Posts Tagged ‘By Sharyn L. Decker’

Dangerous strain of pneumonia strikes suddenly for Mossy firefighter

Wednesday, January 14th, 2015
2015.0114.jeff.fosburg

Jeff Fosburg poses outside the Mossyrock Fire Department for a photo in October.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A potentially fatal form of pneumonia has struck an otherwise healthy 28-year-old volunteer firefighter from Mossyrock.

Jeff Fosburg, a bachelor with a St. Bernard as a roommate was fine until he suddenly took ill early last month, according to his father.

“He was getting a cold,” Mossyrock Fire Chief Doug Fosburg said of his grown son. “It went from just a cold on a Friday afternoon, to being in ICU at Providence on Tuesday.”

That was Dec. 9.

Doctors found the younger Fosburg had contracted MRSA  pneumonia in both lungs. The MRSA bacteria is the strain which is resistant to most antibiotics, his father said.

They don’t know how he caught it, but he works at the Lucky Eagle Casino as a security guard, and is around a lot of people, the chief said.

Jeff was transferred to a Vancouver hospital, and then shortly after to a Portland hospital equipped to deal with the unusual illness. It’s only the sixth or seventh case of this type they’ve ever treated, he said.

He’s improving Chief Fosburg said this morning, but isn’t expected to be well enough to go home for two to three months, he said.

“He’s getting better, but he’s still on a ventilator, and still at Legacy,” Fosburg said. “If he hadn’t have been as healthy as he was, he probably wouldn’t have survived it.”

It’s going to be a long road to recovery, even after he’s released, he said.

One of his co-workers at the Mossyrock Fire Department has set up an account to assist with paying Jeff’s ongoing household bills while he is not working.

Jeff has health insurance, but his neighboring firefighters in Salkum are putting together a benefit to raise money, as it could be as long as six months before he’s able to work, according to Byron Peck, president of the Salkum Volunteer Firefighter and EMS Association.

Chief Fosburg said he understands that is aimed at helping out with excess health care costs.

Salkum firefighters say that any donations for their silent auction can be brought to their main station on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. until Feb. 5. That’s at 2490 U.S. Highway 12 in Salkum.

The auction and spaghetti dinner fundraiser will be held at the same location, on Saturday Feb. 7, from 5 p.m. until 8 p.m.

Centralia resident dies in logging accident in Grays Harbor County

Tuesday, January 13th, 2015

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A Centralia man was killed in a logging accident over the weekend southwest of Oakville.

The Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office said it happened in the Minot area on the Brooklyn T-Line Road. They were called at 11:15 a.m. on Saturday.

Erin L. VanBrocklin, 41, had been bucking a log and a crew was rigging up a yarder, according to the sheriff’s office.

A log broke loose and it rolled downhill crushing the victim between it and the log he was working on, Undersheriff Dave Pimentel said.

Pimentel said co-workers had to cut VanBrocklin out, and they placed him a stretcher and drove six miles to where they met an ambulance at where the T-Line meets Brooklyn Road.

“He was tended to by an aid crew and pronounced dead,” Pimentel said.

Grays Harbor County Fire District 1 Firefighter Shawn Burdett said members of Centralia’s fire department were first on the scene. Responders continued CPR until medics arrived, Burdett said.

He was working for B and M Logging, according to the Department of Labor and Industries. The state agency is investigating the death.

Wanted Chehalis man found in North Dakota

Monday, January 12th, 2015

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A 23-year-old man was returned to Lewis County from North Dakota this weekend on warrants from last summer when he was charged with two separate sexually motivated crimes, one involving an underage girl and the other involving his estranged girlfriend.

The alleged incidents took place in November 2013 and the following May. Deputies were unable to locate Jence S. Sawyer until now and traveled to Williston, North Dakota on Thursday to bring him back, according to authorities.

On May 16, a deputy spoke with Sawyer’s estranged girlfriend, who described how she finally crawled out a bedroom window with her baby after Sawyer refused to let her leave his home, tried to have sex with her and assaulted her, according to charging documents.

The Chehalis area resident is being held on $150,000 bail.

The former girlfriend said she had gone to visit Sawyer so he could see their baby, and when she declined his advances, he held her in various ways including locking the front door, picking up the baby and saying she could not go and even pulling her back through a window by her ankles, before slapping and choking her, charging documents allege.

The documents don’t say how long it went on but indicate it was her third attempt to leave by the window that was successful.

Charging documents say she took her baby, ran into the bedroom and locked the door behind her. Once outside, she ran through bushes, grass and through a ditch up to Jackson Highway where she flagged down a passing motorist and police were contacted, the documents state.

The sheriff’s office reported in May the two were arguing over infidelity and at one point, the incident included Sawyer holding a rifle to his chin.

Sawyer is charged with second-degree assault and unlawful imprisonment, with sexual motivation.

According to charging documents in the other case, the sheriff’s office took a report last April from a 15-year-old girl at White Pass High School about a sexual encounter she said took place five months earlier, in which she said she told Sawyer several times to stop and he refused. For that, he is charged with third-degree rape of a child.

Charges in both cases were filed on Aug. 21. Sawyer was booked into the Lewis County Jail on Saturday and was brought before a judge this afternoon.

Defense attorney Joely O’Rourke told the judge that Sawyer was recently employed, but is now not working and has no prior felony history.

Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead said he has a pending drug charge.

Lewis County Superior Court Judge Richard Brosey appointed Centralia attorney Don Blair to represent him. Sawyer’s arraignment is scheduled for Thursday morning.

The judge ordered him to have no contact with minors.

One dead from boating accident on Chehalis River

Monday, January 12th, 2015

Updated at 6:28 p.m.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – One of a pair of fisherman who went into the river after their boat began taking on water this afternoon died despite efforts to save him.

It happened on the Chehalis River about 10 miles west west of Chehalis, near Dryad.

“Two guys, friends, were fishing in a little 12-foot aluminum boat and they hit some rapids,” Lewis County Sheriff’s Office Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said.

The men jumped into the water when their boat began to sink, according to Brown.

“The one who was wearing a life jacket survived; the one who wasn’t did not,” she said.

The survivor was able to find his friend, drag him to shore and performed CPR for 20 to 30 minutes, according to Brown.

When that didn’t work, he swam back across the river and found a bicyclist riding along a trail to use a cell phone to call 911 for help, she said.

It happened about 11:40 a.m., according to Brown.

Deputies and aid were called at 12:36 a.m. to the area near the 400 block of River Road, according to Brown.

Members of Lewis County Fire Districts 6, 11 and 16 responded, but there was no resuscitating the man, Firefighter Kyle DePriest said.

The men’s ages and hometowns are not yet available. The survivor was transported to Providence Centralia Hospital to be treated for hypothermia, according to Lewis County Fire District 6.
•••

CORRECTION: This has been updated to correctly reflect that the sheriff’s office and aid were dispatched at the same time; and that the survivor said the initial incident took place at 11:40 a.m.

Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

Monday, January 12th, 2015

Updated at 7:18 p.m.

FATALITY COLLISION IN ADNA

• A 65-year-old motorist lost his life on the road this weekend when his pickup truck wrecked west of Chehalis. Deputies and aid called about 9:50 p.m. on Saturday to the 400 block of Penning Road found neighbors who heard the crash were performing CPR, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Clarence Avron, 65, Chehalis, however died at the scene, according to authorities His Ford Ranger had crossed the centerline and continued off of but parallel to the roadway knocking down several fence posts and striking a utility pole, before rolling to the opposite side of Penning into a ditch, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said. He was not wearing a seatbelt, according to Brown.

VICTIM: ROBBED IN CHEHALIS

• A 30-year-old Olympia man called police just before 7 p.m. yesterday and said he was assaulted and robbed of cash and prescription medications at the Twin City Town Center on Northwest Louisiana Avenue in Chehalis. Police are investigating, detective Sgt. Gary Wilson said. Wilson said he wasn’t aware of any witnesses.

SOME FRIEND

• A 27-year-old Chehalis resident was arrested for second-degree burglary after an incident at a residence on the 200 block of Southwest Second Street in Chehalis in which he allegedly took items from an acquaintance’s home while there. Police called about 2:30 p.m. on Friday subsequently located Dylan E. Pirtle and recovered some jewelry, according to the Chehalis Police Department. He was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to police. Pirtle was charged today in Lewis County Superior Court with residential burglary, a class B felony with a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. His bail was set at $10,000.

FRAUD

• Their cards were not stolen but someone used account information belonging to a pair of Centralia residents to spend just over $728 at Home Depot in Chehalis and also Lacey, the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reported this morning. The purchases were made between Nov. 8 and Dec. 4, according to the sheriff’s office.

NOT QUITE AUTO THEFT

• A vehicle said to be stolen in Centralia on Friday was found just before midnight on the 300 block of Northwest Chehalis Avenue occupied by two individuals, according to the Chehalis Police Department. The case was turned over to Centralia police who arrested one of them, according to police. Tedy M. St. John, 25, was arrested for allegedly stealing the vehicle but he was charged today in Lewis County Superior Court with taking a motor vehicle without permission. St. John, who lives with his mother on North Iron Street but displaced by the flood has no criminal history, defense attorney Joely O’Rourke told a judge. He was released from jail on a $10,000 signature bond.

ANIMAL ASSAULT INVESTIGATION

• Chehalis police were called yesterday to the 600 block of Northwest Middle Street in Chehalis regarding the suspected abuse of a dog, which was possibly injured. The case is under investigation, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

VANDALISM

• Police responded about 9 a.m. yesterday to the 2600 block of Borst Avenue in Centralia where someone had sprayed paint on a vehicle during the night.

• Morton police are investigating an incident reported last Wednesday morning in which an Onalaska man found someone had slashed both rear tires of his vehicle while it was parked for two hours the day before on the 100 block of State Street in Mossyrock. The loss is estimated at $565, according to the Morton Police Department.

SUSPICIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES

• Morton police responding about 7:30 p.m. on Friday to a report of a suspicious person throwing the contents of his car onto the 100 block of Main Avenue learned from the individual that he had misplaced his car keys and was looking for them.

WRECK

• A 1998 Jeep Cherokee was totaled in a wreck along the 1800 block of Salzer Valley Road outside Centralia early on Sunday morning, but its driver was not found, the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reported this morning. The vehicle, which was discovered in a ditch was impounded, according to the sheriff’s office.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, domestic misdemeanor assault, driving under the influence, driving with suspended license, third-degree malicious mischief, hit and run in a parking lot; responses for disputes, suspicious circumstances … and more.

Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

Sunday, January 11th, 2015

BIG OOPS

• Centralia police pulled over a stolen vehicle performing a “high-risk” stop yesterday morning detaining four occupants before discovering the driver was actually the owner of the vehicle. The driver had not yet informed police they’d gotten it back, according to the Centralia Police Department. It happened about 9:35 a.m. along the 600 block of South Pearl Street, according to police.  All parties were released at the scene, according to a brief summary from Sgt. Carl Buster.

REAL LIFE GOLDILOCKS

• A medic returned their quarters in Winlock to find an intruder, who had made herself at home last night. “She had some food out, had an employee’s sweatshirt on and had a little dog running around the house,” Lewis County Medic One Paramedic Clayton Skinner said. “She said she was traveling and wanted to get some rest and a shower.” Firefighters and such are known for having a standing invitation to other firefighters who travel, but this wasn’t anything like that, according to Skinner. At first the medic thought she was a volunteer he hadn’t met yet, but then he realized that wasn’t the case. By the time the sheriff’s office arrived, she had left, Skinner said.

VEHICLE VERSUS BICYCLE

• A child bicyclist was taken to the hospital yesterday after running into a vehicle on Northeast Park Street in Chehalis about 1:30 p.m., according to the Chehalis Fire Department.

CENTRALIA HOUSE BURNS

• A number of small pets perished when a fire broke out at a single-story home in Centralia yesterday evening. Firefighters called about 6:20 p.m. to the 600 block of Jefferson Street found the house with a well-involved fire but were able to quickly knock it down, according to Riverside Fire Authority. Nobody was home at the time but the residents did arrive while crews were still on the scene, according to Fire Capt. Erik Olson. The residence sustained extensive fire and smoke damage and the Red Cross gave assistance for shelter for the two occupants, according to Olson. The cause is under investigation.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, underage drinking, driving under the influence; responses for vandalism, protection order violation … and more.

Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

Saturday, January 10th, 2015

TEENS IN TROUBLE WITH ‘SPICE’

• Two teenage boys who were discovered passed out in a parking lot at the 700 block of East Locust Street in Centralia last night had apparently been smoking “spice” – the nickname for synthetic marijuana. The individuals, one 16 and the other 17, were booked into the Lewis County Juvenile Detention Center for possession of a synthetic drug, according to the Centralia Police Department.

AUTO THEFT

• A 25-year-old Centralia resident was arrested last night for allegedly stealing a vehicle. Tedy M. St. John was booked into the Lewis County Jail after contact with an officer in association with an approximately 11 p.m. incident at the 400 block of West Main Street in Centralia, according to the Centralia Police Department.

STOLEN STATUE

• Centralia police were called to the 1200 block of Johnson Road yesterday about noon regarding the theft of yard statues during the night.

DRUGS

• A 28-year-old Olympia resident was arrested for possession of heroin after contact with an officer about 11 p.m. at the 800 block of Harrison Avenue in Centralia. Jamie L. Cline was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Centralia Police Department.

CATCH AND RELEASE

• A 37-year-old Centralia man was arrested yesterday evening for failing to stop when signaled by a police officer, for resisting arrest and for driving with a suspended license. It happened about 7:15 p.m. at Sixth and B streets and Elisha J. Danielson was arrested and then released, according to the Centralia Police Department.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, domestic misdemeanor assault, driving with suspended license, failure to transfer vehicle title … and more.

CORRECTION: This has been updated to correctly reflect that the individual arrested for allegedly stealing a vehicle was contacted by police in Chehalis in a vehicle which had just recently been reported stolen from Centralia.