Lewis County Sirens.com

Updated at 1:43 p.m.

THEFT AND METH

• Two people were arrested this morning for allegedly stealing a car hoist from a Chehalis business, cutting it up into pieces and selling it to a local scrap yard. Police had been looking for Jeanelle L. Matson and Charles R. Smith since last week when the item was discovered missing from behind an auto shop on Northwest State Avenue, according to the Chehalis Police Department. Sgt. Gary WIlson said he understood they got about $50 scrap value from the $4,000 hoist. He said the Olympia residents – both 48 years old – have been driving around in a U-Haul van. They were picked up about 5 o’clock this morning when Centralia police spotted a woman push open the door to a vacant house on the 1000 block of Eckerson Road. Both were booked into the Lewis County Jail for possession of stolen property, he said. Matson was arrested also because she was found in possession of suspected methamphetamine, according to Centralia police.

CYBER “STALKER” REMAINS ANONYMOUS

• Police contacted by a student at W.F. West High School yesterday concerned she was being stalked by an anonymous texter concluded the messages were coming from an unknown person in Memphis, Tennessee. Chehalis detective Sgt. Gary Wilson described it as a random, out-of-the-blue situation and said the girl was advised to block the number.

MORE THEFT

• Centralia police arrested a 33-year-old man yesterday afternoon in connection with a burglary at an apartment complex on Reynolds Avenue in Centralia where he worked as a maintenance man. Police said Joshua J. Meyers used a key to get access and took drills, activity which was captured on security video. Officers continue to investigate since other items have been reported missing from a complex owned by the same person on the 2900 block of Mount Vista Road, according to Sgt. Kurt Reichert. Meyers, of Centralia, was booked into the Lewis County Jail for second-degree burglary, according to the Centralia Police Department.

BRUSH FIRE IN DITCH

• Firefighters responded about 2 p.m. yesterday for a brush fire off Coma Road west of Vader. “It was burning in a ditch, starting to get into the timber,” Lewis County Fire District 15 Firefighter Patrick Jacobson said. He estimated the size at 100 feet by 50 feet. Crews from Winlock and Vader extinguished it, he said. Jacobson said he’d only be guessing as to the cause.

WRECKS

• Deputies and aid were called about 9:45 p.m. yesterday to the 300 block of Hewitt Road southeast of Chehalis where a motorcycle struck a deer. The 21-year-old driver from Salkum spoke of leg and arm pain but declined to be taken to the hospital, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. His 2001 Suzuki sustained major damage and was towed, the sheriff’s office said. He was cited for driving without a motorcycle endorsement on his license, according to Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown.

• Two occupants of a passenger car escaped serious injury yesterday when they blew a stop sign entering U.S. Highway 12 west of Rochester and were hit by a semi truck. Trooper called at 3:30 p.m. to the scene at Moon Road reported the eastbound big rig had begun to slow because its driver watched one vehicle turn right off Moon Road without stopping and suddenly the second car did the same thing, Trooper Guy Gill said. The pair in the car were taken to Providence Centralia Hospital with minor injuries and have been released, Gill said. The driver was cited for second-degree negligent driving he said. Her car was heavily damaged on it left side, according to Gill.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for driving with a suspended license; responses for misdemeanor theft, receipt of a counterfeit bill, suspicious circumstances, complaints of drunken yelling man, noisy dogs … and more.

Updated at 2:49 p.m.

MAN MUGGED IN DOWNTOWN CENTRALIA

• Police were called just before 2 a.m. yesterday to the 900 block of West Pear Street in Centralia where an intoxicated man said that he had been assaulted by a group of people as he walked home from a downtown tavern. The 26-year-old Centralia resident said he was punched in the face and believed the two females and three males took his cell phone, according to the Centralia Police Department. He said it happened by the railroad tracks, and the males were all 6-feet 2-inches tall, but police don’t have any good leads, according to Sgt. Kurt Reichert.

CLOSE CALL WITH TRAIN

• A pickup truck that was parked behind the Hub Tavern in Centralia and too close to the railroad tracks was “side swiped” by a freight train on Saturday night. Nobody was inside it at the time, according to the Centralia Police Department. Officers called just before 10 p.m. the area near East Locust noted the truck was dragged a bit and its back end significantly damaged, according to police.

OUT-OF-CONTROL PEDESTRIAN

• A 22-year-old homeless man who reportedly was threatening people with a metal water bottle, stopping traffic and trying to pick fights with random individuals on Saturday afternoon in downtown Centralia was arrested for disorderly conduct, according to the Centralia Police Department. Nathaniel R.H. Beyer, who comes from Hollywood, was contacted at the 100 block of North Tower Avenue and booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to police.

VEHICLE THEFT

• Police learned yesterday a pickup truck stolen from  I-5 Toyota in Chehalis turned up in Pierce County stripped and abandoned. An officer called about 1 p.m. on Friday to the dealership on the 1900 block of Louisiana Avenue was told the silver 2004 Ford 250 pickup vanished sometime between midnight and 7 a.m., according to the Chehalis Police Department.

POLICE CHASE

• Centralia police say Officer Ruben Ramirez and police dog Lobo were summoned just before 9 p.m. on Saturday to Alpha Way in the Onalaska area to help sheriff’s deputies track a suspect following a vehicle pursuit. The sheriff’s office said it was assisting the state patrol. Further details were not readily available.

POSSIBLE CURRENCY MANIPULATION

• Centralia police are investigating after a male tried to spend two $5 bills which had been cut in half and taped together in downtown Centralia on Saturday. The serial number on one end of the bill was different than the serial number on the other end, so the clerk denied the sale, kept the money and called police, according to the Centralia Police Department. Sgt. Kurt Reichert said if a person has only a portion of a bill – as long as they have more than 51 percent of it – they can turn it in to authorities to get a replacement bill, but it’s not okay to tape it yourself. Theoretically, a person could try to tape together two halves of bills that are each less than 50 percent, he said, which would be criminal.

VANDALISM

• Police called just after 6 p.m. yesterday about a tire slashed on a vehicle at an apartment complex in Centralia arrested a 32-year-old Napavine man. Police were told by a witness they had seen Daniel L. Fuchs do it the night before and when he showed up to the scene at the 2800 block of Russell Road, he was arrested for third-degree malicious mischief, according to the Centralia Police Department. He said the tire on his ex-girlfriend’s vehicle was bald and he didn’t want her driving on it, according to Sgt. Kurt Reichert.

WRECK

• A 43-year-old Morton man was cited for speeds too fast for conditions and failing to wear a seatbelt after a back road, nighttime wreck outside Randle in which he missed a corner on a gravel road and traveled off the roadway and down into a “big valley.” A deputy called about 6 a.m. on Saturday learned the man, whose forehead was cut when he stuck the windshield, walked until he was picked up by a passerby and taken to Taidnapam Park near Riffe Lake to get help, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said it happened on the 320-Line, off the 300-Line from the 108 Bridge sometime between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, protection order violation;  responses for minor collisions, vehicle versus bicycle with no injuries (twice over the weekend), misdemeanor assaults, disputes, burglar alarms; complaints of kids playing in the middle of a street, kids throwing rocks, a male stumbling around urinating in public, complaints of noisy neighbors, noisy dogs … and more.