Lewis County Sirens.com

D.J. West, 16, right, poses for a photo with his older sister Jessica Porter in Lewis County two weeks before he was shot to death. / Courtesy photo

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – In a week, 23-year-old Jessica Porter will be burying her father’s ashes in the grave where her only brother was laid to rest almost a year ago.

A memorial service will be held in a cemetery in The Dalles, Ore. for David West Sr. 52, and his son David West Jr., 16, on Aug. 21, the one-year anniversary of their deaths in their Salkum-Onalaska area home.

David West Sr.

The two were shot to death, along with a 50-year-old from Randle; while West. Sr.’s live-in girlfriend was seriously wounded by a gunshot. It’s a case that has more questions than answers, as far as Porter is concerned.

The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office have called the homicides related to a drug debt collection, but Porter doesn’t buy that.

“We think there’s a lot more to it than anybody knows,” Porter said.

Porter, a young mother of two who calls the Randle area home even though she lives in a county on the other side of the mountains now, has been anxious for the case to move along.

Two men were charged last year in the deaths and have trials scheduled for this autumn. She got word the end of July that prosecutors made a plea deal with one of them. It wasn’t something she was happy with, but it gave her hope that meant one would testify against the other.

But the week before last in Lewis County Superior Court, murder defendant Ryan McCarthy and his lawyer were moving forward toward an Oct. 10 trial.

Exactly what happened isn’t clear. Elected Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer only said “You’d have to ask his attorney.”

Olympia defense attorney Rick Cordes said he had a deal with Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher, but something changed after Meagher left for vacation.

“We had an agreement,” Cordes said. “But somebody added a condition onto it.”

Ryan McCarthy, right, confers with his lawyer Rick Cordes in Lewis County Superior Court on Aug. 4, 2011

Early last month, Cordes and Meagher said they had negotiated a plea deal for McCarthy. The 29-year-old was going to plead down from three counts of first-degree murder to two counts of second-degree assault, Cordes said.

When they showed up in court in mid-July, the deal was off.

Porter says she doesn’t know what to think after it happened a second time.

If McCarthy was not the shooter, as she’s inclined to believe, she’s not opposed to plea bargaining, she said.

“All I can hope is they do get a deal to where he testifies, so they don’t have to drag it out for years and years and years, or Booth gets off,” Porter said. “It’s something that will never go away, but the sooner they get (convicted) the sooner I’ll get feeling better.”

John A. Booth Jr.

John A. Booth Jr., 32, is the other man charged with murder in the case. The former Onalaska resident and McCarthy were previously prison cell mates.

Both are charged with murder of West Sr., David Jr. and 50-year-old Tony E. Williams of Randle who was at the house that night. Booth is charged with attempted murder of Denise Salts, then 51.

The two men are also charged with attempted extortion of West. Sr.

Porter has heard a lot of different stories and gained more insight about what might have been behind Booth and McCarthy’s alleged visit to her dad’s home that night.

It’s left her scared for herself, and wishing she knew more earlier, so she could have taken her younger brother with her when she left after a visit to Lewis County just two weeks before they were killed.

“He had a lot of family that really loved him and cared,” Porter said of her brother. “He wasn’t a bad kid, he was a good kid. He was the one that was gonna go to college.”

David Jr., who was called D.J., has tons of aunts, uncles and cousins in Oklahoma, his sister said.

Their mother lives near Porter’s home, and D.J. has a half sister whom Porter has not been able to find.

D.J. lived in Morton when he attended elementary school. She went to White Pass High School, she said.

Then, he lived with his mother in Oklahoma until he was about 13,  and he wanted to go live with his dad again in Lewis County, his older sister said.

He was a 16-year-old who got what one of his class mates at Onalaska High School described as “amazing grades”.

Though the two of them don’t share the same father, Porter said she doesn’t consider D.J. a half brother, or West Sr. a step-father.

“He was my brother straight out, no half in there for me,” Porter wrote in an email exchange.

West Sr. is her father, as far as she’s concerned, although not biologically and despite the fact he and her mother didn’t marry.

He worked for a forest products company in North Bend and transferred to Morton long ago, she said. The past few years, he bought, rebuilt and sold cars.

Porter, her two children and her boyfriend were visiting from out of town on August 8 of last year when Robbie Russell, Booth and McCarthy showed up at her dad’s home off Gore Road. Her father only knew Russell, not the other two, she said. After the men left, her father told her to leave.

Robert Shawn Russell

“My dad told me go home, you need to go home, and I asked why,” Porter said. “He said, you just need to go.”

Porter told authorities her father told her he had to pay Russell $1,000 to get him to leave, and that he was being blackmailed, according to charging documents in the case.

Russell back last August was named a person of interest in the homicides but was never charged. He’s in prison now on unrelated crimes.

One of the reasons prosecutors gave a judge for a warrant to bring Russell in, was his visit to the West’s house was a violation of a no-contact order from a case in which West Sr. was a witness against Russell.

In hindsight, Porter thinks her dad was afraid after that visit and that he, and maybe others, knew something bad was going to happen, she said.

Now, almost a year later, she still can’t stop imagining over and over what took place the night her brother and father were shot. She worries about her anxiety and depression getting in the way of her being a parent to her two little girls.

Salkum: Three found fatally shot, Aug. 21, 2010.

There are so many unanswered questions that nag at her.

“If I would have known anything was gonna go down I would have went and got my brother out of that place but I didn’t know,” she wrote.

Porter doesn’t know why Booth and McCarthy would have returned on August 21.

“There’s a lot of weird things in the case,” she said. “I want to know what they were getting out of going there.”

McCarthy’s trial is scheduled for Oct. 10. Booth’s trial is set for November.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Fire broke out last night at the Moose lodge in Morton on what is normally the biggest night of the year.

The Saturday night crowd during the Morton Loggers Jubilee was just starting to trickle in when the fire department was called, according to lodge administrator Terry Pierce.

About 40 people were evacuated, Pierce said.

Lewis County Fire District 4 was called about 10:18 p.m. to the building that sits on Main Street.

The wall facing the alley was burning, District 4 E.M.S. Capt. Shelli Harbaugh said.

“The fire went inside, but it started outside,” Harbaugh said. She described the damage as minimal.

No injuries were reported.

It took about 30 minutes to extinguish because it was metal siding over wood, according to Harbaugh.

It was a storage room that sustained smoke and water damage, she said.

Pierce said several items had been moved there to make more room inside the lodge for the weekend, such as chairs, tables, a deep fat chicken fryer and a copy machine. They also keep lodge records in the storage room, he said.

A fire investigator was called to determine the cause.

The fire department said it appeared to have started in a bin full of paper products, recyclables, outside.

“Very bad, we lost a lot of revenue,” Pierce said. “But we can’t thank the fire department enough.”

Because of the street dance, members of the fire department were staffing the station at that time.

The annual festival in Morton includes a logging show, a parade, and other events over a three-day period.

Pierce was told if it hadn’t have been for that, if volunteer firefighters had to respond from elsewhere, the entire building could have been lost.

The lodge is open for business today.

This was updated at 12:59 p.m.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A Salkum woman is in critical condition at an Oregon hospital after a fire broke out in her home this morning.

Firefighters were called just before 7:30 a.m. to a residence on the 2100 block of Spencer Road near Forest Retreat Drive, according to responders.

The woman who is wheelchair bound called 911 and tried crawling out, making it the door but then the call ended, according to Fire Investigator Derrick Paul.

Sheriff’s Deputy Jason Mauermann was the first on the scene, and luckily went to the door where she was, Paul said.

“She was right there, he saw her and pulled her out the door,” Paul said. She was unconscious.

The woman, whose name and age are not available, was airlifted to Legacy Emanuel Hospital in Portland, Paul said.

He spoke to the hospital just before 11 a.m. and found she was in critical condition with smoke inhalation and burns, he said.

“It’s one of the ones we fear, a structure fire with entrapment,” Lewis County Fire District 8 Assistant Chief Don Taylor said.

Taylor and fire Lt. Bill Woods arrived and helped the deputy get her off the porch and into the yard, responders said.

Smoke was blowing out of the eves when District 8 arrived, Taylor said.

They were joined by firefighters from fire districts out of Mossyrock, Toledo and Napavine.

Taylor said it was actually a single-wide trailer that had been converted.

Firefighters held the blaze to the room of origin, Paul said, which is very good for a volunteer department on a Saturday morning.

Paul said the cause was a cigarette in a trash can.

“Which is obviously key,” Paul said. “The other thing, there is no detectors … especially since she was wheelchair bound.”

Early detection was, would have been key, he said.

Paul said he believed the fire started right next to her, on a couch where she sometimes slept, and suspected it was flames or heat that awakened her. If that hadn’t happened, he said she probably would have simply succumbed to smoke inhalation in her sleep.

“Just put in the deputy who did his job, or more than his job, he needs some (recognition) for what he did,” Paul said. “And District 8 did a great job.”

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Randle resident Jeffrey S. Plaas pleaded not guilty yesterday to an incident in which deputies found a 16-year-old girl in his garage, her hands bound behind her back with electrical tape.

The teenager told deputies that Plaas, 45, is her boyfriend, that he had thrown her on the ground and would not let her go, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

He is charged with unlawful imprisonment and fourth-degree assault, domestic violence.

His defense attorney suggested yesterday the situation was not as it appeared.

“What we have here is an unfortunate circumstance that arose of out him trying to do good,” Jacob Clark said after the court hearing. “When someone is trying to combat a drug environment …”

Clark declined to say more about exactly what that meant.

The lawyer also said he was aware the girl told deputies his client is her boyfriend but said he wasn’t confirming that.

Charging documents don’t offer many new details about the incident that is alleged to have occurred on Monday in Randle.

They and the sheriff’s office give the following account:

Deputies were called about 3:40 p.m. on Monday about a dispute between a male and a female behind the (Mt.) Adams Cafe in Randle.

They were told the male had slapped the female, the pair were thought to have moved to the area of McKay Street and the suspect male may live in a motor home inside an old bus garage there.

As deputies arrived, they could hear a female screaming and a male shouting. Deputies went into the open garage,  requested the male show himself and he responded with, “I’m over here.”

They asked the sweaty, shirtless man where the female was, and he answered, “What female?”

One deputy went around the back of a pickup truck, and saw a thin female standing against the camper. He asked her to show her hands, she said she couldn’t and turned so the deputy could see they were bound.

The 16-year-old told deputies he had over the previous 24 hours pulled her hair and slapped her; she had swelling on her face, including a bloody nose, sheriff’s Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said after the arrest.

The girl told the deputies Plaas had taped her hands and she did not want him to. She said he was her boyfriend and they lived together “from time to time.”

The teenager said she did want a protection order entered against Plaas.

She declined treatment and was returned to her parents in Ashford, Brown said earlier this week.

When Plaas first appeared in Lewis County Superior Court on Tuesday, an attorney representing him told the judge Plaas was unemployed, but had lived there eight years. And his only asset was a motor home valued at about $3,000.

Judge James Lawler gave him a court-appointed attorney and set bail at $20,000.

After the Tuesday hearing, Deputy Prosecutor Kjell Werner said there is no law against a person of Plaas’s age having a girlfriend of 16.

The age of consent in Washington is 16, Werner said.

In general, a person 16 or older can have a relationship with someone older than themselves, according to Werner.

One exception is if the older person abuses a supervisory or mentor-type role to engage in an intimate relationship with a person of 16 or 17 years old, according to Werner.

A trial for Plaas is scheduled for the week of Sept. 26.
•••

Read “Tied up teen rescued from Randle garage” from Tuesday August 9, 2011, here

Assistant Fire Chief Larry Allen is saying goodbye tomorrow to Chehalis

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – “Please check your smoke detectors. Preventing fires, it’s your job.”

As 43-year-old Larry Allen prepares to leave the Chehalis Fire Department after almost 20 years of service, those are the words he wants folks to remember from him.

The long time Chehalis area resident, but a transplant from Mossyrock and Seattle before that, has said yes to what he calls a phenomenal career opportunity in Colorado.

He starts later this month at Castle Rock Fire and Rescue, in a 70-person department in a town about halfway to Colorado Springs from Denver. Castle Rock is home to about 46,000 people, he said.

Allen will be doing more of what he says is his passion: fire prevention.

Fire Chief Kelvin Johnson says that passion is what makes a difference.

It takes a person who really likes that part of the fire service to do it well, Johnson said yesterday.

“Like I say, he really enjoyed it, that’s why he was good at it,” Johnson said. “We’re happy for him in that direction.”

Allen’s last day of work is tomorrow.

Chief Johnson said yesterday he has no current plans to fill the position.

The public is invited to stop by the fire station on Park Street to say goodbye, and for cake and conversation, between 3 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. tomorrow.

Allen’s new position is called a fire prevention officer. He will be dealing with inspections, codes and plan review. He will also be conducting fire investigations, in a capacity in which he and other investigators can arrest violators.

Prevention is why he does what he does, he said.

“This is why I’m here; codes are written, they come from tragedies,” Allen said. “The codes are minimum standards for citizens’ and responders’ safety.”

Allen was a volunteer at the Chehalis Fire Department for about a year and a half before getting hired full time in January 1994.

He made captain in 2006 and was named assistant chief in February 2008. He’s a second generation firefighter, following in his father’s foot steps.

His work in Chehalis has included fire education and prevention. Helping youngsters learn about fire safety is something he speaks of fondly and likes to think has saved lives.

From sending kids crawling through “smoke houses” and demonstrating “mock crashes” for teens to the annual children’s fire poster contest:

“If just one person took anything away from any of those activities …,” he said without finishing his sentence. Then Allen said, “Say this:”

“Please check your smoke detectors. Preventing fires, it’s your job.”

Updated at 6:16 p.m.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A pair of passing motorists kicked out a window and pulled an unconscious man from a truck that wrecked and burst into flames near Oakville this afternoon.

The Washington State Patrol said a Ford Cargo van was eastbound on U.S. Highway 12 when it crossed the centerline, climbed an embankment and rolled over onto its top. A fire started in the engine, according to the state patrol.

The driver, Ben W. Thomas, 51, of Olympia, was taken to Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia for evaluation, according to responders.

Grays Harbor County Fire District 1 was called at 1 p.m. to the wreck near Ross Road, a mile west of Oakville, according to Fire Capt. Ryan Graham.

When firefighters arrived seven minutes later, 25 foot high flames were coming off the truck, Graham said.

“I congratulated the guy and said you guys saved the day,” Graham said.

He didn’t have their names but thought the couple were from out of state, maybe New York, and had just moved to Vancouver. The woman said she was an EMT, he said.

It was a mobile slaughter truck full of meat, according to Trooper Krista Hedstrom. The cab of the truck was destroyed, but they were able to recover the undamaged load, she said.

Graham said the driver was unconscious, but just waking up as the couple pulled him to safety. He didn’t really have any visible injuries, Graham said. Hedstrom said his injuries were described to her as minor cuts to his face.

Highway 12 was closed in both directions for about two hours and only partially opened for the third hour, according to Graham.

The cause is under investigation.