Lewis County Sirens.com

Wayne Burdette appears in Lewis County Superior Court this afternoon.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Mossyrock resident Wayne Burdette appeared briefly in court today when attorneys agreed on some of the scheduling details for his trial.

Burdette, 43, is being held on $500,000 bail for allegedly threatening an officer with his manner during a traffic stop last month in Mossyrock.

Burdette is charged with harassment; threat to kill and also with obstructing for his June 10 encounter with Mossyrock Officer Jeremy Stamper.

Charging documents allege he got out of his truck with his right hand behind his back and approached Stamper’s patrol car after being told to stay put, and continued advancing even as Stamper pointed his pistol at him.

When he was subsequently arrested, a loaded .40 caliber pistol was found in the small of Burdette’s back; it had a bullet in the chamber and the safety was off, according to charging documents.

Burdette has pleaded not guilty.

Defense attorney Ken Johnson today said he wasn’t inclined to talk about the case to the news media.

“The facts are going to have to come out in court,” Johnson said.

Burdette’s bail was increased twice, in part because Lewis County sheriff’s detectives found a journal in Burdette’s trailer home containing statements such as “How to kill cops” and “Teach body armor weak spot”, according to court documents.

In an order signed today, Burdette’s attorney noted his defense will be general denial.

A trial is set for the week of August 15. It is expected to last two days.

Burdette has no felony criminal history, but has a conviction for a gross misdemeanor sex offense. He is a level one registered sex offender.

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Note: Wayne Burdette’s age was incorrectly stated in a news story on June 29, 2011
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Read background on the case, here

Ryan McCarthy consults with his attorney Rick Cordes as they wait for the judge this afternoon.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Attorneys are staying mum about what didn’t happen today in court with one of the defendants in the triple homicide from last summer near Salkum.

Both the prosecutors office and the defense lawyer for 29-year-old Ryan McCarthy previously said they reached a plea agreement and he would be pleading guilty today in Lewis County Superior Court.

McCarthy’s lawyer said he was going to plead to two counts of second-degree assault. He was charged with murder.

But in a hearing that lasted less than five minutes, the attorneys only told Judge Richard Brosey they’d like to come back before the court in three weeks.

“We didn’t do the change of plea,” Lewis County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher said outside the courtroom.

“I can’t comment,” Meagher said, as to why not.

Olympia attorney Rick Cordes was brief as well: “We’re working on it,” he said.

McCarthy and former Onalaska resident John A. Booth Jr. are both charged in the Aug. 21 shootings of David West Sr. 52, his son David West Jr., 16, and a friend Tony E. Williams, 50, of Randle.  Denise Salts, then 51, who was also at the house off Gore Road, survived a gunshot wound to her face.

Charging documents in the case don’t offer much detail as to who fired shots that night.

Booth is scheduled for a November trial.
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Read “Deal in Salkum homicides: McCarthy to plead to second-degree assault” from Tuesday July 12, 2011, here

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Winlock-area Firefighter-EMT Patrick Jacobson reported this morning his premature twin babies each weighed in at more than two pounds last night when he visited them and their mother at Tacoma General Hospital.

Patrick and Kameron Jacobson, July 2, 1011

The boys were born June 12, more than three months early, and are expected to stay in Tacoma at least until their original due date of September 28.

“They’re making a little bit of progress,” Jacobson said this morning.

Kameron Kent Jacobson was born just one-pound eight ounces but now is up to two pounds-six ounces, he said.

Jackson Andrew Jacobson started at one-pound seven ounces and last night was two pounds-three ounces.

Friends are planning a benefit for the parents, Jacobson and Ashley Estep, at the elementary school in Winlock on Saturday July 30.

The event from 3 p.m. until 8 p.m. is expected to include dinner, an auction and bluegrass music.

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Read “Winlock firefighter juggling work, time with premature twins” from Monday July 4, 2011, and see photos, here

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Seventeen-year-old Nicole Beck, daughter of Chehalis Fire Department Capt. Casey Beck and Jan Beck, earlier this year was awarded a “wish” from the Make-a-Wish foundation, and instead of using it for herself, she’s sort of giving it away.

Nicole won a spot on the tennis team at W.F. West High School only to spend much of the season at Seattle Children’s’ Hospital undergoing chemotherapy for a cancer discovered in February.

She is using the money from the foundation to upgrade the tennis courts at school; with plans for new lighting, fences, nets, benches and resurfacing of all six courts, according to her supporters.

Sixty-thousand dollars has been raised so far for the $80,000 project, according to her dad.

A benefit will be held at 6 p.m. on Thursday night – with music by local performer Chris Guenther – at the Riverside Golf Club. A $10 steak dinner is on the menu.

Work on the courts will begin with volunteer labor and is expected to be done in time for the coming school year, Casey Beck said today.

Nicole, who will be a senior next year, plans to attend the benefit, he said.

“We didn’t know if we were going to do it (the benefit) cause Nicole wasn’t feeling good last week,” he said this afternoon. “But she got better unexpectedly.”

Today, she was helping out with tennis camp at the high school, he said.

The prognosis for the growth – called Rhabdomyosarcoma – not coming back is really good, he said.

The golf course is at 1451 NW Airport Road, Chehalis

Casey Beck adds that anyone interested in helping him tear out the old courts should call him at 360-520-0816.

Donations for the cause can also be to Nikki’s Wish at Wells Fargo Bank.

Read more about her story at www.caringbridge.org/visit/nicolebeck

This news story was updated at 8:05 p.m.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The deal between prosecutors and one of the men charged in last summer’s triple homicide near Salkum is that he will plead guilty to two counts of second-degree assault, according to his attorney.

Ryan J. McCarthy

Rick Cordes, the lawyer for 29-year-old Ryan J. McCarthy, said yesterday his client is set to plead guilty at 1 p.m. on Thursday.

Cordes said he didn’t feel comfortable commenting on any details of the plea agreement before the hearing.

McCarthy was charged with murder as well as attempted extortion in connection with the Aug. 21 deaths of David West Sr. 52, his son David West Jr., 16, and a friend Tony E. Williams, 50, of Randle.

McCarthy’s former cell mate, John A. Booth Jr. is scheduled for a November trial in the case; also charged with murder.

Booth, 32, is charged with  first degree murder of David Jr. and Williams; second-degree murder of West Sr. and attempted murder of Denise Salts, as well as attempted extortion and unlawful possession of a firearm.

Lewis County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher said last week he would not discuss the details or what if anything either side offered in exchange.

Meagher did say he Cordes have agreed upon the amount of time they will recommend to the judge that McCarthy serve.

Charging documents in the case don’t offer much detail as to who fired shots that night.

A man who told deputies he saw West Sr. point a shotgun at Booth and tell the two men to leave, said he then heard gunshots though he could not tell who was firing, and he ran into a bathroom and hid, according to charging documents.

The charging documents say Salts told detectives when she heard gunshots, she ran in through the back door, was shot in the face, fell to the floor and heard other gunshots.

McCarthy’s attorney said in September after his client’s arraignment, he didn’t think there was enough to have charged McCarthy, as “mere presence at a crime isn’t enough.”

Second-degree assault is a class B felony with a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine.

Among McCarthy’s seven prior felony convictions are one for residential burglary and two for drugs.
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Read background on the case:

• “West Sr. pointed shotgun telling pair of ex-cons to leave his house, triggering triple homicide, unsealed court documents allege” from Saturday Sept. 4, 2010, here

• “Unsealed document: More details on Salkum slayings” from Monday Sept. 6, 2010, here

One of Donna Smith's goats pauses for a snapshot on Sunday along Rice Road.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Not crime.

Just a herd of goats from their home in Ethel spending the weekend on some property outside Chehalis that needed blackberry vines and other brush cleared.

Donna Smith of Double Trouble Ranch brought more than 60 of her animals, old and young, big and small, on Saturday to browse along Rice Road.

Each one can eat up to eight pounds of foliage a day.

She calls them her “Baaad girls”.

Part of Donna Smith's herd make themselves at home on a weekend visit to Chehalis.