Memorial: ‘Our boy Kenny’

June 17th, 2015
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Kenneth Hamilton

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CENTRALIA – More than 100 people gathered together at a Centralia park to remember the 9-year-old boy who died unexpectedly last week.

Kenneth Hamilton was described as an always happy, always smiling child.

“He was just a joy to be around, all the children felt it,” his second-grade teacher Jane King said.

King, and one of Kenneth’s other teachers at Jefferson Lincoln Elementary School, Wendy Gates, were among those who paid tribute to the son of Piper Young and Tom Hamilton at Schaeffer Park late yesterday afternoon.

“What do we know about our boy Kenny?” the minister asked after offering words of comfort and prayers.

He didn’t like naps when he was little, would have played in his neighbor’s pool indefinitely if allowed and was honest to a fault, family members and neighbors shared.

What caused his death is unknown.

Firefighters and police responded to an approximately 10:20 a.m. 911 call last Wednesday to a home on the 300 block of North Diamond Street regarding the child who was found unresponsive in bed by his mother. He was transported to Providence Centralia Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Centralia Police Department Detective Patti Finch noted he’d undergone a recent medical procedure. Nothing was obviously suspicious at the scene, but anytime a child dies unexpectedly, police will get involved and investigate the circumstances, according to Finch.

He wasn’t sick, his mother said, but still home recovering from having his tonsils taken out six days earlier.

“He was up and about, the swelling was pretty much gone, and his voice was starting to come back,” she said.

Kenneth leaves behind five siblings.

Jefferson Lincoln Elementary School Principal David Eacker was among those present to honor the 9-year-old’s memory at the north Centralia park.

Informing Kenny’s classmates was difficult, Eacker said. There are just almost no words to explain it, he said.

Former neighbor Heather Bodin addressed the group, on behalf of her 8-year-old granddaughter, a third-grader at the same school.

“She can’t understand how someone her age could have to go to heaven,” she said.

Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod said yesterday it will be weeks before he knows the cause of Kenneth’s death, because he is waiting for the results of various tests from the autopsy.
•••

For background, read “News brief: Police investigating death of little boy in Centralia” from Wednesday June 10, 2015, here

Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

June 17th, 2015
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•••

MEDICAL OXYGEN CATCHES FIRE AT CENTRALIA HOME

• A resident smoking near medical oxygen ignited a fire overnight at the 1300 block of Oxford Avenue in Centralia. Crews dispatched at 2:40 a.m. saw light smoke coming out the doors and windows of the home, according to Riverside Fire Authority. Once inside, they extinguished a bedroom fire before it extended into the structure, according to a brief summary of the incident. All occupants were evacuated and no injuries were noted, according to Riverside. The damage is estimated at $1,000.

DOWNTOWN CENTRALIA RESTAURANT KITCHEN FIRE HALTED

• Firefighters from Centralia and Chehalis responded about 9:30 p.m. yesterday to a reported fire in a restaurant on the 300 block of North Tower Avenue in Centralia. Once inside, they found that the fire suppression hood had been activated due to a fire from a cooking appliance, according to Riverside Fire Authority. The damage at the downtown building was described as light. The business is Great Cuisine of India.

FIRE EXTINGUISHED AT STORAGE UNIT BUSINESS

• Firefighters called about 8:15 p.m. yesterday to a commercial storage business on the 2900 block of Jackson Highway south of Chehalis found a small fire in a wall, according to Newaukum Valley Fire and Rescue, formerly known as Lewis County Fire District 5. The cause is under investigation, Chief Gregg Peterson said.

DRYER FIRE

• Firefighters called about 7:10 p.m. yesterday to a dryer fire at the 1000 block of North Pearl Street in Centralia extinguished it and took the dryer outside, according to Riverside Fire Authority.

SUSPICIOUS FIRE ON LOGGING ROAD

• A deputy was called early yesterday to the woods outside of Morton after the discovery of a truck that that had burned. The branches around it were still warm but there was nobody around, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Chief Deputy Stacy Brown said it was 1990s model four-door Toyota 4Runner, but the license plate was melted so they’re not sure what state it was from. The 12:05 a.m. call was to the area of Mosswood Road and Forest Service Road 73 but the scene was actually 10 to 15 miles up a logging road, Brown said. They turned it over to the Forest Service to investigate, Brown said.

VEHICLE PROWL

• Police were called about 12:30 a.m. today about a car prowl at the 1300 block of Windsor Avenue in Centralia. A window was broken and a stereo speaker was taken, according to the Centralia Police Department.

UNRULY PERSON

• A case of a patient at Providence Centralia Hospital who reportedly got angry and broke off a IV holder from a bed is being referred to prosecutors for a possible charge of third-degree malicious mischief, according to the Centralia Police Department. Officers called at about 1:40 p.m. yesterday to the 900 block of South Schueber Road restrained the disorderly male subject, according to police.

DRUGS

• Police arrested a 20-year-old Chehalis woman yesterday for possession of heroin after they responded to the Yard Birds Mall about someone attempting to spend a counterfeit $50 bill. An officer called at 5 p.m. yesterday to the 2100 block of North National Avenue was told one of the vendors was the victim and when Kristina S. Bailey was searched, the suspected drug was found, according to the Chehalis Police Department. Bailey was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to police.

LOST AND FOUND

• A citizen contacted police yesterday morning and turned over a baggie of bills that were found at a bus stop on the 1400 block of Johnson Road in Centralia.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, shoplifting, driving under the influence, driving with suspended license; responses for alarm, trespassing, misdemeanor assault, suspicious circumstances, collision on city street; request for help removing a bat from inside a house … and more.

News brief: Poultry-warming lamp ignited Onalaska house fire

June 16th, 2015

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

The fire that consumed an Onalaska family’s home is being blamed on a heat lamp that was keeping baby chicks warm.

Fire Investigator Ted McCarty said it wasn’t necessarily that it got knocked over.

“It had been on for a month and probably dried out the sawdust, which got hot and ignited,” McCarty said.

One of the residents was cooking breakfast when she smelled smoke, looked all around the house and couldn’t find anything, according to McCarty. Until she opened the back door and saw the shed burning, he said.

Firefighters responding about 8 a.m. on Sunday to the 600 block of Middle Fork Road found the manufactured home fully engulfed in flames.

She grabbed their dogs and got outside and two of their kittens were found alive, but others plus the chicks perished.

Lewis County Fire District 1 Assistant Chief Rhonda Volk said the couple lived there with their niece who is in her 20s.

They didn’t have any insurance, McCarty said.

Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

June 16th, 2015
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•••

PEDESTRIAN SCARES MOTORIST

• Centralia police took a report yesterday about 6:30 p.m. that a man aggressively approached the driver of a car at Harrison Avenue and Belmont Street, told her to get out and threatened her with a flashlight. She left the scene unharmed and no arrest had been made as of this morning, according to the Centralia Police Department.

THEFT

• Chehalis police are investigating an incident where an iPad was missing from a backpack that was being held for a 14-year-old at Wal-Mart yesterday.

DRUGS

• Officers arrested a 15-year-old for being in possession of marijuana yesterday morning at the 800 block of Eshom Road in Centralia. The teen was released to a parent, according to the Centralia Police Department.

SUSPECTED GUNSHOTS FIRED ON I-5

• Troopers are seeking witnesses to a road rage incident that occurred southbound Interstate 5 just south of Tumwater yesterday evening. It began near milepost 101 and escalated with possible shots fired before a gray Chevrolet Equinox sport utility vehicle exited the freeway at exit 95, according to the Washington State Patrol. The other vehicle is described as a single cab brown pickup truck with a canopy and Oregon license plates, according to the state patrol. Anyone who saw what happened or has any information about it is asked to contact the Washington State Patrol at 360-586-1999.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, probation violation, misdemeanor assault, driving under the influence, failing to transfer vehicle title, failing to register as a sex offender; responses for alarm, dispute, hit and run, protection order violation, collision on city street, stolen vehicles that just turned out to have been parked where their owners weren’t looking them; complaint of male sitting on a bench begging for money in downtown Chehalis … and more.

News brief: One hurt in weekend wrecks

June 15th, 2015

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A motorcyclist was airlifted after he collided with a deer yesterday morning south of Rochester, according to West Thurston Regional Fire Authority.

Firefighters called about 9 a.m. to Prather Road near Lundeen Road found the man was initially unconscious but then he slowly began to come to, according to Fire Chief Robert Scott.

“He was wearing a helmet though, which is good,” Scott said. “It probably saved his life.”

A helicopter met them and the patient at Rochester High School to transport him to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, Scott said. He said the vicim was a local person and probably in his 30s or 40s.

The deer didn’t make it, Scott said.

On Saturday morning, it was a wooden porch that took a hit when a motorist on Southwest Cascade Avenue near Main Street in Chehalis left the roadway, crossed the sidewalk and came to rest in front of a home.

There was significant damage to the porch and damage to the front end of his car, but 20-year-old Justin A. Deel of Rochester was unhurt, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

He was cited for driving with a suspended license and without insurance, according to police.

And about 1:30 a.m. today, the front end of a car was “pretty smashed up” and the concrete center barrier shoved into the oncoming lane following a single-vehicle collision on Interstate 5 in Chehalis, according to the Chehalis Fire Department.

The driver was northbound and wrecked near the Main Street interchange. Nobody was transported to the hospital, Fire Capt. Rob Gebhart said.

“It sounds like the driver fell asleep,” he said.

Wildfire burning about two miles from Pe Ell

June 15th, 2015
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A helicopter drops water off Katula Road outside Pe Ell yesterday. / Courtesy photo by DNR

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Firefighters are working to extinguish a wildfire that broke out on a timber company’s land near Pe Ell, with roughly 80 people on the ground today.

A Doty firefighter who happened to be up on a hill spotted it and contacted the state Department of Natural Resources about 9 o’clock yesterday morning.

It was initially estimated at 40 acres but is more like 25 acres, and it’s mostly debris leftover from previous logging that is burning, according to Nick Cronquist, a DNR spokesperson..

It went a little bit into the timber, burning the salal and other vegetation on the ground, Cronquist said.

The area is roughly halfway between Pe Ell and Doty.

Cronquist said this morning the fire is 70 percent contained.

“The helicopters were working pretty hard last night, but we don’t think we’ll use them again,” he said. They have them on standby, he said.

The property belongs to Green Diamond Resource Co. and is off Katula Road.

Local firefighters have been supporting the efforts, hauling water with tenders, according to Lewis County Fire District 16 Chief Greg Feuchter.

Cronquist said they had 50 personnel working the fire yesterday and expected they will be out there for the next couple of days.

It started sometime between Saturday night and Sunday morning, he said, and its cause is under investigation.

It’s among the first sizable wildfires in Western Washington this season, following an early in the weekend fire in Clark County, according to Cronquist.

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The state Department of Natural Resources expects personnel to be working for the next couple of days to extinguish the fire. / Courtesy photo by DNR

Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

June 15th, 2015
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•••

Updated at 4:15 p.m.

BURGLARY RANDLE

• Someone pried open a hasp to a storage shed at the 600 block of U.S. Highway 12 in Randle and stole a riding mower, a utility trailer, a generator, an air compressor, a chainsaw and a tool box, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The victim, a 60-year-old Seattle resident who owns River Run Ranch, said it happened sometime in the seven days before Saturday, according to the sheriff’s office. The loss is estimated at about $900, Chief Deputy Stacy Brown said.

BURGLARY SILVER CREEK

• A deputy responded about 10 p.m. on Saturday to a burglary at a vacation home on the 1300 block of state Route 122 in Silver Creek where someone had cut padlocks to a gate, a barn and a shed and stole numerous items including a dozen 10 by 10 canopies and a bright blue four-foot tall air compressor, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The victim is compiling a list, according to the sheriff’s office. A garage was ransacked as well, Chief Deputy Stacy Brown said. The break-in occurred sometime since May 26, according to Brown.

BURGLARY CENTRALIA

• Deputies responding to a residential burglary alarm at the 2000 block of Van Wormer Street in Centralia about 3 p.m. on Saturday found a ladder leaned against the house and the front door unlocked. A search inside by a police dog was conducted and nobody was there, but stolen from the couple’s home were various valuables including a kids Kindle, a Philips portable DVD player, costume jewelry and seven books of checks, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

• An 89-year-old Centralia man reported someone burglarized his home on the 2700 block of Bennet Road sometime between Friday and Saturday, making off with 20 silver dollars, six wrist watches and a set of keys, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

• A teenage boy was arrested after allegedly admitting to burglarizing the home of his foster mother’s grown son at the 2700 block of Lincoln Creek Road west of Centralia, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. A deputy was called on Friday and learned it happened sometime June 3 and Thursday and when confronted, the teen had returned the car keys, hunting knife, cell phone and alcohol, according to the sheriff’s office. He was arrested for residential burglary, Chief Deputy Stacy Brown said.

BURGLARY ASHFORD

• The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reports this morning that a deputy took a report on Thursday of a burglary at a vacation home on the 300 block of Skate Creek Road near Ashford in which someone stole food, alcohol, an old BB gun and other items sometime during the previous week.

BURGLARY CHEHALIS

• Police were called just before 6 o’clock this morning when the owner of M&K Town Store on the 500 block of North Market Boulevard discovered the glass door to the business broken out. Nothing initially appeared to be missing, according to the Chehalis Police Department. It happened sometime after about 12:30 a.m., according to police.

• Chehalis police were called at noon Saturday to Stan Hedwall Park on the 1500 block of Rice Road following the discovery someone broke into the concession stand through a sliding window and stole the cash register. It had about $80 in it and was valued at $10, according to the Chehalis Police Department. An estimated $10 in food items were missing as well, police said.

THEFT CHEHALIS

• The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reports this morning that three Husqvarna push mowers valued at $1,200 were stolen from a business on the 1600 block of Bishop Road in Chehalis last week between Wednesday and Thursday.

CAR PROWL

• A compound bow, a knife and other items were stolen from an unlocked vehicle overnight at the 100 block of Virginia Drive in Centralia, according to a  report made to police yesterday morning.

VANDALISM

• Centralia police responded yesterday evening to a report of broken windows on a building at Centralia College, at the 400 block of Centralia College Boulevard.

TOM FOOLERY

• A 31-year-old Chehalis resident was arrested when he allegedly came at an officer in a ‘fighting stance’ outside a bar on the 300 block of Northwest Chehalis Avenue on Friday night. There had been an altercation, according to the Chehalis Police Department. Aaron J. Calista allegedly wasn’t allowing officers to handcuff him, so he was booked into the Lewis County Jail for both disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

WILDFIRE NEAR PE ELL

• Firefighters were called yesterday to a wildfire near Pe Ell of estimated to be about 40 acres. At least two helicopters were sent to assist, according to the state Department of Natural Resources.

CRASH

• An 18-year-old woman was cited for second-degree negligent driving after a head on collision just before 5 p.m. on Thursday on Jackson Highway near Logan Hill Road in Chehalis, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Chief Deputy Stacy Brown said the 55-year-old in the other vehicle was cited for driving with a suspended license and no insurance. Two people were injured, with a broken ankle and a broken wrist, Brown said.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, misdemeanor assault, protection order violation, driving under the influence, driving with suspended license; responses for alarm, dispute, runaway child, misdemeanor theft, receiving counterfeit money, collisions on city streets; complaints of house getting ‘egged’, neighbor dog barking for seven hours, old man begging for money downtown Chehalis, little girls throwing rocks onto freeway breaking windshield … and more.