Lewis County Sirens.com

Advocates for medical marijuana wave to passing motorists outside Centralia City Hall.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CENTRALIA – A small group of medical marijuana users held a little “rally” across from Centralia City Hall yesterday hoping to gain support for making the substance easier rather than harder to obtain.

“Really, we just want to end criminal penalties for adults who use medical marijuana,” 34-year-old Ryan Shewell of Chehalis said.

Shewell, who organized the gathering, was pleasantly surprised to learn after they arrived the city council was scheduled last night to have the issue on its agenda.

Shewell prefers marijuana to the Vicodin and Percocet he takes for phantom pain; he lost his lower legs and fingers to a disease he contracted as a child.

“I take a handful pills, and they’re killing my liver,” Shewell said.

He’s been fairly active in initiative campaigns and voicing his opinion.

He was one of only two people who spoke at a public hearing last week held by the Lewis County Commissioners on the topic of collective medical marijuana gardens.

Lewis County Sheriff Steve Mansfield told the three county commissioners he thinks more harm than good will come out of the new state law went into effect on July 22, but he wants to make the best out of a bad situation as the county considers how to reconcile conflicting federal and state law on the subject.

Shewell told the commissioners collective gardens are not a problem, but a solution for those like him who can’t easily grow their own.

Yesterday, the dozen or so individuals who joined Shewell in Centralia voiced similar thoughts, but the placards they held up to passing passing motorists broadcast a variety of philosophies, such as:

“Cannabis Cures” and “Help end marijuana prohibition” and “No prison for pot”.

And not all were willing to speak quite as openly as Shewell.

“Please don’t use my last name, I have a job,” one woman from Rochester said.

“I really don’t want to tell you my last name, cause of the feds,” a 56-year-old Centralia man in a wheelchair said.

Several of them however enthusiastically spoke of what they viewed as signs of support from passing motorists on Pearl and Maple streets.

“We’ve got nothing but high-5’s, peace signs, smiles and honks,” Sarena Haskins of Rochester said. She’s an activist who focuses on Lewis County for a group called Sensible Washington.

Shewell said only “a couple” of drivers flipped them off.

The city council last night passed a six-month moratorium on collective gardens, A public hearing will be held Sept. 27 on the topic.

They are approaching it similar to the county, according to City Attorney Shannon Murphy-Olson.

Lewis County commissioners last week enacted a 60-day moratorium, while the sheriff’s office, the prosecutor’s office and likely the planning commission devise a plan.

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For more about the county plans, read “County leaders want your opinions on how to grow (medical) marijuana” from Tuesday Aug. 2, 2011, here

A medical marijuana user displays her sign at the corner of Pearl and Maple streets.

Mossyrock Police Chief Jeremy Stamper is surrounded by police, deputies and troopers after today's sentencing of Wayne Burdette.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – More than two dozen uniformed law enforcement officers dominated the courtroom gallery, figuratively and then literally standing behind Mossyrock Police Chief Jeremy Stamper today.

They were there to observe the sentencing of Wayne Burdette, a 44-year-old man convicted last week of obstruction and acquitted of a more serious charge of felony harassment.

Wayne Burdette

The charges stemmed from a June traffic stop in which Burdette got out of his truck with his right hand behind his back and advanced on Stamper – after being told to stay put – prompting the officer to draw his pistol and retreat behind his patrol car. Burdette was arguing he wanted to see the radar reading.

Chief Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher told the judge Burdette willfully and egregiously placed the officer in fear he was going to be shot.

Meagher asked the judge to send Burdette to jail for one year, the maximum amount allowed for the crime of obstruction, saying the judge needed to send a message.

“You and I have a bad day (at work), I go home with a headache,” Meagher said. “This officer has a bad day, he may not go home.”

Meagher had argued unsuccessfully in the trial last week in Lewis County Superior Court that Burdette’s actions and manner amounted to a threat to kill.

Defense attorney Ken Johnson this morning reminded the court Burdette was convicted of a gross misdemeanor, not the other charge and suggested the punishment should fit the crime.

The delay in the speeding ticket getting issued was not extensive, Johnson said.

Normally obstruction would be dealt with in District Court and the outcome might be two days in jail with the balance suspended, he said. His client has already been held for 71 days, he said.

Since the judge agreed to consider writings found in Burdette’s home, Johnson said he needed to explain some background.

Johnson told the judge Burdette has experienced police misconduct first-hand, which colors his view of officers, and has been seeking avenues of redress.

“There is a right way to do it and a wrong way to do it,” Johnson said. “Clearly arguing on the side of the road is the wrong way.”

Stamper asked Judge Richard Brosey for a sentence of one year, telling the judge Burdette is a danger.

“This guy is gonna kill one of us, given the first opportunity,” Stamper said.

Burdette took the judge up on his offer to comment.

“This is the third time I’ve been chained and caged,” he said.

“Words just really fail me, because what do you do about incompetence? What rights do you have?” Burdette asked.

Judge Brosey offered a lengthy soliloquy, telling Burdette that whatever may have occurred in the past elsewhere had nothing to do with any officers in Lewis County.

“Just because they choose to wear a uniform doesn’t make them inherently evil or out to get you,” Brosey said.

Brosey told him if he has issues with cops, he needs to take it up in court.

“You got a fair trial, perhaps the fairest I’ve ever seen,” he said. “That doesn’t alter the fact you did in fact obstruct, and you’re darn lucky you’re not dead.”

Brosey gave him 365 days in jail, with credit for time served.

The judge and the defendant exchanged more words after a statement was read about his appeal rights.

“You can say all the pretty legal words you want but it does not make it justice,” Burdette said.

Brosey once again tried to convince Burdette the system works, although it’s not fast or easy. And then the hearing was over.

“We’re done,” Brosey said.

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For more background, see “Breaking news: Burdette: Acquitted of felony harassment” from Friday August 19, 2011 at 5:23 p.m., here

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A woman’s hair was singed when a man poured gasoline down his chimney in Centralia last night, causing an explosion that blew the insert right out of the fireplace.

It normally takes two grown men to move a fireplace insert, they’re heavy, Riverside Fire Authority Capt. Scott Weinert said. But when the fuel hit the fireplace, the blast shot the insert out about four feet into the room, he said.

“It was heard by a lot of people, it rocked the area a little,”  Weinert said.

The resident on the 200 block of West Walnut Street had a bees nest in the chimney and had started a fire to smoke the bees out, according to Weinert.

“That didn’t work, so he went up on the roof and poured old gasoline down the chimney,” he said.

No serious injuries were reported.

Firefighters who responded to the 7:43 p.m. call recommended he get his chimney inspected before using it again.

The resident said he thought since the fuel was old, it would be okay, Weinert said.

The man may need to call a professional exterminator as well; the bees survived, according to Weinert.