Lewis County Sirens.com

Firefighter-paramedic Jesse Berry works to assist trapped horse. / Courtesy photo by Riverside Fire Authority

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Centralia area firefighters worked for hours last night attempting to rescue a horse that fell to the bottom of an abandoned well.

The animal did not survive.

Riverside Fire Authority Chief Jim Walkowski said it appeared the horse broke through a concrete lid covering the 25-deep well. It was dry, he said.

Seven firefighters trained in large animal rescue responded about 6 p.m. to the pasture at the 2500 block of Seminary Hill Road, according to the chief.

The opening was approximately a four-foot square he said, and the horse was wedged at the bottom with his legs tangled in broken pieces of concrete and its wire mesh. The 1,800 pound animal had significant injuries, according to Walkowski.

With a veterinarian’s supervision, a firefighter was lowered and suspended to administer medication to calm the horse, Walkowski said.

“He was young with lots of energy,” Walkowski said. “From what I understand, in good health.”

The horse was really tired when they arrived, the chief said. It wasn’t clear how many hours he may have been trapped, he said.

It was right around 9:30 when the horse gave up, according to the chief.

Walkowski said they’ve never encountered such a complex rescue.

“Yeah, it was really sad,” he said. “We were really, really hoping we were gonna be able to make a difference.”

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A Morton family is without a home today after a fire claimed their residence on the 200 block of Alder Avenue and one occupant is hospitalized.

Firefighters from Morton, Mossyrock and Glenoma battled the blaze that was reported about 6:20 this morning.

The single-story wood frame house was fully involved in flames when crews arrived, according to Lewis County Fire District 4.

Two adults and thee young children got themselves out, but one of the residents was taken to Morton General Hospital and then transferred to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, according to Firefighter-EMT Jeanine Armstrong.

“All we know is somebody got up to do something and they got everybody out,” Armstrong said.

She said she wasn’t sure if it smoke inhalation or what that affected the man who was hospitalized.

The Red Cross is assisting the family, she said.

The cause is under investigation.

“Unfortunately, it’s a total loss,” Armstrong said.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Kenneth Slert will have to wait a while longer to find out if prosecutors will attempt for a fourth time to get a murder conviction to stick.

The Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office will petition the state Supreme Court in hopes of avoiding yet another trial in the case of a fatal campground shooting from almost a dozen years ago.

An appeals court last week remanded the case for a new trial for Slert. Slert was convicted of second-degree murder in the October 2000 death of 53-year-old John Benson, a truck driver and father of five from Eatonville.

Three times Slert has been found guilty in Lewis County Superior Court and three times the appeals court has overturned his convictions.

Most recently, the panel of judges said there was a violation of a public trial right and Slert’s right to be present at all times.

At issue is a closed door meeting between the judge and attorneys that led to four prospective jurors being excused during his most recent trial.

The former Tacoma man claimed self defense when he shot Benson twice following an evening of drinking and arguing over politics at a hunting camp off Skate Creek Road in East Lewis County.

Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer excused himself from the decision making process because he represented the former Tacoma man when he was a defense attorney.

Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorneys Sara Beigh and Will Halstead were tasked with deciding whether to hold a new trial, not hold a new trial or petition the Supreme Court.

Beigh today said the office will ask the state Supreme Court to review the appeals court decision.

There are a lot of cases on hold regarding a similar issue, Beigh said.

“We’re hoping at least a decision to stay the decision until the court decides that issue,” she said.

Th office has until early next month to file its petition and then it usually takes three to four months to get any type of response from the Supreme Court, she said.

Slert was sent to prison in mid-2004 and has been serving a sentence of a little more than 23 years.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A two-vehicle collision on U.S. Highway 12 west of Rochester on Saturday sent seven people to the hospital, including four children riding in the open back of a truck.

It was a T-bone crash at the intersection of Anderson Road that occurred when the driver of a Chevrolet Avalanche blew a stop sign, according to the Washington State Patrol.

The van it hit had 11 passenger, Trooper Guy Gill said.

“It’s never a good idea to let children ride in the back of a pickup truck,” he said.

Troopers called about 3:40 p.m. said there were no life-threatening injuries, but the occupants of the Avalanche were all taken to Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia. The speed limit on Highway 12 is 55 mph.

Nobody in the van was hurt, Gill said.

“In this case, we’re lucky we’re not dealing with fatalities,” Gill said. “In a collision like this, it could have been much much worse.”

The driver of the Avalanche, a 25-year-old Oakville woman, shouldn’t have even been behind the wheel, he said.

She was cited for driving without insurance, third-degree driving with a suspended license and four counts of allowing individuals under 16 to ride without a seat belt, according to Gill.

Fire destroyed Carl Gasoway's fifth-wheel trailer in Toledo.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

TOLEDO – Carl Gasaway didn’t make it.

The 60-year-old Toledo resident was rushed by helicopter to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle yesterday morning after the fifth-wheel trailer where he was sleeping caught fire.

His daughter Chanin Holdt said her father was burned over 90 percent of his body, but he refused any drugs so he could spend his last hours aware of his surroundings, and his family.

Family members from out of state arrived to the hospital about 2:30 a.m. today and he passed away two hours later surrounded by family, she said.

“It was very peaceful,” his son-in-law Lonnie Holdt said.

Gasaway, known for the family business Prairie Ridge Tack and Feed adjacent to the home on Jackson Highway, worked for 35 years at NC Machinery.

He had retired. He was a Vietnam veteran, according to his family.

Firefighters called about 5:15 a.m. yesterday to reports of an explosion and fire at the 5400 block of Jackson Highway found the fifth-wheel trailer fully involved in flames.

Gasaway had to kick open the door to escape, according to Lewis County Fire District 2 Chief Grant Wiltbank.

Fire Investigator Ted McCarty said the force blew one of the side walls right off the trailer.

McCarty said this morning he’s still looking into the cause of the blaze, but he assumes it was related to propane.

“It’s the only product that would do something like that,” he said.

Family and friends have been gathering this afternoon at the family home.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Deputies last night found a pipe bomb inside a backpack believed to have been carried by a 46-year-old Morton man during a burglary.

Vern V. Hamilton was arrested for possession of an explosive device and burglary in connection with a break-in to a business near his home on the 900 block of Davis Lake Road, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies were called yesterday to Davis Lake Materials where overnight someone had gotten inside the office and a storage shed and stolen 12 dozen pairs of work gloves, a generator, a plastic container, a cash box with $5 in change as well as a hand cart and some Busch beer, according to the sheriff’s office.

Because a witness reported seeing Hamilton that morning walking down the road with some of the missing items, deputies searched his home, the sheriff’s office stated in a news release.

Deputies conducted the search and arrested Hamilton about 7 p.m., she said.

The homemade pipe bomb – described as the size of a piece of dynamite – was found inside a backpack inside the camper where Hamilton resides, Chief Civl Deputy Stacy Brown stated in the news release.

Hamilton was seen wearing the backpack following the burglary, according to Brown.

Brown said they are assuming Hamilton may have been planning to use the pipe bomb for the burglary, but he’s not offering any explanation.

“They’ve been burglarized previously and been trying to fortify (the business),” Brown said.

Specialists with the Washington State Patrol responded about 10:30 p.m. and detonated the device, Brown reported.

Some of the stolen goods were found inside the camper, others were stashed in the woods, according to Brown.