Lewis County Sirens.com

OH MY

• A police pursuit that began near Alder Street and Long Road in Centralia overnight reached speeds of about 60 mph and ended when the driver continued east on Cherry Street beyond where the street ends for the railroad tracks, according to police. “He apparently didn’t know that, he hit the brakes and slid past the barricade and came to stop on the east side of the tracks,” Officer John Panco said. “Then he took off running.” The reason for the attempted stop was the officer observed the 1997 Toyota Tercel driving erratically, according to the Centralia Police Department. A police dog came out to try to track the driver, but it wasn’t until someone called 911 to say there was a person on their roof that the driver was found, Panco said. Officers took Justus R. Crofton into custody at the 600 block of South Gold Street, he said. The 20-year-old Centralia resident was arrested for eluding and booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Centralia Police Department. Panco said he didn’t offer an explanation for why he fled.

BURGLARY AT MOTEL

• Centralia police were called about noon yesterday to the 1200 block of Alder Street after a motel room was broken into. Officers learned two males kicked in the door and stole jewelry and clothing and got suspect names from witnesses, according to the Centralia Police Department. The case is under investigation, police said.

NIGHTTIME DEMOLITION

• Centralia police arrested a 48-year-old Chehalis resident after he was caught allegedly taking metal roofing from an abandoned house on the 1200 block of Brotherson Road last night. A police dog from Chehalis was called in about 9:45 p.m. and helped motivate another person to come out of a building in the same area at the same time, according to police. Kelly J. Teshara was arrested for misdemeanor theft and trespassing and then released, according to the Centralia Police Department.

BOAT SPIRITED AWAY

• A deputy took a report yesterday from the Cascade Peaks RV Park on the 11,000 block of U.S. Highway 12 in Randle that a 10-foot long white boat was missing. The victim, a 76-year-old Randle resident, said it was taken some time since April 9, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The loss is estimated at $800.

FRAUD

• A 19-year-old Chehalis area woman called the sheriff’s office yesterday to report she discovered $412 worth of fraudulent transactions on her Twinstar Credit Union checking account. The seven charges originated in Portland, and there is no information as to how the account was compromised, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

WRECK

• A 49-year-old driver ended up with just a bloody lip and a scratch when his steering malfunctioned and he left the roadway struck a fence, crossed a yard and hit a ditch yesterday evening. A deputy responding to Skyhawk Drive north of Toledo after the approximately 6 o’clock wreck learned the Randle man had been traveling north along the 5100 block of Jackson Highway, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. He was cited for defective steering, according to the sheriff’s office.

TRAIN WRECK SURVIVORS ARRESTED

• Genaveve R. Webb, 40, and Gary L. Bafford, 54, both of Chehalis, were treated and then released from Providence Centralia Hospital after their run in with a passenger train yesterday afternoon on Summa Street in Centralia. Police say Webb drove around a crossing arm after a freight train passed by but then lost much of the front end of her Datsun pickup to an Amtrak headed the other direction. The truck was tossed onto a signal pole, landing on its side, according to witnesses. Webb was arrested for reckless endangerment, according to the Centralia Police Department. Bafford, who left the scene, was arrested shortly after the wreck a few blocks away for outstanding warrants, police said. One was a local misdemeanor warrant and the other and out-of-county felony warrant, Centralia Police Department Officer Patricia Finch said. He was booked into the Lewis County Jail. Police and firefighters described their injuries as minor.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for driving under the influence, misdemeanor assault, responses for alarm, suspicious circumstances, broken windows at a retreat center, shoplift of a pregnancy test kit and other misdemeanor theft … and more.

Updated at 3:20 p.m.

BUS DRAMA: PART II

• A missing wallet which last week sparked a one-man melee on a Twin Transit bus apparently hasn’t turned up but a fellow passenger was arrested over the weekend for second-degree theft in connection with its disappearance. Chehalis police arrested a 23-year-old rider after he allegedly punched a woman in the stomach and spit on another passenger before breaking a bus window with his head last Thursday. Police said Travis P. Bullard had been kicked off a bus and then boarded it again at the stop near Wal-Mart, but didn’t offer a reason for his anger, other than he may have been under the influence of something. Today however, a department spokespersons said an officer reviewing security video over the weekend spotted a 60-year-old man take Bullard’s seat and put a wallet in his pocket, before changing seats. Herbert M. St. Ours, from Chehalis, was interviewed on Saturday and said he didn’t pick up the wallet, according to the Chehalis Police Department. He was then arrested, but prosecutors are not filing charges pending further investigation.

THEFT PE ELL

• A deputy was called to Pe Ell yesterday where a 51-year-old woman reported the theft of numerous items from outside a home such as a riding lawn mower, a grass eater and a portable outdoor fireplace. Also among the stolen from the 600 block of East Pe Ell Avenue were a Dell laptop computer and a half tank of fuel from a locked vehicle, according to the sheriff’s office. The victim said it happened sometime during the previous week or two, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said.

THEFT GLENOMA

• A 19-year-old Glenoma woman reported her Sig Sauer pistol and its case were stolen from her home on the 200 block of Sand Creek Lane when someone entered the locked house through an open bedroom window. A deputy called to the home on Friday was told the break-in occurred sometime between 7:15 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. that day, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. An iPad was missing too but other valuables were left untouched, the sheriff’s office said.

THEFT MORTON

• Someone got inside a woman’s camper parked outside a woman’s trailer on the 100 block of Chapman Road near Morton and stole a ruby ring, 20 ceramic figurines, other jewelry and a black leather bag of tools sometime between 3:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Friday, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The loss is estimated at almost $800, according to the sheriff’s office.

THEFT CENTRALIA

• Centralia police responded about 3:15 p.m. yesterday to the 900 block of South Tower Avenue regarding the theft of a red and blue sand rail – an off-road four-wheeler – and two bicycles sometime since Thursday.

TRESPASSING LEADS TO ARREST

• An 18-year-old Centralia resident was arrested last night because he allegedly went inside a vacant residence on the 700 block of North Pearl Avenue. Police say Brandon R. Goodell broke a window to get in. He was booked into the Lewis County Jail for second-degree burglary, according to the Centralia Police Department.

CAR PROWL

• Morton police report they responded to two vehicle prowls last Monday, one on the 300 block of Division Avenue where a window was smashed out and a purse taken and the other on the 100 block of Third Street in which a stereo was removed from an unlocked vehicle as well as about $20 worth of gas.

FIRE CAUSES ESTIMATED $75,000 WORTH DAMAGE

• A fire in Grand Mound over the weekend that destroyed a resident’s large outbuilding and virtually all of the contents stored inside was sparked  by a blow torch being used to burn off weeds from the property’s perimeter. Firefighters from four departments responded about 3:45 p.m. to the blaze at the corner of Old Highway 99 and Southwest Loganberry Street and knocked it down probably within the first five minutes, but remained on the scene about four more hours, according to West Thurston Regional Fire Authority. Lt. Rob Smith said the wood structure was big enough to house the resident’s recreational vehicle, but the RV was fortunately elsewhere at the time. However, an estimated $35,000 worth of belongings inside were destroyed, Smith said. “The building, probably close to $40,000,” Smith said. “The good news is, no injuries to anybody.” The man had a garden hose, but wasn’t quick enough with it to put out the initial fire, he said.

WRECK

• The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office says a 47-year-old driver escaped any injury when he missed a curve and slammed into a large fir tree on the 500 block of Burnt Ridge Road in Onalaska on Saturday evening. The 200 Chevrolet S10 pickup was totaled, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said. The man reportedly had been reaching to untangle his dog leash from something on the floorboard, according to Brown. He was issued a citation for wheels off the roadway, she said. The police report doesn’t indicate if any dog was injured in the wreck.

NOT A WRECK

• An 18-year-old driver and his three teenage passengers were all arrested for drinking alcohol following a traffic stop about 2 a.m. on Saturday in Winlock, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Marcelino Castillo-Barrow, of Chehalis, was arrested for driving under the influence and booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the sheriff’s office. Toledo and Winlock police were at the scene as well at West Walnut Street and Northwest Arden Avenue arresting the others, ages 16 through 19, for minor in possession of alcohol, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, underage drinking, disorderly conduct, driving under the influence, driving with suspended license, misdemeanor assault; responses for alarm, disputes, shoplifting, collision on city street, parking lot fender benders, receipt of possible phony $20 bill, woman asking for help with detoxing from alcohol, dogs left alone in parked vehicle and children left alone in parked vehicle (both Wal-Mart); complaints of eggs thrown at a window, someone using weed eater by someone else’s vehicles, male talking to someone else’s children in a store, a pair of homeless looking people asking for handouts at a fast food drive through … and more.

BRUSH FIRES SPRING UP

• Firefighters were called to numerous grass and brush fires in Napavine yesterday afternoon, along Interstate 5 and also about a mile north of Sommerville Road along the railroad tracks. Lewis County Fire District 5 Chief Gregg Peterson said the first call came at 2:22 p.m. and the others during the following 25 minutes or so. They had to get train traffic shut down because firefighters had to cross the tracks, Peterson said. Crews from Winlock assisted. The causes are unknown, he said.

THEFT OF TOOLS

• Centralia police were called to the 700 block of West First Street about 1:40 p.m. yesterday regarding an overnight burglary to a trailer in which numerous construction tools were stolen. The investigation is ongoing, according to the Centralia Police Department.

BOY ON BIKE HIT

• Centralia police said yesterday an officer was called to the 600 block of H Street about 8:15 a.m. on Friday where an 8-year-old boy had told the school nurse he was hit by a car while riding his bike to school. Further details were no readily available about his injuries.

POLICE: DRIVER NUDGES PATROL CAR, GETS DUI

• A 42-year-old woman was arrested for driving under the influence just after 1 o’clock this morning after she reportedly backed into a police car which was traveling down the 100 block of South Tower Avenue. There was minor damage to Rhonda J. Baxter’s vehicle and none to the police car but the Centralia woman was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Centralia Police Department. No injuries were involved, according to police. A somewhat similar incident occurred last weekend, when a Toledo man was pulled over on North National Avenue and didn’t realize his car was in reverse and backed into the police car.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, driving under the influence, driving with suspended license; responses for collisions on city streets … and more.