Lewis County Sirens.com

Lewis County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Stacy Brown is resigning to take a new job.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office’s chief civil deputy is moving up, taking a position as chief of police services at Evergreen State College.

Chief Deputy Stacy Brown came to the sheriff’s office just over 20 years ago, working as a patrol deputy, a detective for five years with a specialty in sex crimes and child abuse, a sergeant overseeing the detective division and more.

Since 2009, Brown has been responsible for the special services bureau, and is part of the sheriff’s command staff.

Next, Brown will lead a department with nine commissioned law enforcement officers at Evergreen, a 1,000-acre campus in Olympia with more than 4,000 students.

The announcement was made yesterday. Her last day is Sept. 12.

“It is bittersweet, I will miss everyone here so much,” Brown said. “Lewis County feels like a second home.”

Brown, who resides in Thurston County, said she’s looking forward to working with a great new team.

She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree at Evergreen in 2006, while working full time, so she already has an idea of what the culture is like, she said.

Police Services at Evergreen has its own dispatch center and Brown will also oversee campus parking services, with several employees.

Lewis County Sheriff Rob Snaza asked his employees yesterday to join him in congratulating Brown and thanking her for her dedicated service.

“Chief Brown has done an excellent job in a myriad of positions during her tenure with our office, and has led our special services bureau with pride, professionalism, and dedication,” Snaza stated in an email message.

The departure of the top-ranking female deputy leaves the sheriff’s office with no female deputies. Until Deputy Sue Shannon left last year after more than 20 years as a patrol deputy, the two women were the only commissioned law enforcement officers in the organization.

The now-46-year-old started her career in public safety as a dispatcher for the Washington State Patrol. She hired on at the sheriff’s office in May 1996 and has worked for three sheriffs.

In her current position, which she is leaving behind, she has
a wide range of duties, conducted along the 13 staff members she supervises.

The special services bureau includes the sheriff’s office’s records division, the property and evidence division and the civil division.

“We’re responsible for all the evictions in the county and all the civil processes,” Brown said. “Like writs of execution, when someone owes money and someone can go after real or personal property.”

Brown and her people do the work involved in satisfying court judgements, whether trying to obtain a child to return to the rightful parent, or seizing property and holding sheriff’s auctions. They also process gun permits and handle fingerprinting.

Perhaps her best-recognized role has been public information officer for the past nine years, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office.

Brown said today she had thought she would retire from the sheriff’s office, but she’s very excited about the next step in her career.

“I just hope people understand how grateful I am to have had the opportunity to serve the community, from the bottom of my heart,” she said.

Helen Morgan at her father Jake Morgan’s bedside. / Courtesy photo

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Lewis County officials went silent about the spooked carriage horse that took off running down the midway at the Southwest Washington Fair, injuring five people.

The designated spokesperson about the incident talked with news organizations the day it occurred, offering sparse details.

By early this week, the spokesperson, Lewis County Risk Manager Paulette Young, said nothing more would be said.

“We’re not providing any more information on that, we are no commenting,” Young said Tuesday.

The day before, the three-member Lewis County Board of Commissioners issued a formal statement:

“Because of potential litigation that could arise in the future, and upon advice of counsel, Lewis County will not be making any further comments on this matter,” they wrote. “Our thoughts and well wishes continue to be with those affected by this incident.”

It happened about 2:30 p.m. a week ago Friday.

Young on that afternoon said she knew only that five people were hurt and four of them were hospitalized, after a vendor’s horse with buggy ran through the fairgrounds.

The chief of the fire department whose jurisdiction includes the fairgrounds in between the cities of Centralia and Chehalis said he didn’t know much more. Riverside Fire Authority Chief Mike Kytta referred questions to Young.

We don’t have a whole lot,” Kytta said earlier this week. “With our fairground crew there, we had the whole thing turned around in 18 minutes.”

Kytta said four individuals were put into AMR ambulances and transported to Providence Centralia Hospital. The fifth person went there in a private vehicle, he said.

Although ordinarily Riverside Fire Authority records and shares such basics as the age and sex of accident victims, Kytta said he did not have that information.

“Now we know, from the news, a father and daughter were flown to Harborview with head injuries,” he said earlier this week.

Jake Morgan of Toledo and his daughter Helen were airlifted to the Seattle trauma center. A GoFundMe page posted the following day included words from the mother, Emily Owen, who said they expected a long healing road ahead.

“They have been overwhelmed with prayers and wishes,” the statement read. “Due to the severity of Jake and Helen’s injuries Emily won’t be able to go back to work immediately.

“If you feel moved please join me in donating what you can to offset their cost of living during their stay here in Seattle, and in the time home.”

Now, fellow Toledo resident Brandie Devine is busy organizing assistance for the family.

A benefit spaghetti dinner and auction is planned for Sept. 30 at Toledo High School. It will run from 4 p.m. until 10 p.m.

“Emily will move from primary provider to caregiver,” Devine wrote. “As this family heals, let’s do what we can as a community to ‘make life a little easier’. ”

The cost is $5 per child and $7 for adults.

To donate auction items, Devine can be reached at 360-880-7331

To donate food or supplies for the spaghetti feed, please contact Catrina Mathis at 360-703-1716 or Cara Buswell at 206-303-9472 or 360-864-4291.

Also, Devine notes that in the meantime for anyone who would like to contribute money to help family members with fuel costs for their trips to and from the hospital, an account is set up at the Toledo Flying K Gas Mart.
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For background, read “Chehalis: Spooked horse injures several fairgoers” from Friday August 19, 2016, here

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Washington State Department of Transportation issued a formal statement yesterday, the day after a settlement of $18.5 million was approved for a Rochester motorcyclist severely injured last year when he collided with a dump truck working on the Interstate 5 construction project in Centralia.

“This was a tragic and serious incident for Mr. Bliss and our thoughts remain with him, ” the state agency wrote. “Safety is a top priority for WSDOT and we work diligently with our contractors to reduce the risk of roadway incidents.”

Scott R. Bliss was 44 years old when the early morning wreck occurred on April 17, 2015 at the northbound Harrison Avenue entrance to Interstate 5. A Mac truck was turning on to the ramp from an adjacent area and Bliss was entering the freeway when Bliss’s motorcycle struck its trailer, leaving him with a brain injury.

Bliss just finally returned home about a month ago from a rehabilitation center.

The settlement is the largest amount paid to a single person in a Lewis County Superior Court case, as far as Bliss’s attorneys could find.

The lawsuit filed on his behalf named Washington state, the state Department of Transportation’s contractor Scarsella Brothers Inc. and the driver, Wesley G. Snelson, from Galvin.

The judge’s approval came on the same day local and state officials met for a ceremonial ribbon cutting to celebrate the nine year highway construction project coming to a close.

The $322 million project encompassed an 18-mile stretch, adding and modifying interchanges, adding lanes and building new connections that parallel the freeway to carry local traffic, among other improvements.

The $18.5 million in settlement money will be put in a trust for Bliss.

Most of it, $13.5 million, is being paid through Scarsella’s private insurance, according to a WSDOT spokesperson.

The other $5 million comes from a liability insurance policy required under the construction contract paid for by Scarsella but taken out in WSDOT’s name, according to Lars Erickson, communications director for the state agency.

The Interstate 5 work, which began in 2007, was done between Maytown and Napavine.

“This work will help drive down collisions and improve travel times on this portion of the West Coast’s busiest highway,” WSDOT Assistant Regional Administrator Bart Gernhart stated in a news release. “By partnering with local community members, we incorporated their vision of a safer and more efficient I-5 corridor that will have lasting benefits for all travelers.”

The most visible difference are the connectors between the Mellen Street and Harrison Avenue interchanges, meant to improve safety by reducing merge weaving and preventing backups onto the interstate.

Drivers should expect occasional nighttime single-lane closures during the next few weeks as WSDOT’s contractor, Scarsella Brothers, Inc., finishes guardrail installation and striping work, according to WSDOT spokesperson Bart Treece.

Additional roadside landscaping and erosion control work will be completed during the fall and winter months.
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For background, read “Multi-million settlement reached for motorcyclist’s injuries at I-5 onramp during construction” from Wednesday August 24, 2016, here