Lewis County Sirens.com

Updated at 4:43 p.m.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

An autopsy is scheduled for this morning to figure out what killed a 58-year-old Centralia man who was the focus of an hours-long standoff with police over the weekend.

William L. Thomas was discovered dead by SWAT team members who finally stormed his house about 5:30 p.m. on Saturday.

North Tower Avenue was closed at both ends of the block beginning at Fourth Street while officers used numerous means to coax Thomas outside.

Centralia Police Department Sgt. Carl Buster said yesterday there was no  obvious cause of death, no visible signs of trauma to Thomas’s body.

Police said on Saturday they responded to the home for threats and suicidal subject. When an officer arrived, Thomas emerged with a butcher knife and then retreated inside, according to police.

Buster yesterday clarified that the “gas” introduced into the home was actually what he described as basically pepper spray in powdered form. He called it OC powder.

Besides using a megaphone to attempt to communicate with Thomas, police launched eight rounds of the substance through windows, as well as three more blasts of it, according to Buster.

Police never got a response from Thomas.

Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod said he expects to have some answers about the death this afternoon.

Update 4:39 p.m.: McLeod said despite completing the autopsy, a determination about the cause and manner of death will now have to wait until after the results of toxicology tests come back.

That can take six to eight weeks, according to McLeod.

No signs of trauma were found, he said.
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For background, read “Centralia man dead after allegedly displaying a knife” from Saturday February 9, 2013 at 7:22 p.m., here

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A dryer fire yesterday afternoon displaced a family of four from an apartment on the 2600 block of Cooks Hill Road in Centralia.

Firefighters called about 3:50 p.m. found a large volume of smoke coming from the front and rear of one apartment; the occupants of four units in the building had all evacuated themselves, according to Riverside Fire Authority.

Crews contained the fire to the dryer, with minimal extension to the surrounding walls, according to Assistant Chief Rick Mack.

Nobody was injured.

The apartment’s contents sustained substantial smoke damage, Mack said in a news release. Damage is estimated at $5,000.

The two adults and two children are receiving assistance from the Red Cross, according to Mack.

Mack found the fire originated in the mechanical components of the combination washer-dryer.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Keith A. and Lorrine D. Birdwell pleaded not guilty today to what prosecutors call major economic offenses that victimized a Centralia-based bank in connection with the Toledo couple’s used car business.

Keith and Lorrine Birdwell

The Birdwells operated  Birdwell Brothers Auto Sales with sites in Centralia and in Lacey.

They were charged last month with one count of first-degree theft and five counts of felony unlawful issuance of a bank check.

Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Eric Eisenberg contends in charging documents that Security State Bank’s unrecovered losses are in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. He alleges the couple used various deceptions to avoid paying back the bank on loans for the vehicles.

Keith, 47, and Lorrine, 44, went before Judge James Lawler in Lewis County Superior Court this afternoon. They were accompanied by Vancouver, Wash.-based attorney Chad Schaff.

They pleaded not guilty to all charges. A trial date was set for the week of April 22.
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For background, read “Centralia used car lot owners appear in court on criminal charges” from Wednesday January 23, 2013, here

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

The Tenino area fire department lost its longtime operations chief last week.

Janet Lee Duncan
1953 – 2013

Janet Lee Duncan, 59, continued to work even as she dealt with cancer, but died on Jan. 29, according to Tina Vanderhoof, office administrator for Thurston County Fire District 12.

“It’s been three years, the battling,” Vanderhoof said. “We miss her terribly.”

Duncan was with the fire department more than two decades and lived in the Skookumchuck Valley even longer, with her husband, Robin Duncan who is the department’s chief.

She leaves behind also three sons, six grandchildren and other family.

A memorial service is set for 10 a.m. on Feb. 16 at the Tenino High School gymnasium.

On North Tower Avenue. / Courtesy Centralia Police Department

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Centralia police are paying cash money to try to nip a budding gang tagging issue around town.

Officers are seeing an increase in graffiti being attributed to the presence of an emerging gang, according to the Centralia Police Department.

Police Chief Bob Berg describes the problem this way:

Graffiti posted by one gang is a challenge to rival gangs, who will then cross out each other’s graffiti as a sign of disrespect. This leads to retaliation, which often leads to violence between gangs as they struggle for dominance and control of a given area.

The violence can result in everything from additional vandalism, to fights and even drive by shootings, Berg says.

Berg says the new gang, calling itself the Tiny Dukes, is attempting to expand its influence in the area and also recruiting young people.

He wants to stop it before it grows and becomes a significant problem.

Police are asking for the public’s help by reporting any tagging as soon as its spotted, especially good is to call 911 while a tagger is still in the act. The chief wants folks to report any suspicious activity, even if seems insignificant, especially if it involves young people fighting, and even partying, he says.

The police department is willing to pay up to $250 for information leading to the arrest for any individual posting graffiti on public or private property.

The amount paid out will vary in part based on its timeliness, and quality of evidence offered, according to Berg.

“We’re hoping to get some takers on it,” he said.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – John Allen Booth Jr. is back.

The convicted triple-murderer who once called Onalaska home was sent to prison for life in December 2011, but was booked into the Lewis County Jail this morning.

John Allen Booth Jr.

Booth, now 33, filed a post-trial motion which will be heard by a Lewis County Superior Court judge.

Lewis County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher said it isn’t related to the evidence that turned up in the coroner’s office several weeks after the conviction.

Meagher called it a “collateral attack”.

Booth was convicted in the shooting deaths of David West Sr., 52,  David “D.J.” West Jr., 16, and 50-year-old Tony Williams of Randle. The three, along with Denise Salts who survived a gunshot, were found in the home Salts and the Wests shared on Wings Way in the Onalaska-Salkum area on August 21, 2010.

Last year about this time, Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod said finger nail clippings and hair trimmings from all three victims were found in a sealed bag in the work locker of a former deputy coroner. The materials had no “chain of custody” documentation, nor did they get into the hands of law enforcement or attorneys in the case.

Both Booth’s attorney and  Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer said it was a potential appeal issue for Booth.

Booth is scheduled to go before Judge Richard Brosey at 2:30 p.m. on Monday to set a date for the motion hearing.
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For background, read “Report: Triple murderer surprisingly charming and well-mannered” from Monday December 19, 2011, here