Lewis County Sirens.com

A contractor cuts up a Douglas Fir that dropped across the roof of a home on Middle Fork Road between Chehalis and Onalaska.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – At least three houses in Lewis County were damaged from downed trees during Monday night’s windstorm according to information compiled by early yesterday, and reports continued to come in throughout the day.

Lewis County’s division of emergency management said the wind blew through about 9:30 p.m. Monday and caused widespread damage and power outages from Centralia to Ashford. The strongest gusts of up to 40 mph came between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m., according to a news release.

“We’re getting more damage reports from around the area, mostly in the east end from Packwood, Randle and Ashford,” Sgt. Ross McDowell, deputy director of emergency management said Tuesday evening.

Even Gene Seiber, the former deputy director of emergency management and current chief criminal deputy at the sheriff’s office, was affected. A 20-foot limb the diameter of a baseball punched a hole in the roof of Seiber’s Packwood-area home.

“There’s a lot of damage up there,” Seiber said. “There are trees and limbs all over the place in High Valley.”

He described a neighbor’s porch that was destroyed by a 12-inch in diameter fir tree that just missed the house when it crashed down.

The houses McDowell knew for sure were hit with trees were in Paradise Estates in Ashford, on Crystal Way in Morton and the 300 block of Middle Fork Road near Onalaska.

Susan Burnett, who has lived on the nine wooded acres between Onalaska and Chehalis for 20 years, said she felt really lucky when she saw her house in the daylight.

“It’s not really as bad as I expected, after leaving in a panic and coming back,” Burnett said.

A Douglas Fir, estimated to be as tall as 150 feet, had dropped across her roof, stretching from the front to the back of the house.

Burnett’s electricity and heat was shut off yesterday as contractors took a chainsaw to the fallen tree.

Inside, she said, the tongue-in-groove ceiling was broken from front to back. She was most worried about a collection of art work, painted by her great-grandfather and other relatives, which were among the debris in her dining room.

The manager at Lewis County Head Start said her insurance company got the contractors there by about 1 p.m. and an appraiser would be out by Friday to tally up the dollar damage.

Burnett said she was watching a movie Monday night when she began to hear fir cones and branches hitting the roof. The storm came on really fast, she said.

Then she could hear a tree falling, its branches breaking off as it toppled.

“I just stood there and hoped I was standing in the right place, and I guess I was,” said Burnett, who escaped injury.

She called 911, but the wind was still so strong, she didn’t dare go outside for fear of getting struck by limbs that continued to fall, she said.

When firefighters arrived, they stayed only long enough to turn off the electricity, check Burnett’s well-being and and cut a path so Burnett could get her car out. It had been parked next to the house, beneath where the fir fell but was mostly unmarred.

“The planets were aligned right or something,” she said.

McDowell said he didn’t think the dollar amount of damage in Lewis County was great enough to meet the threshold for disaster assistance.

However, the state Emergency Management Division is encouraging members of the public who received physical damage to their home or business to report it to their local emergency management agency.

Contact information for each county can be found here

A winter storm warning remains in effect through 10 a.m. tomorrow in East Lewis County – on the west slopes of the central and northern Cascade Mountains and passes – and is primarily expected to bring snow.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – By 5:30 this evening, the deputy director of Lewis County’s division of emergency management had moved beyond this morning’s earthquake.

“Earthquake?” Sheriff’s Deputy Sgt. Ross McDowell responded, then launched into how as the day progressed, his people began getting more and more calls about windstorm damage from last night.

And, the region can expect more wind tonight, McDowell said. Then tomorrow into the evening, the amount of rain is expected to be enough to possibly cause surface flooding in some places, and as much as two feet of snow may fall at elevations above 2000 feet, he said. Be prepared, was his message.

On this morning’s magnitude 4.2 earthquake near Mossyrock, he had heard very little.

“Nobody has called with any damage,” McDowell said. “None at all.”

The latest information indicates it hit at  7:51 a.m. three miles northeast of Mossyrock and seven miles west of Morton, according to the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network.

It was recorded at a depth of 9.1 miles.

The information – now reviewed by a seismologist – comes from the University of Washington Department of Earth and Space Sciences.

It made the list of notable Pacific Northwest earthquakes since 1993, compiled by the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network. It is matched during 2010 only by a quake of similar magnitude on June 17 near Yakima.

A sensor at the base of the Mossyrock Dam detected motion, but not enough to trigger an alarm, according to a spokesperson for Tacoma Power which operates two dams on the Cowlitz River in East Lewis County.

They conducted inspections and did not find any damage, spokesperson Chris Gleason said today.

“We feel very confident there was no impact to the dam,” she said.

They checked the Mossyrock Dam – at the west end of Riffe Lake – and also the smaller Mayfield Dam farther west, she said.

What was felt around Lewis County ranged from a jolt to a swaying house.

They felt it good at the Chehalis Police Department.

“It shook the whole building here, the records tech actually ran out of the building,” police detective Sgt. Rick McNamara said.

At the Chehalis Fire Department, “the building just kinda went whooomp,” according to Firefighter Jay Birley.

“It knocked all my taxidermy work (including an elk head) off the wall,” said Lewis County Fire District 5 Firefighter Brad Bozarth, whose home is on Holcum Road west of Napavine.

On Rhoades Road, north of Winlock: “I was at home just about ready to get up for work and the walls were shaking,” Lewis County Fire District 15 Firefighter Kevin Anderson said. “My house was swaying and everything.”

Paramedic Brad Flexhaug was in the new quarters of Lewis County Medic One east of Winlock at state Route 505 and North Military Road.

“Here, it was just one big boom, basically is what it was,” Flexhaug said. “We didn’t know what it was.”

Closer to the apparent epicenter, some folks were less startled.

Dave DeBuhr lives off Justus Road east of Cinebar.

“It wasn’t much of anything here, it lasted maybe two seconds DeBuhr said. “Kind of a little, enough to make the dog’s ears perk.”

A few of the area residents called him – he’s chief of Lewis County Fire District 8 based in Salkum – and an individual who lives on Mayfield Lake “said it rumbled pretty good,” he said. “I kept looking at Mount St. Helens to see if it was smoking. It was not.”

Matt Hadaller was out hunting in the Winston Creek area.

“Did I feel it? You bet,” the chief of Lewis County Fire District 3 said. “I heard a roar, I thought the wind was blowing through the trees, but then the ground where I was moved.”

Morton City Clerk Sherry Claycamp was just arriving at City Hall.

“I was just getting ready to open the door in the back; and just a little tremor, the building shook a little,” Claycamp said. “Enough to know it was a quake, not enough to create panic.”

In Mossyrock, City Clerk Jeanette Miller said she didn’t even hear of anything falling off a shelf.

“In fact here, it was just a jolt, and then it was over,” Miller said.
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Look at information from Pacific Northwest Seismic Network here

Check the National Weather Service’s Forecast Office in Seattle here for a winter storm warning in East Lewis County and a special weather statement about coming cold weather for West Lewis County.

Note: a link for the weather forecast website can also always be found on the right-hand sidebar of Lewis County Sirens’ homepage

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The cause of the airplane crash that killed three people with the Chehalis eye surgery clinic three weeks ago likely won’t be known for sure until late next year, a National Transportation Safety Board investigator said today.

Wayne Pollack, a senior air safety investigator with the NTSB’s Western Pacific Region, said the final report won’t come until after the examination of some of the Cessna wreckage’s components which are being shipped to lab and manufacturer personnel around the country.

“There’s a lot of work that has to go on on this,” Pollack said this afternoon.

The six-seater Cessna 340A was recovered four days after it went down some nine miles northeast of Morton. Pacific Cataract and Laser Institute employees Dr. Paul Shenk and Rod Rinta were traveling from the Chehalis-Centralia Airport to Lewiston, Idaho the morning of Oct. 25 when their pilot Ken Sabin reported one engine was down and then radio contact was lost.

The initial findings suggest the front of the plane was pointed downward when it hit, according to Pollack.

“The evidence indicated the aircraft descended in a ‘nose-low’ attitude,” he said.

He said the impact was such that parts of the aircraft were actually buried in the ground.

The impact crater was five feet deep and they found portions of the forward fuselage, cockpit and engine underground, he said. Hundreds of components were scattered around the site, he said.

The remote site, accessed off state Route 7, was described as in a dense patch of young planted trees across a hillside and a ravine at an elevation of about 3,500 feet. It was a foot hike of about 350 feet up rough terrain for personnel from the sheriff’s office, coroner’s office, search and rescue and the NTSB.

The recovered portions of the plane were reassembled in a facility in Seattle in what Pollack described as a “wreckage layout”.

His investigation is now in the shipment phase for further examination to locations, including the NTSB’s lab in Washington D.C.
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Read previous news story about the plane crash here

Newcomer "Misha" a drug sniffing dog with the Winlock Police Department keeps close to her partner as she is introduced.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

WINLOCK – Those gathered last night at the Winlock Community Center got a chance to meet the town’s incoming drug-sniffing police dog and hear praise for outgoing Fire Chief Jon Hensley.

Hensley was called a firefighter who was baptized in fire and blood and came out steel.

A commissioner for Lewis County Fire District 15 recalled one of Hensley’s responses in which he entered a house fully involved in flames to save three lives.

“The fire flashed over and blew him down the stairwell and he went back up and got the three children,” Commissioner Randy Pennington said.

When Hensley’s helmet afterward was sent to be examined, they discovered it had been damaged from heat in excess of 1200 degrees, Pennington said.

Hensley has been with the department 27 years, most of them as chief, Pennington said. The district just got word he is retiring.

“When you see Jon, extend a hand in gratitude to him,” Pennington said. “He has left us a tremendous legacy in more ways than one.”

It was the annual law and order appreciation night dinner hosted by American Legion Post 101.

Responders and others who serve South Lewis County were introduced, recognized for their service and thanked.

Winlock Police Department Chief Terry Williams introduced “Misha” a canine who since she came on the job in June has already found methamphetamine and marijuana.

The 3-year-old Belgian Malinois – from Mexico – is trained to also sniff out heroin and cocaine.

She specializes in drugs, not tracking people, according to her handler, Officer Steve Miller.

Lewis County Commissioners Bill Schulte and Ron Averill presented several awards.

Not present were Washington State Patrol Trooper Jason Hicks who was honored with a certificate of commendation and Trooper Mike Anderson, who won the year’s humanitarian lifesaver award.

The excellence in civic duty honors went to Municipal Court Judge Steve Buzzard.

Two individuals from the Winlock area fire department, District 15, were recognized.

Firefighter-EMT Vikki Bolden was named EMS person of the year and Firefighter-EMT Patrick Jacobson was named firefighter of the year

The law officer of the year award went to Sgt. Rob Snaza, of the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

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Law Officer of the Year Award:
Sgt. Rob Snaza
Lewis County Sheriff’s Office

Rob Snaza

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Firefighter of the Year Award:
Firefighter-EMT Patrick Jacobson
Lewis County Fire District 15

Patrick Jacobson

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EMS Person of the Year Award:
Firefighter-EMT Vikki Bolden
Lewis County Fire District 15

Vikki Bolden

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Excellence in Civic Duty Award:
Judge Steve Buzzard
Municipal Courts

Steve Buzzard

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Jackie Marie Lawyer was a longtime fixture in Winlock’s Frost Road Trailer Park before she was fatally shot there last week, allegedly by a neighbor as they argued about “snitching”.

Richard J. F. Roth

Lawyer, 64, was the onsite manager, collecting rents and doing maintenance more than a dozen years ago when the park was temporarily put into the hands of Winlock accountant Don Lynch.

Lynch was stunned to hear the news of the resident he described as a single woman who lived there for quite some time before he took over.

“She worked hard for me, she was loyal as an employee; she could be a little fiery sometimes,” Lynch said after he learned of Lawyer’s death.

The trailer park, just east of Interstate 5 and north of Toledo, was put into receivership in the spring of 1997 related to the divorce of its owners, according to Lynch.

It was a difficult place to manage, he said.

Sheriff’s deputies were in there almost daily, he said, but with several evictions over time, he was able to reduce that to weekly visits, he said.

“There was a tremendous amount of things going on there, and Jackie was a tremendous help to me in getting it straightened up,” he said.

Lawyer died the morning of Nov. 4, of a penetrating gunshot wound to her chin and neck, according to the Lewis County Coroner’s Office. Lewis County sheriff’s deputies called just before 11 a.m. say she was dead when they arrived.

Detectives were told by 65-year-old Richard Joseph Frank Roth that Lawyer approached him as he was doing his laundry in the recreation building, repeatedly calling him a snitch for telling the park manager she was dumping ashes from her wood stove in the woods across the street.

Roth reportedly told detectives other tenants in the park had been having problems with Lawyer as well. He alleged she snuck around at night getting into people’s stuff and even stealing, dressed like a “Ninja”, according to charging documents.

Roth told detective Bruce Kimsey that after the incident in the recreation building, he took his laundry soap back to his van and put his .22 revolver in his back pocket. When he was confronted by Lawyer again, he pulled it out, pointed it at her neck and squeezed the trigger from about three feet away, according to charging documents.

The 65-year-old also told the detective it was all kind of blurry; she was holding a coffee cup and he did not know at what point he retrieved the weapon.

Roth pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder on Wednesday.

The crime carries a possible penalty of life in prison. A trial date was set for the week of Jan. 3.

A cousin of Roth’s was in Lewis County Superior Court for his appearance, but like a trio of women who came to support him the week before, declined to speak on the record about him.

Roth lived alone in a home-made wood trailer, moving to the Frost Road park a few months ago, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

The social security recipient was living in Castle Rock – described by defense attorney Bob Schroeter as “Baja Lewis County” for about three years before that.

He also has an address in Klamath Falls in southern Oregon; Schroeter said he lived just across the border in Tule Lake, Calif. His assets include a van and a 1960 motor home.

Roth’s background includes a conviction in 1969 for escape out of Sacramento, Calif. and for being an “ex-con with a gun” in 1982, according to the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office. Attorneys involved in the current case said they did not know what the underlying felony conviction was for.

Roth was brought to both his court appearances in a wheelchair; a neighbor has said he walks with a cane.

He was recently hospitalized for a heart procedure, and takes medication for his heart, his thyroid and his cholesterol, according to authorities.

His court-appointed attorney Mike Underwood on Wednesday said he’s got some “health issues”.

“He’s 65 years old, he has trouble getting around,” Underwood said.
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Jackie Lawyer was 64, not 66 as the sheriff’s office and coroner’s office initially reported.

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For more details and photos from the Nov. 4 events in Winlock, scroll down to read “Woman, 66, fatally shot in Winlock trailer park, neighbor arrested” or click here

Chief Grant Wiltbank heads to a fire truck this morning after an electrical fire at the Toledo Senior Center.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

TOLEDO – The senior center in Toledo will be closed for at least a few days after a fire there this morning.

Nobody was hurt and the damage was minimal but 15 to 20 people had to evacuate the building, according to Lewis County Fire District 2 Lt. Tracy Summers.

“It could have been a lot worse,” Summers said. “Wires in the electrical panel for some reason shorted out.”

About 18 personnel from four fire districts and Lewis County Medic 1 responded to the 9:09 a.m. call.

A computer class was being held upstairs and volunteers had just about finished unloading a supply of bread to give away to seniors.

“We all just exited the building, we didn’t stay inside,” said John Bruenn who was helping with the bread. “It was pop, pop, pop, pop, then fire was coming out the inside wall.”

The building, which is owned by Lewis County, sits on Coal and Second streets, next door to the fire station.

Firefighters used a dry chemical extinguisher on the flames, but it wasn’t going to stop burning until the power was shut off, either by PUD or a fuse tripping outside, District 2 Chief Grant Wiltbank said. It took 15 minutes  for the fuse to kick off the electricity, he said.

“As soon as it blew, we went in, opened up the wall and finished it off,” Wiltbank said. “We didn’t have to use any water at all, fortunately.”

Fire extinguisher powder coated the floor, but the smoke had been chased out by the time fire investigator Adam Myer arrived.

The walls will have to be cleaned and possibly repainted, the chief said.

The building is insured.

Mike Strozyk, director of Lewis County central services, said the building will be out of service for awhile. He estimated a few days.

It will depend on Lewis County PUD and getting a contractor in here to rewire,” Strozyk said.

Summers said it was just four or five years ago when the senior center had a fire out the back door by the gas meter.

Wiltbank offered praise for the volunteers who, on a holiday, kept the incident contained.

“The crews did a very good job of confining the problem to the area of the electrical box till the power went out, so I’m really pleased with that,” Wiltbank said.

Lunch for seniors, normally served on Wednesdays and Fridays, will be cancelled tomorrow, as will be an exercise class, according to senior center site leader Diana Haug.

For information about when services will resume, seniors can call the Twin Cities Senior Center at 360-748-0061.

Mike Strozyk, Adam Myer and Doug Carey, facilities manager for Lewis County, examine the burnt panel box inside the Toledo Senior Center this morning.

Jack Arnold Silverthorne, 20, sits in Lewis County Superior Court as he is charged with first-degree murder in connection with the death of 16-year-old Austin King.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The 20-year-old accused of killing Morton teenager Austin King is one of the two “buddies” he went off to watch television with the last time Austin’s mother saw her son alive.

Jack Arnold Silverthorne was charged today with first-degree murder in Lewis County Superior Court in Chehalis.

Austin died from blunt force to his head, his skull was cracked above his right ear, Senior Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher said today. He said the teen was struck with “something very hard”.

Authorities believe Silverthorne took Austin up into the woods after a birthday party at Austin’s family home the night of June 22, and his motive was related to an attraction to a girl, the mother of Austin’s child, according to Meagher and charging documents.

The 16-year-old vanished from his family’s home in the Tilton River Mobile Home Park early on June 23 and was the subject of a month-long search headed up by volunteers. His body was found some 10 miles away off a logging road outside Morton.

Silverthorne was shackled at his waist and ankles as he he faced a judge this afternoon.

The 6-foot-2  young man answered “yes sir” when he was addressed by Judge James Lawler.

Silverthorne is unemployed and receives public assistance of about $500 a month, defense attorney Bob Schroeter told the judge. He has no criminal history in Washington, Schroeter said.

First -degree murder is a class A felony with a possible penalty of life in prison and a $50,000 fine. Its elements include intent and premeditation.

Bail was set at $2 million, as requested by the prosecutor’s office.

Meagher said they feared the suspect was about to flee the country.

Outside the courtroom, Schroeter described his client as a really nice young man with very good family support. The attorney indicated he was skeptical of the investigation.

“There were numerous people at that party,” Schroeter said. “The fact it took them so long to focus on anybody is a concern.”

Charging documents filed today in the case describe several reasons sheriff’s detectives believe Silverthorne is responsible for Austin’s death. The following are some of the findings alleged in the documents:

Silverthorne was staying in the trailer park with his grandmother at the time of Austin’s disappearance. He currently is living with his mother in Renton.

The day after Austin’s body was found, Lewis County sheriff’s detectives got a call from a neighbor in Renton who alerted them to Silverthorne’s recently broken hand.

Two different doctor’s described the injury as a “boxer’s break” consistent with striking something with a closed fist. Silverthorne said it happened when he fell by the river, but detectives noted inconsistent statements as to when it occurred.

Cigarette butts on the road above where Austin’s body was found had DNA belonging to both Silverthorne and Austin – and a third unidentified person.

The body was found down an embankment, some 42 feet off the unmaintained Forest Service road.

Detectives got information from both Austin’s girlfriend whom he had been talking with that night on the phone, and from the third person watching television with Austin that night about statements made by Silverthorne about wanting to take a drive up into the mountains.

Detectives discovered a gap in any phone calls or texts made from Silverthorne’s cell phone that night, and found a Facebook friend that Silverthorne allegedly told he would like to “beat” the child’s father.

Silverthorne told detectives he last was up in the woods on June 17, alone.

The other “buddy” that went off to the teen’s detached bedroom in a “shack” outside the family mobile home that night said he went home at 12:15 a.m.

Roger Hughes told detectives the three of them smoked cigarettes, rearranged Austin’s furniture and listened to music. But Hughes said he wasn’t feeling good – he had been drinking vodka and orange juice – so he went home, threw up and went to bed. His grandparents confirmed the time, according to charging documents.

Silverthorne told detectives he left Austin “seconds” after Hughes did and went home. Silverthorne’s grandmother could not confirm that, documents say.

Austin was one of four children who lived with his mother, Christy Harper. His father Shaun King lives in Chehalis. He has numerous brothers and sisters, according to family members.

His mother has described the 5-foot-8 160-pound boy as a teen who liked to play video games, listen to music and watch movies. She said he was being home-schooled.

More than 200 people gathered at Gust Backstrom Park in Morton for a vigil in July, three days after his body was discovered, including a plain-clothed detective who talked with Silverthorne there.

Silverthorne was arrested yesterday without incident at his home in Renton.

Sheriff’s detectives are still waiting for the DNA results from under Austin’s fingernails.

Centralia attorney J.P. Enbody was appointed to represent Silverthorne. His arraignment is scheduled for next week.

A collection of photographs of Austin King is displayed on a picnic table in the park in Morton during a vigil in July.

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Read more about the case by scrolling down to “Breaking news: Renton man, 20, arrested for murder in death of Austin King” or by clicking here