Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A pair of 19-year-olds were airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle in Seattle after a single-vehicle wreck on state Route 507 north of Bucoda this afternoon that shut down the highway for several hours, according to the state patrol.

Troopers were called at 1:20 p.m. to the scene just south of 184th Avenue where a southbound 1986 Toyota Celica had crossed the oncoming lanes and struck several trees on the shoulder. The car was totaled.

The driver was Sean T. Gardner, of Tenino, and the passenger, Marcia L. Shipley, of Woodland, according to the Washington State Patrol.

Bucoda Fire Chief Jim Fowler said the passenger was transported to Tenino High School where a helicopter picked her up. The driver was taken by ambulance to Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia, Fowler said.

Responders came from Thurston County Fire Districts 16, 12 and the Bucoda Fire Department, as well as paramedics from Tumwater.

The speed limit there is 55 mph.

A dog that was in the car was running around and picked by a woman at the scene and was reportedly uninjured, Fowler said.

The state patrol reported the cause is under investigation.

Both lanes were opened by 4:50 p.m., according to the state Department of Transportation.

A nursing supervisor at Harborview said on Sunday morning Shipley was in serious condition and the Gardner was in satisfactory condition.
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This news story was updated at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday August 15, 2010.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

The 39-member group of guards at the Lewis County Jail are endorsing the challenger to their boss in the race for sheriff.

The Lewis County Corrections Guild in a secret ballot vote yesterday decided to support sheriff’s Sgt. Ken Cheeseman over current Sheriff Steve Mansfield, according to a news release from the president of the guild.

Ken Cheeseman

Twenty-three members participated in the vote and more than 75 percent of them favored Cheeseman, according to the news release. They did not release the specific tally.

The Lewis County Corrections Guild is the labor relations group representing that division of the sheriff’ office.

They chose also to endorse challenger Jonathan Meyer over incumbent Michael Golden in the race for Lewis County Prosecutor.

The vote-by-mail primary election is this coming Tuesday. The top two candidates in races for county offices will advance to the November general election.
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To read Lewis County Sirens’ June news story about the race for Lewis County Sheriff, click here.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A 47-year-old man from Longview was killed in a logging accident this morning in the woods in the northwest corner of Lewis County .

Aid was called about 9:20 a.m. when a man working with a small crew was injured in an area in between Adna and Lincoln Creek, according to Riverside Fire Authority.

The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office said a link from a saw on the piece of equipment he was operating flew through the safety glass and struck him in the head.

He is identified as Michael Messner. The sheriff’s office initially listed his age as 43. He was working for C and C Logging out of Longview.

It happened off of Weyerhaeuser 621 Road, off of Ingalls Road, according to sheriff’s Cmdr. Steve Aust.

They were thinning trees on Weyerhaeuser property, Aust said.

The site was remote enough and road signs scarce enough it took some exploring and about 30 minutes to for the fire department and aid to navigate the roughly six miles from Ingalls Road to the scene, Riverside Assistant Chief Mike Kytta said.

Unfortunately, the man succumbed to his injuries before aid arrived, he said.

A co-worker with spotty cell phone coverage was talking with 911 and guiding them in, Kytta said.

“He stayed on the cell phone and helping the worker and trying to give directions at the same time,” Kytta said. “A very heroic fellow for doing what he did.”
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This news story was updated Friday Aug. 13, 2010 at 12:10 p.m. The logger’s age was initially reported by the sheriff’s office as younger.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Deputies are trying to figure out the identity of a dead woman found stuffed into a sleeping bag in the passenger compartment of a pickup truck last night when a Tenino man was stopped by a Thurston County Sheriff’s Office deputy in Tenino.

Bernard K. Howell, 26, was arrested for second-degree murder and first-degree theft, sheriff’s Lt. Chris Mealy said this morning.

The body of a woman somewhere between ages 35 and 50 was found in Howell’s Nissan pickup which was pulled over near Tenino’s elementary school, Mealy said.

The Thurston County Sheriff’s Office reported she appears to be the victim of homicidal violence.

“There is some trauma, we’re not elaborating,” Mealy said.

It began when a deputy was flagged down on state Route 507 near Old Military Road Southeast about 8:15 p.m. by a man who said he saw somebody loading a body into a truck and the truck would be on Old Military Road, according to Mealy. The man then told the deputy the truck was just then passing them by.

Mealy said: The truck was pulled over near Parkside Elementary by the deputy and a Tenino police officer. The deputy began unwrapping the large bundle he found, felt for a pulse and the fire department was called. They determined she was dead.

She had no identification on her.

Howell was booked into the Thurston County Jail.

“His story was he found the body, wrapped her up and put her in in the truck to save the family the cost of the funeral,” Mealy said. He did not say where Howell said he was taking her.

Detectives are looking into the possibility the female may be a woman from Yelm who has lived there about a year and has no known family in the area, according to Mealy.

Deputies got a search warrant for the truck and other search warrants, including one for a RAV4 vehicle and one for a Tenino residence, Mealy said.

Detectives today are searching the area of Mull Road and state Route 507 along the Chehalis Western Trail suspecting that’s where the woman may have been attacked. A vehicle found near there belongs to the Yelm woman, who has not been seen since yesterday morning, according to the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office. They believe Howell stole it after the crime.

The sheriff’s office reported they have not determined a motive and it appears the two did not know each other.

A stretch of state Route 507 closed in both directions overnight as officers investigated was reopened just before 5 o’clock this morning.

An autopsy is scheduled for tomorrow.

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This news story was updated at 11:10 a.m. on Monday Aug. 9, 2010

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Chehalis police are investigating a drive-by shooting that occurred over the weekend on William Avenue.

Nobody was hit but one bullet struck an unoccupied vehicle parked in front of a residence on the 400 or 500 block of William Avenue, detective Sgt. Rick McNamara said this morning. It happened just after midnight, early Saturday morning, he said.

An unknown number of individuals were in a red SUV that made several trips past the home before the passenger leaned out and fired from a handgun, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

There were several people outside the residence, McNamara said, but officers aren’t getting a lot of information from them.

“Not everybody’s talking because of fear of gang retaliation,” McNamara said.

Police suspect the individuals in the SUV are associated with the LVL gang, he said.

Chehalis police report they don’t believe the victims were chosen randomly and the motive is still under investigation.

Neither the SUV nor the shooter had been found as of this morning, according to McNamara.

A 24-year-old Tenino woman was arrested in Thurston County about an hour after the incident, according to police.

McNamara said police believed Christina Palomares, formerly Alaniz, of Tenino, was in the SUV. She was arrested and booked into the Lewis County Jail on Saturday for first-degree assault, he said.

However, just before 10 o’clock this morning, Chehalis police reported that further investigation clouded previous information she was involved and they will not press for charges against Palomares at this time.

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This news story was updated at 10:30 a.m. on Monday Aug. 9, 2010

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A Curtis resident was airlifted to a Vancouver hospital after a single-vehicle collision last night west of Vader.

Curtis F. Hughes, 59, suffered head, arm and internal injuries, according to the Washington State Patrol.

Aid and law enforcement were called around 7:30 p.m. to the scene, on the 200 block of Wildwood Road, just north of state Route 506.

Hughes was traveling southbound when he entered a curve to the right, lost control, struck a guard rail and rolled over, according to the state patrol.

His 1995 Chevrolet Blazer came to rest in a ditch and was described as totaled.

Hughes was flown by Life Flight Network to Southwest Washington Medical Center in Vancouver, according to the investigating trooper. The patrol reported they suspect alcohol was involved.

Hughes was in the intensive care unit listed in serious condition on Monday morning, according to a hospital spokesperson.
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This news story was updated at 9:20 a.m. on Monday Aug. 9, 2010