Lewis County Sirens.com

Traffic was slowed up yesterday afternoon on Interstate 5 in Chehalis. / Courtesy photo by Washington State Patrol

BIG WRECK

• Two children were taken to the hospital to be checked out after a multiple vehicle collision on northbound Interstate 5 in Chehalis yesterday. The Washington State Patrol reports four cars were involved and the injuries were minor. The left lane was blocked just north of the 13th Street interchange beginning about 12:30 p.m. with one vehicle partially on the center median.

BAD WRECK

• A 31-year-old Vader woman was airlifted after a wreck last night along state Route 506 when her car ran through a wire fence, rolling and came to land on its top in a field. Troopers responding just after 9 p.m. to the scene about three miles east of Vader found Elizabeth Bridgman was injured and her Oldsmobile Aurora was totaled, according to the Washington State Patrol. She was reportedly driving too fast and was not wearing a seatbelt. The eastbound lane was blocked for about an hour and a half, according to the state Department of Transportation. Bridgman was flown to PeaceHealth Southwest Washington Medical Center, according to the investigating trooper.

SCREWDRIVER TO THE BACKSIDE

• Firefighters were called just before midnight to the 3100 block of Ives Road in Centralia for a stabbing victim. The 28-year-old man who was upright outside of an apartment complex had what appeared to be four mostly superficial wounds from a screwdriver in the middle of his back, according to Riverside Fire Authority. Medics bandaged him and he declined to be taken to the hospital, Fire Capt. Terry Ternan said.

BURN BAN EXPANDS

• As a heat wave rolls into Western Washington, the state Department of Natural Resources announced yesterday that all outdoor burning on DNR-protected forestlands is prohibited, with two exceptions: Recreational fires in approved fire pits within designated state, county, municipal or other campgrounds, and gas or propane stoves/barbecue grills are allowed. DNR-approved prescribed fires for ecological purposes may be permitted if expressly approved by the commissioner of public lands. Because of the potential wildfire danger, the ban will run through Sept. 30, according to the state agency. Always illegal on DNR-protected forestlands are fireworks and incendiary devices, such as exploding targets, sky lanterns, or tracer ammunition. Charcoal briquettes are not allowed. The hot, dry conditions prompted a ban on outdoor burning in unincorporated Lewis County that began at 12:01 a.m. today.

INMATE VICTIMIZED BY BURGLARS

• Five people were arrested yesterday after they were caught allegedly stealing scrap metal off the Centralia property of a 71-year-old resident currently locked up in the Lewis County Jail. Deputies responded about 2:30 p.m. yesterday to the 1300 block of West Reynolds Avenue, after people were seen at Vic Bonagofski’s place by someone who suspected nobody should be there, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. All were arrested for second-degree burglary, according to the sheriff’s office. One of them, Teresa D. Bartley, 43, from Winlock, was additionally arrested for possession of a stolen vehicle, detective Sgt. Dusty Breen said. Another, Peter D. Harris, 41, of Pe Ell, was additionally arrested for possession of methamphetamine, Breen said. Steven E. Merrill, 48, Chehalis, was taken to Thurston County because he was wanted on a warrant; and the rest were booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to Breen, to include Joseph L. Hines, 37, Winlock; and Michael W. Kelly, 54, of Centralia. Bonagofski is serving time for driving with a suspended license, according to the information from the jail.

BOTTLE ROCKET BLAMED FOR BRUSH FIRE

• Firefighters from Winlock were joined by members of four other departments when a bottle rocket ignited tall grass in a field yesterday on the 100 block of Marttala Road North. Crews called about 4:45 p.m. found a resident trying to put it out with a garden hose, according to Lewis County Fire District 15. “It wasn’t threatening any structures and we were able to contain it pretty fast,” Firefighter Patrick Jacobson said. The area burned amounted to roughly 10,000 square-feet, he said. Personnel were on the scene for about an hour, including some from the state Department of Natural Resources, Jacobson said. A teenager who lived there had been using fireworks, he said.

FROM THE COURTHOUSE

• An attorney for the man who bought the Curtis Store after the big flood of 2007 told a judge yesterday his client would be pleading guilty in connection with a deal made with prosecutors regarding his charge of a sexual relationship with a teenage girl. Benjamin E. Hearn, 35, was arrested in January for events that allegedly began in 2012 involving a 14-year-old friend of his daughter. He was charged with third-degree rape of a child, a class C felony, but details of the agreement were not discussed in court. Centralia defense attorney David Arcuri said he expects Hearn will be taken into custody the day he pleads guilty – to serve a year and a day in prison – and asked the judge to hold off a little bit on the sentencing date. “He wants to finish up some work and make some money before he goes in,” Arcuri said. Lewis County Superior Court Judge Nelson Hunt allowed the hearing to be scheduled on Aug. 6. Hearn remains free on bail.

PLANNED HOUSE FIRE SOUTH OF CHEHALIS

• Firefighters will be gathering early tomorrow morning to burn down a house on the the 1600 block of Bishop Road in Chehalis. The practice burn will begin at 7 a.m. and is expected to be concluded by 11 a.m., according to Lewis County Fire District 6. Members of the department will provide traffic control. Anyone with questions may contact Chief Tim Kinder at 748-6019.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrant, driving with suspended license; responses for misdemeanor assault, parking lot hit and run, people sleeping in a park … and more.

BREAK-IN CENTRALIA

• Centralia police responded about 3:15 p.m. yesterday to a residential burglary on the 900 block of North Pearl Street. A window was broken out and “miscellaneous” items were taken, according to the Centralia Police Department.

THEFT

• Centralia police were called about 11:35 p.m. yesterday regarding several items taken over the weekend from a store on the 1200 block of Lum Road. The case is under investigation, according to the Centralia Police Department.

• A 27-year-old Winlock man was arrested yesterday for misdemeanor theft for allegedly stealing $61.86 worth of soda during the past year from a business on the 1400 block of Northwest Louisiana Avenue in Chehalis. Andrew W. Freeman was then released, pending court, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

• Chehalis police were called about 7 p.m. yesterday after an iPhone was stolen from a vehicle in the parking lot at Safeway. Its owner said she left the windows rolled down while she went inside because she had dogs in the car, according to the Chehalis Police Department. The phone turned up with a 16-year-old Chehalis resident who said he found it, but he was arrested for second-degree theft, department spokesperson Linda Bailey said.

LOST AND FOUND

• Police were called about 12:50 p.m. yesterday to Southwest Fourth Street near McFadden Avenue where a citizen had discovered a small plastic bag containing a white substance. The item will be destroyed, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

DRUGS

• A 29-year-old Centralia resident was arrested for possession of methamphetamine when contacted by law enforcement officers near the Chehalis Police Department on Park Street and Washington Avenue yesterday afternoon. In his pocket was found a crystal substance that field-tested positive for meth, according to the Chehalis Police Department. Andrew T. Field was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to police.

• An 18-year-old resident was apparently caught smoking marijuana in public yesterday, in  Washington Park in Centralia and was arrested. Andrew P. Gastfield was then released following  the morning time contact with an officer, according to the Centralia Police Department.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrest for violation of protection order; responses for alarms, suspicious circumstances, collision on city street, small dog left inside a parked car at K-Mart, complaint of loud music … and more.

Updated at 5:10 p.m.

NASTY NEIGHBOR

• An intoxicated 54-year-old Morton man was arrested last night for for reportedly threatening his neighbor, saying he was going to tear out his mailbox and calling him the N word, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.  A deputy called about 9:45 p.m. to the 700 block of Davis Lake Road learned the two had known each other for quite a long time and it’s not clear why Steven C. Richart was upset, according to the sheriff’s office. He was booked into the Lewis County Jail for misdemeanor harassment.

BURGLARY WINLOCK

• Someone broke through a back door at a home on the 2300 block of Highway 603 near Winlock yesterday between 7:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. and stole about $3,000 worth of valuables including several cameras, jewelry and cash, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

THEFT ONALASKA

• A deputy took a report yesterday from the 400 block of Shanklin Road in Onalaska of roughly $4,500 worth of belongings being stolen from where they were being stored inside an enclosed car hauler. It happened sometime since June 5, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Among the items missing are a laptop computer, a Hoyt compound bow and its accessories, a weed eater, binoculars and stereo components, according to the sheriff’s office.

AUTO THEFT

• A 1996 Ford F350 crew cab was reported stolen yesterday morning from the 100 block of Gershick Road in Silver Creek and turned up later in the day wrecked, about four miles up a logging road outside Mossyrock, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The loss is $4,000, according to the sheriff’s office.

• An employee’s 1995 Mercury Tracer discovered missing from Wal-Mart’s parking lot about 11:30 p.m. Monday was found yesterday at an apartment complex  on Southwest Chehalis Avenue, according to police. Arrested for vehicle theft was Diana S. Stephens, 60, of Chehalis, according to police. The car was returned to the victim, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

GREEN HILL SCHOOL

• A 19-year-old student-inmate at Green Hill School in Chehalis is facing a possible charge of custodial assault after allegedly striking a staff member on the arm and in the back of the head yesterday, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

DRUGS

• A 34-year-old Winlock woman was arrested for possession of methamphetamine following a traffic stop about 9 p.m. on Monday near North National Avenue and Median Street in Chehalis. An officer found a small plastic bag of suspected methamphetamine and Sarah A. Caton was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

FIRE

• Lewis County Fire District 6 was called about 4:15 p.m. yesterday to a tractor and hay baler on fire on the 2100 block of South Schueber Road outside Chehalis. It was extinguished.

FROM THE COURTHOUSE

• A 36-year-old Centralia area man was sentenced today to a term of a little more than 16 years and as long as life after pleading guilty to the sexual abuse of a young relative. He turned himself in in January after the girl told her mother of incidents that took place when she was 12 years old, during the year that ended in September of 2012. Before his sentence was handed down in Lewis County Superior Court, Rodney J. Teitzel Jr. turned to the mother in the courtroom and said he’d failed at the most important thing he ever had to do right. The now-teenager was not present as she has moved away, but a note from her was read aloud, in which she said she didn’t know if or when she might ever forgive him. “Because of you, she is a shadow of her former self,” Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Joely O’Rourke said, reading a statement from the mother. Charging documents stated the girl told a detective of times Teitzel put his fingers inside her, under the guise of checking between her legs because the area was red. He is convicted of three counts of second-degree rape of a child. Judge James Lawler said the agreed upon recommendation from the two lawyers was clearly appropriate. Lawler ordered that if or when Teitzel is released from prison, he would be under the supervision of the state Department of Corrections for the rest of his life.

WRECK

• A 66-year-old Winlock man did not see a stop sign and collided with another vehicle at the 4300 block of Jackson Highway about 11:30 a.m. yesterday. He was transported to the hospital with minor injuries, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, shoplifting, misdemeanor assault; responses for alarms, suspicious circumstances, hit and run, kids in a parking lot drinking beer; complaints of  fireworks … and more.