By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
Tickets for the Tenino Fire Department’s annual crab feed are on sale now.
The fundraising event will be held on March 5, from 4 p.m. until 7 p.m., according to Tina Vanderhoof, administrative chief for Thurston County Fire District 12.
The price is $35. Tickets can be purchased at the station at 187 Hodgden St. in Tenino.
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AUTO THEFT
• Chehalis police were called at 2 p.m. yesterday after the discovery a Chevrolet pickup truck was missing from the 600 block of South Market Boulevard. An officer recalled having seen the truck elsewhere in town and the owner went and picked it up from Southeast Prospect Street, according to the Chehalis Police Department.
MISSING MUSICAL INSTRUMENT
• Centralia police were called just before 2 o’clock yesterday afternoon regarding the theft of a guitar and a laptop computer from the 300 block of South Street sometime in the previous several days.
ON THE ROAD, OFF THE ROAD
• Nobody was injured but both lanes of northbound Interstate 5 were blocked when a box truck overturned yesterday afternoon about 3 p.m. near the Harrison Avenue exit in Centralia, according to the Washington State Patrol.
AND MORE
• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, shoplifting, driving with suspended license; responses for alarm, dispute, disorderly person, possibly suicidal person, collision on city street, dog pooping in grass where children play … and more.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – The Lewis County Jail could see increased revenue of approximately $440,000 annually under a new agreement to house prisoners from Mason County.
The facility in Chehalis operated by the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office has long provided bed space for other local law enforcement agencies. It currently has contracts also with Thurston County, the city of Olympia and the state Department of Corrections.
The agreement provides for 20 to 25 inmates from the Mason County Sheriff’s Office at any given time, at a rate of $60.38 per day. It was finalized on Monday when the Lewis County Board of Commissioners signed off on it.
The Lewis County Jail, expanded in 2005, is constructed to hold as many as 356 inmates, according to Jail Administrator Kevin Hanson. However, it’s currently funded for staffing to manage no more than 240 inmates.
The one-year contract with Mason County contains a provision for annual renewal upon agreement of both parties.
The city of Centralia earlier this month decided to use the jail in Yakima for some of its prisoners, deciding to send them individuals who are sentenced to more than two weeks.
Centralia Police Chief Carl Nielsen told the city council he could save about $10,000 a year, given an increase in the fee charged by the Lewis County Jail.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – A former candidate for Lewis County sheriff is contending a back room deal between the sheriff’s office and a local news reporter where assistance in obtaining a new job was given in exchange for news coverage that reflected badly upon him during his run for public office.
Brian Green claims the county concealed public records that showed evidence of a political pay off to Stephanie Schendel.
Schendel was a crime reporter at The Chronicle during the 2014 campaign. She was subsequently hired as a police officer by the city of Bellevue, with help from a formal recommendation from the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office, according to Green.
Green, an Onalaska resident who ran as an Independent, received less than 23 percent of the vote in the November 2014 election. Former Deputy Sgt. Rob Snaza got 77 percent and replaced outgoing Sheriff Steve Mansfield.
Green’s allegations come in a lawsuit he filed alleging a violation of the state public records act by Lewis County.
Eric Eisenberg, one of two Lewis County attorneys who submitted the response to the lawsuit, says there was no deal to get Schendel to write anything about Green.
“No, of course not,” Eisenberg said. “The county doesn’t do business that way.”
It was an honest mistake in which the sheriff’s office didn’t realize until Green sued, that he wanted other records beyond just the copy of the job recommendation, he said.
The suit was filed Nov. 17 in Thurston County Superior Court. The details of Green’s suspicions of a “politically motivated quid pro quo” are presented in a motion he filed earlier this month, in which he asks a judge to find in his favor, claiming there are now no disputed material facts.
Green writes in his court documents that after Schendel “orchestrated a series of prejudicial media hit pieces” that were “instrumental in ensuring” his campaign would be unsuccessful, he was surprised to learn she obtained a job as a police officer.
So he set out to determine if her career change from a small town newspaper reporter to a big city law enforcement officer was related, he wrote.
According to the allegations which Eisenberg does not dispute, Green made a records request on November 19, 2014 asking the sheriff’s office for any and all official correspondence endorsing, advocating, commending, recommending or otherwise recognizing Schendel.
And on the same day, Chief Deputy Stacy Brown responded, asking for clarification, Green replied back and Brown partially fulfilled the request by sending Green a copy of a letter of recommendation she had written for Schendel.
Green subsequently discovered in records he obtained from the city of Bellevue there were documents Brown had failed to produce, in the form of email correspondence between the two agencies as well as a questionnaire seeking Brown’s input for the police department’s background investigation in early August 2014.
In Lewis County’s answer to the lawsuit, a declaration from Brown states it never occurred to her the questionnaire might be a document falling within the phrasing Green used in making his request, and she hadn’t even recalled it existed.
Brown indicated to the Bellevue investigator she believed Schendel would make an excellent police officer and an outstanding addition to the Bellevue Police Department.
She noted that no one else from the media in the previous 18 years had been able to build such a positive relationship with the sheriff’s office as Schendel.
Brown wrote about how hard Schendel worked to prepare herself physically and mentally to become a police officer, having talked about wanting to be a police officer for over a year.
Green contends the materials Brown withheld are the smoking gun evidence of a payoff to Schendel.
He is asking the court to award him costs, attorney fees and penalties.
Eisenberg acknowledges Lewis County violated the public records act, but says the non-compliance was a good-faith mistake. And, as soon as the county learned there were other records he had wanted, it provided them to Green, he said.
He acknowledges Green is entitled to an award in the amount of costs he incurred, for his $240 court filing fee.
The next question is the penalty, according to Eisenberg, which the county is arguing against having to pay.
The public records act provides for, at the discretion of the court, an award to the requestor of up to $100 per day for each day a record was withheld.
A hearing is scheduled in April for each side to present evidence on its view of the case.
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AUTO THEFT
• Centralia police were contacted just after 9 a.m. yesterday for a car abandoned on the 1500 block of Windsor Avenue. It turned out to have been stolen, according to the Centralia Police Department.
FRAUD
• Centralia police were called yesterday afternoon by an individual from the 1200 block of Borthwick Street who reported they were contacted regarding an order for a cell phone which they had never ordered.
ON THE ROAD, OFF THE ROAD
• A school bus was one of two vehicles involved in a collision at Johnson Road and Borst Avenue in Centralia just before 2:55 p.m. yesterday, according to the Centralia Police Department. There were no injuries and there were no children on the bus, according to police.
• A 21-year-old Centralia resident was arrested for driving under the influence as well as hit and run overnight following an approximately 1:30 a.m. incident at Maple Street and Tower Avenue, according to the Centralia Police Department. Ricky L. Blay Jr. was booked into the Lewis County Jail, also for driving with a suspended license, according to police.
• A 37-year-old motorist said a deer jumped out in front of him, causing his truck to leave the roadway, strike an embankment and roll onto its side last night outside of Chehalis. Deputies called at 9:15 p.m. to the 400 block of Berry Road noted William R. Town suffered bumps, scrapes and rib pain, but that he indicated he would have a friend take him to the hospital, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Chief Deputy Stacy Brown said he had a passenger, who she believed was uninjured. Town was issued a citation for driving without a required interlock device, Brown said.
AND MORE
• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, shoplifting, misdemeanor assault, no-contact order violation; responses for alarm, dispute, harassment, disorderly person, misdemeanor theft, misdemeanor assault, suspicious circumstances, collision on city street, collision on state highway, collision on Interstate 5 … and more.
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FELONY ASSAULT CHEHALIS
• Chehalis police were called just before 8 p.m. yesterday to an assault at the 200 block of Northwest Chehalis Avenue. An investigation is ongoing, according to the Chehalis Police Department.
BREAKING AND ENTERING
• Centralia police were called just before 2 p.m. yesterday to the 700 block of K Street where an individual returned home to find their front door open and their place ransacked. The victim was not yet sure anything is actually missing, according to the Centralia Police Department.
• The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office this morning reported someone broke a door jamb at a vacation cabin on the 100 block of Timber Trail Lane in Packwood sometime during the past week. It was not readily apparent if anything was stolen, according to the sheriff’s office.
CHAINSAW RECOVERED
• A detective yesterday arrested a 25-year-old man at Labor Ready in Centralia after an investigation that turned up a chainsaw stolen from the 300 block of Fawn Hill Drive outside Chehalis two weeks ago and then recovered at a pawn shop in White Center. Joel L. Kaech was arrested and booked into the Lewis County Jail for first-degree burglary, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Chief Deputy Stacy Brown said the detective had conducted an online search for the stolen property and discovered a pawn slip in which the suspect listed an address on the same street as the victim. Prosecutors declined to file criminal charges today.
NOT BURGLARY
• Chehalis police were called just before noon yesterday to the 1500 block of Southwest Thomsen Avenue where someone said two people had parked a truck and just busted through the back door of a vacant house. An officer contacted the couple and learned they were doing work for the bank-owner, according to the Chehalis Police Department.
CARPORT PROWLED
• Police were called yesterday morning to the 300 block of South Street in Centralia where someone had stolen a chop saw from a carport sometime during the previous week.
DRIVE-BY THEFT
• A contractor working in the area of Bridge Street and Harrison Avenue called police just before 1 p.m. yesterday after a passing motorist stopped, grabbed his tool bag, threw it in the back of his truck and drove off. The bag contained a transmitter-locator, according to the Centralia Police Department. The victim told police the bluish/purple Dodge Ram 2500 had stopped in the road to steal the item, and then continued eastbound.
DISORDERLY PERSON
• A 51-year-old man described by police as transient was arrested yesterday evening for allegedly causing a disturbance when he was getting discharged. from the emergency room at Providence Centralia Hospital. Officers called about 6:30 p.m. to the 900 block of South Scheuber Road booked Jeffrey J Hanby into the Lewis County Jail for interfering with a health care facility, according to the Centralia Police Department.
AND MORE
• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, protection order violation, driving under the influence, driving with suspended license; responses for dispute, misdemeanor theft, suspicious circumstances, collision on city street … and more.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – Lewis County sheriff’s deputies are getting a pay raise of 2.5 percent each year over the next three years under a new contract approved yesterday.
The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office and the Lewis County Deputies Guild negotiated a collective bargaining agreement that covers Jan. 1, 2016 through Dec. 31, 2018.
The change means that this year, a first-year deputy earns a base pay of $4,399 per month and deputies with seven or more years on the job earn $5,418 per month with others falling in between, according to Lewis County Human Resource Director Archie Smith. Detectives and sergeants earn more.
The contract provides for specialty incentive pay for assignments such as SWAT and K-9.
The Lewis County Board of Commissioners approved the agreement at its regular meeting yesterday morning.
Thirty commissioned law enforcement officers who work as deputies, detectives and deputy sergeants are part of the group that comprises the field operations bureau.
According to a summary describing the contract, the employees’ health and welfare benefits were unchanged and no management rights were reduced.
Other issues that were addressed during negotiations were: training reimbursement for new employees, clarification of take-home vehicles, creation of a lateral transfer for the operations group, clarification on scope of recognition and use of reserve deputies to perform minimal work.
Undersheriff Wes Rethwill said appointed personnel, such as himself and deputy chiefs, but not Sheriff Rob Snaza, will receive the same raise.
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