Lewis County Sirens.com

The snow stopped falling this morning along Rice Road, just southwest of Chehalis

Updated at 11:49 a.m.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The winter storm warning remains in effect through 8 o’clock tonight with total snow accumulations expected for greater Lewis County of 10 to 20 inches, according to a report from the National Weather Service just after 6:30 a.m. today.

A short term forecast issued at 8 a.m. however is suggesting moderate to heavy snow in the area will continue through 10 a.m.

Continue to expect extreme travel difficulties, the weather service says.

Northeast winds will increase through the morning hours to 10 to 20 mph causing drifting of the snow, according to the weather service.

Freezing rain is still possible over the South Sound this afternoon, with ice accumulations of up to one-tenth of an inch possible along the Interstate 5 corridor between Olympia and Chehalis, forecasters say.

Readers this morning have reported various snow accumulations of: 12 inches in Centralia, 14 inches in Chehalis and Doty, 17 inches in Onalaska, 18 inches in Pe Ell, 19 inches in Winlock, 24 inches in Cispus and more than that in Packwood.

Lewis County Superior Court is closed today. Lewis County District Court is open.

Power outages have been reported in Ethel and Centralia.

“We’ve got numerous outages all across the board actually,” Jeff Hoyt of Centralia City Light said this morning.

Their two line crews are out working and he is requesting a contract crew from outside the city to assist, Hoyt said.

Snow on the power lines and at least one tree that fell and broke a utility pole are the culprits, according to Hoyt.

As it warms and the snow gets heavier, he expects further outages today, he said. Hoyt did not have an estimate when all repairs would be made.

At noontime, there was a seven minute wait on hold to report power outages to Lewis County PUD.

A recorded message from about 6 a.m. named outages in some two dozen areas including such places as downtown Toledo, Wildwood Road, Middle Fork Road, Deep Creek Road, Carr Road in Randle and Ashford.

Readers of Lewis County Sirens have been offering continuous updates about their areas on the Lewis County Sirens Facebook group page, here

Updated 11:59 p.m.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

There’s no place like home.

A half dozen young people from Morton will quite probably bypass any snowman building tomorrow after a miserable unexpected overnight stay inside their truck near the Mount Adams Wilderness area.

Victoria House, 21, and her boyfriend Jason Toups, 22, along with four of their friends piled into two pickups late Saturday night to take a drive to the Orr Creek Snow Park south of Randle.

“We just wanted to go up there and see, just go up in the snow,” House said yesterday.

They saw the snow park and headed back toward home, taking the Forest Service Road that led to Packwood.

But the snow was so deep the Dodge pickup got stuck, and then the Ford F-150 did the same some 120 yards further up the road, House said.

Toups and Kory Holmes tried repeatedly to dig out the vehicles and finally gave up out of exhaustion, Toups said. They had a shovel with them, but it wasn’t enough, according to Toups.

House was only dressed for sight-seeing, slippers because of a healing broken ankle, and sweats. She had brought her “Romeos” shoes along though, she said.

Even with six of them spending the long night inside one truck together, and periodically starting the engine to fire up the heater, it still felt like being inside an ice box, House said.

“The hardest part for me was being hungry,” House said.

Her friends fed her cough drops; she’s pregnant and while she’d eaten dinner before they departed, she promptly had thrown it up, she said.

They fired off a gun, to get anyone’s attention, but nobody came.

When daylight came Sunday morning, the “boys” attempted again to dig out their trucks to no avail, House said.

House, Michelle Holmes, Tajha Franz and Sarah Amber Lopes stayed behind, while the young men set out to hike back to the snow park.

Toups estimated they walked about four miles when they came upon a  a dog sledder. He left to get help, and it wasn’t long before a pack of snow mobilers roared up, according to Toups.

Four of the snow mobilers went to retrieve the women and they all met back in a little fireplace-warmed cabin at the snow park where they they were fed soup and chili.

About the same time, a sheriff’s deputy was headed down to Walupt Lake where someone had heard they may have been going the night before.

A fish and wildlife officer showed up around 3 p.m. and the six of them got back on the road, in the trucks of strangers, to make their way to the Randle Fire Hall, House said.

None of them got frost bite, and only House went to the hospital, because of concerns about her pregnancy.

Toups offered this advice to those who travel on on snowy roads: “Be prepared, take clothes, a shovel,” he said. “Be prepared to stay the night if you have to.”

House would bring even more for another outing, she said.

“Take food, water, blankets, shoes, and tell more than one person where you’re going,” she said. “And, and estimated time you’ll be back.”

The National Weather Service is forecasting a major snow storm beginning tonight in Western Washington with the largest snow accumulations – besides in the mountains – to occur in greater Lewis County.

Somewhere between four or six to 14 inches of snow accumulations are expected in the southwest interior – that means places such as Olympia, Chehalis, Onalaska, Toledo, Pe ell, Oakville, Lacey and Tumwater, according to meteorologist Ted Buehner.

A warning issued this afternoon for the west slopes of the Cascade Mountains suggests two to three feet of new snow could fall there by tomorrow evening.

By just after 11 p.m., the warning indicated slightly less snowfall, suggesting 5 to 10 inches in the southwest interior.

The main impact is expected to be extreme travel difficulties.

Major interstates will be hazardous, secondary roads will be treacherous to impassable, according to the weather service.

Buehner said today there is the possibility of freezing rain south of Olympia, probably in the afternoon tomorrow.

If you must travel tomorrow, weather people warn, carry an extra flashlight, and yes, food, water and blankets.

The snow is currently expected to start taper off tomorrow night and warming may begin on Friday.

The state Department of Transportation says:

• Drivers can prepare for snow and ice by checking travel and roadway conditions on the WSDOT website and packing winter weather supplies, including tire chains.

• For travelers or non-travelers, that means it is decision time. Staying in? Have a full tank of gas, just in case. Going out? Pack tire chains and a winter car kit and drive for conditions.
•••

Read  “Search underway for group missing outside Randle since last night” from Sunday January 15, 2012, here

Noontime today looking north from 13th Street interchange in Chehalis.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Area fire departments are bracing for whatever comes as snow falls that began Saturday are forecast to increase in strength.

“We’re just waiting to see what Mother Nature’s going to throw at us,” Winlock area Assistant Fire Chief Kevin Anderson said this morning. “They’re calling for five inches Tuesday night and more Wednesday morning.”

A winter storm watch was issued early today because of the potential for a major winter storm on Wednesday in Western Washington.

The National Weather Service says there is the possibility of significant snow in both the lowlands and the mountains.

Responders were especially busy Saturday night in the Napavine area, with lots of “fender benders” and then a serious rollover accident on Interstate 5 near the Avery Road and U.S. Highway 12 interchange, according to Firefighter Brad Bozarth.

Since Friday afternoon, troopers in west Lewis County responded to four minor-injury collisions and 14 non-injury collisions, according to Washington State Patrol Sgt. Shane Nelson.

Calls about crashes on icy roads slowed yesterday, with just one vehicle in a ditch in east Lewis County and a two-car collision on state Route 6 near Spooner Road, according to the state patrol and Fire District 6.

A winter storm warning is in effect already for tonight for areas in the central and north Cascades including eastern Lewis County with accumulations of as much as two feet of snow in places by late tonight.

In Rochester, all the stationed are fully staffed today, “waiting for the big one,” Firefighter-EMT Rocky Lyon said this morning.

Lyon said he was hearing reports of snow falling in the Gate area and expecting it to move east later this morning.

The weather service cautions that if folks must travel, they should carry extra flashlight, food, water and blanket in case of an emergency.

A reader came by this on Forest Road 23 just outside Randle this morning. / Courtesy photo by Tiffany Reed

•••

Keep an eye on the official predictions for your area by clicking on the “Weather forecasts” link always on the right-hand sidebar of Lewis County Sirens.com – Remember, the forecast can and does change.

Update: 3:22 p.m.

They were just found stuck in the snow on the 21 Road, by personnel from state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

All are fine, according to sheriff’s Cmdr. Steve Aust.

They are working to get them unstuck, Aust said.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A group of as many as six individuals are the subject of a search outside Randle today.

Victoria House, 21, and Jason Toups went with some friends last night to play in the snow and haven’t returned home, House’s mother Bobbie Howell Dalton said this afternoon.

The sheriff’s office has set up a command post at the Randle fire hall, according to Lewis County Fire District 14 Chief Jeff Jaques.

“Some young folks went out to play in the snow last night and haven’t been seen since,” Jaques said.

Dalton said she called 911 about 10 a.m. when she realized her daughter missed a morning appointment.

All six are from Morton, Dalton said.

“My daughter’s three months pregnant and recovering from a broken ankle, so we’re kind of doubly worried about it,” she said.

Dalton said she has been told one of them texted a friend about 11:10 p.m. last night and said they were headed out the 23 Road to the Orr Creek Snow Park in the Cispus area south of Randle.

She believes they are driving in two trucks, she said.

She said she was told Lewis County Search and Rescue was out looking for them.

Lewis County sheriff’s Cmdr. Steve Aust said this afternoon a formal search had not been set up as they didn’t know for sure where the group had been headed.

Friends were out looking for them though, he said.

A deputy was headed out to Walupt Lake about 3 p.m. after learning they had been spotted there, Aust said.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A man accused of a drive-by shooting in Centralia from 2006 made a plea deal yesterday instead of going to trial.

Colbert A. Salmeron

Colbert A. Salmeron was 19 years old when he was arrested after an incident on the 500 block of North Tower Avenue.

A group of four individuals were standing next to a pickup truck in a parking lot when someone – allegedly Salmeron – fired several shots shattering its window and striking a nearby car and another truck, according to charging documents. No persons were hit.

Salmeron was facing multiple charges of first-degree assault and hiding out in El Salvador when he was captured last year.

Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Colin Hayes said he believed Salmeron was motivated to plead guilty because of a similar case during that period when  Centralia teenager Guadalupe Solis-Diaz Jr. was sentenced to more than 90 years in prison.

“Mr. Salmeron could have been in a similar situation had he been convicted as charged,” Hayes said.

Police said both incidents were gang-related.

Salmeron, now 25, faces a sentence of somewhere between about 14 years and a little more than 19 years in prison.

He pleaded guilty yesterday in Lewis County Superior Court to one count of first-degree assault, two counts of third-degree assault and bail jumping.

The prosecutor’s office dropped a charge of drive-by shooting, a charge of unlawful possession of a firearm, and firearm enhancements which each add mandatory extra time that must be served consecutively.

Salmeron has been described by police as a Texas resident who was visiting Centralia that summer, and as associated with the Little Valley Lokotes.

One of the alleged targets, Brandon Cagle, told police he had a brief relationship with Salmeron’s ex-girlfriend, and he believed that was why they were shot at, charging documents state. The others named as standing near the pickup truck are Tyson Anderson, Michael Lumpert and Katie Sullivan. Salmeron named Edgar Juarez as one of the victims in his formal statement of guilt yesterday.

His sentencing is set for Jan. 25 at 1 p.m.
•••

Read background on the case, here

Debbie Knapp leaves after making her plea today in Lewis County Superior Court.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The former director of the Lewis County Historical Museum pleaded not guilty today to multiple counts of theft from the non-profit organization dating back to 2008.

Deborah Sue Knapp, 52, appeared in Lewis County Superior Court with her attorney Ken Johnson.

She has been out of custody since she was charged at the end of December in connection with thousands of dollars missing from the Chehalis museum which she was in charge of.

“Not guilty,” was all Knapp said during the five-minute hearing.

Knapp is charged with 10 counts of first-degree theft, but prosecutors have said they expect further charges when an audit of the financial records going back to 2006 is completed.

She was arrested at the end of an investigation into revelations the museum’s endowment fund of more than $460,000 was drained in less than four years.  Knapp was hired in July 2006.

Prosecutors allege Knapp routinely issued herself extra pay through payroll draws and used the museum debit card for personal expenses.

Knapp said she had no comment.

Chehalis attorney Johnson said it was premature to speculate on any of the facts, as he expects a “mountain” of evidence” to go through, which he has not seen yet.

“It sounds like there was poor record keeping in this case,” Johnson said. “Who’s responsible for that, I don”t know. Maybe we’ll find out.”

Attorneys set a trial date for the week of May 21, farther into the future than usual because of the numerous instances of alleged theft over such a long period.
•••

For background, see “Prosecutor: Former museum director gave herself thousands of dollars in fraudulent payroll draws” from Friday December 30, 2011, here