Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Plea agreements with the two men accused of stealing thousands of dollars of old growth timber out of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest mean neither one will go to jail.

It would have been problematic to take it to trial, Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher told a judge this afternoon.

There were differences of opinion about the value the wood as well as a “corpus delecti” issue, Meager said.

Corpus delecti is a term referring to a principle that means by law, prosecutors can’t use a person’s confession without independent evidence backing it up, according to Meagher.

“One really important fact is both were very cooperative with the forest service,” Meagher told the judge in the Chehalis courtroom. “And especially when it comes to managing our natural resources, we want people to be cooperative.”

Lewis County Superior Court Judge James Lawler agreed with the sentence both the deputy prosecutor and defense attorney recommended: one year in jail, with all of it suspended for one year, along with fines, fees and then restitution to be decided later.

George M. Catlin, 52, of Toledo, pleaded guilty today to third-degree possession of stolen property, a gross misdemeanor. Troy S. McClure, 45, of Winlock, made the same deal in front of Judge Nelson Hunt on Wednesday.

The south Lewis County men were charged in April for allegedly taking more than 100 cords of wood valued at more than $13,000 last spring and summer out of spotted owl habitat south of Randle.

Permits only allow a maximum of six cords of personal use firewood per year to be collected from designated areas.

On July 6 of last year, National Forest Law Enforcement Officer Ron Malamphy was eastbound on U.S. Highway 12 when he saw a flatbed truck carrying a load of large old growth fir, and with the assistance of a state trooper, McClure and Catlin were arrested. McClure had an active permit.

Malamphy had taken multiple reports of sightings of a similarly described truck loaded with old growth timber over the previous months and even observed the same truck parked at Wal-Mart unoccupied with a for sale sign attached to a load of old growth fir.

After their arrest, the men voluntarily showed officers the place they had been getting the wood, according to charging documents.

Defense attorney Chris Baum said outside the courtroom his client admitted to taking firewood from public land in excess of the permit, but  part of the question was if they were in the right area.

“It’s not actually as devious as charging papers made it look,” Baum said. “It’s pretty innocuous.”

Inside the courtroom Baum addressed Judge Lawler saying his client was helping out McClure who was responsible for getting the permit, but was sorry for what he did.

“He’s an out of work logger,” Baum told the judge. “He was just trying to make money for his family, and he knows he made a mistake.”

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

While Lewis County Sheriff Steve Mansfield has announced his conclusion that April’s fatal shooting of a suspected burglar in Onalaska was justifiable, whether or not the man who pulled the trigger will get charged with a crime is up to the prosecutor’s office.

Lewis County Prosecutor Michael Golden said this morning it may be days, or possibly months before a decision is made.

The sheriff’s office sent the case file materials to the prosecutor’s office earlier this week.

“We hope to get through those within the next few days so we can get a preliminary determination made,” Golden said, but added a final decision could be held off until after he gets the results of an examination of Ronald Brady’s computer. And that could take several months, he said.

Thomas McKenzie, 56, of Morton, died the night of April 19 when he was shot by Brady outside Brady’s under-construction house on the 2100 block of state Route 508.

The news this week has left McKenzie’s family devastated, again, and they are anxiously waiting to see what Golden does, according to McKenzie’s younger sister.

“It’s not over yet, it’s not over,” the sister Colleen Wolczak said yesterday. “Our brother is a victim, he may not have been doing what he should have been doing, but he was an unarmed man and we love him and we miss him.”

Sheriff Mansfield’s office chose not to arrest Brady, instead passing the file to prosecutors for their review. Mansfield describes it as a case with gray areas.

“The law is based on what a reasonable person would do,” Mansfield said on Tuesday pointing to the key consideration used in making his decision.

The sheriff’s office investigation determined McKenzie had gone with his wife to the house intending to burglarize it and the homeowner reacted to protect himself.

“People have a right to protect themselves, their families, and property in a lawful manner as defined by the laws of this state,” Mansfield wrote in his announcement on Monday. “If you create or put yourself in a situation where someone has a legal right to use deadly force against you, that is a risk you take.”

Brady, 59, told sheriff’s detectives he was staying overnight at the house in case burglars from earlier in the day returned, according to the sheriff’s office.

The building has no power and has been under construction for several years, according to Mansfield. Brady stays there from time to time, but rents a home down the road, Mansfield said.

Brady said when he heard a noise, he opened the garage door and fired several shots at the tires of a truck outside, and immediately found himself with two flashlights shined in his face, the sheriff’s office reported in its news release.

Sheriff Mansfield on Tuesday offered some context that causes him to believe what Brady did next was lawful.

“Nobody had any business being out there, it’s dark out, it’s pitch black out,” Mansfield said. “And he’s out there in the middle of nowhere; he’s 59 years old.”

Mansfield focused on the moment of fear Brady said he felt when, instead of the gunshots prompting the intruders to flee, he found himself blinded by bright light coming from two different directions.

“He’s got to make a choice now, do I wait for them to shoot me?” Mansfield said.

The sheriff offered the state law (RCW 9A.16.050) that describes “Homicide is justifiable when committed either:

1. In the lawful defense of the slayer, or his or her husband, wife, parent, child, brother, or sister, or of any other person in his presence or company, when there is reasonable ground to apprehend a design on the part of the person slain to commit a felony or to do some great personal injury to the slayer or to any such person, and there is imminent danger of such design being accomplished; or

2. In the actual resistance of an attempt to commit a felony upon the slayer, in his presence, or upon or in a dwelling, or other place of abode, in which he is.”

Mansfield said he doesn’t want citizens to get the idea it would be acceptable to react with deadly force if, for example, a teenager were stealing a really expensive bicycle.

“Where are you, what are the conditions,” he said should be considered. “Would a reasonable person shoot then? No.”

In Brady’s position, another individual might choose to stay inside and call 911, Mansfield said. It’s not black and white, it’s based upon what a reasonable person would do, he said.

“My personal feeling; if it’s not a threat to you or your family, you should probably think very carefully about using deadly force,” Mansfield said.

Thomas McKenzie, a mechanic by trade, leaves behind several family members in Morton, including his father, Bob McKenzie who operates Bob’s Barber Shop there. He was no longer living with his wife, his sister said.

Wolczak, who is a medical assistant near Salem, Ore., just wishes Brady would have chosen a different option.

“He could have called 911, he could have not opened the garage door,”  Wolczak said. “There’s just so many other things he could have done instead of shoot our brother.”

The events that began about 9:40 p.m. are detailed further in court documents filed Monday charging McKenzie’s wife, 32-year-old Joanna McKenzie of Morton.

The sheriff’s office had arrested her on Friday for both burglary and attempted burglary, but she was charged by prosecutors only with attempted residential burglary, a felony.

The documents don’t mention Brady shooting at tires, but give the following account of what happened after the flashlights went on:

Brady said he opened fire with his .22 caliber rifle at one of the flashlights – which turned out to be held by Thomas McKenzie. Joanne McKenzie said she saw her husband try to run, but heard him yell “Ow,ow,ow” before collapsing.

Brady said he opened fire on Joanna McKenzie. She said she tried to get back in the truck to call 911, but stopped when the man began shooting at her.

She fled toward the highway and flagged down a motorist to call for help.

Joanna McKenzie told a deputy the couple was at the house with permission to take parts off a truck parked in its driveway. She said she threw away the gloves and stocking cap she was wearing.

Prosecutors say tools found inside the McKenzie’s truck included bolt cutters, prey bars, a pipe wrench and a drill.

They don’t say how many shots were fired.
•••
Read the charging documents for Joanna McKenzie for more details. She has not yet gone before a judge to make her plea.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A pair of south Lewis County men are scheduled for trial next week for allegedly stealing thousands of dollars of old growth timber out of the National Forest from spotted owl habitat.

Troy S. McClure, 45, of Winlock, and George M. Catlin, 52, of Toledo, are each charged with first-degree possession of stolen property.

The men were arrested last summer when they were spotted driving a flatbed truck carrying a load of large old growth fir on U.S. Highway 12 . Mangled green Forest Service tags were attached to the timber, according to charging documents filed in Lewis County Superior Court in April.

Both McClure and Catlin have pleaded not guilty.

The men are alleged to have removed dozens of cords of wood from an area south of Randle in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest  between April and July of last year.

Lewis County Prosecutor Michael Golden said most of the violations of this kind his office comes across aren’t of this high value.

“This case is unusual in its scope,” Golden said.

No one is claiming the men cut down old growth trees, but the allegation is they removed timber from areas designated as so-called late successional reserves for the endangered owl.

Kristie Miller, the ranger for the Cowlitz Valley Ranger District which includes much of East Lewis County, says they do allow members of the public to collect a certain amount of firewood from the National Forest with a permit, but almost never offer up any old growth timber.

“And there’s places where we never let anybody take anything,” Miller said on Monday.

Sections of National Forest land are designated in various ways, including some available for tree harvest and others identified as developing into old growth stands, for example, according to Miller.

Over the last decade or two, science has shown that trees and parts of trees laying around on the ground are valuable for the eco-system, Miller said.

“It’s not just the spotted owl, it’s a whole lot of species,” Miller said, that depend upon having old-growth type structure around them.

Charging documents in the case indicate that in late April 2009, a National Forest law enforcement officer was notified by a state trooper about a large Ford flatbed truck with a load of old growth. Over the following three months, there were multiple citizen reports of the truck hauling large loads of the fir, the documents allege.

Charging documents filed in the Chehalis court on April 9 and April 13 go on to give the following account:

That June, the officer came upon the vehicle parked in the Wal-Mart parking lot, filled with fir and a “for sale” sign was attached. He took pictures with a camera phone.

On July 6 of last year, Officer Ron Malamphy was eastbound on U.S. Highway 12 when he saw the truck, again filled with wood, and with the assistance of a state trooper, the two occupants were arrested.

Prosecutors Golden’s office alleges that between witness statements, admissions from the men and and a check in the area where the two said they had been working, more than 100 cords of wood valued at more than $13,000 were stolen.

McClure had an active permit, but it only allowed for a maximum of of six cords per year from designated areas, according to charging documents.

Centralia attorney Don Blair has been appointed to represent McClure and Chehalis lawyer Chris Baum is appointed to represent Catlin.

The trial is expected to last two days.

Miller says she doesn’t know details of this particular case, but each year they do have several incidents in her district in which people take wood illegally. A person might do it just once or twice though, she said.

“I think it happens more than I know,” she said, adding the area – of more than 575,000 acres – only has two law enforcement officers.

She attributes some of it to the public just not knowing they need a permit.

A permit is required anytime anyone gathers and removes anything off National Forest land, except a personal use amount of huckleberries.

Foresters do set aside wood for firewood in certain areas, but the general public is not allowed to just cut down trees, according to Miller

People can get even get permits for such things as salal, bear grass and even “cool rocks” for their garden.

Permits can be obtained by visiting the Randle office of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. Miller recommends if a person is coming from far away, they phone first to make sure the particular permit is available and find out the office hours.

The office can be found at 10024 U.S. Highway 12 in Randle and reached by calling 360-497-1100.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

The man hit and killed yesterday morning by a freight train in downtown Centralia has been identified as a 48-year-old resident of Hildale, Utah.

Mathew P. Johnson had been staying with a friend in Centralia since May, according to the Lewis County Coroner’s Office.

Police examine front of train on Wednesday

The coroner’s office has concluded Johnson intentionally allowed himself to get hit by a train. He was involved in an argument with a female friend just hours earlier and left after making statements which led her, in hindsight, to believe he may have intended to hurt himself, according to Chief Deputy Coroner Carmen Brunton and the Centralia Police Department.

Aid and police were called after the northbound train hit Johnson – who was walking on the tracks between Cherry and Plum street – at 4:41 a.m. yesterday.

The train, which was traveling 40 mph in an area posted with a maximum speed of 50 mph, sounded its whistle and went into an emergency brake application, according to Gus Melonas, a spokesperson for BNSF. It was pulling another locomotive and 78 cars loaded with freight containers from Chicago to Seattle on the double main line, Melonas said.

Police detective Pat Beall said yesterday morning it appeared the man saw the train and didn’t make any effort to move off the tracks.

Fifty passenger and freight trains travel on those tracks each day, according to Melonas.

Johnson doesn’t have any family here, but he leaves behind 18 children in Utah, Brunton said.

•••

Read yesterday’s news story, “Update: Train kills man on tracks in Centralia this morning“

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Too much alcohol and women “running off their mouths” led to a free for all brawl at a Mossyrock tavern leaving one man with broken ribs.

Donald Sampson, 46, was in court this week following Friday night’s melee at the Pioneer Tavern.

“I was at the bottom of a pile of people and getting punched in every direction,” Sampson said after the brief court hearing on Tuesday.

“There were four of us and 15 of them,” said his girlfriend, Robyn Schiefelbein.

Mossyrock Reserve Police Officer Rebecca Sutherland said yesterday it wasn’t actually quite that many people involved in the fighting but described in court documents one woman grabbing Schiefelbein by the hair and both women going to the ground, pulling each other’s hair.

Multiple other subjects attempted to pull the women apart, “with most of them ending up rolling on the ground,” Sutherland is quoted as saying in charging documents filed in Lewis County Superior Court.

Sampson was charged Tuesday with second-degree assault. Charging documents allege he struck a 40-year-old man in the head with a two-by-four. His was the only arrest Friday night.

The unemployed former natural gas line driller was released from jail Sunday on $20,000 bail.

Charging documents offer the following summary: It happened outside the back door of the bar around 11 p.m. on Friday. The bar owner and another man were escorting the couple and two of their friends out after complaints they were disorderly and picking fights. Other patrons followed the men in helping the foursome leave.

The couple, originally from Greensboro, North Carolina, described the scene in the East Lewis County drinking establishment as one that arose in part because they’re not “locals”. They moved to Mossyrock about three months ago to stay with friends, and were thinking about permanently relocating there, they said.

“I know small towns,” Schiefelbein said. “You wanna talk about small towns, I’m from a small town.”

The 44-year-old admitted they were drunk and that she was antagonizing another women at the bar.

“It started with girls, and girls running off our mouths,” she said.

Sampson, who said he has two cracked ribs, walked gingerly to and from the defense table in Judge Nelson Hunt’s Chehalis courtroom late Tuesday afternoon. He is expected to return next week for his arraignment.

Judge Hunt had noted it might be a “third-strike” case, as Sampson has two prior felonies – robbery first and assault second. Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Steve Scott said it wasn’t clear if the convictions were too far in the past to apply to the law.

That talk made Sampson nervous. He said those things happened some 20 years ago, when he was younger.

“I’ve been in trouble before, I don’t want no trouble,” he said. “I try to stay away from it.”

Centralia police detectives examine the front of the freight train after it struck and killed a pedestrian on the tracks in Centralia this morning

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A man was struck and killed by a freight train early this morning in Centralia.

Aid and police were called about 4:45 a.m. to the area near Summa Street.

Centralia Police Department detective Pat Beall said it appeared the man was walking, saw the train and didn’t make an effort to move.

Police officers and detectives were gathered on the east side of the BNSF tracks at Plum Street, and hung yellow police tape blocking off the area where the individual came to rest.

The engine of the northbound train was stopped just short of Main Street.

Beall said they didn’t yet know the identity of the man, but estimated he was older than 40 and younger than 60. He said he thought the man was walking northbound on the tracks when he got hit.

“There’s a video, we’ll have to wait for that,” Beall said. “We won’t have that for about a week.”

Police officers and detectives investigate the area on the east side of Plum Street in Centralia where a man's body came to rest after he was struck and killed by a freight train early this morning