Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A motorcycle rider was airlifted to a Seattle trauma hospital after a wreck in which he was tossed and flipped multiple times this afternoon on U.S. Highway 12 about eight miles east of Packwood, according to the Washington State Patrol.

Paul M. Kellar, 62, of Yakima, was eastbound when he drove off the road to the right and lost control, according to the state patrol.

A trooper called to the scene just before 4 p.m. noted Kellar suffered internal and head injuries as well as broken bones. He was flown to Harborview Medical Center.

Both Kellar and his bike landed in the dirt, according to the trooper.

His 2003 Honda 1800 sustained an estimated $3,000 damage, the state patrol reported. It was removed by family and friends.

The cause of the crash is under investigation.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Two 20-year-old men reported they were robbed by masked and gun-wielding subjects as they were walking in north Centralia overnight, according to police.

Officers called just before 2 a.m. to an area along the railroad tracks beneath the Sixth Street viaduct were told a pair of males in their late teens to early 20s approached them on foot from behind, police Sgt. Kurt Reichert said.

Both subjects were wearing blue bandanas over their faces, covering everything but their eyes, police were told. One had a gun.

He fired it one to four times into the brush, Reichert said.

A wallet, money, a knife and other personal items were stolen, Reichert said.

The victims are from Chehalis and Toledo, according to Reichert. He didn’t know for sure why they walking near the train tracks.

A search with a police dog failed to locate any suspects, he said.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

The Lewis County DUI Enforcement Officer of the Year awards were announced this weekend, with Trooper Ray Sills and Deputy Kevin Anderson taking top honors.

Anderson made 21 arrests for driving under the influence last year, more than any sheriff’s deputy or city police officer in the county, according to organizer Melody Nelson.

Sills was the state trooper who took the most impaired drivers off the road, arresting 38 individuals, she said.

The awards were bestowed on Friday night, during an annual banquet coordinated by the DUI Traffic Safety Task Force. It was held at Bethel Church in Napavine.

The Traffic Safety Officer of the Year in the category of city police agencies and the sheriff’s office went to Centralia Police Department Officer Neil Hoium.

Trooper Doug Pardue won the award in the state patrol category.

The awards were presented by Sheriff Steve Mansfield.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The cause of the Friday afternoon blaze that gutted a rural Chehalis house isn’t yet known.

Fire Investigator Adam Myer said he’s taken samples from the scene for analysis and the sheriff’s office is conducting interviews.

Larkspur Road home

“It was a large fire, with complete destruction of the residence in the middle of the day,” Myer said. “And rapidly growing.”

Firefighters were called about 3:30 p.m. for a possible brush fire seen from the area of Pleasant Valley and Brown Road East, southwest of Chehalis. When they arrived, the roof had already collapsed and crews from Lewis County Fire Districts 6, 5 and 15 battled the blaze from the exterior only.

Nobody was home at the time, but the couple who lives there lost a cat, a dog, and everything inside, Myer said. Some items in the attached garage were spared.

The single-story house sat at the end of long, sparsely populated private drive, Larkspur Road.

Between the two of them, they have three school-age children who lived there as well, according to Myer.

He gathered samples of items such as wood and dirt to be examined more closely for possible accelerants, Myer said.

He said it could take as long as three weeks to get the results back from the Washington State Crime Lab.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Two people were injured yesterday when a motorcycle wrecked on Interstate 5 near Vader.

Aid and troopers called about 4:50 p.m. to the scene just north of the Gee Cee’s interchange found the passenger tossed up against the center barrier and the driver in the middle of the northbound lanes.

Traffic in both directions was shut down while a helicopter landed on the freeway to transport 40-year-old Jodi L. Miracle of Port Orchard to PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center in Vancouver, according to responders. She sustained head and neck injuries, according to the Washington State Patrol.

The driver, Donald M. Marshall, 47, also from Port Orchard, was taken to Providence Centralia Hospital, according to the state patrol. He was treated for lung and shoulder injuries and transferred to an unspecified hospital.

The state patrol said weather conditions caused the driver to lose control of the motorcycle.

His 2007 Yamaha XVS13 came to rest under the barrier on the right shoulder, according to the investigating trooper.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Lewis County 911 Communications is inviting the public to join them tomorrow as they focus on improving what they and parents can do in cases of missing kids.

The county department plans to become certified by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, with dispatchers undergoing training to promote swift and decisive responses in the critical early stages of incidents, according to an announcement.

A spokesperson for the local 911 center Laura Hanson says personnel will have educational materials available tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. when the Board of Lewis County Commissioners proclaims May 25 National Missing Children’s Day in Lewis County. That takes place on the second floor of the Historic Courthouse in Main Street in Chehalis.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is a private organization created in 1984 in part to help police provide a nationwide resource center and clearinghouse with information about missing children.

Among those on Washington state’s missing children list are Kayla Croft-Payne, who was 18 and living outside Chehalis when she was reported missing on May 5, 2010 and Lindsey Baum, 10, who was last seen June 26, 2009, when she left a friend’s house in McCleary to walk home and never arrived.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The trial for the former museum director accused of stealing thousands of dollars from the organization’s accounts is expected to last as long as five days, but won’t start next week as planned.

Deborah Sue Knapp

Debbie Knapp, 52, remains free on an unsecured bond, following her arrest in December.

She has pleaded not guilty to multiple charges of theft in connection with an investigation that the Lewis County Historical Museum’s endowment fund of more than $460,000 was drained.

Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead said attorneys are still examining years of financial records.

“There’s so much stuff, everybody needs more time,” Halstead said yesterday.

Knapp’s defense is listed as “general denial” on court documents.

She is represented by Chehalis attorney Ken Johnson.

Prosecutors allege Knapp routinely issued herself extra pay through payroll draws and used the museum debit card for personal expenses.

Prosecutors have said they expect further charges when an audit of the financial records is completed.

This week in Lewis County Superior Court, attorneys and a judge rescheduled Knapp’s trial for the week of October 15.

In November, when museum members learned the non-profit organization was in the red and the endowment fund was empty, four officers on the 13-member board were replaced, the accounts were closed and the museum was shut down temporarily. It has since reopened.
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For background, see “Prosecutor: Former museum director gave herself thousands of dollars in fraudulent payroll draws” from Friday December 30, 2011, here