Lewis County Sirens.com

Updated at 8:24 p.m.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Skeletal remains discovered east of Packwood have not been identified but they were found near the wreckage of car registered to a Tacoma man who was reported missing last year.

Detectives rappelled 275 feet down an embankment today to examine the find off of U.S. Highway 12 about seven miles west of White Pass, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

Two men hiking in the area yesterday afternoon came across the vehicle and the remains over a cliff near the highway, according to the sheriff’s office. Authorities waited until daylight conduct the recovery operation, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said in a news release.

They were assisted by Packwood Search and Rescue members at the scene near milepost 143, according to Brown.

Nothing indicated a crime and investigators believe the vehicle was traveling at a high rate of speed and left the roadway; the highway has no guard rail in that area, according to Brown.

The remains have not been positively identified, but authorities are  operating under the assumption at this point they belong to the missing man, according to Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod.

McLeod said he’s hopeful he’ll be able to make a confirmation fairly quickly with dental records.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Who will be in charge of the fire department where you live?

Half of the fire districts in Lewis County have contested races on the ballot for the position of fire commissioner.

Lewis County has 18 fire districts, the majority of which are run by a three-member board of commissioners.

Ballots for the general election must be postmarked by today or returned to the Lewis County Auditor’s Office before 8 p.m.

See election results here beginning shortly after 8 o’clock tonight.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The hunter who was killed over the weekend when part of a tree fell onto his tent outside Packwood is identified as Joseph R. Gardner, 69, of Kirkland.

An autopsy found Gardner died from multiple internal injuries, stemming from blunt force trauma to his chest and head, according to Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod.

The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office responded about 3 p.m. on Saturday to the hunting camp at the Cortright Creek Trailhead where a 20-foot length of tree had dropped approximately 100 feet onto the man.

KING5.com talked to Gardner’s brother who said the two went hunting in that same spot nearly every year since they were boys growing up in Randle but he’d never seen the wind like it was that day.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Deputies are looking for a man who allegedly attacked an acquaintance with a hatchet during an argument in Randle on Friday evening.

The 31-year-old Randle man reportedly then used the small axe to smash out the rear window of the victim’s vehicle, which he subsequently stole.

The sheriff’s office believes Robert J. Spradlin, 31, may be in the company of his girlfriend, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said this morning.

Deputies called about 7 p.m. to the 200 block of Savio Road were told that Spradlin and the 54-year-old man were arguing when the suspect picked up the hatchet and started swinging it, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. He then allegedly used its blunt end to strike the man repeatedly in the back and ribs, Brown said.

The victim escaped by hiding; Spradlin fled into the woods, Brown said.

The victim was transported to Morton General Hospital, but then transferred to a hospital in Vancouver as his injuries were worse than initially thought, according to Brown.

Brown said Spradlin returned later to Savio Road, threatened his parents, stole the keys and then took off in the victim’s vehicle. Brown said she didn’t yet know the model or make of the vehicle.

The sheriff’s office asks anyone who knows his whereabouts to immediately call 748-9286.

Courtesy photo by Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A hunter is dead after the top of an old growth tree snapped off and dropped about 100 feet onto a tent east of Packwood over the weekend.

The 20-foot length missed one of his companions by inches, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies called about 3 p.m. on Saturday to the elk hunting camp say the victim is a 69-year-old man from Kirkland.

It happened at the Cortright Creek Trailhead off Forest Service Road 45 several miles northeast of Packwood, according to the sheriff’s office.

The two had just returned to the tent after the morning hunt when the incident occurred about 2:30 p.m., Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said.

The man’s hunting partner was able to crawl through the debris to locate the victim who had been struck in the head; CPR was attempted but unsuccessful, Brown said.

Courtesy photo by Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Former Chehalis family practice physician David Wooten  lost his state Supreme Court case regarding a felony malicious mischief conviction in connection with a Mayfield Lake home he was buying.

Dr. Wooten and his wife Janna Wooten were found guilty in separate trials in Lewis County Superior Court after they were accused of trashing the house they lived in at Mayfield Lake in 2008. They contended it was simply a remodeling project they left unfinished when they moved out of the home they were purchasing.

Last year, the Washington Court of Appeals Division II tossed out his wife’s conviction and then a different three-judge panel of the same court upheld Wooten’s conviction.

Yesterday the state’s high court issued its decision against Wooten, with five judges agreeing. Four judges signed the dissent.

Wooten, who was buying the property on a real estate contract, claimed he did not damage “the property of another” – an element of the crime.

However, the state Supreme Court disagreed. For the purposes of malicious mischief, Wooten was not the exclusive owner of the property, they wrote.
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For background, read “Conviction vacated for trashing of Mossyrock house” from Wednesday May 23, 2012, here