ARSON WATCH
• No overnight fires in Centralia since the arsons early Friday morning at the church building on West First Street, the Centerville western store at the north end of the Centralia Outlets and the attempted arson at Cooks Hill Community Church, according to Riverside Fire Authority. Chief Jim Walkowski recommended the public be extra watchful after the night that kept crews hopping from call to call. Two other blazes were extinguished the same night – at a coffee stand in north Chehalis and a church in north Centralia – but those were not deemed suspicious.
BURGLARY
• Someone broke a window to get inside a residence on the 800 block of K Street in Centralia and ransacked two bedrooms. The break in was reported about 11:40 a.m. on Friday. It wasn’t immediately clear if anything was missing, according to the Centralia Police Department.
THEFT
• Tires and rims were stolen from a backyard on the 1100 block of Crosby Avenue in Centralia, according to a report made to police on Friday evening.
VANDALISM
• Police reported yesterday someone threw paint on a grave marker at the cemetery on the 1800 block of Van Wormer Street in Centralia.
• Centralia police took reports yesterday of damage to vehicles at the 400 block of South Oak Street and the 300 block of West Pine Street.
CHILLY WATERS AND SUNSHINE PROMPT SAFETY MESSAGE
• Public safety personnel are cautioning residents that with the first hot days of spring – with temperatures in the 80s – rivers and lakes are still very cold and pose dangers. Lewis County Fire District 5 Lt. Laura Hanson says life jackets and other personal flotation devices are recommended and children should be closely supervised at all times while swimming and near water. Last May, authorities theorized it was a very warm day and very cold Chehalis River that caused an otherwise healthy 16-year-old Rochester boy’s death. The combination can cause a person’s diaphragm to constrict and make it suddenly hard to breathe. Rochester High School student Christopher Puentes-Garay was with friends and relatives on May 16 when he tried to swim across and went under. New underwater hazards such as limbs and logs can be expected to have been created over the winter as well, according to Hanson. Hanson shared a lifejacket discount coupon offered from Seattle Children’s Hospital and Big 5 Sporting Goods, which can be downloaded here [1]
AND MORE
• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, DUIs; responses for minor vehicle accidents, misdemeanor theft … and more.