Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

An Associated Press investigation has found numerous instances of questionable temporary salary boosts for retiring fire and police officials, carefully crafted to inflate pensions in a practice that may end up draining the taxpayer funded, state-run pension plan of million of dollars.

News reporter Mike Baker writing in the Yakima Herald-Republic gives an example of veteran managers at Lakewood Fire District 2 whose annual salaries jumped by $20,000 days before retirement to nearly $200,000, a move that increased their lifetime retirement payments by more than $1,000 per month.

So-called “pension spiking” is prohibited under rules adopted by the Department of Retirement Systems, but the LEOFF-1 – Law Enforcement Officers’ and Firefighters’ Retirement System Plan – operates with some unique provisions, according to Baker.

Read about it here

Steven Daniel Kravetz, right, stands with attorney David Arcuri to hear the verdicts in his case.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Steven Daniel Kravetz today was found not guilty of second-degree attempted murder but guilty of first-degree assault regarding last year’s attack on Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Polly Daven inside the courthouse in Montesano when he fired twice at her with her duty weapon.

A Lewis County jury deliberated about 11 hours over two days before coming to their conclusion.

The jury also found Kravetz not guilty of first-degree assault against Grays Harbor Superior Court Judge David L. Edwards, but guilty of second-degree assault for stabbing him in the back of the neck during the same incident.

Kravetz, 35, will remain held in the Lewis County Jail for now. Lewis County Superior Court Judge Richard Brosey said he wants to conduct sentencing in Grays Harbor, for the benefit of those who work in the courthouse and experienced the traumatic events of March 9 of last year.

Brosey heard the case because judges in Grays Harbor recused themselves. The trial was held in Chehalis to avoid jurors passing through the scene of the crime.

Kravetz was additionally found guilty of disarming a law enforcement officer and various aggravating factors such as being armed with a firearm and another deadly weapon, a knife, during commission of the crimes.

Grays Harbor County Prosecutor H. Steward Menefee said he’s yet to calculate the possible sentence or decide what to recommend.

Menefee said he was, to some extent, disappointed in the jury’s decision. However, as a whole, the jury understood the seriousness, he said.

Centralia defense attorney David Arcuri had told the jurors in the beginning the prosecutors would not be able to prove the intent they were suggesting.
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For background, read “Montesano courthouse shooting victim tells of looking up at her own gun” from  Tuesday March 26, 2013 at 8:50 p.m., here

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

The Olympian reports detectives got a search warrant to obtain items from a Rochester home after an autopsy suggested a discrepancy between when a dead woman’s ex-husband stated she sustained a head injury and when it appeared to have occurred.

News reporter Jeremy Pawloski writes the 48-year-old woman, whose identity is not released, died at home the night of March 8 after the ex-husband conducted CPR and arriving medics attempted to revive her; the ex-husband said she had fallen a few hours earlier and struck her head on a nightstand.

Read about it here

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The trial for the man accused of shooting a deputy and attacking a judge at the courthouse in Montesano last March continues this morning in Lewis County Superior Court.

The (Aberdeen) Daily World reports that jurors heard from defendant Steven Daniel Kravetz via a videotape recorded during an interview with police.

Read about it here

Courtesy photo by Marilyn Trippe

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

KOMOnews.com caught video of the six bald eagles as they were released yesterday off Harkins Road in Winlock, birds that last week were near death after feeding off euthanized horses in the same area.

One was an adult male, the others youngsters.

West Sound Wildlife Shelter on Bainbridge Island cared for the eagles who were found stumbling and crashing around a pasture by neighbors last weekend.

See the video here
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For background, read “Rehabilitated Winlock eagles to return home tomorrow” from Friday March 29, 2013, here