Updated at 6:41 p.m.
BARK PLANT FIRE EXTINGUISHED
• Firefighters were called about 12:30 p.m. yesterday when fire broke out at a bark dust mill at the end of Central Boulevard in Centralia. Riverside Fire Authority Capt. Tim Adolphsen said it was inside the auger system of the Willamette Valley Company’s structure and was fairly mild in terms of how long crews were on scene extinguishing it. “It should be minimal damage,” Adolphsen said.
ONALASKA HOME BURGLARY
• Someone broke into a home on the 1800 block of Middle Fork Road in Onalaska and stole a 55-television, jewelry and other valuables totaling about $4,100 sometime between Friday and yesterday while the residents were away, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.
CHEHALIS GARAGE BURGLARY
• A 53-year-old Chehalis man called police about 11 a.m. yesterday to report someone got into his garage in the early morning hours and stole a new $1,000 Mathews compound bow and an $800 set of four Toyo tires. It happened at the 1800 block of Snively Avenue, according to the Chehalis Police Department.
MORTON BUSINESS BURGLARY
• Morton police say they are investigating a break-in to a business on the 100 block of Westlake Avenue reported last Thursday in which someone during the previous two days stole a digital camera from the lost and found and about $68 in cash, which was mostly coins.
WRONG LICENSE PLATES
• A driver of unknown age and unknown hometown was arrested for third-degree possession of stolen property when during a traffic stop a deputy discovered the license plates on his vehicle were stolen, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. It happened about 6 p.m. on Friday at the 700 block of Leonard Road and when Joseph A. Vezirian was pulled over, he told the deputy he knew they didn’t belong on the vehicle but someone named Jen had given them to him, according to the sheriff’s office. The plates belonged to an Onalaska woman; Vezirian was cited and then released, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said.
DOMESTIC DISPUTE WINLOCK
• A 27-year-old Winlock man was arrested on Saturday after his wife’s boyfriend reported he had held her against her will at her home. Police contacted the couple separately who said earlier in the day he had put his hands on her shoulders and told her she couldn’t leave until they talked, according to charging documents. Robert M. Sutton told the officer they are going through a divorce, had a little argument and he was frustrated. Sutton was booked into the Lewis County Jail and charged today with unlawful imprisonment and fourth-degree assault. Sutton, who has an honorable service record and last worked as a contractor in Afghanistan, is collecting unemployment benefits and attending college, defense attorney Bob Schroeter told a judge this afternoon. The judge agreed he could be released on a $5,000 signature bond.
DOMESTIC DISPUTE CHEHALIS
• A 35-year-old Chehalis man was arrested and jailed after his wife said he arrived at her house on Friday afternoon, yelled at her and threatened to kill her. A deputy called to the 100 block of Johnson Place about 2:45 p.m. learned there was a court order prohibiting Bert A. Holmes from going there and he was located several hours later and arrested for residential burglary, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Holmes was charged today in Lewis County Superior Court with that, as well as with felony harassment and violation of a no-contact order. Because the construction worker has a misdemeanor assault from earlier this month pending in district court involving the same victim, prosecutors asked he remain held on $25,000 bail. Judge James Lawler set bail at $100,000.
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CENTRALIA
• The man arrested over the weekend after allegedly partially entering a Centralia home through a window and assaulting a female inside was ordered held today on $500,000 bail. Juan E. Mejia, 32, of Centralia, was dating the woman briefly he’d known for several years; she ended the relationship and he didn’t want the relationship to end, according to charging documents. The documents say after he kept calling, texting and showing up to see her, she got a temporary protection order a week ago. The documents allege that on Friday night, she awoke to knocking on her bedroom window on George Anthony Lane, and when she got up, Mejia slid the window open. She screamed for her son to get her father and struck Mejia and he struck her back, splitting open her lip, according to charging documents. “He said he loved her, that he would kill her, and that he loved her,” charging documents state. He fled when her father arrived with a pool cue and he was arrested the following day, according to authorities. Mejia has been restrained by 13 prior no-contact orders and has five prior domestic violence felonies, Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Joely O’Rourke told a judge when she asked for the high bail. Mejia is charged with first-degree burglary and violation of a court order.
YOGI BEAR ON THE LOOSE?
• Morton police were called after last weekend to Gust Backstrom Park by campers who said after they went to bed, someone got into their cooler and stole $50 worth of unspecified contents. And yesterday morning, another individual reported while they were away from the park, their three coolers full of food and beverages were taken.
PARACHUTER HURT IN TOLEDO
• Lewis County Fire District 2 Chief Grant Wiltbank said Toledo area firefighters were called just after 4:30 p.m. yesterday when a parachuter collided with a tree as she landed about a half mile west of the airport. The woman in her 20s came to rest in a sitting position about eight inches off the ground, suspended by her parachute which was tangled in the tree, Wiltbank said. She wasn’t knocked unconscious, but suffered injuries that were serious but not life threatening, he said. She was flown by AirLift Northwest to a regional trauma center, according to the chief.
AND MORE
• And as usual, other incidents such as arrest for warrants, driving with suspended license; responses for alarms, disputes, misdemeanor assault, misdemeanor theft, suspicious circumstances, report about scam phone call, rear end collisions on city streets, rollover accident on county road, dogs left inside parked vehicles … and more.