Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

December 23rd, 2013

GOAT SHOT WITH ARROW

• A 22-year-old Toledo man is jailed after he allegedly shot a family member’s goat with a bow and arrow and then cut its throat on Saturday. Deputies called about 1:30 p.m. to the 100 block of Middle Crest Drive near Toledo were told Kameron D. Williams came over and said he wanted to “make a sacrifice to his Gods” and subsequently was discovered pulling an arrow from the animal, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Williams was contacted awhile later walking down the road and denied killing the goat, but was arrested for first-degree animal cruelty and booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the sheriff’s office.

FRUSTRATED AT THE ER

• A 22-year-old patient was arrested at Providence Centralia Hospital on Friday night after he allegedly threatened he would kill employees once he got out. Officers called about 8:30 p.m. to the 900 block of South Schueber Road booked Jacob M. Goble into the Lewis County Jail for harassment, according to the Centralia Police Department. Goble, described by police as transient, had taken himself to the hospital and felt he wasn’t getting the treatment he sought, police said.

TWO CHASED OFF ROOF

• Centralia police were called about 8:15 p.m. on Friday to the 400 block of West Magnolia Street where a resident discovered two males on a roof on the two-story residence and chased them away. Police said they might have been looking in a bedroom window and they may or may not have known the occupant of the bedroom.

METAL THEFT

• A 25-year-old Centralia man was arrested for trafficking stolen property in connection with a report taken on Friday of a theft from a vacant home on the 2500 block of Seminary Hill Road outside Centralia. Taken was about 1,000 feet of service wire and 2,000 pounds of chain link fence, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Chad C. Bass was booked yesterday into the Lewis County Jail, according to the sheriff’s office. The loss is estimated at $1,000.

• A metal sign stolen from the 100 block of West First Street in Centralia turned up at a scrap yard on Saturday, according to the Centralia Police Department. Police have a suspect in mind.

BURGLARY MOSSYROCK

• Sometime between 7:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. on Friday, someone forced their way into a residence on the 400 block of Salmon Creek Road near Mossyrock and made off with more than $4,000 worth of valuables including two 40-inch flat screen televisions made by Panasonic, a Blu-ray player, a Hewlett-Packard laptop computer, a Nabi 2 tablet, jewelry and DVDs, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

BURGLARY CENTRALIA

• Centralia police were called to the 1500 block of Eshom Road on Friday regarding various fishing tackle and equipment which was stolen in the night.

VEHICLE PROWL

• Centralia police responded about 9 a.m. yesterday to a car prowl at the 1300 block of Lakeshore Drive. A window was broken out, according to the Centralia Police Department.

• Someone broke a window of a vehicle parked at the 200 block of West Reynolds Avenue on Centralia, according to a report made to police on Friday afternoon.

WRECKS

• A 27-year-old Olympia man was ejected and then partially pinned by his car when he lost control of it slamming into a power pole on Saturday night outside Centralia. A deputy responding about 9 p.m. to the 1900 block of Salzer Valley Road reports the driver suffered lacerations and possible internal injuries and was transported to Providence Centralia Hospital, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Alcohol is suspected to be involved and potential charges await the results of blood analysis, according to Cmdr. Steve Aust.

• The 24-year-old Chehalis man injured in a single-vehicle wreck near Pe Ell on Friday night is listed in serious condition this morning at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Tyler V. Clark was traveling eastbound on state Route 6 when he attempted to pass another vehicle, lost control and rolled his pickup truck, according to the Washington State Patrol. Responders had to use the Jaws of Life to extricate him.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, driving under the influence, driving with suspended license, shoplifting, drug arrests for which information is not readily available from law enforcement; responses for alarms, disputes, protection order violation, someone putting trash in someone else’s dumpster, vehicles colliding with parked cars; complaints of noisy neighbor truck, loud neighbor music, barking neighbor dogs … and more.

Fire claims Salkum area barn

December 23rd, 2013

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Firefighters spent the early morning hours extinguishing a fire that swept through a pair of barns in the Salkum-Onalaska area.

Crews were called about 3:20 a.m. to the 800 block of Gore Road where the two side-by-side buildings were found fully engulfed in flames, according to Lewis County Fire District 8.

Chief Duran McDaniel said it was the glow that woke the owners, which was also visible from his own residence down the road.

By the time he arrived, the roof of one of the structures was gone and only its posts left standing, McDaniel said.

An unspecified number of cattle apparently left the barn on their own, although the owner was still searching for one calf this morning, according to McDaniel.

Lost in the fire were two tractors, a fifth-wheel trailer and lots of hay, McDaniel said.

“They did manage to get several other vehicles away from the buildings,” he said.

District 8 was assisted by firefighters from Onalaska, Mossyrock and Napavine, he said.

A fire investigator is looking into the cause.

Vader driver rescued from burning vehicle

December 23rd, 2013
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A 1994 Pontiac Grand Am was extinguished after its unconscious driver was dragged to safety near Vader. / Courtesy photo by Washington State Patrol

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A motorist traveling alone on a dark, desolate highway in south Lewis County overnight was pulled unconscious from his wrecked and burning car by passersby who happened upon the scene.

The 56-year-old man from Vader was rushed by helicopter to a Seattle hospital with serious injuries.

Aid and troopers were called about 12:20 a.m. to the site, on state Route 506 about three miles west of Vader.

Cowlitz-Lewis Fire District 20 Chief Richard Underdahl said when crews arrived, the Pontiac Grand Am had slammed into a tree and was fully engulfed in flames.

“Bystanders had removed the driver from the vehicle and dragged him to safety,” Underdahl said.

Earl L. Crawford is listed in critical condition in the intensive care unit at Harborview Medical Center this morning.

According to responders, Crawford was westbound and traveling fast through a sweeping left curve before the collision. The Washington State Patrol reports speed was a factor.

The fire chief said he believed the patient didn’t sustain any burns but he had serious facial injuries.

The area is roughly a mile west of Brim Creek Road on the way to Ryderwood, according to Underdahl.

Underdahl said if not for the civilian rescuers, Crawford certainly would have perished.

“One trooper said, he is so lucky someone was on this road; during the time we were there, not one car drove up,” he said. “That road is not well traveled.”

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The scene on state Route 506 west of Vader this morning. / Courtesy photo by Tiffany Pannkuk

Imprisoned Onalaska man resists bill for costs of lost appeal

December 21st, 2013
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Ronald Brady is directed to a seat in front of Judge James Lawler yesterday afternoon.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Ronald A. Brady was back in Lewis County briefly, in the midst of his prison term for shooting an unarmed suspected burglar outside his Onalaska house three years ago.

Brady lost his appeal of his second-degree manslaughter conviction and prosecutors had him transported to Chehalis yesterday in connection with collecting $96, the state’s cost of responding to his appeal.

Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Sara Beigh said Brady didn’t sign the paperwork or respond to any correspondence about it sent to him so she had him brought before a judge.

Lewis County Superior Court Judge James Lawler asked Brady about his objection, when he indicated he didn’t want to sign anything without consulting an attorney.

“I’m not a lawyer and I have no idea if I’ve given up any rights unless I check,” Brady said.

The brief interaction took place at 4 p.m., when a handful of newly arrested individuals were making their first appearance before a judge. Defense attorney Brian Gerhart who was there to represent them, consulted briefly with Brady inside the courtroom ahead of time.

Brady indicated he has contacted another attorney about another issue on the appeal.

Judge Lawler said he noted the objection, and signed the order to amend the judgement and sentence.

The amount was added to his $1,000 fine and $1,147 in other fees already imposed.

The 60-year-old was convicted by a jury in the summer of 2011 in the death of 56-year-old Thomas McKenzie of Morton. He was given a sentence of five years and three months.

The case generated strong opinions on both sides. Lewis County Sheriff Steve Mansfield didn’t arrest Brady, saying he thought the shooting was justified. When prosecutors subsequently filed charges, they argued the act was intentional and premeditated.

Brady appealed on several grounds, including contending the trial court erred when it refused to allow testimony to prove McKenzie and his wife were at his property to steal and didn’t allow the jury to consider a right to resist the commission of a felony.

The appeals court said the only crime being committed at the time he opened fire with a .22 rifle was criminal trespass.

The panel of three judges this past April upheld the conviction and this fall, the Washington Supreme Court denied his petition for review.

The Onalaska man is housed at Cedar Creek Corrections Center, a minimum security facility near Littlerock.

•••

For background, read “Breaking news: Onalaska man gets five years for shooting suspected burglar” from Wednesday July 6 2011, here

News brief: Motorist injured near Pe Ell

December 21st, 2013

Updated at 10:22 a.m.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A 24-year-old Chehalis area man was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center after a single-vehicle wreck on state Route 6 last night.

Troopers and aid responded about 9:20 p.m. to the scene roughly two miles east of Pe Ell.

“When our guys got there, the truck was on its top in the ditch and they had to use the Jaws of Life (to extricate him),” Lewis County Fire District 11 Chief Michael Krafczyk said.

According to the Washington State Patrol, Tyler V. Clark was headed east and moved into the oncoming lane attempting to pass another vehicle when he lost control of his Toyota Tacoma pickup. Clark’s pickup rolled and landed on the north side of the highway, according to the state patrol.

Because of the weather, medics with the fire department and AMR had to transport him to the Tumwater airport to meet a helicopter to fly him to the Seattle hospital, according to Krafczyk.

The truck was totaled. The injuries were extensive enough to warrant an airlift, Krafczyk said.

The investigating trooper blamed the wreck on speed and reports it may have involved alcohol or drugs.

Just a week ago, speed was blamed for a collision that killed two young people on Big Hanaford Road north of Centralia. Jonathan W. Parker, a 20-year-old from Centralia, lost control of his car and slid into the path of a dump truck. His 18-year-old passenger, Tiara F. Kalebaugh from Pe Ell died with him.

Washington State Patrol spokesperson Trooper Jason Hicks this past week cited a new report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration which found that excessive speed remains a leading cause of preventable traffic deaths.

According to Hicks, about one-third of such fatalities nationwide are linked to speeding. In Washington state during 2012, of the 437 people who died in traffic, 159 of the deaths included speed as a contributing factor.

Search warrants turn up meth residue

December 20th, 2013
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John L. McNeal, left, Jeffrey C. Sitton and Michael K. Sitton, right, at their bail hearing in Lewis County Superior Court.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Law enforcement officers searched a Centralia residence yesterday and a car belonging to a rural Chehalis man at the end of a methamphetamine dealing investigation, with three men finding themselves charged today in Lewis County Superior Court.

John L. McNeal, 28, is charged with possession based on three baggies with residue found in his vehicle as well as six counts of delivery of a controlled substance connected with alleged purchases made by police informants over the past year. Bail for the rural Chehalis man was set at $20,000.

Police found glass pipes with residue at the 800 block of Wayne Drive in Centralia in the detached garage residence and the bedroom of Jeffrey C. Sitton, 31, and Michael K. Sitton, 33, according to charging documents.

At the home, they also located a 9 mm handgun and two shotguns, one of which was described as having a sawed off barrel, but no firearm charges were filed.

Jeffrey C. Sitton’s bail this afternoon was also set at $20,000.

He was charged with five counts of delivery and one of possession. The delivery allegations consist of instances when a confidential informant met up with him and McNeal, usually at Wayne Drive, but also outside Picasso Brothers in Centralia, according to the documents.

Both men have prior drug convictions.

Michael K. Sitton has no criminal history, but is now charged with one count of delivery connected to a November 2012 instance in which an informant allegedly met him and McNeal at the detached garage. He is charged with possession as well.

His bail was set at $10,000.

Charging documents also allege that last week, an informant told a detective they could purchase meth and a gun from McNeal and the younger Sitton and in the process obtained a .357 pistol which turned out to be stolen.

The investigations were conducted by the Centralia Police Department and the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

Their arraignments are set for next week.

Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

December 20th, 2013

Updated at 1:12 p.m.

DRUGS

• Centralia police arrested an individual for possession of methamphetamine when he was observed without a seatbelt in a vehicle stopped because one of its occupants was wanted on a warrant. It happened about 7:30 p.m. yesterday at Harrison Avenue and Alexander Street, according to the Centralia Police Department. Sgt. Kurt Reichert said there were four people inside and because of the “furtive movements” in the backseat and being unrestrained, Matthew M. Morris, 21, was patted down and the substance turned up. When Morris was booked into the Lewis County Jail, a baggie with suspected heroin was discovered as well, according to Reichert.

PROWLING

• Centralia police responded about 2:15 a.m. today to car prowls in the 3000 block of Galvin Road in which windows were broken. A lunchbox, CDs and the rearview mirror were stolen in one case and in another nothing appeared initially to be missing, according to the Centralia Police Department.

• A backpack was stolen and a window broken out from a vehicle at the 500 block of South Tower Avenue in Centralia, according to a report made to police about 10:15 p.m. yesterday.

• An officer took a report yesterday of medication stolen from an unlocked car overnight at the 400 block of Ash Street in Centralia.

FROM THE COURTHOUSE

• The Onalaska man serving a five-year sentence for fatally shooting a suspected burglar outside an uninhabited house he owns is scheduled to go before a judge this afternoon as prosecutors seek payment of their costs for the appeal he lost. Ronald A. Brady claimed self-defense in the 2010 death of 56-year-old Thomas McKenzie of Morton but the 60-year-old was convicted the following summer of second-degree manslaughter. He appealed on several grounds, including contending the trial court erred when it refused to allow testimony to prove McKenzie and his wife were at his property to steal and didn’t allow the jury to consider a right to resist the commission of a felony. The appeals court said the only crime being committed at the time he opened fire with a .22 rifle was criminal trespass. Brady is set to appear in Lewis County Superior Court at 4 p.m. today.

WRECK

• Police and aid responded about midnight when a Volvo slammed into a parked sport utility vehicle at the 300 block of Southwest Chehalis Avenue in Chehalis. The 24-year-old driver from Chehalis was not injured but a trooper took over because of the possible involvement of alcohol, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, misdemeanor assault, violation of protection order, drug arrests for which information is not readily available from law enforcement; responses for alarms, disputes, apparent computer scammer on the phone … and more.