Archive for July, 2012

Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

Thursday, July 5th, 2012

POLICE: CENTRALIA MAN TRIES TO FIGHT POLICE

• A 24-year-old man was arrested in Centralia overnight when he recovered from getting Tased and took a swing at a police officer. Police were called about 12:08 a.m. to the 1900 block of Ahlers Avenue about a possible dispute and contacted the man who was quite agitated, Officer Wayne Compton said. Twice the man took up a boxing-type stance and finally an officer used a Taser gun on him, Compton said. The officer ducked the punch and was not injured, according to Compton. Brandon M.J. Blarton was booked into the Lewis County Jail for third-degree assault, according to the Centralia Police Department.

DRUGS STOLEN FROM SILVER CREEK HOME

• Almost $400 worth of prescription drugs were reported stolen from a Silver Creek residence on Tuesday, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies called to the home on the 600 block of state Route 122 were told the missing medications included oxycodone, Oxycontin, morphine, Vicodin, lorazepam and diazepam, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said. A 29-year-old Onalaska resident was subsequently arrested for burglary, Brown said. Autumn L. Creech was  booked into the Lewis County Jail.

THREAT WITH GUN

• Centralia police were called about 7 p.m. on Tuesday by an 18-year-old Centralia man who said was he was driving on the 400 block of West Summa Street, a male in a red Ford Expedition pulled up near him and pointed a pistol at him. The victim fled to Chehalis before calling police, according to the Centralia Police Department. Officer Wayne Compton said the victim thought he recognized the individual, but then decided wasn’t sure of that.

ASSAULT AT GREEN HILL SCHOOL FOR BOYS

• A 16-year-old Green Hill resident is in trouble with a possible charge of second-degree assault after he allegedly struck another inmate in the head – knocking him out briefly – and then stomped on his head while he was on the ground. Police were called to the state juvenile detention center in Chehalis just before 9 a.m. on Tuesday to investigate. Chehalis Police Department Deputy Chief Randy Kaut said the 15-year-old victim was taken to the hospital with a possible concussion and a dislocated shoulder.

DRUGS

• Centralia police arrested a 36-year-old Centralia man for driving with a suspended license and possession of marijuana following a traffic stop about 12:35 p.m. yesterday at Seward Avenue and East Carson Street. Officer Wayne Compton said a passenger, Karrie D. Delafield, 22, of Centralia, was arrested at the same for possession of methamphetamine when a pipe with residue was found. Both were booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Centralia Police Department. Delafield will be released without charges pending further investigation.

• Genevieve J.M. Purser, 29, of Centralia, was arrested about 2:30 p.m. yesterday at South Washington Avenue and West Cherry Street in Centralia because she was wanted by the Chehalis police for a previous drug violation, according to police When she was searched, a pipe with suspected methamphetamine reside was found, Officer Wayne Compton said. She was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Centralia Police Department.

VEHICLE VANDALISM

• Centralia police were called yesterday just before 3 p.m. to slashed tires on a vehicle at the 1100 block of North Tower Avenue and then again on the 900 block of Marion Street. At about 5:40 a.m., an officer took a report at the 300 block of South Diamond Street that someone smashed out the rear window of a vehicle with a brick.

• The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office is looking for information about who it was that slashed a Glenoma man’s truck tire and left an ominous note stating, “Your truck won’t be this pretty next time.” The 66-year-old man called the sheriff’s office late Tuesday night and said he’d parked his truck off the 200 block of Anderson Road in Glenoma when he went for a walk up a logging road, and returned to find the note, according to the sheriff’s office.

• Police were called just before 1 p.m. yesterday to the 1300 block of Johnson Road in Centralia to a complaint kids were throwing eggs at a residence. Just before 9 p.m., a 15-year-old boy was arrested for allegedly throwing eggs at a parked car in the same area, causing damage, according to the Centralia Police Department.

FIREWORKS IN PORTABLE TOILET

• An apparent fireworks explosion damaged a portable bathroom at the Seminary Hill Nature Park on the 600 block of East Locust Avenue in Centralia. Officers called just before midnight on Tuesday have suspect “leads,” according to the Centralia Police Department.

FIREWORKS OUT CAR WINDOW

• Firefighters in Winlock were called to two small grass fires about 3:30 p.m. yesterday, the first at the 700 block of North Military Road and the second about a mile away on the 300 block of Sargent Road. The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office says a deputy learned three teenage boys had thrown lit fireworks from a vehicle and then stopped on Sargent Road to light off some more. The case, involving an 18-year-old and two 17-year-old Winlock residents was referred to the prosecutors office for possible charges, in part because the youths said they were fireworks purchased from the Chehalis Reservation and not legal to discharge in the area, according to the sheriff’s office.

FIREWORKS IN TREE

• Centralia firefighters were called just before 10 p.m. yesterday when a lit lantern-type firework floated into a tree on the 900 block of L Street. It more or less burned itself out but they put water on it, according to Riverside Fire Authority.

NUMEROUS ASSAULT CHARGES POSSIBLE FOR CENTRALIA MAN WHO ALLEGED INJURED TROOPER

• A 23-year-old Centralia man is set to go before a judge this afternoon on a possible charge of third-degree assault for allegedly giving a trooper a black eye and breaking his nose in Chehalis on Tuesday evening. The trooper contacted Don K. Gonzales who was walking up the southbound Interstate 5 off ramp at Main Street carrying two sticks just before 6:30 p.m., according to Chehalis police. At some point Gonzales apparently tried to open up a pocket knife, and Trooper Rob Moore may have attempted to use his Taser gun, according to authorities. Deputy Chief Randy Kaut said Gonzales threw the lug nut at Moore’s face and a fight ensued. Passing motorists, including a Centralia police detective, jumped in and restrained Gonzales, according to Kaut. Gonzales was booked into the Lewis County Jail for two counts of third-degree assault, according to police. The department will also suggest two misdemeanor assault charges for Gonzales related to the pair of men who helped – a 24-year-old from Chehalis and a 25-year-old from Napavine, Kaut said. A suspected marijuana pipe was found in the suspect’s pocket, according to Kaut. The deputy chief said he did not know why Gonzales was walking on the freeway. Washington State Patrol spokesperson Trooper Ryan Tanner said this morning Trooper Moore is currently off work and resting at home.

RAFTERS STUCK ON COWLITZ RIVER IN PACKWOOD

• Deputies assisted a Colorado man and four children yesterday evening who were stranded on an island in the Cowlitz River off Alderwood Drive in Packwood with a raft. The 43-year-old man and the kids – ages 6 to 12 – had been rafting and were unable to cross back because of the swift current, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Rescuers arriving shortly after 5:15 p.m. were able to raft the group down river and out of the water, according to Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown. Brown did not say how long the rafters had been stranded, but thought someone who lives nearby may have made the call for help sometime before 4 o’clock.

School bus driver gets five months jail for groping team members at Onalaska game

Wednesday, July 4th, 2012
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Kenneth W. Sands is taken directly to jail after sentencing in Lewis County Superior Court.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The attorney for a school bus driver who was arrested last autumn for groping teenage girls after their volleyball game in Onalaska told a judge the behavior was completely out of the ordinary, and related to a manic state caused by his bi-polar disorder.

Kenneth W. Sands, 52, was in Lewis County Superior Court yesterday following a plea agreement in which he would be sentenced for five counts of fourth-degree assault with sexual motivation.

Sands drove a bus for the Rainier School District and was off-duty but had gone to the game in Onalaska last October to support the Rainier team.

He was arrested after he reportedly grabbed a 15-year-old volleyball player’s buttocks as she waited to board the bus, slapped a 16-year-old on the buttocks and then got on the bus and touched the breasts of a 16-year-old and a 17-year-old, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. An adult female said he fondled her during the game.

Olympia lawyer Paul A. Strophy said Sands had just switched medications at the time and was adjusting to the change, plus had used caffeine to counteract the effects of a long bus trip the day before to Forks. Sands pleaded guilty in May.

The two lawyers agreed on the recommended sentence, but Strophy appealed to Judge James Lawler to allow his client to serve his time under house arrest, saying as as former corrections officer, he was extremely anxious about being incarcerated. He also requested time to get his medications set up before the sentence began.

Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Colin Hayes, one of the teenage victims and her mother opposed the so-called electronic home monitoring.

In a letter from the girl read aloud in court, the girl said now has trust issues with older males and has nightmares about Sands coming to attack her family.

“I feel uncomfortable if Ken’s on house arrest,” she wrote. “I’d feel better if he was in jail.”

Sands spoke to the judge, saying he regretted the events and the circumstances that led up to them.

Judge Lawler imposed 30 days in jail for each of the misdemeanors, suspending most of the rest of the sentence so Sands would for the next 10 years have the remainder of the time hanging over his head if he failed to abide by several conditions.

Four and a half years of the sentence are suspended.

He ordered Sands to be taken to jail immediately following the hearing.

“The fact that he has bi-polar disorder is not a defense,” Lawler said. “It’s something he knows about and deals with or does not deal with at his peril.”

Sands has been terminated from his bus driving position, according to Strophy.

Because of the conviction, he will have to submit his DNA to authorities but will not be required to register as a sex offender following his release.

No serious injuries in multiple wrecks on I-5 near Centralia

Tuesday, July 3rd, 2012

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A pair of Rochester teenagers were hospitalized after multiple collisions on southbound Interstate 5 near Centralia this afternoon that backed up traffic for at least five miles.

Troopers and aid were called just before 2 p.m. when possibly more than a dozen vehicles were involved in several separate wrecks, according to authorities.

Washington State Patrol spokesperson Ryan Tanner said nobody was seriously injured and preliminary information suggested five different collisions around the area just south of the Lewis-Thurston county line.

Riverside Fire Authority Mike Kytta said besides the two who were transported, a handful of motorists which were looked at by medics had very minor or no injuries and declined further assistance.

Kytta thought he counted 16 vehicles which had all pulled over to the inside shoulder along about a half mile stretch.

He called it a very fortunate and very surprising outcome with so many vehicles on a high speed road.

A memo from the state patrol described one portion of the incident as four vehicles that were damaged when a 1999 Chevrolet Prizm tried to go around others which were slowing for traffic. It was totaled.

It’s driver, Lacy M. Wood, 17, suffered an injury to her right knee, according to the state patrol. Her passenger, William Short, 19, hurt his left knee and right arm, the investigating trooper reported.

Both were taken to Providence Centralia Hospital.

The other three vehicles involved in that collision sustained damage varying from about $500 to $5,000 but were able to be driven from the scene.

The Washington state Department of Transportation indicated the roadway was all cleared by about 3:45 p.m.

Trooper assaulted on Interstate 5 at Chehalis

Tuesday, July 3rd, 2012

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – An off-duty police officer and another passerby intervened when a state trooper and a pedestrian scuffled on the side of Interstate 5 at Chehalis this evening.

Aid, and perhaps as many as a half dozen police officers, responded about 6:25 p.m. to the southbound off ramp at Main Street.

Neither were seriously injured, according to responders.

Washington State Patrol spokesperson Trooper Ryan Tanner said he didn’t yet know many details.

“Don’t know why the contact, or why the scuffle,” Tanner said.

The trooper’s glasses were broken when he was hit just below his eye with some kind of metallic object, like a lug nut, Tanner said.

The trooper, whose identity was not released, declined to go to the hospital, according to the Chehalis Fire Department. It wasn’t the kind of injury that required stitches, Fire Capt. Rob Gebhart said.

The other individual had only scrapes, he said.

The passersby took the individual into custody, Tanner said.

Read about DOL says Lewis County deputy’s license ‘suspended’ ….

Tuesday, July 3rd, 2012

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Lewis County Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown tells KIROtv.com when she recently went to renew her driver’s license she was told she was suspended.

KIRO 7’s Amy Clancy writes Brown was told she needed to contact authorities in Arizona to sort it out, but it turns her license was flagged under a system that checks about 400 licenses each month in Washington state.

Only about a quarter of those lead to actual suspensions, according to Clancy; Brown’s was cleared.

Read it here

News brief: Child brings unstable explosives home

Tuesday, July 3rd, 2012
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Some of the old, and volatile, items found behind Winlock home. / Courtesy photo by Lewis County Sheriff's Office

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

The sheriff’s office said a bomb squad was at a Winlock area residence this morning to detonate two bucketfuls of explosive items found by a child playing in the woods behind his house.

A deputy was called last night to the 1000 block of North Military Road after the boy picked up the items, took them to his house and told his parents, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

The buckets contained commercial blasting caps and approximately 100 feet of detonation cord, according to Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown.

“They were very old and in poor condition making them extremely unsafe and volatile,” Brown wrote a news release.

Apparently the previous owner of the property died without telling anyone about the explosives stored on his property, Brown said.

Brown stated the sheriff’s office secured the items and requested the Washington State Patrol Bomb Squad.

Brown said the bomb squad responded to the property about 9 a.m. today to detonate the items on the property.

Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

Tuesday, July 3rd, 2012

ASSAULT WITH LITTLE BAT

• A 21-year-old Centralia resident was arrested for second-degree assault last night after allegedly striking an individual in the face with a miniature wooden bat. Police called about 9:20 p.m. to the 100 block of South Pleasant Avenue in Centralia booked Mele L. McCollum into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Centralia Police Department.

SCARY TRESPASSER

• Deputies were called yesterday to a home on the 100 block of Talbott Road in Salkum after an individual walked up, opened the door and went inside inside the home saying he was looking for his friend and his quad. The friend no longer lived there, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. He reportedly brushed past a 25-year-old resident outside who said it was especially frightening because her five children were inside, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said. Deputies subsequently found Timothy R. Foltz of Chehalis and arrested him for possession of methamphetamine as well as referred the case for a charge of first-degree trespass, Brown said.

INDECENT EXPOSURE

• A 34-year-old Centralia man was arrested yesterday for seven counts of indecent exposure after an investigation into incidents that reportedly took place over the previous several weeks at the 300 block of Big Hanaford Road outside Centralia. Russell L. Bogart was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said two different women in the neighborhood said he had exposed himself to them.

THEFT OF CASH

• An undisclosed amount of cash was stolen from a business on the 200 block of North Tower Avenue in Centralia overnight, according to a report made to police about 1:30 p.m. yesterday.

THEFT OF ‘METAL’

• A 35-year-old Winlock man was arrested yesterday after he was allegedly observed leaving the 1300 block of Ferrier Road in Winlock with someone else’s “metal” in the back of his vehicle. Joseph L. Hines was arrested for third-degree theft and then released, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

AUTO THEFT

• A red 1984 Ford Ranger pickup was stolen from Johnson and Industrial roads in Centralia, according to a report made to police about 6:35 a.m. yesterday. It has a license plate reading B28908C, according to the Centralia Police Department.

PRESCRIPTION MEDS MISSING

• Centralia police were called to a home on the 1200 block of Alder Street yesterday afternoon where an individual said medication went missing after he let a friend use his bathroom.

BOAT STOLEN

• Police were called about 10:45 a.m. yesterday to the 400 block of Lakeshore Drive in centralia about a boat stolen from the lakefront property. Inside the green 13-foot boat were two wooden oars, life vests and some fishing gear, according to the Centralia Police Department.

WRECK

• A 39-year-old Winlock man tossed from his motorcycle and over a gate yesterday was taken to Providence Centralia Hospital with a shoulder injury. A deputy arriving to the scene about 6:15 p.m. learned the motorcyclist was coming down Monroe Road when he had some kind of mechanical problem, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The injured man was cited for going too fast, according to the sheriff’s office.

• A Chevrolet Camaro was totaled and its passenger taken to the hospital after a 17-year-old driver swerved to miss a deer at Rogers Road outside Chehalis early this morning. A deputy arriving about 2:15 a.m. learned the car left the roadway near the railroad tracks. The 30-year-old passenger, who was not wearing  seatbelt, hit the windshield, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. He was driving with an instruction permit; she was the registered owner, according to the sheriff’s office. She was ticketed for failure to wear a seatbelt, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said.