"I have the most fantastic life in this room." – Centralia attorney Don McConnell at his surprise retirement party on Friday night at the Washington Hotel in Chehalis.
Archive for July, 2012
Centralia lawyer McConnell retires
Sunday, July 22nd, 2012Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup
Sunday, July 22nd, 2012THEFT, THEFT AND MORE THEFT
• A green plaster frog – approximately one foot tall – was stolen from a yard on the 2500 block of Fords Prairie Avenue in Centralia sometime between Friday and Saturday at mid-day, according to the Centralia Police Department.
• Centralia police were called about 1:45 a.m. today for a burglary at a building on the 600 block of H Street. A window was broken to get inside, but it’s not known yet what, if anything, was stolen, according to the Centralia Police Department.
• Craftsman tools were reported stolen from a shed on the 100 block of West Chestnut Street in Centralia on Friday afternoon.
• Centralia police were called to the 1800 block of Beach Street about 2 p.m. on Friday regarding a report of the theft of unspecified medication from a home.
• Police were called about 10:30 a.m. yesterday to the 300 block of West Chestnut Street in Centralia where a vehicle was broken into. Nothing appeared to be taken, according to the Centralia Police Department.
• Centralia police were called on Friday morning to the 700 block of B Street where they were told a woman’s Kindle was missing from her car after the vehicle had been repossessed and then returned.
News brief: Gunfire in garage draws police to Chehalis home
Friday, July 20th, 2012By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – Chehalis police and sheriff’s deputies responded about 11:30 this morning to an incident on Southwest First Street near Southwest Saunders Way in which a man’s family called when they saw him take a gun into the garage and then heard shots fired.
When officers arrived he was sitting on the floor and was unhurt, according to police.
Deputy Police Chief Randy Kaut said the man was taken to the hospital for a mental health evaluation.
Officers found the gun hidden away in the garage, according to police.
Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup
Friday, July 20th, 2012KNIFE FIGHT IN CENTRALIA
• Centralia police were called at 11:50 p.m. last night to a reported stabbing on the 1300 block of Windsor Avenue. The 17-year-old victim declined to go to the hospital and refused to give a statement, according to the Centralia Police Department. “It was basically a fight,” Sgt. Carl Buster said. “One guy pulled a knife, started swinging it and hit the other guys hand.” The other individual was gone and nobody would tell police who it was, he said.
FIGHT WITH BASEBALL BAT IN MORTON
• A 24-year-old man was arrested overnight for three counts of second-degree assault after a fight broke out at a home on the 100 block of Wood Avenue in Morton. Police called about 3:15 a.m. were told Joshua D. Woodward had come home after spending the evening at a local drinking establishment and his girlfriend told him to leave, according to the Morton Police Department. Woodward allegedly threatened her, her teenage son and the son’s girlfriend with a baseball bat, police Chief Dan Mortensen said. He was booked into the Lewis County Jail.
NURSING HOME SPAT
• Centralia police took a report of a misdemeanor assault between two patients yesterday morning at a nursing home on the 1300 block of Alexander Street. The case will be referred to prosecutors for possible charges, according to the Centralia Police Department.
NAPPING ON AIRPORT RUNWAY LEADS TO ARREST
• Police were summoned to the Centralia-Chehalis Airport about a woman laying on the runway, which prevented at least one plane from landing on Wednesday evening. The woman wouldn’t talk, but when asked what she was doing there, she motioned with her hands against her cheek to indicate she had been sleeping, according to Chehalis police. She was arrested for trespassing and booked into the jail as Jane Doe, but a name was found inside an article of her clothing, Officer Linda Bailey said. Christy Fowler, 53, of Bellingham, was also arrested for obstruction, Bailey said.
STOLEN COMPUTER RECOVERED
• Centralia police arrested a 33-year-old Oakville man early yesterday morning during a traffic stop when they found a stolen computer. Joshua S. Jacobs was stopped near West Summa and South Silver streets and then booked into the Lewis County Jail for second-degree possession of stolen property, according to the Centralia Police Department.
BAD $20 BILLS
• Centralia police were called to a motel on the 700 block of Harrison Avenue Wednesday where a customer had paid with what turned out to be a counterfeit $20 bill. She told officers she’d received the currency from a fruit stand in Rochester as change, but when they they went there, the vendor said it was the woman who passed bad bills to her, according to the Centralia Police Department. She was subsequently arrested by the Thurston County Sheriff’s office, according to police.
CAR PROWLS
• Centralia police remind the public not to leave valuables in their cars after a rash of vehicle prowls in the area around Borst Avenue. Officers on Wednesday took five reports of such incidents throughout the day, mostly from unlocked cars, according to police Sgt. Carl Buster. In one case a woman reported her purse was taken but someone had already found it in a garbage can and turned it into police, Buster said.
• A pair of sunglasses were stolen from an unlocked vehicle parked in front of a garage at the 1000 block of McKinley Lane in Centralia, according to a report made to police about 9:15 p.m. yesterday.
• Police were called about 9 o’clock last night after someone rummaged through an unlocked vehicle and stole two bicycles from a residence on the 3200 block of McKinley Lane in Centralia.
• A CD player and other items were missing from a vehicle parked at the 100 block of Railroad Avenue in Centralia, according to a report made to police about 11:30 a.m. yesterday.
• Chehalis police were called about 1:30 a.m. yesterday to the 1000 block of Grandview Avenue about a car prowl. A window was broken and a driver’s license and an ATM card were missing, according to the Chehalis Police Department.
BOAT STOLEN FROM LAKE
• The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reported yesterday a flat bottomed fiberglass boat was stolen from where it was moored at Mayfield Lake Park on the 100 block of Beach Road west of Mossyrock on Saturday. It was camo and black in color, according to the sheriff’s office.
HEAD STUCK IN WINDOW
• Firefighters were called to Diamond Street in Centralia where a 2-year-old boy had gotten his head stuck in a vehicle’s window after he hit power window button. By the time responders arrived, the window was down, Riverside Fire Authority Capt. Erik Olson said. “He was uninjured, but pretty rattled, I’m sure,” Olson said. It happened around 4 p.m. on Wednesday, according to Olson.
OTHER STUFF
• Plus the usual assorted responses to barking dogs, other misdemeanor thefts, vandalism, misdemeanor domestic violence assaults, driving under the influence and warrant arrests.
Jehovah’s Witnesses visit: A dress rehearsal for home invasion burglary
Thursday, July 19th, 2012
Braydon Carper, left, sits with his younger brothers Trenton and Skyler.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
ADNA – It’s summertime. Braydon Carper is 13 years old and sometimes he babysits his 7-year-old brother Trenton.
Last week, while the two boys were at home alone, someone came knocking at the door of their Adna home and like he’s been told, Braydon didn’t answer it. He told Trenton to go his room and be quiet.
When their father got home from work, he saw religious literature on the porch and asked if someone came by.
The unexpected visit from Jehovah’s Witnesses was a good opportunity, according to their mother Krysta Carper, to talk to the boys in more detail about what to do if anyone they don’t know comes to the door when they’re home alone.
“I instructed them, no matter who came to the door, even if it’s a police officer, not to answer it,” Krysta Carper said.
The conversation that night paid off.
The following day, last Thursday, the Carpers for the very first time left their 5-year-old Skyler with the older boys while they went to work.
The children said they sitting on the couch watching television when a vehicle pulled up into their driveway and parked.
Trenton looked out the window and saw the foot of someone getting out of a red van.
Braydon took his little brothers into their bedroom, he said.
“We heard knocking,” Braydon said. “About a minute later, we heard slamming. Like hard slamming, so we locked the door.”
Braydon called his mother. Skyler hid in his closet. And Trenton climbed under his bed.
Their little dachshund Rider growled and barked so hard he retched, according to the boys.
Krysta Carper called 911 and called her son back to get him on the phone with a 911 operator.
The mother of three practically flew home to their Penning Road two-story. When she arrived, deputies were inside and the front door was broken. The intruder was gone.
And sure enough, she noticed some of her jewelry that had been on the counter in the bathroom was missing.
A deputy on his way to answer the call stopped a red van about a quarter mile away and detained a woman.
According to charging documents, on the floor of the van was a long crowbar type tool, next to it a pair of gloves lay.
The woman said she uses it to remove her hubcaps.
A small plastic baggie containing suspected methamphetamine was found; a meth pipe was inside her purse, according to charging documents.
The plastic diaper wipes container with a purple lid that Krysta Carper keeps her costume jewelry in was also found in the van, charging documents allege.
Darlene J. Lockard
Darlene J. Lockard, 50, of Olympia, was arrested and booked into the Lewis County Jail.
She was charged with residential burglary, possession of methamphetamine and misdemeanor theft. A judge last Friday set her bail at $100,000.
This morning, Lockard pleaded not guilty in Lewis County Superior Court.
Her attorney asked Judge Richard Brosey to reduce her bail. She’s not a flight risk, Centralia defense attorney David Arcuri said, she has a pending case in Thurston County.
As Brosey began to recite the 16 counts pending against her – burglary, theft, possession of stolen property and so on – Lockard hung her head. He denied the request noting there were children inside the house she allegedly burglarized.
Two grown daughters of Lockard’s were in the courtroom, not in support of their mother, but hoping to make sure she didn’t bail out of jail.
“She’s been down this path for way too long,” Misty Ward said. “I think this is the right place for her now.”
The daughters said their mother is separated from her husband and has been staying with a friend in Lewis County.
“She was clean for almost two years, then she started spiraling,” Ward said.
Krysta and Chris Carper came to the courthouse as well, to see the woman they believe barged into their home, while their three young boys cowered in a bedroom.
Krysta Carper thinks it probably wasn’t their barking dog that scared off the intruder, but was instead their home telephone answering machine.
During the various attempts to get her 13-year-old on the phone with 911, a dispatcher left a message saying, “This is 911, your mom called us; you need to pick up the phone.”
“I think she might have heard that message,” Krysta Carper said. “And realized, the one bedroom door that closed, there was someone in there.”
The Carper’s advice for all parents:
“I just urge parents to have a conversation with their kids, about what you would do if somebody kicked in the door,” Krysta Carper said. “I don’t know what they would have done if we hadn’t told them what to do.”
Trial for Koralynn Fister case set for next January
Thursday, July 19th, 2012By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – The trial for James M. Reeder won’t take place until early next year.
The attorney for the 25-year-old Centralia man requested it be set out further into the future while he waits for autopsy reports on 2-year-old Koralynn Fister.
Koralynn Fister
Reeder was in Lewis County Superior Court briefly this morning where he waived his rights to a speedy trial.
Reeder is accused in the May 24 death of his live-in girlfriend’s youngest daughter.
Prosecutors allege Reeder tortured and raped the little girl. She was pronounced dead at the hospital after Reeder claimed he found her face down in the bathtub.
According to the coroner, Koralynn died from drowning and head trauma.
The trial is scheduled for the week of January 28.
Reeder is charged with homicide by abuse, two counts of first-degree assault, two counts of first-degree child rape and possession of methamphetamine.
He has pleaded not guilty and remains held in the Lewis County Jail on $5 million bail.
News brief: Toledo teen arrested for allegedly taking bat to father’s head
Thursday, July 19th, 2012By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
A 16-year-old Toledo boy was arrested this morning for allegedly assaulting his father with a baseball bat.
Police and aid were called about 1:15 a.m. to the home on the 300 block of Oak Street in Toledo.
The 55-year-old father suffered major trauma to his head, according to responders.
“He was flown to Harborview, I think at this point is in critical condition,” Toledo Police Chief John Brockmueller said this morning.
Brockmueller said the son left, but returned home later this morning and was picked up to be transported to the Lewis County Juvenile Detention Center.
He was to be booked for first-degree assault, Brockmueller said.
The police chief said he didn’t yet have all the details.
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