Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A 24-year-old man was killed when his ATV struck a tree off Old Military Road Southeast near Tenino yesterday evening, according to the Washington State Patrol.

Troopers called about 6:20 p.m. reported Duane A. Ash died at the scene. Ash is described as both a Centralia resident and and Olympia resident by the state patrol.

Ash was traveling east on the 4900 block of Old Military Road, near Mull Road, when his 2005 Honda TRX 450 left the roadway to the right and hit a tree, according to the state patrol. He was not wearing a helmet, according to Trooper Guy Gill.

The cause of the accident is under investigation.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Part of a semi-truck’s too-tall load struck the Chamber Way overpass in Chehalis today, leaving one car damaged from falling chunks of the bridge and leading to a three-vehicle collision.

Troopers were called about 11:40 a.m. to the northbound lanes of Interstate 5 at the exit 79 interchange after the boom of an excavator being hauled by a Rochester truck driver hit the overpass’s “stringers”, the Washington State Patrol reported.

A Centralia driver traveling behind the truck escaped injury from the falling debris, but his Chrysler Sebring sustained an estimated $1,000 damage, according to the state patrol.

Less than 15 minutes later, two cars in the inside lane stopped because of debris on the roadway and a Chevrolet Suburban moved into their lane, rear ending one of them which shoved it into the other one, according to the patrol.

The state patrol reported the Suburban was totaled and its driver, Jeri K. Boone, 48, of Chehalis, was taken to Providence Centralia Hospital with a sore neck.

A Buick Century involved in the collision was also totaled. A Dodge Intrepid sustained about $750 damage, according to the patrol.

The driver of the semi-truck, Jody S. Alger, 42, of Rochester, was to be cited for over height damage, the state patrol reported.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

ROCHESTER – Few people offered comments last night at a public hearing held so officials could gather input from residents about the impact of building a new state prison facility in Grand Mound.

The state Department of Corrections is scoping out three sites where they might construct what they call a prison reception center in Western Washington. One under consideration is the place currently home to Maple Lane School – a state juvenile correctional facility scheduled to close soon.

The reception center is where offenders go first and stay a few weeks to be evaluated to determine at which particular prison they should serve their time.

About 40 people were in the audience last night at Rochester High School.

David B. Jansen, director of capital programs for DOC, told the gathering that offenders will be bussed in and then back out again from a place expected to “look a great deal like a county jail.”

It would have 1,024 beds, he said.

While the Washington State Correctional Center in Shelton which is used now for reception services, employs about 500 people, Jansen said they would expect the new facility to be more efficient and employ fewer.

DOC would like a new place up and running by 2016.

The meeting was the first part of a process to create an environmental impact statement on the three possible sites, a tool to help prison authorities choose where to build.

A draft EIS should be issued this summer for the public to review and comment upon, Jansen said. The final EIS is expected in late autumn, he said.
•••

Read more about the process, here

Read more about the meeting in The Olympian, here

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A 43-year-old Chehalis man is dead after a single-vehicle wreck yesterday afternoon in the Boistfort Valley.

Aid and troopers called about 4:20 p.m. to the 900 block of Wildwood Road found the 1989 Ford Bronco totaled. William Irvin Peterson Jr., 43, died at the scene, according to the Washington State Patrol.

Peterson was traveling south on Wildwood Road and drove into a field on the opposite side of the road, striking a fence post, according to the state patrol.

He attempted to drive back onto the roadway but flipped the vehicle onto its top when it collided with the road’s embankment, the state patrol reported.

He was seat belted.

The cause of the accident is unknown, according to the patrol.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Three cats died in a Winlock-area house fire overnight.

Firefighters were called about 1:30 a.m. to the 200 block of Antrim Road, after the residents returned home to find their couch burning, according to Lewis County Fire District 15.

Firefighter Patrick Jacobson said the man poured water on the couch and the couple took their cats outside, but they didn’t survive.

The interior of the double-wide mobile home was heavily damaged by heat and smoke, Jacobson said.

Fire Investigator Ted McCarty said he was looking at two possible places where the fire might have started: a heating-massage pad next to the couch and  a small plastic garbage can into which an ashtray was emptied.

The Red Cross was called to assist the couple with a place to stay, Jacobson said.