Lewis County Sirens.com

Both fire damaged houses on C Street. / Courtesy photo by Cowlitz-Lewis Fire District 20

Updated at 7:36 p.m.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Flames ravaged one house and threatened a neighboring residence overnight in Vader, sending one person to the hospital.

Firefighters called just before 1 a.m. to C Street near Eighth Street found a fully involved structure fire on the corner and the south exterior wall of the second home burning, along with some large fir trees, according to Cowlitz-Lewis Fire District 20.

“We were on the scene quickly, fighting two fires with only four people,” Fire Chief Richard Underdahl said this morning.

They poured water onto the vulnerable home first and once it and the vegetation were extinguished, turned their focus to the first house, he said.

The one and a half story dwelling at 721 C Street is still standing, but is a total loss, he said.

The crew was joined by members of Lewis County Fire Districts 15, 2 and 5 as well as five individuals from Cowlitz 6 in Castle Rock, he said.

A woman who was staying with the man who owns the house was treated for burns to her arms and legs and taken to Providence Centralia Hospital by paramedics from Lewis County Medic 1, according to responders. He was elsewhere, Lewis County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Ross McDowell said.

There was no power and candles were being used for light.

She woke up, a candle had gotten knocked over, she tried to knock down the flames but finally grabbed a bag with her glasses in it and ran outside, McDowell said.

Underdahl said he believed she might have suffered second-degree burns.

As for the single-story house at 717 C Street, some windows were blown out, the siding scorched and a fence burned, according to Underdahl. The two homes were about 15 feet apart, he said.

Personnel were on the scene until about 9 o’clock this morning, he said. An investigator was called to look into the cause of the fire.

House on C Street in Vader burns. / Courtesy photo by Cowlitz-Lewis Fire District 20

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Initial returns in the primary suggest it could be the dairy farmer versus the beef farmer in November’s election for commissioner of Lewis County Fire District 8.

George Kaech, 72, is running for a second term on the three-person board that oversees the all-volunteer fire department. He milks about 80 cows, mostly Holstein at his Silver Creek property.

Don Taylor raises Angus cattle at his place in Cinebar, and is making his first run for an elected position. The 55-year-old left the fire department about 18 months ago.

Ballots counted shortly after 8 p.m. today in the all vote-by-mail election show Kaech with 336 votes and Taylor with 173.

Candidate Charles “Woody” Wood is trailing with 114 votes.

The Lewis County elections office has counted 623 ballots already returned from voters in District 8 and will tally up incoming ballots on Friday. Voter turnout overall in the various primary races around the county is showing at 26 percent tonight.

While Kaech and Taylor are both veteran firefighters of the department, they part ways when it comes to how much to ask of the volunteers.

Over the years, Taylor was instrumental in setting up the training program, wrote the standard operating procedures for the department and expects a lot of members.

“This might be a volunteer department, but a volunteer department has to play by the same rules and the same laws as a professional department,” Taylor said. “We need to train to that standard.”

Taylor said he put almost 26 years in, rising to assistant chief in his final three years, including several months when the department was without a chief. He took a year leave of absence and then decided to call it quits, because the departmental demands had become so lax, he said.

“The changes I saw just turned my stomach,” he said. “It scared me. I couldn’t go back.”

Kaech, who retired from the firefighting side at age 65 with 38 years under his belt, is comfortable with fewer demands.

“You gotta bend when you’re working with volunteers,” Kaech said. “The fire side isn’t the biggest part of the department anymore. So how much training do you need to fight 10 fires in one year?”

The fire district protects almost 200 square miles in central Lewis County, with 37 volunteers and an annual budget of about $400,000. Chief Duran McDaniel estimates they serve a population of 4,000 people.

Nobody is paid, even the three commissioners don’t accept a meeting stipend as some boards of fire commissioners do.

Kaech says he is proud the district operates with one of the lowest rates of taxation, has what he calls a well-rounded board and has “one of the best bunch” of volunteers one could ask for.

“Ann (Piper) knows the accounting, I know about the fire department and Sharon DeBuhr, she’s kind of in the middle,” he said.

He speaks highly of McDaniel who was appointed chief in February of last year.

“We’re happy with just exactly what it is right now,” Kaech said.

Taylor says he was asked by both current and former members of the fire department, as well as neighbors, to run for commissioner.

“This department is not living up to what the community or the neighborhood expects of a fire department,” he said.

The fire commissioners meet the second Monday of each month.
•••

See the primary election initial, preliminary results here

George Kaech

Candidate:  George Kaech
Age:  72
Occupation:  dairy farmer
Resides:  Silver Creek
How long there:  since 1945
Education:  Mossyrock High School, class of 1959
Experience in elected office:  ran for fire commissioner six years ago and won

•••

Don Taylor

Candidate:  Don Taylor
Age:  55
Occupation: cattle farmer
Resides:  Cinebar
How long there:  more than 30 years
Education:  Clover Park Technical College, aviation maintenance
Experience in elected office:  none

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

It appears there’s a bad batch of heroin on the streets, which has been responsible for at least one death in recent days in Centralia.

A 25-year-old man brought to the fire station overnight was revived and taken to the hospital, and fire department leaders want to get the word out.

“The fire chief wants us to let people know that do heroin, the stuff that’s out there that may be ‘hot’, a little bit strong,” Riverside Fire Authority Capt. Tim Adolphsen said this morning.

Crews from the North Pearl Street station have dealt with three cases in the last four days, Adolphsen said. One person didn’t survive, he said.

A male called 911 about 1:30 a.m. today saying he was driving toward Centralia from Tenino, and that his passenger wasn’t breathing very well, was pretty much out of it, Centralia Police Department Officer John Panco said.

Medics waiting outside the station administered Nar-Can and took the patient to Providence Centralia Hospital, according to responders. The driver left before police arrived, Panco said.

So far this year, the Lewis County Coroner’s Office has two confirmed heroin overdose deaths, which is not a lot in the grand scheme of things, according to Chief Deputy Coroner Dawn Harris. Both individuals died in the Centralia area, she said, but they were not recent.

They do have the one new case in which the cause of death is not yet known, she said.

Fire departments in Chehalis, Rochester and Tenino said they aren’t aware of a specific current problem with heroin overdoses.

Tina Vanderhoof at Thurston County Fire District 12 which handles the Tenino area said this morning she has heard of issues going on “up north” but didn’t have further details.

On Saturday, a driver was found unconscious with a syringe in his hand after running into a fence and then the ditch in Chehalis, but it’s not clear yet what drug he may have been using, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

In Centralia, the fire department said further information about the issue should be obtained from the police department. Panco, a spokesperson for the police department, said he was only aware of the one case.

The Tenino man whose life was saved by Centralia firefighters was still alive this morning, and well enough that he was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to Panco.

Panco said suspected heroin was found in his pocket, so Stephen C. Smith, 25, was arrested for possession.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A Centralia man died at the scene of a fiery rollover crash in which both occupants were ejected yesterday afternoon in Federal Way.

Billy Powell Jr. 21, was a passenger in a Honda Accord that was northbound off the Interstate 5 ramp to state Route 18 when the driver for whatever reason lost control, according to the Washington State Patrol. The car rolled several times and caught fire, according to the state patrol.

It happened about 12:20 p.m. and the cause remains under investigation.

Trooper Clifford Pratt said the vehicle was on a straightaway and likely speeding, although not wildly over the speed limit .

“It will maybe have more to do with something that was going on inside the car,” Pratt said.

The equipment on the 1992 model Honda was in poor condition he said. “The tires were some of the baldest I’ve ever seen in a crash.”

Santana Sanchez, 27, of Shelton, was badly hurt with broken arms, deep cuts and probably hit her head pretty hard, Pratt said. She landed about 20 feet away and initially indicated she was alone in the vehicle, he said.

In the course of extinguishing the burning car, which came to rest in sticker bushes, they found the other person, about 10 feet away, according to Pratt. Responders tried to revive him, but were unsuccessful, he said.

Pratt said there was probably a five to eight minute delay that may or may not have made a difference.

Powell died from blunt force injury to his torso, according to the King County Medical Examiner’s Office.

The trooper described Powell as currently homeless, with a last known address in Centralia, which is where his family lives.

Neither of the two were wearing their seat belts, according to the state patrol.

Sanchez was transported to St. Francis Hospital. It’s unknown if she had drugs or alcohol in her system, but investigators are looking at that, according to Pratt.

“It’s a bad situation all the way around,” he said.

Firefighters wait at the corner of Reynolds and North Tower avenues while detectives complete their scene investigation several hundred yards away.

Updated

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CENTRALIA – A woman’s body was found in the Skookumchuck River in north Centralia this evening but police don’t suspect foul play.

Centralia Police Department detective Sgt. Pat Fitzgerald said two kids floating down the river found her, went home and called 911 around 7 p.m. and then walked police to the scene.

She hasn’t been positively identified, but Fitzgerald said he suspects it is the same woman who called 911 on Saturday evening saying she was lost near the river.

Officers and firefighters spent about three hours that night walking both sides of the river and even using thermal imaging cameras but didn’t find her, he said.

Before the night was over however, authorities came across someone who had seen her and told them she was okay, he said.

Fitzgerald didn’t think the body had been in the water all that long, not since Saturday night. A chair and a couple bottles of water were found near her, he said.

There were no obvious signs of traumatic injury, according to police.

Detectives conducted their investigation tonight east of a pasture at  Reynolds and North Tower avenues.

A car that belongs to the woman was found parked on the east side of the river off Central Boulevard and impounded by police, he said.

He described the woman he suspects it could be as in her mid-30s and local, someone who’s lived here for years. The coroner’s office is expected to confirm her identity and cause of death.

Zachery H. Bynum tries to fire his lawyer David Arcuri after Arcuri asks a judge to have Bynum evaluated by mental health specialists.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The Packwood man who allegedly kidnapped his young woman friend – first forcing her up a logging road and then dragging her out of the Glenoma grocery, both while armed with a machete – won’t be seeing a judge again anytime soon.

Zachery H. Bynum’s mental stability is in question.

A judge signed an order for the 41-year-old to be evaluated at Western State Hospital to determine if he’s competent enough to understand the court proceedings he’s involved in.

“And, that his mental disease, if he has one, or his mental status, is such that he can effectively assist his lawyer,” defense attorney David Arcuri said.

Bynum was arrested at gunpoint at the end of a police pursuit on July 16 after he allegedly forced 22-year-old Hesper Barker of Morton to flee a deputy in her truck. Court documents state the events of that day came after Barker met with Bynum to tell him she could not see him any more.

He remains held in the Lewis County Jail on $250,000, charged with 12 counts, including first-degree kidnapping and second-degree assault.

He was in court on Thursday to be arraigned, but that can’t be done unless he’s found competent.

Family members from Packwood, Seattle and Eastern Washington traveled to attend the hearing in support of him.

“Everyone just wants help for him, that’s all,” his sister Lela Bynum said. “The episode that happened, it’s not his personality, it’s not who he is.

“They’re just that, they’re episodes.”

Bynum’s father and step mother live in Packwood. He lives with a friend and helps take care of horses and the farm, according to Trish Schmid who said she raised him from the time he was 9 years old. The sheriff’s office described him as a homeless person when he was arrested.

He has a prior felony conviction for second-degree assault from 1994 and several misdemeanor convictions for domestic violence and harassment, according to prosecutors.

His 19-year-old daughter saw him for the first time in a decade in the courtroom last week.

“The last time I saw him, I was on the stand, testifying against him,” Tawnee Bynum said.

One of his his priors is a fourth-degree assault from 2003 in which she was the victim, at age 10, she said.  A no contact order kept them apart, and she only recently learned it had expired.

Her father looked like he was about to cry when he realized who she was and that she was there, she said.

“When I mouthed I love you to him, he had the biggest smile on his face,” she said.

Tawnee Bynum didn’t go into any detail about the past, only saying she and her sister both want their father to get better.

When Bynum was first to go before a judge, he refused. The following day, when he did appear, temporary defense attorney Bob Schroeter apologized to the judge, saying his client had significant mental health issues.

Arcuri, who was then appointed to represent him because he is indigent, said he spoke with Schroeter and met with his new client in the jail and concluded he had a duty to get an evaluation done by experts at the state mental hospital.

Bynum vigorously disagreed with Arcuri’s request to the judge and told him he was fired. Judge Nelson Hunt signed the order, because a defendant can’t even make that decision unless he or she is competent, according to Arcuri.

A review hearing is scheduled for Aug. 8.

If Bynum is found competent, he can be then arraigned, according to Arcuri. If he is not found competent, the hospital can keep him while it “restores competency” something that is sometimes done with medication, Arcuri said.

Zachery H. Bynum recognizes his daughter in the courtroom whom he hasn’t seen in 10 years.

•••

For background, read “Lawyers: Mentally disturbed Packwood man kidnapped woman friend” from Thursday July 18, 2013, here

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A 30-year-old man who was arrested at his Chehalis home and held in jail for five days on suspicion of sexually abusing his 4-year-old daughter was released with no charges, after a specialist concluded it appeared the child was coached to say what she said.

Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer said it was a rare occurrence but was also an instance of the system working.

“To me, it’s checks and balances,” Meyer said.

Michael E. Miller, 30, was jailed on July 6, a Saturday and went before a judge the following Monday afternoon. Bail was set at $100,000 to continue to hold him on probable cause while further investigating was done and prosecutors could decide whether to file charges.

The offense he was arrested for was child rape in the first degree.

According to court documents, the little girl’s mother called police in mid-June and said the youngster told her that her father put his finger in her “pee pee”. When subsequently interviewed by an investigator with Child Protective Services, she blurted out, “My dad put his finger in my bottom and it hurt,” court documents state, but the session was ended after the interviewer was not able to keep the girl “on track.”

Deputy Prosecutor Joely O’Rourke said that while Miller was locked up, the child was seen by a specialist at a sexual assault clinic in Olympia, who gave a final report. O’Rourke declined to file any charge.

“The parents are in a heated custody dispute over 4-year-old twins,” O’Rourke said.

There were indications the child might have been coached, and there was no corroboration, she said.

O’Rourke said holding a person in jail without charging them doesn’t happen often, but Miller had a previous issue that moved her in that direction. She didn’t want to elaborate, but the court documents state Miller was convicted in 2004 of possession of child pornography.

His visits with his children are supervised by his sister who is a social worker and very credible, O’Rourke said, and she said there was no way such an incident could have occurred because she was with them during the visits.

Chehalis Police Department detective Sgt. Gary Wilson said there was no physical evidence and no independent witness, but he had what a police officer needs, probable cause for the arrest.

“It’s one of those things, you err on the side of the child,” Wilson said.

O’Rourke indicated an eye will be kept on the situation.

Miller declined to comment on his situation.

Prosecutor Meyer reiterated that each step along the way to a criminal charge requires a different framework to view a case. First police have their protocol, the prosecutors apply their standards and then a judge reviews each case before a charge can be filed.

Meyer indicated potentially someone could be in trouble for coaching a child to utter such phrases, but spoke only theoretically about it.

“You have to look at what proof there is, and more importantly, what proof there isn’t,” he said.