Lewis County Sheriff Rob Snaza, left, and his brother Thurston County Sheriff John Snaza. / Courtesy photo by Jennie Snaza
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – Lewis County Sheriff Rob Snaza and his twin sheriff brother have the shocking, incredible, but true honor of being featured among the “eye-popping oddities” of a new book.
Ripley’s Believe It or Not! is more than an iconic Sunday newspaper comic feature, it’s museums, traveling shows, videos and books.
Each year, Ripleys puts out puts out a new edition of strange stories, fun facts, oddities, curiosities, and this year, the Snazas are among them.
Sheriff Snaza, who learned of his inclusion from a newspaper reporter, said he thinks it’s pretty cool.
The new edition
“I just think it’s an honor, I’m excited about it,” he said yesterday. “It’s something to show your kids, your grandkids.”
The entry can be found on page 20, of the 256-page volume overflowing with “mind-blowing stories” of animals, feats, art, pop culture, the human body, and more, according to the publisher.
“In November 2014, twin brothers Rob and John Snaza were elected sheriffs in neighboring southwest Washington counties,” the publicist writes.”Voters elected Rob to become sheriff of Lewis County while John was re-elected sheriff of Thurston County.”
Their recognition is tucked into the edition that includes among its collection of thousands of all-new stories, the lowdown on a goldfish that underwent brain surgery to remove a tumor and a 40-inch-long piece of (alleged) fossilized dinosaur poop, found in Washington State, that sold for $8,500 in 2014.
The book, titled “Eye-Popping Oddities” came out on Sept. 8 and is available through all major book sellers, according to its publicist.
Robert L. Ripley’s first Believe It or Not! books, collections of his newspaper cartoon drawings, appeared in 1929 and 1931.
Sheriff Rob Snaza, of Napavine, who turned 50 earlier this year, ran as a Republican last fall and took 77 percent of the vote.
He said he hadn’t yet had a chance to talk with his brother, to find out if he knew how they caught they attention of the book’s authors.
He said he’s pretty sure it’s probably a first. He’s heard of fathers and sons, such as former Lewis County Sheriff Bill Wiester Sr. whose son became Grant County sheriff, he said, but not twin brothers.
Thurston County Sheriff John Snaza, ran as an Independent in 2010, and last November won another four-year term. He also turned 50 this year.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
@FreeAir: I don’t know the man and he has been in there a while and I haven’t heard anything bad about him. It’s primarily one of the biggest management jobs in Lewis County so first and foremost I’m sure that you have to be a good manager.
Secondly I think that it’s important to the citizenry that you enforce the law equally as much as possible. It’s not good when some people feel that they have not been given justice because of some type of favoritism.
And then I am sure that you always have a few bad apples that you have to deal with.
I actually have a favorite among his top officers who I would like to see run for sheriff in one of the coming elections.
BTW, my mother was a deputy sheriff and ran the evening shift in a small department. She used to throw great cop parties from time to time. She said that she could always tell if a deputy was doing something he shouldn’t out on the road just by talking with them on the radio. I knew the three sheriffs that she worked for when I grew up and they all were decent guys. I think in the modern era she could have been the sheriff.
My mother had a lot of heart and compassion for people and for years people would come up to me and tell me how my mother helped them in one way or another during a difficult time in their lives. I think that’s an important quality in a police officer.
The Lewis County Sheriff got his position by planning years ahead, gaining the support of the department and communities of Lewis County, Registering as a candidate then getting elected by a solid majority of the voting citizens of Lewis County.
That he had no credible opposition to run against is hardly a conspiracy.
These guys are career establishment cops. Don’t know about the Thurston sheriff but our sheriff got his job through a locker room conspiracy. Outgoing sheriff Mansfield gave him the undersheriff job and gave him lots of PR opportunity to become known in Lewis County. Then they put him up for election with the collusion of the republican supervisors who had already promised to create a new job for Mansfield if he would retire. The dems put up a wacko candidate and Saza’s election was a given. Then the sups came through for Mansfield with the plum job of emergency services director which they illegally didn’t open to other seekers.
Not saying he isn’t a good candidate and won’t do well in the job, just that he was anointed by the Lewis County establishment.
Perhaps you folks are looking at this news item from the wrong perspective. Ripley’s may possibly find it incredible to believe that the electorate was stupid enough to vote these two into office. After gaining a little political experience, they may perhaps decide to run for President and Vice President. Twin brothers? adjoining counties? Get real folks. Appears to me to be a penis measuring contest.
If Ripley’s Believe It or Not! contacted me and said, “wilbur you’re an eye-popping oddity, and we have included you in our new book.” I want to know, “how much money do I get?” If the answer is zero, then I have to say that I’m not very keen on others making money off of me. Not that that would ever happen to me, but anyway I hope Sheriff Snaza and his brother received or will receive something for their contribution. I think Thurston county got the better end of the deal, but I know in any difficult situations John will offer wise consultation to his twin brother. I encourage Rob to continue to be proactive to achieve some of the things he has said he wants to do, to listen to his twin brother, and to implement some modernization.
Twin brothers with similar jobs living in the same part of the country manages to make Ripley’s Believe It or Not?! I remember when Ripley’s meant serious oddities. The kind you used to see at Freak Shows in days past, or on reality TV now.
Actually our Sheriff Snaza was coronated, not elected. Outgoing Sheriff Mansfield set him up for the job by making him the undersheriff. And he didn’t have any serious competition for the job.
Then the commissioners conspired to make a plum job for Mansfield without opening the new job up to other seekers.
That’s the way things are done in out little county but hey – I’m not a conspiracy theorist.
I just hope that Snaza does a good job and we don’t get kids stabbed in our little community and the stabbers running free because of their links to the law enforcement community like an incident in the recent past.
First and foremost… Bo Rupert, you are a complete idiot. Perhaps you should find something worthwhile to do with your life, instead of continually taking shots at anybody in authority. Your ramblings only serve to make you look ridiculous and crazy. Second of all, do you really think the Snaza brothers sought out Ripley’s, in an effort to be included in their book?? If so, you are clearly more delusional than you have already proven to be. Can we all look forward to another ridiculous and rambling video about this?? Get a life.
Tina whats wrong with Bo? Yeah sure he might of had a drinking problem at on time but I see a Patriot that does not take shit from the non body camera wearing thugs, did you see the video where his buddy was attacked in the Pierce County court house? Then the punks tried to charge him with a crime for throwing him to the floor. Tina Youtube is full of police brutality videos. Its not one or two videos its thousands. Lets face it the police are out of control here in America, the drug war is a failure and the Cia is smuggling drugs into our country to keep the private prisons funded. Im glad Bo chips in his two cents once in awhile. We need more people like him that are willing to stand up to the police criminals who dont have dash or body cameras. After all Dissent is the Highest form of Patriotism. Hillary for Prison 2016.,,, let er rip Bo.. Tina watches Cnn, Faux News Msnbc for her daily dose of news.
Now if the police force just wore body cameras and dash cameras we could beleive it or not. Until the local police update themselves with this technology their just armed thugs that write fairy tale police reports. Getting cameras should be the number one priority not book deals. Your right Bo the police are dinosaur poop without this tecnology. What happened to the 50,000 dollar drug bust for the marijuana about 5 months back. Oh thats right they spent it on investigating Hub City Natural Medicine while they violated the law and manufactured fake medical marijusna cards. Now marijuana is legal. What a waste of Tax Dollars. Get some body cameras or go home. The community does not trust you guys anymore.
I honestly don’t know why this freak is not banned from responding to ANYTHING on this site! What a complete idiot! Yes, I’m talking about you Bo!
This really disturbs me. These two will practically do anything to stroke their ego and increase publicity. Since Robert Snaza has been elected I have not seen him do one thing except agree with Lewis County Prosecuting Attorney Jonathan Meyer that I-594 should not be enforced. Other than that I have seen him do nothing besides talk to the media and do interviews, speeches, and formal dinners. Even in the fire on Gish Road a couple months ago all Mr. Snaza did there was record helicopters fighting the fire with his cell phone. It does seem appropriate though they be in a book with dinosaur poop. Sadly, neither one of them is worth $8,500 bucks. The poop is worth more. A good thought to ponder.