Lewis County Sirens.com

Updated at 6:24 p.m.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Local drug detectives last night made their 10th arrest in an ongoing investigation into a cocaine distribution ring that stretched from Centralia to Seattle.

Over the past “couple of” months, law enforcement officers infiltrated the organization, making numerous controlled purchases of the drug and established probable cause to search several dwellings and vehicles, according to Sgt. Brian Warren who leads the Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team.

Warren said JNET was led to the larger sources in Olympia and Seattle.

Overall, they seized approximately one half pound of cocaine, one ounce of ecstasy, one half pound of psilocybin mushrooms and one loaded firearm, according to Warren. The street value of the drugs is approximately $50,000.

The three believed to be the primary individuals supplying the Lewis County area are two men from Olympia; Jacob L Gomez, 24, and Cole Johnson Kelly, 27, and then Cesar Alfonso Leiva-Licona, 30, a Honduran national residing in Seattle, according to Warren.

Leiva-Licona was arrested yesterday.

“Last night’s arrest was the head of the snake, as we say,” Warren said of Leiva-Licona. “We got him to bring a quarter pound to the Olympia area last night.”

Leiva-Licona was living here on an expired work visa, Warren said.

The three arrests occurred in Thurston and Pierce counties.

Warren said the quarter pound of cocaine confiscated would be worth $2,500 to $3,000.

The drug is not uncommon among the college crowd, he said.

The investigation was dubbed Operation Snow Patrol.

JNET is made up of a group of detectives from the Centralia Police Department, the Chehalis Police Department and the Lewis County Sheriff’ Office.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The sheriff’s office still doesn’t know who wrote the note that initiated an all-day lockdown and investigation at Centralia High School, but they know who left it on the teacher’s desk, and it turns out the folded up piece of paper was found outside on the ground by a student on his way to an adjacent classroom.

When he picked it up from under Jon Rooklidge’s door, he saw “Help us” written on the outside and thought it was someone needing help with their homework, so the student went into the classroom and placed it on Rooklidge’s desk, according to the detective investigating the case.

Centralia High School, on Oct. 2, 2015

Rooklidge teaches in one of two classrooms that share a portable building, which has a ramp that leads up to the two side-by-side doors.

The Oct. 2 incident began with the discovery after second period of the message that stated a student was planning on killing people during the school assembly later that day. Rooklidge took it to the principal and the school resource officer was informed.

Law enforcement swarmed to the campus on Eshom Road and distraught parents waited at a church across the street. Some students were interviewed, and the student body of some 1,000 youngsters were searched with a metal-detector wand before being released in small groups over the course of the next several hours. No weapons were found.

It happened the day after a mass shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon. The high school’s homecoming football game and dance that weekend were cancelled.

Lewis County Sheriff’s Office detective Tom Callas in the following weeks spoke with teachers and students, viewed security footage and handwriting on homework and concluded the boy who put the note on the desk did so innocently.

In a recorded interview at the sheriff’s office, the 16-year-old said he didn’t read the inside of the note and didn’t know what it said.

The specific contents of the note are not included in Callas’s written report, and in an interview, he declined to reveal what it said.

He left copies of it with some school staff, asking them to keep an eye out for any handwriting, from a student or adult, that matches it, he said.

It was handwritten on school notebook paper, torn at the top. It had been folded up, Callas said.

The message on the inside was described that morning by a school district spokesperson as a “specific type of threat of violence at the high school.”

In a news release crafted at mid-morning that day by public information officers at the Centralia Police Department, the sheriff’s office and Public Relations Coordinator Ed Petersen for the Centralia School District, it was described as a note that stated a student was planning on killing people during a school assembly, scheduled for the afternoon.

Callas wrote in his report the note warned of a potential shooting incident to happen later that day at an assembly.

The page was taken into evidence, and partial prints have been lifted from it, for further examination by a fingerprint classification detective.

Centralia High School sits outside the city limits and is in the sheriff’s office jurisdiction, but the district has a school resource officer from the Centralia Police Department.

A somewhat similar incident occurred about five weeks later, with the discovery of writing on a student’s desk that said, “Ima shoot up the school 11/10.” The response involved officers from several agencies searching all students prior to their entry into the school the following morning.

Centralia police investigated and a 16-year-old student who said she was just doodling and forgot to erase it, was arrested for felony harassment.

Detective Callas suspended his investigation last month, unable to find a suspect for the Oct. 2 incident.

Whether someone had a genuine intention to harm others, or someone was just looking for attention, Callas said he couldn’t say or speculate what was going through their mind.

“I just know we took this very seriously, that somebody was threatening to shoot,” he said.
•••

For background, read “Writer of threat to “kill people” at Centralia High School still unknown” from Friday October 2, 2015, here

John H. Kuhn II appears before a judge in Lewis County Superior Court.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A former manager of a Chehalis business has been accused by the owner of stealing more than $10,000 worth of kitchen cabinets and countertops.

The current manager of Builders Surplus Northwest contacted the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office in May to report the discovery of what he said occurred back around January 2013.

John H. Kuhn II, was summonsed into Lewis County Superior Court, where this afternoon he learned more about the charge of first-degree theft that has been filed against him.

Kuhn, 35, said the kitchen remodel was a gift or bonus from the owner, for working so hard for him after a previous manager left.

“Two and a half years later, and now this,” Kuhn said outside the courtroom.

According to charging documents, current manager Dana Shave with assistance from company accountant Jon Christensen, gathered up invoices for the materials and labor to install the products at Kuhn’s home on Padrick Road in Centralia.

Photos of the kitchen were posted on the company’s website as a representation of the work they do, according to the documents.

Owner of the Hamilton Road business Michel Rey told an investigating deputy he knew of the remodel but was unaware his manager didn’t pay for it with his own money, the documents state.

Rey said he never provided bonuses for his employees in the form of materials or labor, as if he did, he would make them pay the tax on the materials, the documents relate.

Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Ann Harrie wrote in the charging documents that Kuhn denied the theft allegations to the deputy and provided names of five people who could verify they were a work bonus, but each of those five provided statements that they’d never heard of the kitchen or cabinets being a gift or bonus from Rey.

Kuhn does not have any email or correspondence from Rey showing it was a gift, Harrie wrote.

The charge of first-degree theft was filed on Dec. 3. It has a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

When Kuhn appeared before Judge Richard Brosey this afternoon, temporary defense attorney Joely O’Rourke said Kuhn was in the process of retaining Centralia attorney Don Blair to represent him.

Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Kevin Nelson asked for bail to be set as a $10,000 unsecured bond. Brosey agreed.

Kuhn’s arraignment is scheduled for January 7.

Danny A. Wing talks with his defense attorney Todd Pascoe before going in front of the judge in Lewis County Superior Court.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Danny A. Wing was brought back from prison to Lewis County Superior Court, so he could sign a portion of his sentencing documents that were compiled after his Sept. 25 sentencing for the death of 3-year-old Jasper Henderling-Warner.

Wing, 27, is serving a 416 month sentence following his guilty plea to first-degree manslaughter and third-degree assault.

Jasper died in October 2014 from chronic battered child syndrome, after Wing and his wife had taken the toddler into their household. The family had recently moved to Vader.

The documents, called finding of facts and conclusions of law, related to the enhancements that allowed the court to give him more time than the standard sentencing range; that the victim was a member of his household, and that Wing abused a position of trust on a particularly vulnerable victim.

Wing didn’t sign them during the approximately five-minute hearing in front of Judge Nelson Hunt this afternoon. His attorney Todd Pascoe signed them for him.

Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead told the judge Wing had filed several motions, on his own behalf, from prison – Halstead said out of the courtroom they related to his exceptional sentence.

But Wing, who spent several minutes with Pascoe before going before the judge, asked to withdraw the filings. He said he might want to refile them at a later date, with assistance from an appeal attorney.

Judge Hunt allowed them to be withdrawn. Wing noted that he is indigent and would have an appointed appeal attorney representing him.

Wing then had a hearing in family court, in the matter of the couple’s three children.

His wife Brenda A. Wing remains in the Lewis County Jail, awaiting her sentencing for her role in Jasper’s death.

•••

For background, read “Vader man gets 34 years for toddler death” from Friday September 25, 2015, here

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Lewis County Superior Court Judge Nelson Hunt publicly acknowledged he plans to retire, saying he was making the official announcement early so anyone who may wish to run for his seat next November can make their plans.

“I will be 67 next year and it is just time to retire,” Hunt said in a news release yesterday. “I very much enjoy the work I am doing and those with whom I work but I want to retire before too many people start wishing that I would.”

Judge Nelson Hunt

He said his post-retirement plans are still in the making, but notes the possibility of traveling extensively and also said he’s been approached about teaching college-level criminal law and procedural courses.

Adna resident Andrew Toynbee, a former chief criminal deputy prosecutor in Lewis County, announced today he will seek election to Hunt’s position.

Hunt was first elected as judge in 2004, replacing the retiring Judge David Draper. He was unopposed in that election as well as in 2008 and 2012.

In his news release, he says the experience he is most proud of is “our continuing success” with drug court, something he was more than a little skeptical about when called upon to lead it following Judge John Hall’s retirement.

Hunt said in the past he’d seen many well-intentioned programs aimed at dealing with the drug problem fail over the long run.

” … I was soon convinced that it is the most effective way to proceed and our results corroborate that,” Hunt stated. “It will be difficult to end my active association with drug court but I am sure my successor will be up to the challenge.”

Hunt’s law career began as a deputy prosecuting attorney for Lewis County in 1979 and then he became the Lewis County prosecutor in 1990.

He held that elected position until 1995 when he resigned to take a position with the local law firm of Mano and McKerricher, where his practice emphasized criminal defense.

“Being a judge is a great job,” Hunt said. “It is challenging and full of variety, every day brings something new.

“That was the main reason I decided to become a judge and the past 11 years have certainly lived up to that.”

Toynbee today said the support and encouragement he has gotten to run for judge has been overwhelming.

“I am looking forward to getting out and letting the community know who I am and what I have to offer the people of Lewis County as a superior court judge,” Toynbee stated.

Lewis County has three superior court judges who preside over felony and high-money civil cases. The job pays $162,618 a year.

Toynbee served for 13 years in the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office, in a variety of positions. He spent his last five years there the chief criminal deputy, before taking a similar position in 2006 at the Thurston County Prosecutor’s Office.

He said he oversees he oversees a staff of over 30 attorneys and support personnel.

“I have learned much in the last nine years, and I am eager to bring that experience home to Lewis County,” Toynbee said.

The married father of three has continued to reside in Lewis County and lists his community involvement as a board member for Pope’s Kids Place since 2006, several terms on the St. Joseph School Commission, a former board member of Valley View Community Health Center and has coached for Chehalis Youth Soccer.

Toynbee will formally kick off his campaign in January.

Freeway traffic backed up for miles, for hours, while crews made numerous attempts to move stuck semi truck. / Courtesy photo by Department of Transportation

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – An over-height semi truck that got stuck at an overpass on Interstate 5 near Toledo leaving one southbound lane blocked yesterday was finally dislodged about 3 o’clock this morning.

The bridge at the Toledo-Vader road offramp near milepost 61 is signed for allowing 14-feet 9-inches of clearance, according to the state Department of Transportation.

The driver indicated his rig was 16-feet tall, DOT spokesperson Bart Treece said.

“He did slow down to about 25 mph to try to sneak by, but that didn’t work,” Treece said.

The truck was hauling a generator base from Centralia to Idaho, he said.

It happened about 2:30 p.m. and by 4:30 p.m., the backup on the freeway was four miles and growing.

Traffic was detoured for bridge inspectors to examine the structure and during attempts to pull the truck out, Treece said.

They let the air out of the tires, but the truck was still lodged there, he said.

They tried pulling it out with two class C tow trucks, but that didn’t work either.

“So we used hydraulic jacks to lift the bridge, had three tow trucks pulling and one loader pushing,” he said.

Treece said that for whatever reason, the pilot car didn’t communicate with the driver.

“If they would have taken that offramp, (and got back on), they would have been just fine,” he said.

The bridge was scraped up, but inspectors aren’t concerned about anything structural, he said.

They’ll return tomorrow to double-check all their information so they can send the operator a bill, he said.

It was the same type of load being hauled last Tuesday by a different truck that hit the Koontz Road overpass on  southbound Interstate 5 in Napavine.

That truck was traveling freeway speed however, and the damage to the overpass more serious, according to Treece.

Koontz Road above the freeway remains closed and its opening date still unknown.

“We had to develop a pretty significant repair plan, because the girders were badly damaged,” he said.

Updated

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Authorities are taking stock of the damage from last week’s flooding, which primarily impacted the east end of the county.

Randle Fire Chief Jeff Jaques hoped to finish up today checking on places.

“There wasn’t a whole lot that we had to evacuate in our area,” Jaques said. “We had three rescues, maybe four, with assistance from the sheriff’s office.”

As of last night, the chief knew of a vacation home affected, a house that got two feet of water inside and a household in Cascade Peaks Campground that was displaced, but he still had several more residences to look at.

The Cowlitz River at Randle didn’t rise quite as high as the record event in November 2006, he said, but Cispus got hit pretty hard this time. It reached just over 24 feet at about 2:45 p.m. on Wednesday.

“Every flood is different,” he said.

With the water over the roadway at U.S. Highway 12 and on state Route 131, responders had to drive all the way east to Packwood, onto Cline Road and take a forest service road, cutting through downed tress, to get to the people who needed help in Cispus, according to Jaques.

The sheriff’s office brought out its 5-ton truck and the only boat rescue in Randle involved bringing someone out from Cline Road by canoe, he said.

Lewis County Emergency Management is urging people impacted from the flooding to phone them and make a report.

“As of Monday, 19 homes were confirmed damaged,” Steve Mansfield, manager of the department, said today. “I know there’s more than that.”

There are two reasons to call in, he said.

First, the department is working to connect people who need help with others who can help them, he said.

“Today, for example, we had a guy evacuated from the Randle area who went home and found lots of sewage in his house,” Mansfield said. “We matched him up with the Red Cross, who are giving him vouchers for a motel for three or four nights.”

The second reason is, Emergency Management needs to tally up a dollar loss that will be forwarded to FEMA, and if the total reaches a certain threshold, then FEMA funding may be available to assist citizens, according to Mansfield.

The need for rescues began about 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, in the High Valley community of Packwood.

A log jam formed in the Cowlitz River, causing the river to reroute and suddenly water began to flow into a residence on Mountain View Drive, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies and firefighters continued responding to calls for help through the night. By 2:15 a.m., the river at Packwood was cresting at almost 11.4 feet. It’s record high is 14.59 feet in November 2006.

Packwood Fire Department Chief Lonnie Goble said most of their issues were in the High Valley.

One or two were washed out, he said. One unoccupied vacation cabin tipped over.

“The last high water this fall was even higher than this was,” he said. “For some reason, some log jams diverted the water.”

Goble estimated 20 to 25 people had to leave their homes but thought by Saturday, everyone was back home.

The area in town right along U.S. Highway 12 didn’t flood, but given the changing river, it’s only a matter of time, he said.

“If the river doesn’t get fixed this year, Packwood will flood,” he said.

He continues to be concerned about the area above Franklin Bridge and is unsatisfied with the methods and proposals for protecting the town, by the numerous government agencies that have involvement in the waterway.

“They used to put DC Cats right down the center of the river to keep it clear, but they don’t want to do that anymore,” he said.

Emergency Management Manager Mansfield hopes to compile damage reports by the end of this week.

Impacted residents are asked to call one of the following phone numbers and leave their name and a good contact telephone number. Someone will return the call to gather specifics of their losses.

Those in Lewis County and all other cities may call 360-740-1152. Damages in the city limits of Centralia should be reported to 360-623- 8283 or 360-330-7659.

Information needed for the call back includes:

For citizens:
• Dollar value of the loss
 • Value of the property loss (tax assessment value if property) • Any insurance coverage

For businesses:

• Dollar value loss of inventory/building damage
 • Insurance
 • Was business closed during event (if so, dollar value of losses)

Emergency Management has already received inquiries about making donations to flood victims.

Mansfield asks that anyone who wants to make a monetary- or goods- and services-type donation to please call 360-740-1152 and leave their phone number along with the donation pledge they would like to make.

They will have someone contact donors as the need is identified, he said.