MOTORIST DISCOVERED IN CREEK AFTER FLEEING TRAFFIC STOP
• A Longview man with an outstanding warrant was found hiding in China Creek in Centralia this morning after a traffic stop in which he reportedly gave an officer a false name and then ran away. The approximately 6:30 a.m. incident happened near West Cherry and Yew streets. Richard J. Gaskill, 27, was located quickly and booked into the Lewis County Jail for the warrant, driving with a suspended license and other offenses such as obstruction, according to the Centralia Police Department.
THEFT OF POOP
• Chehalis police were called Sunday about an incident on Northwest St. Helens Avenue where a woman said somebody came into her yard overnight and took her rabbit’s droppings.
BURGLARY IN CENTRALIA
• Centralia police were called about 9 p.m. yesterday to a residential burglary on the 600 block of South Washington Avenue where “several electronics” were missing. Police said entry was made through an unsecured door.
GUNS MISSING AFTER BREAK-IN
• The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office says it has a “person of interest” in a Centralia area burglary in which somebody forced open a gun safe and stole several firearms. A couple who live on the 2000 block of Van Wormer Street returned home about 10 p.m. last Thursday to find roughly $2,800 of valuables missing, including the guns, some jewelry and a bottle of Oxycontin, according to the sheriff’s office.
FOOD, COOKWARE AMONG ITEMS STOLEN FROM CABIN
• Somebody burglarized a Mineral area weekend cabin and shop taking canned meat, a crock pot, a tool box a battery charger and other items, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. A deputy was called Saturday morning to the 100 block of Round Top Road to take a report from the Tacoma resident.
CASH STOLEN FROM CHRISTMAS TREE BUSINESS
• Somebody stole more than $1,300 cash from a Silver Creek Christmas tree business when they broke into a building on the 300 block of Gershick Road, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The burglary occurred between midnight and 1 a.m. on Thursday, according to Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown. Money was taken from a tip jar, a kitchen drawer and a cash register, Brown said.
BURGLAR TAKES NOTHING
• Police were called to an unoccupied house on the 200 block of North Buckner Street about 10 a.m. on Saturday where somebody forced their way inside, but nothing appeared to be stolen, according to the Centralia Police Department.
CAR PROWLS
• Two individuals were arrested for vehicle prowl after they were seen trying to open a car door in an apartment parking lot at the 1400 block of Johnson Road in Centralia about 2 a.m. on Saturday. Michael A. Gonzalez-Fox, 19, of Lacey, and Mykl C. Teeter, 18, of Olympia, were arrested according to Centralia police.
• Chehalis police were called just before noon on Friday to a report of a vehicle prowl on Northeast Cascade Avenue that had occurred overnight.
COUNTY SHOP BURGLARIZED
• Somebody cut a hole in a chain link fence at the Lewis County Central Shop compound on the 100 block of Forest-Napavine Road East and made off with a five-gallon propane tank, according to the sheriff’s office. It happened sometime between 7 p.m. on Wednesday and 9 o’clock the following morning, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown reported.
CRASHES
• Aid was called about 10:30 a.m. on Sunday to a single-vehicle rollover accident on Highway 603 near Peterson Road outside Chehalis. The three occupants were all apparently uninjured, according to Lewis County Fire District 6.
• A motorist was hospitalized after her car struck a golf cart on Interstate 5 in Chehalis on Saturday. Aid was called about 7:15 a.m. to the southbound lanes south of the Main Street interchange. The 58-year-old Federal Way woman’s 2001 Saturn sustained front end damage, according to the Washington State Patrol. The driver, Vanessa Hardin, was transported to Providence Centralia Hospital with head, neck and wrist pain, according to responders.
• A Toledo man was arrested for driving under the influence after a rollover collision late on Friday night on the 800 block of Spencer Road outside Toledo. George M. Catlin, 53, was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.
WATCH OUT FOR THOSE TREES
• Motorists are being advised one lane of southbound Interstate 5 near the Tootle River Rest Area will be closed parts of this week while workers cut down large fir trees on the west side of the freeway. Heavy rain followed by strong winds last Monday night caused several trees to fall onto the roadway in that area, near milepost 55 just south of the Lewis-Cowlitz county line. Crews will be removing at-risk trees there on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. this week, according to the state Department of Transportation.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter