Updated at 1:25 p.m.
SCARE AT PET STORE
• A 45-year-old Winlock man was taken into custody yesterday at Lincoln Creek Lumber in Centralia following an incident involving a knife at a nearby business. Police were called about 4 p.m. to the 1400 block of Harrison Avenue where employees at a pet store were holding a door shut because a man who had been hanging around pulled out a pocket-type knife, according to the Centralia Police Department. Several officers responded and the suspect was discovered up the street at the hardware store on the corner of Harrison and Galvin Road, Officer John Panco said. He had reportedly kicked out a door there and was seen exiting the store, Panco said. Brian T. Bircher wasn’t particularly cooperative as far as talking with police, Panco said. He was arrested for first-degree burglary and booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to police. Panco said it wasn’t clear why Bircher was behaving the way he was at the pet store.
THEFT
• Someone took a blue mountain bike from an unlocked shed at the 1100 block of West First Street in Centralia, according to a report made to police yesterday morning.
BOOM
• An individual on Southwest William Avenue in Chehalis called police yesterday after finding suspicious remnants of something beneath their truck. An overnight explosion and the debris were most likely fireworks, according to the Chehalis Police Department.
‘VERY LUCKY’
• A wrong way driver on the freeway yesterday afternoon was suffering from blood sugar so low it didn’t even register on a testing device. The Washington State Patrol reported it was around 2 p.m. when the Ford Explorer traveled south in the northbound lanes in Centralia but managed to pull to the righthand side of the road without running in to anyone else. The Chehalis Fire Department was called over to the state patrol detachment because troopers didn’t know if the 49-year-old man was suffering from a medical or drug-related issue, Fire Capt. Ted McCarty said. The driver was fairly incoherent, handcuffed and on the ground outside as they’d tried to take him inside to interview him, McCarty said. “He was kind of fighting a little, but that’s because with low blood sugar, you don’t know where you’re at or what you’re doing,” McCarty said. Medics administered treatment and took him to Providence Centralia Hospital, according to responders. The state patrol yesterday indicated it didn’t know if any citation would be issued.
SHERIFF TO DRIVERS: WE’RE WATCHING YOU
• Extra pairs of law enforcement eyes will be watching drivers and crosswalks around the Law and Justice Center on Main Street in Chehalis again. The sheriff’s office announced yesterday deputies would be conducting another emphasis over the next week, a second attempt to make the area safer for pedestrians. They did it in mid-May in response to a request from county employees and other citizens who said the crosswalks in the area were unsafe. Lewis County Sheriff Steve Mansfield said the idea wasn’t so much about writing tickets, but about education and encouraging motorists to slow down. Nine warnings were given and five infractions handed out. Deputies witnessed two boys almost get hit in a nearby crosswalk. Mansfield said it was a real eye opener and clearly related to distracted driving and cell phones. “Drivers need to slow down and pay attention, especially in areas in which there is a lot of pedestrian traffic,” Mansfield stated. “If we can prevent serious injury or even death by conducting these emphases we will continue to do so.”
AND MORE
• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, resisting arrest, reckless driving, misdemeanor assault, driving with suspended license; responses for alarms, disputes, harassment, collision on city street … and more.