Lewis County Sirens.com

View of the south face of Mount Rainier and the Disappointment Cleaver Route. / Courtesy photo by RMI Expeditions

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Two climbers were rescued from near the top of Mount Rainer after spending two nights in single-digit temperatures.

The climbing team was overtaken by extreme weather while descending from a successful summit, according to Patti Wold of Mount Rainer National Park. They dug a snow cave and waited out the weather at 14,300 feet, just below the crater rim, Wold said.

The pair activated a locator beacon twice on Friday but adverse weather delayed search operations until early yesterday morning, according to Wold.

A search by the park contract helicopter was undertaken amid clear weather Wold stated.

The two were rescued from Disappointment Cleaver, at 13,500 feet.

“In spite of spending two nights in single digit temperatures the climbers were ambulatory and in stable condition,” Wold stated.

Seattle, Tacoma, Everett and Olympic mountain rescues, and the U.S. Army Reserve B Company of the 1-214th Air Battalion supported incident operations.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The Lewis County coroner today confirmed the Onalaska man who was killed when his tractor landed on him is Harold T. Shelton.

The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reported previously he was 63 years old. Coroner Warren McLeod indicates he was 62.

He is perhaps better known to many as Dr. Tim Shelton, owner of Chehalis Chiropractic Clinic on South Market Boulevard, according to an extended family member.

A sheriff’s deputy sent to check on him Tuesday when he hadn’t shown up to work on Friday or since then found him dead in a wooded area behind the residence at the 3500 block of state Route 508. His tractor had rolled over, according to the sheriff’s office.

Coroner McLeod confirmed the death was accidental and indicated Shelton died from blunt trauma to his head, neck and chest.

•••

For background, see “News brief: Tractor accident kills Onalaska resident” from Wednesday June 15, 2016, here

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The traveling roadshow on how residents can get prepared before a wildfire, lands in Salkum this weekend.

The Lewis County Fire Chiefs Association is conducting town hall style meetings to share information about strategies to defend property from the threat of wildfires.

An hour long session on Saturday begins at noon.

It will cover you and your home, defensible space and the Lewis County Alert System, according to Lewis County Fire District 8 Chief Duran McDaniel. The presentation will be followed by questions and answers with local fire chiefs.

The gathering is open to anyone in Lewis County.

Similar meetings have already been held in the Centralia area and the Boistfort Valley.

When: Saturday June 18, 2016, at noon
Where: Salkum Fire Station, at 2490 U.S. Highway 12 in Salkum

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The first of two public meetings on the county regulation of recreational marijuana is set for this evening in Morton.

The public is invited to attend and may offer written or oral comments on the issues.

Tonight’s session begins at 6 p.m. and will be held at the Morton Senior Center at 103 Westlake Avenue in Morton.

Holding the discussion are personnel from the offices of Lewis County Community Development, Environmental Health and the Prosecuting Attorney.

Proposed county code revisions are designed to license marijuana businesses in a manner consistent with the Washington Liquor Control Board regulations and all other applicable law including federal law, and to provide a mechanism whereby the numerous special concerns posed by marijuana businesses may be addressed conscientiously, according to county officials.

A second meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. on June 29 at the Lewis County Historical Courthouse at 351 NW North Ave., Chehalis.

Draft revisions to the various chapters of Lewis County code are available for public view online at: http://lewiscountywa.gov/communitydevelopment/plann
ing-division

Chehalis Police Officer Rick Silva

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The Chehalis Police Department invites the public to join them this afternoon for the unveiling of Officer Rick Silva’s name on the Lewis County Law Enforcement Memorial.

Silva died last year on June 18 due to complications during surgery he was undergoing related to an on the job injury, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

His memory will be honored in a ceremony at 5:30 p.m. in front of the Lewis County Law and Justice Center in Chehalis, at 345 W. Main Street.

Silva’s name has been engraved at the state capitol in Olympia on the Washington State Law Enforcement Memorial as well as  in Washington D.C. at the National Law Enforcement Memorial.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The Lewis County Coroner’s Office today said the dead man found by children, hanged near the railroad tracks in north Centralia is 58-year-old Dale Glenn DeHaven.

Dale Glenn DeHaven

DeHaven moved to the 1300 block of North Pearl Street in Centralia in December.

Coroner Warren McLeod said his death was determined to be a suicide.

The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office was contacted late Sunday afternoon and directed to a trestle over the Skookumchuck River south of Reynolds Avenue and east of Interstate 5.

McLeod said DeHaven’s three siblings were notified last night.

DeHaven has lived in a variety of places around Lewis County since he was released from prison in 2005, including the areas of Mossyrock, Silver Creek and Onalaska.

He served more than 11 years for the sexual assault of an 8-year-old girl that was the daughter of a casual acquaintance, according to the sheriff’s office. He was a level three registered sex offender.

Before that, he spent time in prison for a 1980 conviction in connection with a sexual assault of his 76-year-old neighbor woman in Lewis County.

Last year in Lewis County, there were 11 deaths by suicide. The year before there were 21, according to the coroner’s annual report.

McLeod said hanging is the second most common method of suicide he sees. The most frequent way is by use of a firearm, he said.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A sheriff’s deputy sent to check on a man who didn’t show up for work on Friday or since then, found him dead beneath his rolled over tractor east of Onalaska yesterday.

The 63-year-old was located on a trail in a wooded area behind the residence at the 3500 block of state Route 508, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

“From the investigation, it appears that he was driving the tractor down the hill and began to skid, and hit a small embankment which caused the tractor to roll over onto him,” Chief Deputy Stacy Brown said.

The piece of equipment was an International Harvester with a brush hog attached, Brown said.

The sheriff’s office indicated the coroner would be releasing the victim’s identity.