews responding just after 9 p.m. to the scene at the 20900 block of Billie Mills Street Southwest, just east of Old 99, learned one male occupant with a burn injury had already gone or been taken to the hospital, according to Scott.

He was treated at Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia, Scott said this morning, but no other details were yet available.

A total of 20 firefighters from five department battled the blaze defensively, according to Scott.

Numerous explosions from the garage area were found to be from propane tanks, cans of gasoline, large fireworks and small firearms, he said.

Nobody else was injured.

Scott said he wasn’t sure about how many people lived at the home, as he didn’t speak with them, an investigator did. The cause is not yet known, he said.

News brief: County to end outdoor burning restrictions

Monday, September 29th, 2014

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Beginning at 12:01 a.m. tomorrow, the outdoor burning restrictions for areas in unincorporated Lewis County will be lifted.

The Lewis County Board of Commissioners put a burn ban in place on July 12 out of concern about wildfire danger with hot and dry conditions, allowing only for recreational fires in approved receptacles or campfire sites.

The board has authority over areas in Lewis County that are outside any city limits and not part of any state or federal lands.

“After careful review, of the current and extended weather forecast, the Lewis County community development director, acting as the fire marshal, has determined that current weather conditions within Lewis County no longer pose a substantial fire threat,” Director Lee Napier’s office stated in a news release this morning.

The state Department of Natural Resources last week rescinded its statewide burn ban on all on DNR-protected forestlands.

For further information concerning outdoor burning, Napier can be contacted at (360) 740-1146.

Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

Monday, September 29th, 2014

Updated at 3:41 p.m.

FRIENDLY THIEF: HERE KITTY, KITTY

• The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a burglary to a home for sale north of Winlock in which the intruder is believed to hung around and watched television as well as feeding the victim’s cat but made off with an antique tea set, a brown curtain and a table cloth. The owner, a 56-year-old Olympia man, reported on Friday that the break-in at the 100 block of Quary Lane happened sometime between Sept. 19 and last Wednesday, according to the sheriff’s office. It appeared entry was made though a bathroom window, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said. The loss is estimated at $260, according to Brown.

UNFRIENDLY THEFT

• A 21-year-old Centralia man was arrested after a wheelchair was stolen from a front porch on the 1200 block of Alder Street. Centralia police took the report yesterday. Derrek J. Larson was subsequently arrested and booked into the Lewis County Jail for allegedly selling the wheelchair and also for possession of methamphetamine, according to the Centralia Police Department.

THE MUSIC DIED

• The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reports this morning that someone stole about $2,000 worth of guitars, amplifiers, speakers and other musical equipment in a residential burglary at the 100 block of Schoonover Road outside Mossyrock on Friday night. The victims are two men in their early 20s, and deputies have in a mind a person of interest, according to the sheriff’s office.

BOOZE BURGLARY

• Police were called about noon on Saturday to the 500 block of North Market Boulevard in Chehalis where money and half gallon bottles of liquor were missing from beneath the bar belonging to the American Legion group. The case is under investigation, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

GARAGE BREAK-IN

• The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reports this morning they are referring for evaluation of charges a case in which a 23-year-old homeless man allegedly stole numerous items from a garage on the 100 block of Sheridan Street in Centralia between Sept. 15 and last Wednesday. Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said deputies believe he took the skill saw, engine stand, paintball gun and tools to his sister’s house and the property was turned over to Centralia police. Still missing is a miter saw, according to Brown.

OTHER THEFT

• Centralia police were called to the 200 block of North Buckner Street on Friday afternoon about an electronic tablet missing after a friend stayed at the house.

• Chehalis police were called about 9:30 a.m. on Friday to the 300 block of South Market Boulevard where a gas can was stolen from a maintenance shed.

• Morton police were called about 6:20 p.m. on Saturday to the 500 block of Main Avenue where someone broke into a shed and stole a child’s car seat.

VEHICLE THEFT

• A green 1995 Honda Accord left about 6 o’clock on Saturday morning at the park and ride lot on the 800 block of West Main Street in Chehalis was reported missing about 2 p.m. the same day. It has a license plate of ADN 4763, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

• A blue and white 199 Suzuki ATV was stolen sometime on Saturday or Sunday from an open shed on property on the 100 block of Rogers Road west of Toledo, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The value of the quad is $700, according to the sheriff’s office.

CAR PROWL

• A car was found with its door and trunk open at the Lewis County Mall about 11 a.m. Sunday. Nothing was missing, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

• Centralia police were called just after 1 p.m. on Saturday to the 600 block of South Cedar Street regarding a vehicle prowl in which a briefcase and flashlight were stolen.

• Someone stole a backpack from a vehicle parked at the 100 block of High Street in Centralia, according to a report made to police around 1:30 p.m. on Friday.

DOG WINS HIDE AND SEEK

• Centralia police report a 22-year-old man with an outstanding warrant was tracked down by a police dog and found hiding in a home on Saturday afternoon. The approximately 4:10 p.m. incident in connection with a location at Mellen and Marsh streets ended with Raymond C. Rhodes booked into the Lewis County Jail for burglary and his warrant, according to the Centralia Police Department.

VANDALISM

• Tires were slashed, the vehicle was scratched with something sharp and someone painted graffiti on an outside wall at the 200 block of Jastad Drive in Morton, according to a report made to police on Saturday.

PHONE THREAT

• Chehalis police were called on Saturday by an individual on North National Avenue who said they received a phone call asking them for money to prevent their power from getting shut off because their electric bill was overdue. It appeared to be a scam, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

SCAREY THREAT

• Deputies are looking for a 31-year-old Randle man who reportedly texted his ex-girlfriend on Friday night and told her to look out her front window where he was going to kill himself. He also told her not to let his children watch, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies dispatched to the area on the 9500 block of U.S. Highway 12 just before 10 p.m. did not find him and are still looking, according to the sheriff’s office. Meanwhile, the sheriff’s office is referring the case to prosecutors for a violation of a protection order, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said.

SMOKE ALARM, CHECK, FIRE EXTINGUISHER, CHECK

• An Adna couple was awakened by their fire alarm about 1:45 a.m. today, when a Cadet-type wall heater caught fire and filled an upstairs room with smoke. “Dad put it out with a fire extinguisher and she got everyone out,” Lewis County Fire District 6 Firefighter-Paramedic Matt McCoy said. Crews called to the home on the 100 block of Frogner Road found the parents and the two children were fine; firefighters used a thermal imaging camera to confirm all the fire was out, McCoy said. The damage was contained to the wall unit, he said.

WRECK

• Chehalis police were called to the 1900 block of Snively Avenue about 5:15 p.m. on Saturday to take a report a vehicle had struck a house. There was damage to an exterior brick facade and into the drywall, according to the Chehalis Police Department. Evidence suggested someone had been driving recklessly, police said. Nobody was injured.

• A motorcyclist ended up with a broken leg after he lost control at the 1200 block of North Tower Avenue in Centralia and struck a large rock and then the side of a house yesterday evening. Police called about 6:15 p.m. report the man was transported to Providence Centralia Hospital.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, obstructing, trespassing, shoplifting, disorderly conduct, making a false statement, misdemeanor assault, driving under the influence, driving with suspended license; responses for alarms, dispute, suspicious circumstances, collisions on city streets, wrecks on county roads; complaint of someone shooting arrows into some else’s yard, loud neighbor music, barking neighbor dog  … and more.