Updated at 9:32 p.m.
WIDOW VICTIMIZED DURING MEMORIAL GATHERING
• A 72-year-old Chehalis area woman called the sheriff’s office after discovering someone went through her purse during a gathering at her home following her husband’s funeral yesterday. A deputy responding to the 700 block of North Ford Road reports the loss of cash and several prescription medications comes to $250, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. There are persons of interest in the case, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said.
TOBACCO TAKEN IN BURGLARY
• The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reported this morning that a red sport utility vehicle was seen leaving a home on the 2700 block of Graf Road in Centralia on Sunday when the resident returned home to discover 15 packs of Marlboro cigarettes missing.
MOWER MISSING
• A deputy took a report yesterday from the 700 block of Tucker Road in Toledo that sometime since Saturday someone pried a hasp from a door and stole a red Sears self-propelled lawn mower, in new condition.
FRAUD
• Centralia police were called to the 800 block of North Washington Avenue last night regarding fraudulent charges on a card at several local businesses. The case is still under investigation, according to the Centralia Police Department.
DRUGS
• A 28-year-old Centralia woman arrested on a warrant was also arrested for possession of methamphetamine last night when an officer searched her and found suspected meth. The approximately 1 a.m. arrest came after neighbors on the 1600 block of Winterwood Drive called police about a suspicious vehicle parked in the area, according to the Centralia Police Department. Michelle A. Gibson was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to police.
VEHICLE PROWL
• Centralia police took a report yesterday of a safe stolen from an unlocked pickup truck while it was parked at an apartment complex on the 2800 block of Russell Road last Wednesday. Among the valuables inside the Sentry brand safe were birth certificates, vehicle titles, jewelry and coins, according to the Centralia Police Department.
COLLISIONS
• A 22-year-old driver escaped injury when he swerved to miss a deer and struck a power pole yesterday afternoon on the 400 block of Yates Road in south Chehalis. A deputy responding about 4 p.m. found the Chehalis man was not hurt but his 2002 Toyota Tacoma was totaled, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.
• A 54-year-old Chehalis man totaled his pickup truck when he ran off the road at the 2500 block of Jackson Highway south of Chehalis yesterday, entered a ditch and then struck a tree. His injuries were minor but he was taken to the hospital for a pre-existing medical condition following the approximately 5:50 p.m. wreck, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said it may have been a medical condition which caused the driver to leave the roadway.
• A 38-year-old motorcyclist was hospitalized after he called 911 from Forest Service Road 25 in East Lewis County after he lost control, was ejected and slid beneath a gate, possibly breaking his arm. It happened about about 11 a.m. on Sunday, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The Lynnwood man was transported to Morton General Hospital, according to the sheriff’s office.
MOSSY BARN FIRE APPEARS AN ARSON
• The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reported yesterday the fire that burned down an old barn in Mossyrock last week is being investigated as an arson. Authorities said it was third fire in three weeks on the approximately 20-acre parcel at the 100 block of Mossyrock Road West. Twice before the blaze last Wednesday night, the fire department was called out for small fires in the tree-line on the north side of the property, according to Chief Doug Fosburg. Several juveniles have been in the area causing problems, sheriff’s office Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said yesterday. Authorities say there was no power to the building and no reason it would have caught fire on its own. The 6,000 square-foot barn built in 1942 was destroyed, with a loss to its owner estimated at $20,000, according to the sheriff’s office. It contained only very old hay and various pieces of haying equipment. The barn is owned by a 70-year-old Mossyrock woman, Brown said.
FIREFIGHTER RECOMMENDS DEFERRING LAWN MOWING
• More than eight acres of pasture burned yesterday west of Tenino, apparently sparked by a tractor mower. Thurston County Fire District 12 called about 1:50 p.m. to the 17000 block of Marsh Road Southwest found about an acre of grass on fire and spent the next four hours chasing flames, according to Battalion Chief James Fowler. “It was wind-driven, and every time we’d get one part out, it would start up in another place,” Fowler said. Fowler said an individual at the racing horse farm had been mowing and turned to make another pass and noticed grass on the mower deck was on fire. He drove to a water source and extinguished it, Fowler said. Members of four other fire departments responded to help, he said. The owner and employees moved about a half dozen horses to a field in the front of the property and they were unharmed, according to Fowler. “Nobody was hurt, no houses or other property was damaged, other than the grass burned up,” he said. Fowler suggested its simply too dry out to risk mowing right now and others might think about putting the task off for awhile.
AND MORE
• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants; responses for alarms, disputes, disorderly person, hit and run, collision on city street, collisions on county roads, suspicious circumstances, a bloody arrow found in a yard … and more.