Lewis County Sirens.com

Jeremy L. Rumley Jr., in red, prepares to take a seat at the defense table in Lewis County Superior Court

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Bail was set at $50,000 for a 26-year-old man who allegedly broke in through the locked back door of a downtown Centralia tavern after closing, while the bartender was inside alone and cleaning up.

When police frisked the suspect, they located a 16-inch knife on him, according to court papers. The blade measured 10 inches long.

Jeremy L. Rumley Jr. was brought before a judge in Lewis County Superior Court yesterday afternoon, charged with two counts of first-degree burglary.

He was allegedly found inside the Hub Tavern shortly after 3:40 a.m. on Wednesday. Later that morning, the owner of the adjacent Tower Tavern reported he discovered someone had broken through his rear door and he was missing numerous bottles of alcohol and cigarettes, according to the documents.

Centralia police described Rumley as transient. Court documents list him as transient in Centralia. Temporary defense attorney Kevin Nelson told a judge yesterday afternoon Rumley resides in a Portland apartment with his wife.

Charging documents state officers were dispatched to the 100 block of South Tower Avenue; the bartender said someone had been banging on the door and then made entry.

When officers tried to push open the back door, someone inside kicked it shut. They surrounded the building and after a short period of time, a man opened the back door and officers detained him. That’s when they found the knife.

The bartender told police she had been cleaning the men’s restroom when she heard a loud bang and then a second bang. As she ran to hit the silent alarm, she heard a thud and hid and called 911, according to charging documents.

When she thought officers were on the scene, she headed to the front door, and saw two individuals crouched on the ground behind the bar, the documents relate. She exited and hid in some bushes.

Surveillance video shows two two people break through the rear door and crawl on the floor until they reach the bar, according to charging documents. The two appear to be spooked when the bartender walked out and one runs to the front of the bar and out of view.

“You can see officers contacting Rumley at the rear door after he opened it and was detained,” Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead wrote in the affidavit regarding probable cause.

Rumley’s co-defendant, John Doe, is charged with the same two offenses.

Surveillance video from the Tower Tavern shows two individuals pull up to the back of the bar, park and wait until the crowds dissipated, according to Halstead. It also shows them enter the building, remove items and then place them into the vehicle.

Rumley’s arraignment is scheduled for next Thursday.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS  – The two buildings that comprise the Onalaska fire department’s main station have been condemned.

Lewis County Fire District 1 Board of Commissioners Chair Rich Bainbridge said it wasn’t a surprise.

The notice dated yesterday indicates numerous issues such as structural dilapidation with wood rot, interior vegetation growth and inhalation hazards such as mold, asbestos and mice droppings.

“Everything you can think of is wrong with it,” Bainbridge said. “Obviously it caught us at an awkward time.”

He said they have been visited off and on this week by Labor and Industries and Lewis County.

“We had a meeting last night, L&I came down last night from Olympia,” he said. “They said, you’ve gotta get out of these buildings now.”

The station is located at 244 Carlisle Avenue.

Bainbridge said the district has two satellite stations it can use, but exactly where the fire engines and other equipment will be parked is unknown.

“I can’t answer that right now, where everything is going to go,” he said.

The newly appointed Fire Chief Adam Myer is taking an inventory of the district’s belongings, he said.

The district owns property, six acres, for a new building.

Bainbridge said an engineering firm is in the process of putting together a design and once they know the final cost, they plan to go for a bond to build it.

“That’s been my target since I became commissioner,” he said.

The three-member board of commissioners normally meets the third Thursday of each month, but some special meetings will likely be held, Bainbridge said.

November’s meeting was held in the office area at the Carlisle Avenue location and an emergency meeting the following week took place in the large bay just adjacent.

The second meeting was heavily attended and contentious, as the board had just dismissed the fire chief and then one-third of the volunteers resigned in protest.

Bainbridge isn”t sure where the next meeting will take place.
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For background, read “Commissioners, volunteers clash at Onalaska fire department” from Thursday November 23, 2017, here

Roberto L. Mendez, in green striped jail garb, is represented by temporary defense attorney Kevin Nelson in Lewis County Superior Court

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Sunday’s incident in which shots were fired near a gas station in Silver Creek and one man was arrested led to the recovery of five firearms stolen in a recent Lewis County burglary.

Roberto L. Mendez, 32, of Mossyrock, reportedly told deputies he fired his handgun into the air as he and a 39-year-old Winlock man drove away in separate vehicles following an argument.

Mendez said the dispute was because he had not sold some guns the man provided him the week prior, because he believed they were “hot”, according to charging documents.

Mendez was charged yesterday in Lewis County Superior Court with one count of drive-by shooting, five counts of possessing a stolen firearm and possession of methamphetamine. He remains held in the Lewis County Jail with bail set at $100,000.

Charging documents in his case state that deputies dispatched about 11:30 a.m. on Sunday to the 2900 block of U.S. Highway 12 spoke to a clerk at the gas station who said there had been two males parked who appeared to be in an argument but they left. She heard what she thought was two gun shots, but didn’t know who fired a gun or where the shots came from, Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead wrote.

The 39-year-old man was contacted at his home and didn’t want to cooperate but an acquaintance who had been with him said as they each drove away, Mendez stuck his hand out of his driver’s side window and fired a handgun into the air two times, according to Halstead.

Deputies located Mendez through a traffic stop and he allegedly admitted to firing the gun.

When they searched his vehicle, they found the handgun and five other guns. On Tuesday, a detective showed the victim of a recent burglary pictures of the five guns and he identified them as his which had been taken from his home, according to Halstead.

Mendez’s arraignment is scheduled for next Thursday.