ALLEGED MISCONDUCT BY PE ELL SCHOOL COACH LEADS TO ARREST
• A now-former softball coach at Pe Ell High School has been arrested for alleged sexual contact with a 16-year-old player on the girl’s team. Todd D. Phelps, 52, was arrested on Tuesday and charged in Lewis County District Court with second-degree sexual misconduct with a minor, according to authorities. He pleaded not guilty yesterday. The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office said Phelps befriended the teenager and a relationship began outside of softball practices and games. Detectives investigated two incidents – one in April and another in July occurring in separate homes in Pe Ell – that were only recently reported, according to the sheriff’s office. Phelps had been employed as an assistant coach for two years when he resigned at the end of April, school district superintendent Kyle MacDonald said today. The resignation came because of a violation of district staff and student “boundary” policies prohibiting certain social contact with students, according to MacDonald. The sheriff’s office indicated in a news release the second incident was more serious than the other.
THEFT
• Centralia police were called yesterday morning to an apparent burglary to a business on the 3100 block of Galvin Road. Someone broke a window on a door inside American Home and Heating, according to police. Nothing appeared to be missing.
• The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reported this morning someone broke through a back door at a home on the 100 block of Big Hanaford Road outside Centralia and stole numerous items including a video camera, medication, a checkbook and $200 cash. It was reported on Tuesday.
• The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reported this morning they are investigating the theft of a generator and a Shop Vac from a back porch on the 300 block of Logan Hill Road in Chehalis. It was reported to them on Tuesday.
• Someone burglarized a construction trailer on the 300 block of South Military Road in Winlock and stole more than $4,000 worth of tools and equipment including five 100-foot heavy-gauge extension cords, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The break-in occurred between October 12 and Monday, according to the sheriff’s office.
• Centralia police took a report of an overnight car prowl on the 1200 block of G Street in which a television and a Playstation were stolen, according to a report made to police on Tuesday.
DEER HUNTER FOUND AFTER NIGHT IN THE WOODS
• The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reported on Monday a 90-year-old Onalaska man was hungry but otherwise well after being stuck overnight alone while deer hunting outside Randle. The hunter had left Saturday morning and had not returned the following day, according to sheriff’s office. His vehicle got stuck off Forest Road 22 and he ended up sleeping in his truck, but was helped out by individuals he had radio contact with, according to Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
Wow, still hunting at 90 years old?! You’d think at that age he might need someone to go with him. I can’t imagine he could haul his kill by himself, but I could be wrong.