Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Sheriff’s deputies will host a class on Saturday for those who want a boating safety card.

A card is required for anyone 40 years old or younger to operate a vessel with a 15 horsepower or larger engine, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

The session is free, although the state charges a $10 fee to obtain the card after passing the test given at the end of the day.

The class runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and will be held in the training room on the first floor of the Lewis County Law and Justice Center at 345 West Main St. in Chehalis.

Boating safety education cards can also be obtained by taking a course online, according to the sheriff’s office. For more information, check with Washington State Parks.

Next January, the age requirement for a card will encompass all boaters 50 and younger, and the law is set up to change each year until 2016 when all operators over the age of 12 will be required to possess the card, according to Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown.

To register for Saturday’s class, contact Lisa Arthur at 360-740-2713.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Attorneys this morning set a date of June 8 for the sentencing of former softball coach Todd D. Phelps,  convicted last week of rape of a teenage team member.

Todd D. Phelps

Phelps, 52, did not come up from the jail for the brief hearing in Lewis County Superior Court.

The former log truck driver from Pe Ell faces as much as six years in prison after a jury found him guilty of third-degree rape and second-degree sexual misconduct.

The sentencing did not take place right away because  the offense is a sex crime necessitating a “pre-trial sentencing investigation” to be conducted by the state Department of Corrections, according to Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead.

Halstead and Deputy Prosecutor Debra Eurich handled the case together. Phelps is represented by Centralia defense attorney Don Blair.

Phelps also has a case pending in Lewis County District Court related to allegedly violating a no contact order regarding the now-17-year-old-year-old girl.
•••

For background, read “Pe Ell rape trial: Guilty as charged” from  Friday April 27, 2012, here

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Members of the public will get an opportunity next week to observe as the Washington State Supreme Court holds sessions on three cases at Centralia College.

Taking the state’s highest court on the road is part of an outreach effort so citizens can see the court in action, something they do periodically, according to college spokesperson Don Frey.

“They’ve never been to Centralia College before, but they have done it at other colleges in the state,” Frey said.

The sessions take place in Corbet Theater on Thursday May 10 at 9 a.m., 10 a.m. and again at 1:30 p.m.

The final sessions will have a 20-minute question and answer period with the audience.

The State Supreme Court is located in Olympia on the grounds of the state capitol. All oral arguments are open to the public.

The nine justices will deliberate in private following the third session at the college.

Frey said he didn’t have details of the particular cases. They are however listed on the court’s spring schedule.

The two-day visit begins on Wednesday May 9, with a luncheon with student leaders, campus tour and includes some of the justices leading a political science class, a criminal justice class and an anthropology class.

The justices will be presenters at a 90-minute forum beginning at 1 p.m. that day, also in Corbet Theater and also open to the public, according to the college.

It will include a discussion on variety of judicial topics such as funding of basic education in K-12; school violence including bullying, sexual and racial harassment, shootings and guns on campus, gay rights including marriage, growth management, law enforcement and civil rights, and first amendment rights, according to organizers.

A reception co-hosted by the Lewis County Bar Association will follow at 3:30 p.m. on the third floor of the science building.

Fire breaks out on Ohio Avenue in Chehalis. / Courtesy photo by Terrence Thompson

•••

Fire put out on Ohio Avenue in Chehalis

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A large fiberglass boat was spared when a two-story shop building went up in flames yesterday in Chehalis.

Three Chehalis firefighters were joined by more than a dozen members of nearby fire departments when they were called around 5:30 p.m. to the 800 block of Ohio Avenue.

The wood structure was fully involved with 50-foot tall flames, and is a total loss, even though they knocked it down fairly quickly, Chehalis Fire Department Capt. Casey Beck said.

No injuries were reported, but Beck said he understood some kids seen in the area were rounded up by police and may have been playing with fire inside.

Firefighters used foam and kept the blaze from spreading to neighboring homes, he said.

The shop is owned by an individual who lives in Seattle, according to Beck.

The boat, parked right in front of the shop, and a nearby heavy duty mechanic’s truck were saved, he said.

“How it didn’t burn, I do not know,” Beck said of the boat. “It had a little tiny melting in the back.”

Chehalis Firefighter Jay Birley adds foam to the fire

•••

The burned building is fairly close to two residences.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Searchers were on the water today with kayaks looking for a 24-year-old Olympia man who hasn’t been seen since Saturday afternoon during the Pe Ell River run.

Daniel Kuhn was rafting with several other people on the Chehalis River and was last seen near the Elk Creek Road Bridge around 4:30 p.m., according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

Sheriff’s Cmdr. Steve Aust said Kuhn fell behind the group and indicated he would meet them downriver near the Chandler Road Bridge, but never show up.

The group departed after 8 p.m. thinking he may have left with other friends, according to Aust. They did not realize he was missing until yesterday afternoon when they made the report, Aust said.

The river run is an annual event held on the second Saturday each April in which participants navigate the river from Pe Ell to Doty using various floatation devices.

Members of the Chehalis Fire Department’s swift water rescue team used kayaks to search a three-mile stretch of the river this afternoon looking for any sign of the missing man, according to Aust. They found nothing, he said.

Kuhn had been using a small rubber raft.

He never retrieved his truck which he had left parked at the gas station on state Route 6 at Highway 603, Aust said.

Sheriff’s deputies are following other potential leads to determine if Kuhn may have left the area, he said.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A Toledo man who said he had been smoking meth and target shooting with a friend called 911 and drove to the Toledo Police Department after he accidentally shot himself in the hand overnight.

It happened about 3 a.m. on a logging road at the end of the Toledo- Salmon Creek Road, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

The 31-year-old victim said he and his friend had just gotten back into their car when he slapped the back of his newly purchased .25 caliber pistol while it was pointed at his palm, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said.

The injury was not life threatening, Brown said.

The man, whose name was not released, was taken to the hospital, according to Lewis County Fire District 2.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A 68-year-old man was killed when his motorcycle struck a mailbox north of Tenino late Saturday afternoon.

Lawrence K. Copelan Jr., of Tenino, was traveling southbound on Old Highway 99 near Angus Road when his motorcycle left the road to the right and crashed, according to authorities.

The cause is under investigation, according to the Washington State Patrol.

Troopers called at 5:35 p.m. reported Copelan died at the scene.

His 2010 Harley Davidson “Fat Boy” was impounded. An autopsy is scheduled for today.