STRANDED HUNTER SPENDS NIGHT OUTDOORS OUTSIDE RANDLE
• A 55-year-old hunter whose pickup truck got stuck in the snow outside Randle walked 10 and a half miles into town yesterday after spending the night in his vehicle in the woods, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The man’s girlfriend had called 911 about 9:40 p.m. on Monday and said he was overdue while hunting in an area off Cline Road. Deputies were not able to locate him but had been told he was outfitted with appropriate clothing and an emergency hunting pack, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said. A deputy spoke with the hunter, an Olympia resident, yesterday evening who said he had retrieved his pickup truck from Forest Service Road 26 and got home safely, according to Brown.
GUNPOINT THEFT OF TOYOTA UNDER INVESTIGATION
• Centralia police reported this morning they are on the lookout for a 2003 Toyota Corolla after getting a report on Monday from a Centralia resident who said a man had come to his North Schueber Road home a few days earlier and demanded his car keys at gunpoint. The victim, a man in his 30s, told police he answered a knock on his door and a stranger with a heavy Spanish accent told him to give him his car, according to police. He handed over his keys and the subject drove away, police said. Detective Sgt. Pat Fitzgerald said they are still sorting out the details and don’t believe the reported robbery was random. The vehicle is a white four-door bearing the license plate 583 ZMO. Police ask if anyone sees it to call 911 immediately.
STOLEN POLICE CAR FOUND, TWO ARRESTED
• Two people – including a Tenino woman – were arrested in connection with last week’s theft of an unmarked sheriff’s office car from in front of the home of a sheriff’s office employee, the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office reported yesterday. The black 2002 Chevrolet Impala, outfitted with a police radio and emergency lights disappeared from southeast Olympia sometime between the evening of Nov. 23 and 5 a.m. the next day, according to the sheriff’s office. On Monday, deputies and the Olympia Police department got a tip from Crimestoppers. According to a news release yesterday, the car was found at an apartment complex parking lot on the 1200 block of East Street in Lacey. Arrested were Leah F. Moreno, 25, of Tenino, and Daniel K. Conaty, 22, of Olympia.
BURGLARIES
• Chehalis police were called yesterday morning to the 200 block of Riverside Drive where somebody had broken into a vacant house. Nothing was missing, but there were muddy footprints inside, according to the Chehalis Police Department.
• Centralia police were called just before noon on Monday about a break-in to a building on the 2600 block of Eureka Avenue. Nothing was reported missing, according to the Centralia Police Department.
MARIJUANA AT SCHOOL
• A 16-year-old student was arrested for possession of marijuana at W.F. West High School in Chehalis on Monday, according to police. He was booked into Lewis County Juvenile Detention, according to the Chehalis Police Department. The amount in question was “not very much”, detective Sgt. Rick McNamara said.
TEENAGERS ON ROOF
• Four teenage boys were arrested for trespass after a neighbor complained they were sitting on the roof of a vacant Chehalis house 15th Street on Monday.
FIGHT WITH PEPPER SPRAY
• A 22-year-old Chehalis man was arrested after he allegedly used pepper spray or something like it on three people in downtown Chehalis. Police were called just before 2 a.m. Sunday to the 400 block of North Market Boulevard where the subject apparently had gotten into a dispute with a female and sprayed her, according to Chehalis police. When a man and woman intervened, he reportedly used it on them as well, detective St. Rick McNamara said. Ryan E. Smith was arrested for fourth-degree assault and then released, according to police. A second call at about the time just up the street of another fight in front of the Code Red bar drew Centralia police officers to assist, McNamara said. No one was arrested following that call, he said. McNamara said it was Code Red’s last night of being open. “It was their last big party, I think,” he said.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter