By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
Kirotv.com reports search efforts are expected to resume this morning for a 47-year-old man who didn’t return home from testing his “Survivorman” skills in the Capitol Forest.
Scott Garrow, of Lacey, was dropped off on Thursday morning and due home Monday morning, according to Kirotv.com
Read more here
Update at 8:19 a.m.: Search suspended
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
The (Longview) Daily News reports a police investigation suggests the man whose body was found three years ago on property near Toledo may have committed suicide, but the cause could remain officially undetermined because a key piece of evidence – his head – was missing.
Travis Seeber was 35 years old when he went missing in 2008 while he was a suspect in an attempted sexual assault of a teenage babysitter south of Winlock. His truck, with his driver’s license on the seat, was found by law enforcement soon after abandoned off Cougar Lane.
The identity of the remains was only finally confirmed this year by DNA. Seeber was described by the coroner as a resident of Toledo and by the sheriff’s office as living in Winlock.
News reporter Natalie St. John writes one of the interviewees told deputies he believed Seeber committed suicide to avoid going back to prison and others said he was an IV meth user who was “whacked” out the night of the incident with the 18-year-old girl.
Read about it here
A cinder block building burns behind the remaining structural pieces of a different building, which was destroyed by fire many years ago.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
An early morning fire gutted a former mill in Littlerock.
About 25 firefighters responded to the call just after 5 a.m. to the 6500 block of 128th Avenue Southwest, according to West Thurston Regional Fire Authority.
The roof of the large cinderblock building collapsed and a live power pole ignited, according to department spokesperson Lanette Dyer.
“Nothing in there is salvageable,” Dyer said.
Dyer said the 40 foot by 60 foot structure was a wood mill at one time and she believes it is currently used for welding and some type of fabrication. She didn’t know the name of the business.
Crews remain on the scene cooling the debris down with water and expect to be there all day, she said.
The cause is unknown, but didn’t appear suspicious, she said.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
Chehalis Fire Department Chief Kelvin Johnson’s last day isn’t until next week, but a farewell gathering is planned on Friday evening at the Riverside Golf Club.
Johnson began as a probationary firefighter in his hometown of Idaho Falls in 1978, spent five years in Puyallup working as deputy chief and the past five years as the chief in Chehalis.
It’s time to move on, and back home, he said. He and his wife are relocating to the Boise area.
“I’ve been in the fire service now close to 35 years, I’m over 60,” Johnson said. “I have a grandson and family in Idaho and I’ve had what I consider a very long and successful and enjoyable career.”
Johnson said he hopes to do more teaching, with the National Fire Academy in Maryland.
The Chehalis department has been working more closely with neighboring agencies over the past several years, something that seems like it will become more official perhaps in the not-too-distant future, according to Johnson.
The rural fire districts in Napavine and outside Chehalis have decided not to be involved, but Chehalis and Centralia’s Riverside Fire Authority are continuing to explore some kind of consolidation, beginning with exploring the possibility sharing a chief, he said.
“If it seems feasible, we’ll take it to the voters at some time in the future,” he said.
Well, those left behind will be checking in with voters. Johnson’s last day is next Wednesday.
He said he’s very much appreciated his time in Lewis County, appreciated the community support, and enjoyed himself.
Friday’s festivities begin at 6 p.m. with appetizers and a no-host dinner and bar. Riverside Golf Club is on Airport Road in Chehalis.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
Guns: Paintball, check. Airsoft, check. Pistol, check.
And baseball bats.
The (Aberdeen) Daily World reports a 27-year-old Winlock woman, Anna M. Kohler, is among four people charged in a weekend gas station attack in Elma during which a 26-year-old homeless man was shot with a .22 caliber handgun.
The incident was a “show of force” as a 53-year-old Elma man and his companions were trying to collect a debt, news reporter Brionna Friedrich writes.
Read about it here
Courtesy photo by Lewis County Sheriff’s Office
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
The Washington State Patrol was to remove a crate of dynamite this morning discovered partially buried in the woods on a man’s property southwest of Ethel.
The man called the sheriff’s office last night after taking eight “bricks” home with him, of approximately 300 yellow bricks in a box marked U.S. Military, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.
Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown suggested it could have been part of a large supply of explosives hidden around the nearby farm of a 56-year-old man who was killed by an explosion in December of 1998.
The man worked in the explosives industry and was known to use dynamite to blow up stumps on his property on the 200 block of Classe Road, Brown stated in a news release.
“It was believed at the time of his death, he had placed the dynamite in the back of his tractor-trailer, and was traversing his property when the dynamite exploded,” Brown stated.
At the time, authorities searched for and disposed of several boxes of dynamite, but there was concern there could be more hidden, according to Brown.
Last night, a bomb technician responded to the 100 block of Spotted Doe Lane examine the new find and concluded the explosives were stable, according to the sheriff’s office.
Sheriff Steve Mansfield in the news release indicated the outcome of this incident could have turned out bad, and served as a reminder for folks not to touch or transport items they find and suspect are explosives, but to instead call 911 immediately.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
A smoke detector may have saved the life of Centralia man who was alerted to a fire inside his home late yesterday afternoon, according to Riverside Fire Authority.
The single adult male occupant was sleeping – or maybe cat napping – when a fire broke out inside the older, single-wide mobile home he rents at the 1400 block of Harrison Avenue, Acting Capt. Jesse Berry said.
“I think he tried for a split second to extinguish it, and then got out,” Berry said.
Firefighters called just after 5 p.m. attacked the blaze through a side door and had it knocked down within 10 minutes, Berry said.
The man was not injured, but Red Cross was contacted to help him with a place to stay, according to Berry.
There was smoke damage throughout the home and fire damage in the kitchen, also extending into the living room, he said.
Berry said it helped that the call was just blocks from the fire station, so the response time was short, but said the importance of the working smoke detector was “phenomenal.”
The cause is under investigation.
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