Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

With the primary election just two days away, already almost $40,000 has been spent in the race for Lewis County prosecutor; about half of what’s been spent on all local campaigns in Lewis County.

The challenger, Centralia defense attorney Jonathan Meyer, has raised about $28,000, compared with sitting Lewis County Prosecutor Michael Golden who has secured $19,000 plus some.

Jonathan Meyer

Golden expects his opponent to spend a lot more, he said.

“Partly, it’s easier for a challenger to stand outside and throw stones,” Golden said in an interview last month. “Anyone who’s unhappy can get behind a challenger.”

With the top two candidates advancing to the Nov. 2 general election, there’s still plenty of time for the cost of the campaigning for prosecutor to reach or surpass the more than $78,000 spent when it was also contested four years ago.

In 2006, attorney Don Blair spent almost twice as much as Golden.

Michael Golden

Yesterday’s numbers from the state Public Disclosure Commission include reports filed by both candidates last week.

Created in the early 1970s, the commission collects and distributes information about the financing of political activities in the state of Washington among its other responsibilities related to the Open Government Act.

According to the PDC reports available yesterday, Meyer has a balance of about $5,000 while the rural Chehalis incumbent had less than $16.

Both men, both Republicans, have spent some of their own money, although Golden has spent more, adding about $3,000 to $4,000 to his own coffers.

“I put in quite a bit of my own money and I’ll probably put in more, because I believe in what I do,” Golden said.

Meyer, who announced his intention to run late last year and kicked off his campaign in late April, last month said he was pleasantly surprised by the generosity of people.

“It’s a humbling experience,” Meyer said. “It’s the only way to describe it; people willing to put their money on the line for me.”

Against the advice of campaign professionals, the 38-year-old is sending handwritten thank you notes to every donor.

His biggest contributor is $5,000 from his partner Don McConnell at McConnell, Meyer and Associates. The PDC shows a hand full of $1,000 donations and another handful of $500 contributors.

Golden’s reports show $1,000 from Gail Wallace of Toledo and $1,000 from Don Wallace. The largest number of Golden contributors have given between $50 and $100.

Golden, 45, began his campaign later, and he said he was very appreciative of those who supported his kickoff.

A lot of businesses donated items and services, he said. “I know it’s hard for them, and that means a lot to me.”

In the past two weeks or so, supporters of both men have offered their thoughts on their preferred candidate.

Attorney David Brown is one of Meyer’s supporters.

He represents criminal defendants in his private practice in Centralia, a place where he has worked as a lawyer for almost 20 years.

Brown sees Meyer as a friend, a good attorney who understands the law and someone who capably handles a number different types of cases. He feels Meyer’s leadership style and delegation skills would be a welcome change from his current dealings with the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office.

“I’m finding chaos,” Brown said. “It’s been the worst three and a half years.”

He said it’s hard for him to be critical of Golden, because he doesn’t know him, but the office isn’t working, in Brown’s view.

“And it’s too bad, because I think he’s got some pretty good deputies,” he added.

Meyer counts among his supporters some former Lewis County deputy prosecutors, other lawyers and he is endorsed by the sheriff’s deputies and corrections officers who work for Lewis County. But he also has a variety of others such as elected Lewis County treasurer Rose Bowman and Chehalis city council member Chad Taylor.

Longtime former Centralia city council member Dan Keahey is one of them. He’s known Meyer about three years.

The realtor for Coldwell Banker Kline and Associates appreciates Meyer as a person of integrity, a hard worker and someone who is active in his church, the Centralia Christian School and the community.

“It’s important to have good role models and he is that,” Keahey said. “Jonathan is just an amazing guy.”

Keahey was once also president of the private school, and sits on boards for Lewis County Economic Council and the Port of Centralia. He’s not so involved in the legal community but he and Meyer are lately racquetball partners. He praises what he knows of Meyer’s record as a lawyer.

“He’s doing a great job for his clients, if he’s winning,” Keahey said.

Golden has the support of individuals such as state Representative Gary Alexander, Napavine Mayor Nick Bozarth and Chehalis dentist Dr. John Henricksen. Two attorneys from the Chehalis firm of Vander Stoep, Remund, Blinks and Jones spoke about Golden on Friday.

“I’m definitely a supporter,” J. Vander Stoep said of Golden.

Vander Stoep has been active in the past in Republican campaigns, in particular he was the general consultant for Dino Rossi’s two runs for governor.

“As a father of three daughters living here, I want a prosecutor aggressively working to put bad people behind bars, and he does that,” Vander Stoep said.

While the Chehalis attorney doesn’t do criminal law, he has worked with the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office on what he calls the vital issues of land use and flood control. He said he’s never seen in his 17 years as a civil matters lawyer, an elected prosecutor in Lewis County so focused on that side of the job.

“His office has been working every day on the side of property owners, flood victims and tax payers and doing an outstanding job,” Vander Stoep said.

One of his partners Rene Remund speaks of the importance of the civil issues the county government faces even more vividly.

The west end of the county, its heart, is facing economic destruction if the flooding issue isn’t solved, Remund said. No matter how well intentioned Meyer may be, these are complex issues Golden has been been dealing with the past three years, Remund said.

“I suspect he’d have to start from scratch and time is what we don’t have,” Remund said.

Remund said he has watched prosecutors come and go during his 26 years of practicing law in Lewis County. He’s not keen on someone leading the criminal side of the office who leans too heavily towards defense or towards law enforcement. The prosecutor holds enormous power, he said.

“The prosecuting attorney is the gatekeeper of justice in Lewis County,” he said. “The gatekeeper needs to be fair and independent.”

Ballots for the primary election must be postmarked by Tuesday or may be dropped off at the Lewis County Auditors Office before 8 p.m. that night.

The primary will determine two Court of Appeals positions, one of which represents Lewis and surrounding counties. For information about judicial races, check Voting for Judges.org.

Lewis County Fire District 5 is asking for a levy lid lift to support the department which protects the greater Napavine area.

Preliminary election results should be available online shortly after 8 p.m. at the Auditors Office website.

Quick details on the prosecutor candidates

Who: Jonathan Meyer
Political party: Republican
How old: 38
Home: Born Granite City, Ill. and raised in New Lennox, Ill. until eighth grade then family moved to Aberdeen. Moved to Olympia during college and then to Centralia where he bought a home in 1999.
Profession: Lawyer
Education: A.A. Grays Harbor Community College; B.A. St. Martin’s University 1995, major of political science; law school, Seattle University (Tacoma campus) 1998, juris doctorate
Previous political experience: none unless you count student body representative in eighth grade and then selected by secret ballot to become president of Lewis County Bar, until the end of this year
Campaign manager: Brittany Voie, of Voie Media Development
Campaign treasurer: wife Michelle Meyer
Money raised for campaign: $28,544
Family: Married wife Michelle in 1991, two daughters; Payton, 10, and Emily, 8. Has several older half and step siblings, but raised like an only child
Websites: on Facebook at “jonathan meyer for lewis county prosecutor” and www.meyerforprosecutor.com/

Who: L. Michael Golden
Political party: Republican
How old: 45
Home: Born in Mississippi and grew up in Pullman. As an adult moved to Tacoma. Moved to Lewis County in 2003, briefly back to Tacoma, and then to rural Chehalis in 2005.
Profession: Lawyer
Education: B.A. Washington State University 1993, major of political science, graduated summa cum laude; law school Seattle University (Tacoma campus) 1996, juris doctorate
Previous political experience: won a contested race in 2006 to become Lewis County prosecutor
Campaign manager: wife Lisa Golden
Campaign treasurer: wife Lisa Golden
Money raised for campaign: $19,182
Family: Married wife Lisa in 1990, divorced and remarried Lisa in May 2008; two sons, Conor, 11, and Ryan, 9.
Websites: on Facebook at “re-elect Michael Golden” and www.goldenforprosecutor.com

•••
Full disclosure: Jonathan Meyer’s campaign manager Brittany Voie is signed up as the individual who handles advertising for Lewis County Sirens.
•••
Coming on another day: More about the two men running for Lewis County prosecutor; what they say makes them best qualified for the office.

Also coming later: Who are those two men who want to be Lewis County coroner?

To read about Sheriff Steve Mansfield’s seat as Lewis County sheriff being challenged by deputy Sgt. Ken Cheeseman, click here

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Bail was set at $1 million for the individual prosecutors say is identified as the gun man in the drive-by shooting on Southwest William Street in Chehalis over the weekend.

The 25-year-old Tenino resident is listed as Ruben Alberto Palomares G. in court papers; Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Steve Scott said he doesn’t know what the “G” stands for.

Palomares turned himself in to authorities Tuesday night, three days after police were called to a residential neighborhood when one of several individuals in a red Chevrolet Blazer stuck a pistol out the window and fired a round that struck an unoccupied vehicle.

The intended target is named as Rolando Carrillo Cruz, who was standing next to the car, according to charging documents.

Palomares was charged yesterday in Lewis County Superior Court with first-degree assault and drive-by shooting.

His 24-year-old wife Christina Palomares is in custody, having been arrested for being the driver. A Chehalis man and a Centralia man police believe were also in the Blazer remain at large.

Authorities describe the shooting as related to a debt owed to somebody called “Candy man” and perpetrated by the LVL gang.

Defense attorney Bob Schroeter yesterday told the judge his client is a former Rochester High School student who has lived in the area since he was six years old.

Three jail guards stood by during the brief hearing in the Chehalis courtroom. Ruben Palomares, dressed in red jail garb and shackled at his waist and feet, wore a bullet proof vest.

Deputy Prosecutor Scott asked for $1 million bail because the suspect is identified in the probable cause statement as the shooter, because of the threat to the community and the possibility he might flee. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has a “hold” on him as well, Scott told Judge Nelson Hunt.

Witnesses in the case implicate two different individuals as the shooter, according to charging documents. Cruz told a police detective he was certain it was Andrew Morales-Loberg; and Christina Palomares points to her husband, according to the documents.

First-degree assault carries a maximum possible penalty of life in prison.

Both Palomares’s are expected back in court today to make their pleas. Both qualified for court appointed attorneys.

Attorney Schroeter said the couple’s three children are being cared for by family.

Five hundred thousand dollar warrants were issued yesterday for the other suspects, Morales-Loberg, 19, of Chehalis; and Juan Valentino Vasquez, also known by his street name “Grover”, 24, of Centralia.

Andrew Morales-Loberg

Juan Valentino Vasquez

•••
To read yesterday’s news story, “Mother of three charged in Chehalis drive-by shooting, husband turns self in ” click here.

To read Monday’s news brief, “Suspected gang members sought after drive-by shooting in Chehalis” click here.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A Tenino mother of three wore a bullet-proof vest in court on Tuesday in Chehalis when she was charged with drive-by shooting.

Christina Palomares, 24, was arrested early Saturday morning shortly after the incident in a Chehalis neighborhood.

The Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office alleges that Palomares was driving a red Chevrolet Blazer when one of three male passengers stuck a pistol out the window and fired a round that missed several people standing outside but struck an unoccupied parked vehicle. It happened about 12:15 a.m. on Saturday at the 400 block of Southwest William Street.

Authorities describe the shooting as related to a debt owed to somebody called “Candy man” and perpetrated by the LVL gang.

“I’m very concerned about my client’s well being right now,” defense attorney Bob Schroeter said following the brief hearing in in Lewis County Superior Court on Tuesday afternoon.

Judge Nelson Hunt ordered her held on $250,000 bail.

Court papers describe several stories that Palomares told police detectives after she was picked up in Thurston County; each version slightly different.

In one interview, Palomares said a passenger told her husband to “shoot them or he would kill her (Christina) and he would not become an LVL,” charging papers allege.

LVL stands for Little Valley Locos or Little Valley Lokotes a gang locally made up mostly of individuals who grew up in Centralia when it was particularly active in the summer of 2007.

The Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office planned to issue warrants today for the arrests of others they believe are involved. Witnesses implicate two different men as the shooter.

Chehalis police describe those at the house as reluctant to give information out of fear of retaliation. A .45 caliber shell casing was found at the scene.

According to charging documents, one man who thinks he might have been a target was arrested last month in connection with drug dealing and the LVL gang had taken over his business while he was in custody.

Chehalis police officers, along with the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team executed a search warrant at the home where Palomares lives with her husband on the 200 block of 171st Avenue Southeast in Tenino on Monday evening. They didn’t find the gun they were looking for or any of the suspects, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

The did find indications Palomares’s husband had gathered up his clothes and fled. They also found a bullet proof vest, a pistol box with bullets inside, a shoulder holster and some other ammunition, according to charging documents.

Chehalis police this morning reported that he turned himself in to the jail. Ruben Palomares, 25, was booked about 7 p.m. last night, according to the Lewis County Jail inmate booking roster.

A half dozen individuals who described themselves as family and friends of Christina Palomares were in the courtroom Tuesday afternoon.

Defense attorney Schroeter requested Christina Palomares be held on $20,000 bail. He said she has children and a stable job; she has worked at the AM/PM in Rochester for the past three years.

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Steve Scott argued for $500,000 bail. Christina Palomares has a juvenile drug conviction and two misdemeanor assaults in her past, according to attorneys.

Drive-by shooting is a class B felony, with a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine. She was initially arrested for first-degree assault, a crime with a possible penalty of life in prison.

She is scheduled to return to Lewis County Superior Court on Thursday morning to make her plea.

Chehalis police this morning are asking anyone with any information on the whereabouts of the remaining two suspects to call them or call Lewis County CrimeStoppers.

They are: Andrew Morales Loberg, 19, of Chehalis; and Juan Valentino Vasquez, also known by his street name “Grover”, 24, of Centralia.
•••
This news story was updated at 11:55 a.m.

Volunteers search the area along the Tenino to Yelm bicycle trail adjacent to state Route 507 near Churchill Road Southeast on Tuesday where the sheriff's office thinks Vanda Boone was attacked.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

TENINO – The woman whose body was found in the passenger compartment of a Tenino man’s pickup truck Sunday night has been identified as Vanda Skau Boone, a 60-year-old who moved to Yelm from New York this past March.

Vanda Skau Boone, from her MySpace

She died because her throat was cut and from blunt force injuries to her head and neck, according to the Thurston County Coroner.

The manner of death is homicide, Coroner Gary Warnock said this afternoon.

It’s a sad story, according to Warnock.

“On her way moving out here, her moving van caught fire and she lost everything,” Warnock said. “She has no family. Her only brother died a month ago in Brazil.”

Warnock said he concluded she died on Sunday, not so long before law enforcement officers pulled over the truck, because she was still warm.

Significant other conditions that contributed to her death were probable asphyxia due to strangulation or smothering, the coroner said.

About 30 volunteers from search and rescue groups in Thurston and Pierce counties scoured the area on the Tenino to Yelm bicycle trail today where the sheriff’s office thinks she was attacked on Sunday.

Thurston County sheriff’s Lt. Chris Mealy said they found a pair of shoes they think belong to the victim.

To read more on this news story, either scroll down or click here.

The Thurston County Sheriff's Office is asking anyone who saw Bernard Howell III or his silver Nissan pickup truck in the Tenino area yesterday afternoon or evening to call 360-786-5531 or Crime Stoppers at 360-493-2222

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

OLYMPIA – The Tenino man arrested last night when he was pulled over with dead woman inside his pickup truck saw a judge this afternoon who set bail at $750,000.

Bernard K. Howell III, 26, is being held on suspicion of second-degree murder, but has not been charged.

Bernard K. Howell III

A declaration supporting probable cause filed by the Thurston County Prosecutor’s Office reports the woman bundled in a sleeping bag in the passenger compartment of Howell’s truck was partially unclothed.

Howell told a deputy he found the woman dead and laying beside a trail in Tenino and engaged in sex with her, and was going to save her family the cost of a funeral by burying her in a swamp, the declaration alleges.

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney John M. Jones told the judge this afternoon Howell has a history of mental health problems. Both Jones and a defense attorney suggested Judge Christine Pomeroy be prepared to allow Howell to be evaluated by doctors from Western State Hospital after he is formally charged.

Howell, who said he works for the Tenino Meat Co. has no criminal history, according to Patrick O’Connor, who represented him from the Office of Assigned Counsel.

An autopsy is scheduled for tomorrow. Authorities have not revealed what they suspect as the cause of death except to say it was homicidal violence.

Car keys and a wallet with business cards identifying its owner as a 60-year-old woman were found in Howell’s pickup truck, according to the declaration. The Thurston County Office this morning reported the Toyota RAVE4 they found on state Route 507 belongs to a Yelm woman who has not been been seen since yesterday morning.

The Thurston County Coroner’s Office has not yet confirmed the identity of the body.

Authorities report that Howell said he found the body when he went for a walk yesterday afternoon on the bicycle path known as the Yelm to Tenino Trail. The sheriff’s office erroneously reported earlier today it was the Chehalis Western Trail.

He also said he took $11 and her car keys and drove her vehicle around for several hours before returning with plastic bags, a sleeping bags, zip ties, bungie cords and a 10 pound weight.

Detectives found what they believe is the crime scene on the bike trail, just east of Churchill Road about 4 o’clock this morning. Blood and other evidence there were documented, according to the declaration.

Howell said he had no part in her death, the declaration reports.

Chief Criminal Deputy Jim Chamberlain of the sheriff’s office said he expects detectives will revisit the case of Nancy Moyer, a 36-year-old woman who went missing from her Tenino home last year, with Howell in mind. However, they have no evidence linking Howell to Moyer, Chamberlain said.

The sheriff’s office is asking anyone who saw the suspect yesterday or last night, or his vehicle, in the Tenino area to call 360-786-5531 or Crime Stoppers at 360-493-2222.

The photo released of the silver Nissan pickup truck shows a freezer in the back. There was no evidence of human remains inside the freezer, Chamberlain said.

•••
This news story has been corrected since it was first posted. The age of the woman whose wallet was found in Howell’s truck was initially incorrectly reported as one year younger than she really was.

•••
For more details, read today’s earlier news story about last night’s arrest near the elementary school in Tenino by scrolling down or clicking here.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A man arrested four times in one month in Centralia and Chehalis for crimes involving drugs and burglary was sentenced yesterday to 12 and half years in prison.

Daniel J. Miller, 49, was the individual who inadvertently led police to a Reynolds Avenue home where an officer found some of his own belongings among what was described as truckloads of stolen property and was also the man captured by a police dog after breaking into the Centralia Police Department’s training facility on Mellen Street on July 1.

A plea agreement finalized yesterday in Lewis County Superior Court included Miller pleading guilty to five felonies in exchange for some half dozen other potential charges being dropped, according to defense attorney Dan Havirco.

Miller was arrested June 3 when Centralia detective Sgt. Pat Fitzgerald spotted him driving in the south end of town and confiscated suspected methamphetamine, oxycodone, methadone and hydrocodone. Fitzgerald was on his way to court to get a search warrant signed in connection with the the stolen property investigation.

He was arrested the following weekend in Chehalis when an officer was investigating possible vehicle prowlers in the middle of the night behind an auto shop, according to Havirco.

A week later, the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office arrested Miller again after a woman returned to her Graf Road home to find it ransacked.

Deputy Prosecutor Sarah Beigh said a co-defendant of Miller’s was sentenced on Friday to prison. It was immediately clear which case that involved.