Lewis County Sirens.com

This news story was updated at 5 p.m. on Tuesday May 31, 2011

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A 29-year-old bicyclist was airlifted after he collided with a car on state Route 7 just north of Morton this evening.

Brian D. Veach suffered massive head and internal injuries, according to the Washington State Patrol.

Troopers called about 7:15 p.m. reported that Veach was riding his bicycle northbound on the centerline of the highway and a southbound Toyota Camry drove on the shoulder to avoid him; but Veach’s bike veered left into the car.

Veach, a Morton resident, was flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, according to the state patrol.

He is listed in satisfactory condition as of late Tuesday afternoon.

The driver of the Camry, 60-year-old Judy M. Gutierrez-Trevizo of Randle, was uninjured, according to the investigating trooper.

The bicycle and the car were both described as totaled.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Four women were injured last night when their Cadillac was rear-ended by a speeding driver on Interstate 5 in Centralia; the impact so powerful it pushed the car’s trunk into its backseat.

“It got hit hard, really hard,” Chehalis Firefighter Derrick Paul said this morning.

Responders had to cut off two of the car’s doors to extricate the occupants, Paul said.

Aid and troopers called about 11 p.m. to the northbound lanes near the Mellen Street interchange. The 1994 Cadillac Seville was totaled and the driver of a Mitsubishi Montero had fled the scene, according to Washington State Patrol.

Carlos Pioquinto Flores, 30, of Tacoma, was found a short time later with the help of Centralia police dog Lobo and his partner Officer Ruben Ramirez, according to law enforcement officers. He was booked into the Lewis County Jail for driving under the influence, hit and run and other offenses including obstructing, according to the state patrol.

The investigating trooper reported Pioquinto Flores was not injured.

The women were taken to Providence Centralia Hospital with back injuries, the patrol reported. Firefighter Paul said one of them declined to go to the hospital.

The injured are listed as Karen M. Rotter, 58, of Rochester; Shirley M. Brown, 71, Olympia; Faye L. Pelleriti, 67, Olympia; and Nancy Parker, 61, Olympia.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Judge Steven Buzzard is retiring from both municipal courts in Chehalis and Centralia.

His last day will be Tuesday.

Steve Buzzard

In Chehalis, they have four applications for the position and will be conducting interviews for a new judge during the next two weeks, according to Chehalis Municipal Court Administrator Becky Fox.

Buzzard has been on the bench there since December 1997. He started in Centralia in January 2005.

Centralia has five candidates for their judge position and will be interviewing this afternoon, according to the city’s human resources director Candice Rydalch.

“Hopefully we’ll have a decision by next week,” Rydalch said this morning.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

The (Tacoma) News Tribune reports the scaled back bill to reform medical marijuana distribution is being shelved for lack of time left during the current legislative session.

News reporter Jordan Schrader writes about it, here

The Seattle Times writes in further detail about where the law currently stands. Read it here