Lewis County Sirens.com

Cowlitz River Antiques, far left, and the Used Book Store, center, sustained massive damage in this morning's fire in Toledo. Timberland Bank, right, was saved.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

This was updated at 9:15 a.m.

A three-alarm fire is burning in downtown Toledo in two buildings south of Timberland Bank.

Firefighters are battling the blaze defensively at this point, Lewis County Fire District 2 Chief Grant Wiltbank said about 8:15 a.m.

It started sometime after 4 o’clock this morning, the chief said.

“It’s on the block where the bank is at and it appears to have started in the second or third floors of the adjacent properties to the south,” he said. “I’m not there.

Wiltbank spoke by telephone on his way from his job at the fire department in Gig Harbor.

Fire keeps breaking out on the upper floors, and there’s so much smoke they can’t see for a half block, he said.

Multiple agencies responded including a ladder truck from Centralia’s Riverside Fire Authority and from Castle Rock, he said.

Wiltbank said the bank appears to be safe and as he understand it, there is some smoke damage in a beauty shop, a chiropractor’s office and a lawyer’s office.

It’s near the intersection of Kellogg Way and Second Street.

“It’s a big fire, the biggest we’ve had in Toledo probably since I’ve been there,” Wiltbank said.

Crews can’t go into the buildings because of the imminent risk of roof collapse, he said.

State Route 505 is blocked off, according to Diane Wallace, secretary to Fire District 2.

“I’m watching from my office and there is a lot of very thick black smoke,” Wallace said just before 9 a.m. “The town is pretty much covered in smoke.”

Wallace has been with the district almost 30 years and said she couldn’t recall a fire of this size downtown ever. The building holds a book store and an antique store, she said.

Paramedic Kirk Johnston spent a couple of hours earlier at the Toledo fire station providing “rehab” for fire crews.

No injuries have been reported.

“Flames were coming out of the roof of the building,” Johnston said. “I could see flames as I was coming down the hill into Toledo.”

More to come

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Note: If anyone got photographs this morning, they’d like to share, please email them to sharyn.decker@lewiscountysirens.com

Foam from the fire hoses lays on the street today in front of the antique store, which houses the Logging Museum upstairs. / Courtesy photo by Carrie Kann of Toledo

The back side of the antique store building - which used to be the Masonic Building - is where most of the fire damage shows. On the left, across the narrow alley is Toledo Hardware. / Courtesy photo by Carrie Kann of Toledo

Chehalis resident Dennis P. Kelly listens to his proceedings in Lewis County Superior Court.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The Chehalis man who was cut repeatedly with a knife allegedly wielded by a neighbor on Tuesday night told police he didn’t really know what prompted the attack, according to court documents.

Wayne Reed, 44, was sitting down yelling for help when police arrived about 10:40 p.m. into his Southwest McFadden Avenue house.

Charging documents indicate he had a very large, deep laceration on his upper left arm as well as cuts on his neck, back and upper arm.

Friends he’d invited over told police 57-year-old Dennis P. Kelly who lived across the street was their suspect.

Kelly was arrested at his home that night and charged yesterday with first-degree assault.

Reed was expected to be released from Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center yesterday, according to Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher.

Kelly went before a Lewis County Superior Court judge yesterday afternoon who set bail at $50,000.

Meagher had asked for $100,000 saying there didn’t seem to be a lot of reason for the assault.

Kelly’s family had said Kelly had mental health issues and recently changed medications, Meagher told the judge. Meagher was also concerned about lots of firearms and ammunition Kelly stored in his house.

Judge James Lawler ordered Kelly to posses no firearms, consume no alcohol and not to get within 100 yards of the victim’s home if or when he bails out of jail.

Kelly could stay at his grown child’s Chehalis home – as his own house is close to the victim’s – defense attorney Bob Schroeter told the judge at the brief hearing.

Kelly lost his job at the Bradken-Atlas foundry in the industrial park a couple months ago and collects unemployment, according to Schroeter.

His only past interaction with the law was a deferred prosecution for a DUI in 1993, Schroeter said.

“Whatever happened, if it did involve alcohol use by my client is tragic and an anomaly,” Schroeter told the judge.

Charging documents, lawyers and police describe Tuesday night as one in which Reed had three or four of his male friends over, including his neighbor Kelly who he said he barely knew.

The two had some drinks and got into an argument, according to charging documents which offer the following account:

Reed told police he doesn’t know what he said, but all of the sudden Kelly attacked him. The pair wrestled and then Kelly started cutting him, saying he would kill him.

Chehalis police yesterday searched Kelly’s home, looking for one of two Spiderco brand knives Kelly said he used.

After opening his safe, they found the knives, as well as nearly two dozen firearms, including assault riffles, shotguns and an AK47, along with thousands of rounds of ammunition, reloading equipment and “pounds” of gun powder, according to charging documents.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – With 10 more days to go before starting his new job, Jonathan Meyer has already chosen a chief criminal deputy prosecutor and arranged for some other staffing changes.

Jonathan Meyer

Lewis County Prosecutor-elect Meyer said today he will promote Senior Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher to chief criminal deputy. The position has been vacant for some time.

Meagher has been handling several violent crime cases, including one in which two men are charged in August’s triple-homicide in the Salkum-Onalaska area.

Meyer also has also decided not to keep two of the 10 deputy prosecutors currently working in the office. Deputy Prosecutor Steve Scott and Lori Smith won’t be among those reappointed when Meyer steps in.

The Centralia defense attorney won November’s election with 67 percent of the vote. He will be sworn in Thursday morning.

“I’m just ready to get in there and get to work,” Meyer said today. “There’s a lot of things that need to get done.”

Since November, the 39-year-old has been wrapping up his cases at McConnell, Meyer and Associates. He had some 60 clients who are either being handed over to other lawyers or their cases are finished up.

His last day in the private practice is a week from tomorrow.

His first day at his new office will be on New Years Day, he said.

The transition period with outgoing Prosecutor Michael Golden, “Given the circumstances, it’s gone as well as can be expected, I guess,” Meyer said.

Meyer said he’s had conversations with the deputy prosecutors and some email exchanges with Golden. He hasn’t had access to any case files yet, he said.

“Had I hoped to be farther along? Probably,” he said. But it is what it is.

“That’s why I’m going to be in on the first.”

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This news story was corrected to reflect that Jonathan Meyer will be sworn in on Thursday morning and not Wednesday morning. My apologies for the error.

Four of the Welsh's five remaining alpacas stick close together in their pen at their Centralia farm on Friday.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CENTRALIA – One of their five remaining alpacas is limping and another is missing an ear.

Greg Welsh describes what remains of his small herd after an attack that left six of his animals dead as scared, ugly and sad.

“They’re traumatized completely,” Welsh said. “They’re skittish around me and they never used to be.”

Greg and Judy Welsh have been raising alpacas at their South Schueber Road home in Centralia about 10 or 11 years. She sells their fiber after they shear the animals once a year.

He says they’re a good tax write off. The couple has an antique store in downtown Centralia so the alpacas are a side business.

The Welsh’s suspect it was dogs that maimed their animals. The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office says it doesn’t know if it was coyotes or domestic dogs.

Lewis County Sheriff’s Office Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said she’s never heard of a livestock attack on this scale in her 15 years on the job.

It was about 5:30 on Tuesday morning, when Greg Welsh woke up to barking and went outside with a flashlight to find his alpacas standing chest deep in a newly rain-made pond. Two dogs at the edge of the water ran off, he said.

Some of the alpacas came out of the pond and just laid down on the ground, he said. As he checked around his farm, he found four others bloodied and dead. He described the scene as total carnage.

“When I looked in the field, there were ears all over, it was disgusting,” he said.

The veterinarian who came out that morning found bites on their noses, heads, flanks and genitalia. The vet, Dr. Robert Remund of Ford Prairie Animal Clinic, euthanized two of them.

He was preparing to put a third alpaca down – the needle was already in its neck – when it stood up, so it got a reprieve.

Remund gave the living animals antibiotics and anti-inflammatory medicine. He said Friday he thinks they’ll survive.

“They should, it all depends on the animal,” Remund said.

Chief Brown said on Friday a Rottweiler that lives nearby was impounded and put in quarantine for 10 days at the animal shelter, but not in connection with the alpaca attack.

It bit Greg Welsh on Wednesday as he was walking by its house, according to Brown.

The Welsh’s suspect the Rottweiler and another dog who lives with it are what ravaged their herd. Judy Welsh said she spotted the pair in their driveway on Wednesday and her husband said he recognized its bark. Brown said there is no proof the neighbor dogs killed the alpacas.

The Rottweiler however, could end up being designated as a dangerous dog, according to Brown.

The Welsh’s are locking their herd in the barn at night now.

They estimate the loss, which included some of their best breeders, at $45,000. Greg Welsh buried them on Thursday.

On Friday, one whitish alpaca – either Abbie or Angel, they still aren’t sure – with matted hair still stained pink on its neck, was on her feet with the others. She’s the one that nearly got put down, the Welsh’s said.

Remund, who’s been treating animals for some 30 years, said encounters like Tuesday’s aren’t entirely unheard of.

“One dog’s not bad, but when you get ’em in a a pack, and alpacas, or llamas or sheep start running around, it becomes sport; it’s not unusual,” Remund said.

A female alpaca - Abbie or Angel - lost one ear.

The Schueber Road alpacas stay in their pen during the day but have to be locked up in their barn at night now.

Kristi R. Henderson and Zachary W. Gallagher await their turn before a Lewis County Superior Court judge.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Four times in the week before the raid, detectives conducted surveillance as they sent a confidential informant to the South Market Boulevard house to purchase an eighth ounce of heroin.

Each time, the unmarried couple in their 20s who live behind a small taqueria at Fairview Avenue took $100 in exchange for the dark brown substance, according to charging documents.

Kristi R. Henderson, 28, and Zachary W. Gallagher, 25, were arrested Thursday night and three young children removed from the home. When police searched the residence, an unspecified quantity of suspected heroin was discovered on a plate in the living room and a .22 caliber pistol was found in a nightstand next to their bed, according to charging documents.

She admitted she used heroin and he told a detective  they both used and sold it on a daily basis, charging documents allege.

Henderson and Gallagher appeared before a Lewis County Superior Court judge yesterday afternoon who ordered them held on $50,000 bail.

Defense attorney Bob Schroeter told the judge Gallagher had no current income and Henderson received about $1,000 a month, mostly from child support. Both qualified for court-appointed attorneys.

Charging documents allege some of the following details about the investigation:

The confidential informant told a Lewis County Sheriff’s Office detective the couple had been known to deal heroin for “some time.”  The unnamed individual also said they have been inside the home when Henderson’s children played on the floor amidst a cloud of her heroin smoke.

The first controlled buy on Dec. 9 lasted only four minutes during which the informant was invited into a bedroom where Henderson broke off a chunk of heroin from a larger block and weighed it on a digital scale. The informant said they saw several people inside the house.

On Tuesday, the informant got an eighth ounce from Gallagher as Gallagher was taking out the trash. The informant returned Wednesday and again on Thursday after the detective listened in on a cell phone conversation arranging the final purchase.

Lewis County prosecutors note Henderson has a conviction for drug possession from 2005. Gallagher has 2003 convictions for second-degree burglary, theft and trafficking in stolen property, according to Deputy Prosecutor Kjell Warner.

Yesterday, she was charged with two counts of delivery of a controlled substance, a felony with a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

He was charged with three counts of the same, as well as first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.

The children, a 4-year-old boy and two girls, ages 6 and 11, were turned over to Child Protective Services during Thursday night’s police raid.

Chehalis Police Chief Glenn Schaffer said yesterday the arrests followed a three-week investigation.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A 49-year-old Chehalis man pleaded not guilty today to shoving a fellow bar patron who then fell backwards onto the floor striking his head.

Sixty-five-year-old Gary Dvojack was flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with a fractured skull after the Nov. 30 incident at the Star Tavern in downtown Chehalis. Ten days later, when Dvojack remained unconscious and on life support, prosecutors charged James M. Abbott with second-degree assault.

Abbott pleaded not guilty this morning in Lewis County Superior Court. His trial was set for the week of March 7.

Charging documents in the case suggest it happened after Dvojack stumbled into the bar intoxicated and propositioned the bartender.

The bartender, Laurie A. Rager, told police Dvojack pushed Abbott and Abbott barely pushed him back, but a videotape tells a different story, according to charging documents.

After Abbott pushes him with his left arm and points to the front door, Abbott walks into him bumping him with his body before pushing on Dvojack’s chest with both hands, the documents allege.

The final push occurred after the back of Dvojack’s right hand touches Abbott’s left bicep as Dvojack was talking and gesturing, according to charging documents.

Chehalis police said when they arrived at 10:30 p.m., Dvojack was unconscious in a pool of blood.

Abbott was arrested at his home last Thursday and charged the following day with second-degree assault with aggravating circumstances for excessive injuries.

Dvojack’s blood alcohol level was measured at .3, according to charging documents.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The 85-year-old Vader city council member jailed last week for allegedly threatening to kill his wife pleaded not guilty today in Lewis County Superior Court.

Andrew Wilson Jr. was accompanied in the Chehalis courtroom by two female friends and his attorney, J.P. Enbody.

“Not guilty, your honor,” Wilson said wearing a hearing aid as well as using court-provided auditory assistance equipment.

Wilson, who retired from the U.S. Navy in the 1960s, has served three times as a council member – including as mayor – in the south Lewis County town.

He was charged last Thursday with one count of felony harassment, threat to kill, domestic violence, following his arrest the evening before at his Vader home. He is out of custody on a $5,000 signature bond.

Charging papers say his 61-year-old wife grabbed her purse and ran out of their house after he got angry about her withdrawing money out of their joint savings account.

He allegedly got in her face, doubled up his fist and told her if she didn’t put it back, he would “shoot her f****** brains out.” He then allegedly walked toward the back bedroom where he keeps several guns and ammunition.

The court last week ordered Wilson to surrender all his firearms and signed a no-contact order.

On Friday, he filed for a divorce from his wife of five years, as well as motioned the court to prevent her from transferring any property and asked the court to make her vacate the home so he can move back in.

Felony harassment has a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

Wilson’s trial was scheduled for March.