Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CENTRALIA – Besides getting a $250 citation for dog at large, the owner of a dog that attacked a neighbor cat on Ham Hill Road late last month has been informed his pet is now designated a potentially dangerous dog.

Police were called when a resident awoke to dogs barking and found her young Siamese outside in the mouth of one of a pair of strange dogs behind her house.

Bailey and Roscoe

Cheryl Oakley chased them away and when daylight came, found her older tabby cat dead across the road.

An officer who responded to the 3:15 a.m. call on July 30 found two dogs on the next block heading back through an open gate on their property. They matched the description Oakley gave, according to the Centralia police report.

Bailey, a 9-month-old Siamese kitty spent three days at the veterinary clinic being treated for wounds.

The felines were indoor cats, but apparently pushed out the screen of an open window.

The dog owner, Felipe Loa-Vargas, told police he does what he can to keep them on his Yakima Street property, but they sometimes jump out of their kennel, according to the report. Loa-Vargas said he usually keeps the gate in front closed, but his wife may have left it open when she left for work, the report noted.

Had anyone witnessed one of the dogs killing the tabby, that dog likely would have been impounded and deemed a dangerous dog, a designation that puts heavy restrictions on such an animal, according to officer Boe Wohld, the city’s special services officer.

Instead, a notice was sent to the dog owner his dog is now a potentially dangerous dog.

One of the dogs is described in the police report as a chocolate-colored lab-type dog. The other is described as a Pit Bull with white on its chest. Wohld said they look related to each other.

Wohld said he wasn’t sure which dog got in trouble for attacking the Siamese. A copy of the notice sent to Loa-Vargas wasn’t immediately available.

The label of potentially dangerous is appealable.

If the dog is caught roaming again, it may be impounded, according to city code. If it bites again, it can be declared dangerous.

Among the requirements for a dangerous dog, according to Centralia’s code, are being kept in an enclosure with a secure top, proof of $250,000 special liability insurance and in some cases having to wear a muzzle when taken for walks.
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For background, read “Dogs that kill” from Saturday Aug. 4, 2012, here

Firefighters stopped a field fire in Toledo from spreading this afternoon. / Courtesy photo by Lewis County Fire District 2

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

It’s fire weather.

Any fires that get started could spread rapidly with the combination of wind and low humidity through this evening, according to the National Weather Service.

It’s hot, it’s dry and northeast winds from 8 to 14 mph, and afternoon gusts near 20 mph, are what’s fueled the concern.

The so-called red flag warning is in effect for the Interstate 5 corridor from Lewis to King counties until 9 o’clock tonight, according to the weather service.

Already today, a Toledo area resident’s grass field caught on fire while he was using his tractor and brush hog attachment.

“Maybe the blade hit a rock or a piece of metal in the field, caused a spark, and away she went,”  Lewis County Fire District 2 Chief Grant Wiltbank said. “It’s really dry.”

The flames charred about a half an acre on the 100 block of Boone Road.

Three members of the department who responded to the 2:18 p.m. call quickly extinguished the fire, Wiltbank said.

Wiltbank said it’s the most tinder dry conditions he’s seen in the seven years he’s been in Lewis County.

Had the field fire jumped Boone Road, he said, it would have taken several fire districts to contain it.

The chief suggests that for the next couple of days folks do all the things they know they should do in terms of being extra careful, such as not leaving a barbecue or recreational fire unattended.

“Until it cools off and we get some rain, the fire danger is going to remain high,” he said.

Flames charred about a half an acre on the 100 block of Boone Road. / Courtesy photo by Lewis County Fire District 2

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Thank goodness for texting and the old-fashioned siren at the Mineral Fire Station.

A fire broke out yesterday afternoon in a vacant two-story building and dispatchers weren’t able to tone out the volunteer fire department.

Fire Chief Kevin Mounce got a text message about it and his son, a firefighter, alerted other firefighters by activating the backup siren.

The “repeater” was down,” Mounce said.

The delay was somewhere between two and five minutes, but it was the kind of fire fight that needed all the resources that could be mustered.

The fire spread to three outbuildings, as well as brush and trees behind the house, the chief said.

“It was a mess,” he said.

Crews spent six hours battling the blaze in yesterday’s hot dry weather, with help from five neighboring departments, according to Mounce.

It started on the 100 block of Maple Lane, ignited an attic fire in a bunk house and burned the roofs of a tool shed and a garage, he said.

It was just west of the old Mineral School.

“What I was worried about was catching the roof on the school,” he said.

One firefighter was injured, and went to Morton General Hospital for X-rays of his hand.

At one point, a good samaritan brought coolers full of Gatorade and water for firefighters, he said. “So that was nice,” he said.

This morning, Mounce returned to put out “hot spots”, he said.

The house had no electricity to it. An investigator was heading up there today to try to determine the cause.

Updated at 2:50 p.m.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A man in the Littlerock area is dead after an exchange of gun fire with police today.

Deputies were called about 11:45 a.m. to the 6200 block of Maytown Road Southwest about a man with a gun possibly shooting at passing motorists, according to the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office.

When deputies arrived, the man went inside his house, sheriff’s Lt. Greg Elwin said.

Deputies, troopers and Tenino police surrounded the home.

At one point, he fired what appeared to be a rifle at deputies in the front, Elwin said. He then presented himself on the back porch with what looked like a handgun and shots were fired, according to Elwin.

“The suspect is shot, aid is administered, EMS arrives and the shooter ends up, he’s deceased,” Elwin said.

The lieutenant, speaking from the scene, said he didn’t yet know who the man is. Update: He was 70 years old, according to the sheriff’s office.

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See video from  KOMOnews.com, here

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A pair of injured hikers from Oklahoma were plucked out of a snowfield by a helicopter in East Lewis County after they were spotted from above by waving their orange sleeping bag.

The 58-year-old woman had cut her legs, face and arms as she attempted to help her husband who accidentally slid approximately 60 feet down a snow and ice field yesterday in the Goat Rocks Wilderness area, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

The 62-year-old man struck his head on rocks on the way down and suffered hip pain and possible head trauma, according to Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown.

They are currently being treated at Morton General Hospital, Brown said.

The injured couple spent the night waiting for help after making a satellite phone call yesterday to the Forest Service. They were hoisted about 11:30 a.m. today into the King County Sheriff’s Office Guardian helicopter.

A pair of Lewis County sheriff’s deputies set off on foot about 7:30 a.m. today trying to locate the man and woman. The couple had relayed they were near Hart Lake, south of Packwood.

Retired sheriff’s detective Dave Neiser flew the sheriff’s office plane over the area this morning looking for signs of the pair. Neiser spotted the orange sleeping bag.

Brown said the couple had hiked in the area before and returned because they loved it so much the last time.

They were only hours into their hike when the accident occurred, she said. They were well-prepared with food and supplies for a four-day trek, according to Brown.

Packwood Search and Rescue as well as the Lewis County Posse horse team assisted in the search this morning, according to Brown.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A pair of deputies are hiking into the Goat Rocks Wilderness area this morning trying to find two injured hikers who slipped and fell while trekking through snow fields yesterday.

One of them, using his satellite phone, was able to relay they were near Hart Lake could not make it out and requested a rescue, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

Hart Lake is south of Packwood.

The sheriff’s was office contacted just before 5 p.m. yesterday, had a phone conversation with the hikers and advised them to stay put, according to Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown.

Brown said it’s unknown where the husband and wife couple are from or their ages. The phone connection was not clear, Brown said.

A deputy was told the woman cut her leg, but the bleeding had been controlled and the husband bruised his hip, according to Brown.

There is some confusion as to specifically where the couple is, as there is no GPS function working on their phone, Brown said.

The sheriff’s office hopes to fly its plane over the area, which may be able to spot the pair and then send GPS coordinates to ground crews, Brown said.

Search and rescue teams have not been called out yet because they don’t yet have a good location, according to Brown.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Former Chehalis family practice physician David Wooten has lost his appeal of a 2010 conviction for felony malicious mischief, even though his wife recently won her appeal on essentially the same issue.

Dr. Wooten and his wife Janna Wooten were found guilty in separate trials in Lewis County Superior Court when they were accused of trashing the house they lived in at Mayfield Lake. They contended it was simply a remodeling project they left unfinished when they moved out of the home they were purchasing.

They relocated to Texas in May 2008 after finding a foreclosure notice posted on the property, and learning the man selling it to them had taken out a second mortgage and lost the house.

The decision filed in May by the state of Washington Court of Appeals Division II on Janna Wooten’s case tossed out her conviction saying prosecutors failed to show any damage to a person other than the Wootens. Prosecutor’s arguments and theory were based on a misunderstanding of real property law, according to that decision.

However, the same appeals court ruled just the opposite in David Wooten’s case late last month. His conviction for first-degree malicious mischief stands, unless he petitions the state Supreme Court for a review.

Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Sara Beigh said yes it was the same court and similar cases with different outcomes. It was a different panel of three judges, Beigh said by way of explaining the contradiction.

The appeals court has seven judges.

Dr. Wooten’s move away from Lewis County came after state health officials reinstated his physician’s license with strict conditions that prevented him from prescribing narcotics and restricted his dealings with female patients. His practice was in Chehalis.

Beigh vacated Janna Wooten’s conviction last month, as the appeals court ordered her to do.

Both the Wootens already served their 60-day sentences, under so-called electronic home monitoring in the summer of 2010.
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For background, read “Conviction vacated for trashing of Mossyrock house” from Wednesday May 23, 2012, here