Courtesy photo by Richard Butterton
TRIO OF TEEN BOYS BLAMED FOR CENTRALIA VEHICLE VANDALISM RAMPAGE
• Police were called about 7 a.m. today to the 1700 block of Sunset Way in Centralia where four tires were slashed on a vehicle. Officer John Panco says the incident isn’t related to the spree of vandalism in the south end of town from early Thursday as three teenagers were arrested Friday evening for that. Officers spent all day Thursday taking reports of cars with smashed windows and flattened tires. Following up on a tip, police were able to identify three boys who reportedly confessed to the damage to more than 30 vehicles, according to Panco. He didn’t hear what their motive was, Panco said. The suspects tossed large rocks and even something like a cinder block into cars, according to Panco. A damage estimate is not yet available. “It all was sent to detectives, I think they’re going to have to do a little bit of calculating,” he said. The teens, ages 14, 14 and 15 were booked into the Lewis County Juvenile Detention Center for first-degree malicious mischief, according to the Centralia Police Department.
Courtesy photo by Richard Butterton
TAVERN TROUBLES
• Centralia police responded to the 300 block of North Tower Avenue twice overnight, first arresting a 20-year-old Chehalis resident for frequenting a tavern, obstructing and resisting arrest. Edu A. Leal was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Centralia Police Department. Just after closing time, a 45-year-old Chehalis man – Rafael M. Pantoja – was arrested for resisting and obstructing, according to police.
HARASSMENT ARREST
• A 25-year-old Centralia man was arrested for felony harassment domestic violence about 7:50 p. m. on Friday after officers responded to the 500 block of West Center Street in Centralia. Martin T. Johnson was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Centralia Police Department.
VEHICLE PROWL
• Police were called about 9 a.m. yesterday about a car prowl on the 1100 block of South Pearl Street in Centralia. Taken were an amplifier and a stereo face plate, according to police.
VANDALISM
• Police were called about 7:30 p.m. on Friday to West Reynolds Avenue where someone used a large rock to smash out the window to a vehicle, according to the Centralia Police Department.
GROOM’S MOTHER LEAVES FIRE STATION WEDDING IN TURNOUT GEAR
• The wedding of two volunteer firefighters being held at the Salkum fire station was interrupted yesterday when a wildfire broke out in the midst of 250-acres of timber at a private camping area off Spencer Road. The cake had been cut when the tone went out and the bride and groom stayed behind, but among the five firefighters who responded was the mother of the groom, Lewis County Fire District 8 Chief Duran McDaniel said. About 20 individuals from District 8, Lewis County Fire District 2 and the state Department of Natural Resources extinguished the blaze and contained it to one acre, McDaniel said. It happened in the Timber Trails Association property, along a trail used for riding all terrain vehicles, he said. The cause is under investigation.
VACANT MOBILE HOME BURNS
• A double-wide mobile home was destroyed when fire broke out yesterday morning at the 2200 block of Salsbury Avenue south of Chehalis. Lewis County Fire Districts 6, 5 and the Chehalis Fire Department responding to the approximately 5 a.m. call found flames coming out the roof of the unoccupied home, according to responders. District 6 Fire Chief Tim Kinder stated in a news release it appeared to have begun on the exterior of the roof and spread from there. Firefighters had to pull down most of the ceiling to get at the flames in the insulation, spending more than three hours at the scene, Firefighter-EMT Greg Folewell said. The cause is under investigation.
WEYERHAEUSER LAND BURNING NEAR BOISTFORT
• The wild land fire on Baw Faw Peak in the Boistfort area that began on Friday is still burning and consumed as much as 15 to 20 acres on a very steep, rocky hillside by yesterday, according to Lewis County Fire District 13 Chief Gregg Peterson. The chief went out there yesterday afternoon where firefighters from the state Department of Natural Resources and from Weyerhaeuser were working to put it out. “What they ended up doing was back burning up to the edges,” Gregg Peterson said. The terrain was too dangerous to put people on the hillside, he said. The fire is on land clear cut some time ago, according to Peterson. The cause is unknown, he said.
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CORRECTION: A news item above has been corrected to reflect that Rafael M. Pantoja was released after his arrest and not booked into jail.
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