Chehalis parking tickets out of step with Washington courts

September 15th, 2015

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The city of Chehalis discovered it’s been assessing a delinquent penalty after only 72 hours on parking tickets even though a state court rule say cities must allow recipients a 15 day grace period.

The fee for not responding timely to a parking infraction is $25.

Chehalis Municipal Court Administrator Becky Fox said a review in July of legislative changes and the city’s ordinance is what brought it to her attention.

Fox said since learning the city was out of compliance, they have not charged people the delinquent fee until the appropriate amount of time has passed.

The issue was brought before the city council last night, which voted to revise its ordinance to bring it into line with what is required. Fox said they have an approved and updated form now, ready to use.

A standard parking ticket is $5, according to Fox. Certain types are more, she said.

The Washington State Court Rules Infraction Rules for Courts of Limited Jurisdiction provide that a person served with a notice of infraction must respond within 15 days of the date the notice is personally served or, if the notice is served by mail, then within 18 days of the date the notice is mailed.

Fox said she doesn’t know how much the city has collected from those who were penalized even though they responded within 15 days. She said she’s not certain how long the city has been out of compliance.

There are no plans to reimburse anyone.

The city contends its local ordinance trumped state court rules and there was nothing incorrect or illegal about the way it imposed charges or penalties.

The memo to the city council about the issue, from Fox and Police Chief Glenn Schaffer, reported the parking infraction form being used was also out of compliance because it had not been reviewed by the state’s Administrative Office of the Courts.

The new ordinance passed unanimously last night by the city council. The council suspended the usual requirement for two readings – two subsequent votes – on the measure.

The Washington State Court Rules’ IRLJ govern the procedure in courts of limited jurisdiction – municipal courts and district courts – for all cases involving infractions. Infractions are noncriminal violations of law defined by statute.

The newly adopted city ordinance also added a prohibition against one vehicle taking up two parking spaces.

News brief: What’s JNET?

September 14th, 2015

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The Chehalis Police Department has contributed a detective to a regional drug task force that has been taking shape since earlier this year in Lewis County.

A detective from the sheriff’s office has been working with the team at the Centralia Police Department which is led by a sergeant there, with two Centralia detectives.

It’s been named the Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team and year to date has already made 100 arrests and served 35 search warrants, according to Chehalis Police Chief Glenn Schaffer.

Its sole task is to go after drug dealers at every level, Schaffer told the Chehalis City Council this evening.

The police chief said regional teams for both drugs and SWAT in Lewis County are visions incoming Lewis County Sheriff Rob Snaza had when he took office in January.

Last month, Chehalis assigned a detective to the drug group, he said.

The police chief said that during his tenure, he’s seen cooperative efforts to varying degrees, with combined teams and with individual teams among police agencies in the county.

“At no time have I seen the three working together in such an organized fashion as I do now,” he said.

In just the one month Chehalis has been a part of JNET, the team has made 16 felony arrests and served eight search warrants, he said.

The Lewis County Regional SWAT team has 15 members, and is headed up by Lewis County Undersheriff Wes Rethwill.

Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

September 14th, 2015
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SEXUAL ASSAULT

• A 25-year-old Vader resident was arrested for third-degree rape after deputies were called early yesterday morning about an incident that allegedly occurred on Stoddard Road in Doty where he was house sitting. A 21-year-old woman said he came into a room where she was sleeping and forced sexual contact upon her even though she told him no, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The woman told a deputy they had met a couple months prior on a dating website but no intimate relationship had developed and they were just friends hanging out, according to the sheriff’s office. She said she stayed over because she’d had a couple of drinks and smoked marijuana, Chief Deputy Stacy Brown said. A search warrant was served at the residence where a loaded rifle was observed hanging on the wall of the bedroom where the alleged incident took place, so the suspect was also arrested for unlawful possession of a firearm, as he has a previous felony conviction, Brown said. Jeremy R. Elliott was booked into the Lewis County Jail.

DOMESTIC ASSAULT

• A 54-year-old Vader man was arrested for allegedly hitting his roommate on the hand with a two by four and dragging her by the neck for approximately 30 yards on Friday night. The 29-year-old escaped to a neighbor’s, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. It was Douglas E. Heller, the suspect, who phoned 911 at about 7 p.m. to the 200 block of Westside Highway, saying his roommate had damaged his car and his phone, according to the sheriff’s office. Heller was transported to Providence Centralia Hospital for an unspecified medical issue and not immediately booked into jail, Chief Deputy Stacy Brown said. Brown said he was arrested for third-degree assault and released from custody because he was admitted to the hospital.

KIDS ACCUSED OF STEALING PHONE

• Centralia police responded to an approximately 1:30 a.m. call today from an individual who said he was standing on a sidewalk about to use his cell phone when three teenagers ran up to him, grabbed the phone and took off running. It happened in the area of the 600 block of West Main Street, according to the Centralia Police Department. The suspects were described as a female dressed all in black, one male with a red hood and the other male wearing a black T-shirt, according to police.

BREAK-IN CHEHALIS

• Police were called at 7:30 p.m. yesterday to a burglary at the 1000 block of Southwest 20th Street in Chehalis. The resident said she was away from her apartment for 20 to 30 minutes – with the front door locked – and returned to find items moved and some prescription medication missing, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

BREAK-IN WINLOCK

• A Winlock resident called the sheriff’s office to report that someone came into her home on the 400 block of North Military Road and stole her daughter’s purse and approximately $40. It happened sometime between Thursday and yesterday, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

VEHICLE THEFT

• Chehalis police were called at 9 o’clock yesterday morning to the 100 block of Southwest 11th Street where a 2002 Pontiac van which had been locked and parked at a residence disappeared. It is white, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

OTHER THEFT

• Centralia police say an officer was called about the shoplifting of a car stereo at about 5:40 p.m. yesterday from the 200 block of South Pearl Street. A suspect was identified and a summons will be issued to the 22-year-old suspect, according to the Centralia Police Department.

CAR TRASHED

• Someone vandalized a car at White Pass High School in Randle on Saturday, slashing its tires and destroying its windows, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The damage to the 2003 Toyota Matrix is listed at $800, according to the sheriff’s office. There are persons of interest in the case, Chief Deputy Stacy Brown said.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrant, shoplifting, misdemeanor assault, driving with suspended license; responses for alarm, dispute, panhandling, trespassing, abandoned cats, suspicious circumstances; complaint of noisy neighbor rooster, neighbor riding dirt bike without a helmet … and more.

Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

September 13th, 2015
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NOISY NEIGHBOR MUSIC

• A 44-year-old man who allegedly was belligerent and uncooperative when police came to talk with him about his loud music in Centralia yesterday found himself jailed. Officers responded about 4:15 p.m. to the 100 block of North Buckner Street for a compliant and when it became obvious the resident wasn’t going to turn the music down, they issued an infraction for violating the noise ordinance and then left, according to the Centralia Police Department. Then they got several more calls from neighbors who said as soon as officers departed, the music was back on even louder, according to police. Officers returned and arrested Enrique S. Lopez, 44, and booked him into the Lewis County Jail for violating the noise ordinance.

DOMESTIC ASSAULT

• After getting a 911 call last night from a female who said her boyfriend assaulted her but couldn’t say exactly where she was, officers were able to track her down by landmarks she named, according to the Centralia Police Department. Aid was summoned after the approximately 10 p.m. call and the victim was taken to Providence Centralia Hospital to be treated for minor injuries, according to police. Officers subsequently located the suspect, Douglas M. Martin, in the woods a few hundred yards south of the Mellen Street park and ride, according to police. Martin was arrested and booked into the Lewis County Jail for fourth-degree assault.

• A parental dispute in Centralia late yesterday afternoon ended with police requesting a summons for a 30-year-old man for a charge of fourth-degree assault. The father allegedly grabbed the mother of their child by the arm to move her out of the way so he could take their child, according to the Centralia Police Department. Officers initially were called about 5:30 p.m. to the 1300 block of Belmont Avenue for a hysterical woman claiming her child was taken by the dad, according to police. However, officers learned the dad had custody and the mom was refusing to give the child up when a visitation was over, according to police. The father when contacted denied any assault, police reported this morning.

THEFT

• Centralia police took a report yesterday afternoon of the theft of jewelry from an antique store on the 200 block of North Tower Avenue.

COLLISION

• A motorcyclist was injured when he attempted to pass a car at the same time as it turned left off U.S. Highway 12 just west of Salkum yesterday morning. Troopers called about 10:50 a.m. found the motorcycle collided with a Hyundai Sonata driven by a 48-year-old Onalaska woman, according to the Washington State Patrol. She was unhurt, according to the state patrol, but David L. Sexton, 63, from Mossyrock, was transported to PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center in Vancouver. The wreck is blamed on improper passing, according to the state patrol.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for obstructing, driving with suspended license, driving under the influence; responses for shoplifting, malicious mischief … and more.

Read about Tenino selects interim police chief …

September 12th, 2015

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

The Olympian reports an interim police chief has been hired for Tenino, as the city reviews applicants for the permanent job.

News reporter Andy Hobbs writes Russ Ellis – who once served briefly as the chief in the town of Ruston in Pierce County – reached out to the mayor and started work on Thursday.

The South Thurston County city’s police department has been without a chief since Mayor Bret Brodersen terminated Chief John Hutchings last March.

Read about it here

Read about Randle resident pleads guilty to poaching maple in National Forest …

September 12th, 2015

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

KUOW radio reports a Randle man has pleaded guilty to poaching big leaf maple trees from U.S. Forest Service land.

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Courtesy photo by U.S. Attorney’s Office

Ryan Justice, 28, was one of four Lewis County men indicted on theft and other federal crimes in a case involving illegal harvest and selling of the specialty wood.

News reporter Chris Lehman writes that on Thursday Justice admitted he cut maple trees in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest and sold the wood to J & L Tonewoods a Winlock mill that specialized in “figured” maple for musical instruments.

The mill owner and two other alleged poachers were also charged in the case and have pleaded not guilty, according to Lehman.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Seth Wilkinson.

•••
For background, read “Feds: Tree thieves and mill owner indicted for trafficking specialty maple from Gifford Pinchot” from Friday August 7, 2015, here

News brief: Charges dismissed in case of Chehalis toddlers with bruises

September 11th, 2015

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Criminal charges have been dropped against a 22-year-old woman accused in July of assaulting her boyfriend’s two children.

Chandra M. Munsey was arrested on July 23 and the two boys were taken into protective custody after their father called police.

The father, Casiano Baldovinos, said he found his children – ages 2 and 3, – with bruises when he picked them up from Munsey’s parents home outside of Centralia.

Munsey was charged with two counts of second-degree child assault, but released from jail the same day to give the sheriff’s office more time to investigate.

Baldovinos and Munsey live together in Chehalis. He has contended since the beginning his girlfriend was innocent.

Authorities have revealed little about the case, other than alleging it occurred in Lewis County a few days before Munsey’s arrest. The documents which detailed their probable cause were sealed by a judge.

Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead said today the charges against Munsey were dismissed on Friday, “pending further investigation.”

They were dismissed without prejudice, meaning the state may re-file them if they choose.

Halstead declined to say if detectives have a different suspect., saying an investigation is still underway. Munsey has no felony criminal history.
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For background, read “News brief: Investigation into bruises on two Chehalis children moving forward slowly” from Friday July 31, 2015, here