Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – For the second time, the Washington State Court of Appeals has struck down Lewis County Superior Court Judge Nelson Hunt’s nearly 93 year sentence for a drive-by shooting committed by a former Centralia High School student at age 16. Nobody was killed.

The three-member panel also agreed Guadalupe Solis-Diaz Jr. is free to move to disqualify the judge from the case.

Guadalupe Solis-Diaz Jr.

Solis-Diaz Jr. was arrested after gunfire was sprayed along the east side of South Tower Avenue in Centralia, missing six bar patrons the summer of 2007. Witnesses testified it was gang-related. Solis-Diaz maintained he was innocent.

He was tried as an adult and convicted of multiple offenses, including one count of first-degree assault committed with a firearm for each bullet that was fired.

The six assault counts were ordered to be served consecutively and each carried a mandatory extra five years because they were committed with a firearm. While nobody was injured, the sentence given was at the high end of the standard range.

In 2012, the Court of Appeals ordered the local court to conduct a new hearing, referencing various matters that it believed should have been handled more thoroughly, given the defendant was a juvenile.

At the end of the hearing when it was finally held in the spring 2014, Hunt criticized the appeals court decision calling some of their conclusions insulting and ludicrous and said he found no merit in any argument he should lower the sentence. He sentenced Solis-Diaz for the second time to 1,111 months in prison.

A different three-member panel which issued its opinion today stated that on remand, the sentencing court must conduct a meaningful, individualized inquiry into whether Solis-Diaz’s youth should mitigate his sentence.

“Solis-Diaz argues, and the state concedes, that the sentencing court erred by refusing to consider whether application of the multiple offense policy warranted an exceptional downward sentence,” Justice Thomas B. Bjorgen wrote in the unanimous opinion. “He also argues the trial court erred by refusing to consider his youth as a mitigating factor and by imposing a 1,111-month prison term on a juvenile offender in violation of constitutional prohibitions on cruel and unusual punishment.”

The appeals court agreed with the two contentions, but stated it did not consider whether the sentence violates the constitutional prohibitions on cruel and unusual punishment.

“Accordingly, we vacate Solis-Diaz’s sentence and remand for remand for re-sentencing,” Bjorgen wrote.

Today’s decision was the topic of some casual conversation in Lewis County Superior Court Judge Richard Brosey’s courtroom.

Judge Brosey mentioned the issuing of opinion to Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Kevin Nelson and defense attorney Joely O’Rourke after they finished the business of preliminary hearings.

Brosey spoke of political correctness and how clerks are the ones who write the opinions the justices sign their names to.

Brosey alluded to his thinking that the age of the person  holding the gun doesn’t change what happens at the other end of a gunshot.

Judge Brosey and Judge Hunt have announced they are retiring at the end of this year. O’Rourke is running for election to Brosey’s position on the bench.

Solis-Diaz is represented by Longview lawyer John A. Hays. Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Sara Beigh argued the appeal for the state.

Justices Bradley A. Maxa and Rich Melnick concurred with today’s decision, however Melnick added a few paragraphs.

Melnick stated he agreed the sentence must be reversed, but didn’t believe the appeals court should be telling the trial court what issue to consider on remand.
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For background, read “”Do-over” on drive-by shooting sentence yields no change for Centralian” from Monday March 3, 2014, here

And Washington Courts: Court of Appeals Division II: State of Washington, Respondent V. Guadalupe Solis Diaz Jr., Appellant: 46002-5, here

Courtesy photo from Centralia Police Department investigation

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A joint police and fire department investigation has concluded the blaze that killed three children in their Centralia home was accidental but could not pinpoint a certain cause.

Investigators learned of two possible reasons for the March 4 fire on Ham Hill Road. The fire was believed to have started inside near the front door of the split level home.

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One potential culprit was a compact florescent light bulb in a lamp and the other is recently laundered oily towels, both which had been at the point of origin, according to the Centralia Police Department.

Because more than one possible cause exists, the cause of the fire is officially ruled undetermined.

Their mother who had been sleeping downstairs escaped but the children never made out it out of their upstairs bedrooms. Benjamin D. Tower, 12; Madeline R. Tower, 10; and Samuel J. Tower, 7, died from smoke inhalation.

A police officer who responded to the approximately 12:45 a.m. was injured when he broke a window trying to rescue the kids.

Sue Tower had moved her family into the rental home less than a year earlier.

The Centralia Police Department issued its findings today.

A news release from Cmdr. Pat Fitzgerald states that police detectives and members of Riverside Fire Authority have been diligently investigating.

They knew that morning the origin was within about four feet of the front door.

“At the point of fire origin, there had been a lamp with a compact florescent light bulb (CFL), this light bulb could have malfunctioned and caused the fire,” Fitzgerald wrote. “No remains of the bulb were found.”

The other possible cause is the spontaneous combustion of oily towels, according to Fitzgerald. They had been washed and placed in a crate, near the front door, he indicated.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

The Centralia area fire department is urging the public to use extra caution when conducting outdoor burning, noting an unusually warm and dry spring after twice yesterday evening responding to brush fires.

At 4:50 p.m. crews were called to the 600 block of Centralia-Alpha Road where they found grass and light brush on fire covering an area of approximately 50-feet by 20-feet.

“The fire was quickly brought under control without any complications,” Fire Capt. Scott Weinert stated in a news release.

It appeared to have originated where brush had been piled up next to an area where the ground was being developed for some type of construction, according to Riverside Fire Authority.

“The RFA wishes to remind everyone that outdoor burning must be attended by a responsible person and a burning permit must be obtained from Lewis County,” Weinert wrote. “All conditions of the permit must be adhered to at all times.”

Twenty minutes after that call, the fire department was dispatched to TransAlta on the 900 block of Big Hanaford Road where employees discovered a nearly half-acre fire that consumed brush and ignited a pile of power poles as well as an over-sized tire and a debris pile, according to Weinert.

The workers had used a bulldozer to create a trail around the perimeter to prevent the fire from spreading, Weinert said.

It was just four days ago when three area fire departments spent all night attacking a wildfire on Crego Hill in Adna.

Last summer saw some of the largest, and fastest moving wild fires around the county, and the region, in recent history due to an exceptionally hot and dry summer.

Just one side of the office-storage building remained standing on Monday afternoon at Cenex.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Whatever clues might have existed as to what ignited the Cenex building in Chehalis burned up in the fire, according to the fire chief.

Fire investigators spent the past two days exploring the scene at the 100 block of Northwest State Avenue, just north of Main Street.

“The damage was so extensive, they could not determine the cause,” Chehalis Fire Department Chief Ken Cardinale said today. “We were dealing with 2000 degree temperatures.”

The business was closed when flames were reported about 10:34 p.m. on Sunday.

Approximately 30 firefighters from four departments battled the blaze that mostly consumed the office-storage building, dealing with ongoing explosions of the contents.

The building held numerous  55-gallon drums of lubricating oil among other petroleum products, according to Cardinale.

Cenex includes a gas station, but the business also provides bulk delivery of various fuels including propane. Crews worked through the night keeping cool the numerous liquefied petroleum gas tanks on site to prevent them from exploding.

Cardinale said investigators spoke to workers and also to the individual who first reported the fire.

No problems had been reported by the company with its building, such as electrical issues, but the initial caller was able to say the fire at first was seen at the southwest corner of the building, according to the chief.

Investigators focused around that area, but didn’t find anything, the chief said.

A common aspect of fire investigations would be to take samples or have a dog sniff for accelerants, but the building contained mostly hydrocarbons, so that wasn’t an option, according to Cardinale.

An estimated dollar loss won’t be available until after the private contractor finishes cleaning up the surrounding area next week, Cardinale said.

At one point during the fire, the department stopped putting water on it and allowed it to burn, to reduce the amount of contaminated run off.

Cardinale said the adjacent dirt field should be cleaned up by tomorrow, but the contractor will be working next week on cleaning up culverts as well as a retention pond next to Interstate 5.
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For background, read “Fire claims Cenex in Chehalis” from Monday May 2, 2016, here