Lewis County Sirens.com

Responders removed the windshield of a Chevrolet Aveo to extricate the driver after a wreck yesterday morning on state Route 505 in Winlock. / Courtesy photo by Lewis County Fire District 15

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Troopers responded to a small flurry of minor spinouts on snow and ice yesterday morning in western Lewis County and two more this morning, but no serious collisions, according to the Washington State Patrol.

“(Drivers) seem to realize that you’re not going to get anywhere fast today,” State Patrol Sgt. Ted DeHart said.

One vehicle on state Route 505 in Winlock hit a large landscaping rock and rolled over about 8:30 a.m. yesterday, but didn’t result in serious injuries, according to responders.

In the east end, there is compact snow and ice on the roads, but very little traffic, State Patrol Sgt. Jason Ashley said this morning.

Snow showers are expected to continue this morning with localized accumulations of up to two inches possible, according to the National Weather Service. Up to six inches could fall in the Cascade Mountain, forecasters say.

The snow level is at sea level.

Ashley’s suggestion for today: “If people don’t have to go anywhere, they should just stay home.”

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

The cause of a house fire this afternoon off state Route 508 south of Chehalis is not yet determined but appears to have started next to a fireplace.

Lewis County Fire District 5 was joined by firefighters from District 6, District 1 and the Chehalis Fire Department to answer a call about 3:30 p.m. near Guerrier Road, according to District 5 Lt. Laura Hanson.

Hanson said nobody was home at the time but a passerby saw smoke and called 911.

Three pet cats were found safe, she said.

Firefighter Brad Bozarth said the man who lives there arrived and let them know he had cats. After the fire was knocked down, firefighters searched the house and found them hiding under a bed in a back bedroom, Bozarth said.

“They seemed fine, healthy, but scared,” he said.

The home is on the 700 block of state Route 508, about three miles east on Interstate 5.

Hanson said the damage was limited to roughly 20 percent of the house. She said both floors of the one and a half story home were affected with heavy damage to one side but not the other.

District 5 Chief Eric Linn attributed the “save” to the call from the passerby as well as the quick response from available units.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

The 29-year-old man charged in the alcohol-poisoning death of Onalaska teenager Nickolas Barnes is scheduled to plead guilty tomorrow.

James W. Taylor was charged with second-degree manslaughter in the Sept. 2009 death of the 15-year-old, but is expected to plead guilty to second-degree assault, as well as furnishing liquor to minors and failing to summon assistance, according to the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office.

Elected prosecutor Jonathan Meyer said Taylor faces a possible sentence of somewhere between three and nine months in jail. The father of four could have been sent to prison for as long as 27 months if convicted on the original charges, prosecutors said when they first filed the case last October.

The Onalaska High School sophomore died on Sept. 21, 2009, after playing drinking games with vodka at an underage party in Taylor’s Onalaska home, according to charging documents.

Charging documents say after Nickolas and a 16-year-old boy downed more than 11 shots of vodka, Nickolas passed out in the front yard, where his friends removed his clothes and wrote on his body with a black marker.

Prosecutors alleged Taylor told the teenagers to “let him sleep it off.”

Newly elected Prosecutor Meyer said today he didn’t think, but wasn’t certain, any of the eight other teenagers at the party were charged with failing to summon assistance.

Taylor is set to appear before Judge Richard Brosey tomorrow morning in Lewis County Superior Court in Chehalis.

•••

Read background on the case “Remembering Nickolas Barnes” from Thursday Sept. 23, 2010 here

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Bud Goodwillie today said he resigned two weeks ago from the rural Chehalis fire district he became chief of three and a half years ago.

Goodwillie offered no details on the reason for his departure.

Lewis County Fire District 6 operates with one full time employee, the chief. He was paid $72,000 a year.

The district has a volunteer assistant chief, 35 to 40 other volunteers and several part-time paramedics, firefighters and EMTs, according to Goodwillie.

He said his understanding was longtime volunteer Steve Lux is acting as interim chief.

“I wish the best for that fire department, it has good potential,” Goodwillie said this afternoon.

Goodwillie, 55, left his position as a captain with Centralia’s Lewis County Fire District 12 to take the chief job in August 2007. He said he’s looking at “different areas to venture into.”

District 6 is one of four local fire agencies exploring the idea of creating a “super” fire department along the I-5 corridor in the northern half of Lewis County.

Calls to two of the district’s three fire commissioners to ask about the change weren’t immediately returned today.

Update Wednesday Feb. 23, 2011 at 8:30 a.m.: Greg Pulver, chair of the board of fire commissioners, sent a news release about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday night saying Goodwillie resigned and Lux will serve as interim chief while the district seeks a replacement.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

The Randle man who died when his car  hit a rock wall along U.S. Highway 12 near Packwood on Saturday has been identified as 62-year-old Donald G. Diemert.

The Washington State Patrol initially reported his age was 63.

Troopers called just before 11 p.m. Saturday reported Diemert was heading westbound when his car struck a guard rail along the right shoulder and then traveled back across three lanes to run head-on into the rock wall on the opposite side of the highway.

It happened about six miles east of Packwood near the state Route 123 cutoff.

A black Labrador dog in the car with Diemert survived the wreck, according to the Washington State Patrol.

State Patrol Sgt. Jason Ashley said it was not a high speed collision and they’ve order an autopsy as they investigate the cause.

“The dynamics didn’t really show he should have succumbed,” Ashley said. “We’re not really sure what happened.”

The passenger compartment wasn’t compromised, although there was some front end damage to the 1994 Pontiac Grand Am, according to Ashley.

It may have been a medical issue, he said. It’s unknown if drugs or alcohol were involved, according to the state patrol.

Diemert was reportedly not wearing a seatbelt.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A 63-year-old Randle man died last night when his car hit a rock wall head-on along U.S. Highway 12 east of Packwood.

Troopers called just before 11 p.m. report the man was heading westbound when his car struck a guard rail along the right shoulder and then traveled back across the lanes to run into the rock wall on the opposite side of the highway.

The 1994 Pontiac Grand Am was described as totaled. It happened near milepost 139, according to the Washington State Patrol.

The driver’s name has not been released, pending notification of his family. He was reportedly not wearing a seatbelt.

The cause remains under investigation, according to the state patrol.