Lewis County Sirens.com

Updated at 7:45 p.m.

SHERIFF WON’T LET YOU BAIL OUT IF YOU GET CAUGHT DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE

• Extra deputies will be on patrol this holiday weekend, looking for impaired drivers since today is traditionally one of the most deadly days of the year on the nation’s roads, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Americans love to celebrate the Fourth of July with family, friends, food and fireworks, but too often alcohol turns the party into a tragedy, the sheriff’s office said in a news release. Sheriff Steve Mansfield said his office has a zero tolerance policy for those who drink and drive and announced that anyone arrested by a deputy for DUI will be booked in to the jail with no bail allowed until after they are seen by a judge. Mansfield says while death and injury are the most serious of possible consequences of drunk driving, there are other negative considerations that can affect lives for many years, including loss of drivers license, vehicle impoundment, jail time, lawyer fees, court costs, insurance hikes, just to name a few. His advice: If you’re impaired, use a taxi or call a sober friend or family member. If you see a drunk driver on the road, don’t hesitate to call 911.

ASSAULT

• A 39-year-old homeless man was arrested yesterday for second-degree assault following a 3:20 p.m. call to the 2900 block of Mount Vista Road in Centralia. Arrested and booked into the Lewis County Jail was George S. Gonzales, according to the Centralia Police Department.

FRAUD

• Centralia police took a report yesterday from the 500 block of North Tower Avenue regarding someone using someone else’s name to open up an unspecified credit line.

FROM THE COURTHOUSE

• A 41-year-old Lacey man pleaded not guilty yesterday in connection with responding to a Craigslist advertisement soliciting sex with a 22-year-old woman and her 13-year-old sister; an ad placed by a Lewis County Sheriff’s Office detective. Larry R. White, who works as a financial supervisor at Little Creek Casino, was released a week earlier on a $10,000 unsecured bond the day after his arrest in the parking lot of an apartment on the 2300 block of Jackson Highway in Chehalis. According to charging documents, sheriff’s detective Kevin Engelbertson exchanged emails with White over a two-day period and when the subject arrived on the morning of June 25, he was met by three deputies. White allegedly said told the detective the deal was for $100 but he only brought $75 and hoped not pay any money, according to the charging documents. He also admitted being nervous and knowing it was wrong, charging documents state. He was charged the following day with second-degree attempted child molestation.

SUNSHINE AND GLASS

• The cause of a fire Tuesday on Hopp Road east of Toledo will be listed as undetermined but the fire investigator said he considered the possibility the blazing sun through a window may have reflected off something inside, causing a magnifying glass effect. The evening fire started in a small shed attached to a larger shop-barn building and more than two dozen firefighters fought to extinguish it and prevent it from spreading to the nearby home. The barn building was described as probably a total loss, but much of its contents were believed to be salvageable, according to Lewis County Fire District 2 Chief Grant Wiltbank. Fire Investigator Ted McCarty said this morning he could find no other reason for the fire, with no fireworks being lit in the area and no one having been in the building for awhile.

SPINNING BUMBLEBEE BLAMED FOR FIRE

• Flames reportedly climbed as much as 20 feet beyond the tops of three medium-sized cedar trees that caught fire next to a house for sale in a Centralia neighborhood yesterday, caused by a spinning bumblebee firework a teenager had lit off in the road. “It landed in the debris under the trees,” Riverside Fire Authority Capt. Casey McCarthy said. Arriving firefighters stopped it from spreading to the residence, which was roughly 15 feet away, he said. Part of a wood fence burned, but nobody was injured, he said. The location of the 4:20 p.m. call was the corner of Plum and Cedar streets.

FOR LATER ON

• The state fire marshal is already offering advice for post-fireworks activities. State Fire Marshal Chuck Duffy reminds residents that used fireworks can leave behind a great deal of debris, and its proper cleanup can help reduce the risk of an injury or fire. “If you have unused consumer fireworks, it is best to discharge the remaining fireworks during the legal discharge dates for your community,” Duffy states in a news release. More suggestions: Don’t put used fireworks into any paper or plastic bag, until after they’ve been soaked in a bucket of water for 15 minutes. Then place them into a metal garbage can, he says. And check the area again in the morning, as remaining fireworks debris can easily be overlooked in the dark, he says.

WRECK

• A 59-year-old Mineral resident driving a Ford Crown Victoria southbound on state Route 7 swerved into the oncoming lane striking the side of a Ford F250 pickup truck about noon today sending both drivers to the hospital. Troopers called to the scene about a mile and a half north of Morton report both vehicles were damaged but offered no explanation for why the man swerved. Harold D. Vogel, and Mitchell G. Robinson, 51, from Onalaska, were transported by ambulance to Morton General Hospital, according to the Washington State Patrol. No alcohol or drugs were suspected to be involved, according to the investigating trooper.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, driving under the influence, driving with suspended license; responses for collision on city street … and more.

SCUFFLE AT STORE

• Centralia police say a suspected shoplifter fought with security and then fled the 500 block of South Tower Avenue yesterday afternoon but was subsequently located inside an apartment a short distance away. Officers called about 4:20 p.m. learned the shopper had tried to steal items by placing them inside a bag of already purchased goods, according to the Centralia Police Department. Genaro M. Rivas Jr., 23 of Chehalis, was arrested for second-degree robbery and booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to police.

MANHUNT FOR SHED THEFT SUSPECT

• Deputies spent more than an hour searching a wooded area around the 100 block of Sherwood Avenue Cispus yesterday after a man they were attempting to arrest ran out his back door at about 12:30 p.m. According to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office, surveillance video captured images of 31-year-old Jesse G. Bailey last Wednesday when two gas cans and a saw were stolen from a storage shed on Churchel Road. Deputies stopped looking for Bailey but hid nearby and shortly after 6:15 p.m., heard someone back inside the home and contacted Bailey, according to the sheriff’s office. Some items were returned and others found in an associate’s vehicle the night before, with other property which deputies may be stolen, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said. He was arrested for second-degree burglary and several outstanding warrants and booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to Brown.

BREAK-IN CENTRALIA

• Centralia police were called about 10:20 p.m. yesterday after a resident returned home to the 1000 block of J Street to find she had been burglarized. Missing were a laptop computer and jewelry amounting to about $2,000, according to the Centralia Police Department. It wasn’t immediately obvious how anyone got inside the home, according to police.

FRAUD

• Centralia police took a report from a 69-year-old jail inmate yesterday about his missing debit card which was stolen and used at various locations around town. The Hollywood, Calif. man has been at the Lewis County Jail since early Tuesday morning for allegedly punching an emergency room nurse in the stomach. Police Sgt. Stacy Denham said it’s not clear how much the thief has charged onto the bank card, as the victim was so intoxicated he was having trouble remembering places he himself had used it. They have no suspects yet, Denham said.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, protection order violation, driving with suspended license, misdemeanor assault; responses for dispute, misdemeanor theft, collisions on city street; complaint of fireworks at 11:24 p.m. and can’t sleep … and more.

Firefighters from three departments save the house but a barn-shop building on Hopp Road is mostly ruined by fire. / Courtesy photo by Lewis County Fire District 2

FIRE FIGHT IN TOLEDO

• More than two dozen firefighters battled a blaze last night about a mile east of Toledo that started in a small shop attached to a large barn building and threatened a house. “The vinyl siding on the house was melting and the exterior had started to char,” Lewis County Fire District 2 Chief Grant Wiltbank said. “It was one of the most aggressive fire fights that we’ve had that I can remember in a few years.” Numerous calls came in to 911 about 8:40 p.m., with smoke seen from as far away as Vader, he said. It happened on the 100 block of Hopp Road. One firefighter was treated at the scene for possible heat exhaustion, according to Wiltbank. The metal roofed wood building was approximately 40 feet by 80- feet and is probably a total loss, but much of the contents of equipment and tools are probably salvageable, he said. The chief estimated another two minutes and the house would have caught on fire. The cause is under investigation.

ALL FOR A POP

• The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office says several thousand dollars in damage was done when someone broke into White Pass High School by breaking a door window and broke into a vending machine to steal several sodas and smashing security cameras while there. A deputy called yesterday morning to the 500 block of Silverbrook Road in Randle found that it occurred about 11 p.m. the night before and the culprits were two teenage boys dressed in dark clothing, according to the sheriff’s office. One of them appeared to have cut himself on the broken vending machine and may have a cut on his hand, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said. Some evidence was collected at the scene, Brown said.

ASSAULTS

• A 17-year-old boy was arrested yesterday afternoon in connection with a report of an attempted rape of a girl known to him occurring yesterday at the 1200 block of Alder Street, according to the Centralia Police Department. He was booked into the Lewis County Juvenile Justice Center, according to police.

• Centralia police are investigating a report about 11:40 p.m. yesterday by a female that her ex-boyfriend hit her in the head and then fled. There is a current protection order between the two, according to police.

THEFT

• Chehalis police were called about 9:30 a.m. yesterday regarding a vehicle prowl on Northwest North Street.

SMALL FIRE

• Firefighters called just before 10 p.m. yesterday to a home on the 100 block of Joppish Road outside Centralia found an electrical fire in a bathroom ceiling exhaust fan. The fire was quickly extinguished and damage was limited to the fan and the fan housing, according to Riverside Fire Authority. There was some light smoke in the residence but there was no extension to the rest of the home or other damage, according to the fire department.

WRECKS

• Centralia police said an officer responded just after 5 p.m. yesterday to a collision between a vehicle and a bicycle at Main and Yew streets. The cyclist was left with minor scrapes and bruises and the driver was cited for failing to yield the right of way as well as no insurance, according to the Centralia Police Department.

• A pair of Eugene, Ore. residents were hospitalized yesterday after the big rig they were traveling in rolled onto its side spilling a load of telephone poles across all lanes of southbound Interstate 5 north of Centralia. Troopers called about 10:45 a.m. concluded Nathan A. Taylor, 26, had driven onto the shoulder and then overcorrected causing him to lose control of the Freightliner tractor with a flatbed log trailer. A detour was put into place, but the roadway wasn’t entirely re-opened until 2:30 p.m., according to the Washington State Patrol. Both were taken to Providence Centralia Hospital and the passenger, Ashley N. Webber, 23, has been released but Taylor was treated and then transferred to another hospital, according to a hospital spokesperson.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for driving under the influence, driving with suspended license, driving with no license; responses for suspicious circumstances, possible fraud, unruly teenage girl, collisions on city street … and more.

A traffic camera just south of milepost 88 captures an image of the overturned semi truck and its telephone poles in the southbound lanes.