Updated at 1:43 p.m.
THEFT AND METH
• Two people were arrested this morning for allegedly stealing a car hoist from a Chehalis business, cutting it up into pieces and selling it to a local scrap yard. Police had been looking for Jeanelle L. Matson and Charles R. Smith since last week when the item was discovered missing from behind an auto shop on Northwest State Avenue, according to the Chehalis Police Department. Sgt. Gary WIlson said he understood they got about $50 scrap value from the $4,000 hoist. He said the Olympia residents – both 48 years old – have been driving around in a U-Haul van. They were picked up about 5 o’clock this morning when Centralia police spotted a woman push open the door to a vacant house on the 1000 block of Eckerson Road. Both were booked into the Lewis County Jail for possession of stolen property, he said. Matson was arrested also because she was found in possession of suspected methamphetamine, according to Centralia police.
CYBER “STALKER” REMAINS ANONYMOUS
• Police contacted by a student at W.F. West High School yesterday concerned she was being stalked by an anonymous texter concluded the messages were coming from an unknown person in Memphis, Tennessee. Chehalis detective Sgt. Gary Wilson described it as a random, out-of-the-blue situation and said the girl was advised to block the number.
MORE THEFT
• Centralia police arrested a 33-year-old man yesterday afternoon in connection with a burglary at an apartment complex on Reynolds Avenue in Centralia where he worked as a maintenance man. Police said Joshua J. Meyers used a key to get access and took drills, activity which was captured on security video. Officers continue to investigate since other items have been reported missing from a complex owned by the same person on the 2900 block of Mount Vista Road, according to Sgt. Kurt Reichert. Meyers, of Centralia, was booked into the Lewis County Jail for second-degree burglary, according to the Centralia Police Department.
BRUSH FIRE IN DITCH
• Firefighters responded about 2 p.m. yesterday for a brush fire off Coma Road west of Vader. “It was burning in a ditch, starting to get into the timber,” Lewis County Fire District 15 Firefighter Patrick Jacobson said. He estimated the size at 100 feet by 50 feet. Crews from Winlock and Vader extinguished it, he said. Jacobson said he’d only be guessing as to the cause.
WRECKS
• Deputies and aid were called about 9:45 p.m. yesterday to the 300 block of Hewitt Road southeast of Chehalis where a motorcycle struck a deer. The 21-year-old driver from Salkum spoke of leg and arm pain but declined to be taken to the hospital, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. His 2001 Suzuki sustained major damage and was towed, the sheriff’s office said. He was cited for driving without a motorcycle endorsement on his license, according to Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown.
• Two occupants of a passenger car escaped serious injury yesterday when they blew a stop sign entering U.S. Highway 12 west of Rochester and were hit by a semi truck. Trooper called at 3:30 p.m. to the scene at Moon Road reported the eastbound big rig had begun to slow because its driver watched one vehicle turn right off Moon Road without stopping and suddenly the second car did the same thing, Trooper Guy Gill said. The pair in the car were taken to Providence Centralia Hospital with minor injuries and have been released, Gill said. The driver was cited for second-degree negligent driving he said. Her car was heavily damaged on it left side, according to Gill.
AND MORE
• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for driving with a suspended license; responses for misdemeanor theft, receipt of a counterfeit bill, suspicious circumstances, complaints of drunken yelling man, noisy dogs … and more.