Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – There will be no trial to shed light on what signs of abuse she saw or didn’t see in the weeks before her 2-year-old daughter died while in the care of her new live-in boyfriend.

Becky M. Heupel plans to plead guilty.

The 31-year-old Centralia woman was in Lewis County Superior Court this afternoon where attorneys told a judge they’d reached a “resolution” in the case.

Becky M. Heupel

The boyfriend James M. Reeder was sent to prison last month after pleading guilty to homicide by abuse, second-degree assault, two counts of first-degree rape of a child and possession of methamphetamine.

The toddler, Koralynn Fister, died from drowning and head trauma about 10 weeks after Reeder moved into the north Centralia household.

Lewis County prosecutors charged Heupel criminally, alleging she was warned Reeder was an abuser and chose to put her relationship with him before the well-being of her child.

Heupel is charged specifically with second-degree criminal mistreatment, allegedly recklessly creating an imminent and substantial risk of death or great bodily harm through her inaction.

Koralynn died on May 24 of last year.

The deal offered by prosecutors is that Heupel pleads guilty as charged and they will recommend she go to prison for a year and one day.

While the maximum penalty is five years, the standard sentencing range for someone with no criminal history is six to 12 months.

Her defense attorney, Paul Strophy, said part of the motivation is there are risks in going to trial. Prosecutors were threatening to upgrade the charges if they did, he said.

Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Shane O’Rourke said part of the agreement is Heupel must make a straight guilty plea, not a so-called Alford plea in which the defendant pleads guilty without admitting wrongdoing.

“This is one where we want her to take responsibility,” O’Rourke said.

Reeder’s plea was an Alford plea.

Attorneys on both sides have agreed to recommend a sentence one day higher than the top of the standard sentence range, so Heupel can serve her time in state prison instead of in the Lewis County Jail.

Strophy didn’t go into detail about why that was preferable, but mentioned the opportunity for his client to earn more “good time” to possibly get out early. O’Rourke said prosecutors don’t mind if Heupel does her time with the state Department of Corrections, as that benefits the county budget by avoiding jail costs.

The hearing at which Heupel is scheduled to plead guilty will be held a week from tomorrow in front of Judge James Lawler.
•••

For background, read “Koralynn Fister: Dead toddler’s mother pleads innocent to putting little one in harm’s way” from Friday March 22, 2013, here

Responders wait for busses from Toledo and Winlock school districts to transport kids to their respective schools after determining none needed to go to the hospital. / Courtesy photo by Kevin Anderson

Updated at 6:22 p.m.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A school bus carrying the Toledo-Winlock High School soccer team ran off Interstate 5 last night, coming to rest about 75 feet away at the bottom of a ravine.

No serious injuries were reported, and responders found only superficial injuries, according to Lewis County Fire District 15.

Assistant Fire Chief Kevin Anderson said the bus was carrying 37 individuals.

Firefighters called at 10:05 p.m. found the bus wheels down in a muddy, grassy area to the northeast of the exit 63 freeway interchange.

The bus was northbound and exiting the freeway, when the driver began shouting for everyone to hold on, according a spokesperson for the Washington State Patrol.

The 2009 Thomas full-sized yellow bus traveled through the stop sign at the end of the ramp and continued on, according to the state patrol.

“The driver said he went to hit the brakes, there were no brakes,” Lewis County Medic One Paramedic Jim Akramoff. said. “They just went straight, over 505, there’s a pretty good embankment there.”

The team was returning home from a game in Vancouver, Anderson said.

Anderson noted in a news release it sounded as though the driver did a tremendous job helping keep the situation from being any worse than it was.

Driver Ronnie H. Withrow, 53, missed a sign and a guard rail, navigating a fairly narrow space between the two, according to responders.

About 25 firefighters from Districts 15 and 2, as well as Lewis County Medic 1 paramedics responded, using lighting from their rigs to illuminate the area.

Responders went seat to seat on the bus evaluating the patients, Akramoff said. It took just over an hour from the time they arrived until the youngsters were taken away by other school busses, he said.

“Believe it or not, it went very smooth,” Akramoff said.

The passengers were described as 32 players, mostly teenage boys, along with two coaches and two managers.

“Pretty much bumps and bruises,” Akramoff said. “I’m sure some will be sore today.”

Anderson said there was no obvious damage to the bus.

The bus is owned and operated by the Winlock School District, according to Anderson.

District Superintendent Shannon Criss issued a formal statement noting the district is fortunate to have competent, caring and professional staff who remained calm, and made sure the students remained safe.

The state patrol is investigating, inspecting the bus today.

Courtesy photo Washington State Patrol.

Mark and Lisa Solomon are both recovering from gunshot wounds

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CENTRALIA – They call it the devil gun.

Mark and Lisa Solomon were both momentarily stunned by a loud bang and ringing as they sat inside their Ford Ranger pickup.

She saw his bloody right hand and didn’t realize she’d been hit in the upper thigh by a 9 mm round.

He saw his wife of 15 years holding her left leg and realized she’d been shot.

“I was worried about her,” he said. “I was trying to put a sweatshirt on it.”

His hand was just numb, he said. Mark Solomon is left handed.

One bullet, two holes and injuries that are still healing.

It happened in late February, in the parking lot at Sunbird Shopping Center in Chehalis.

The 40-year-old Centralia man had just purchased a new holster for his handgun and was behind the wheel of his truck, his wife in the passenger seat, he said. Before they drove away, he was putting his pistol into what he called a paddle holster and the gun discharged, he said.

The bullet traveled through his right hand and lodged in her thigh.

Lisa Solomon spent five days at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Her femur was broken in three places, she said.

Doctors installed a titanium rod that extends from her hip to her knee. It will be about two more weeks before she’s allowed to put any weight on it, she said. For now, she uses a walker.

Mark Solomon’s right hand is still somewhat swollen, and it’s sore when he moves his fingers, he said.

He was only off work for a week. He’s part of a crew that makes bread for Subway restaurants at Millard Refrigeration in Centralia.

Both are grateful the other wasn’t hurt worse, but they’re puzzled about the criminal charge he now faces.

He is charged in Chehalis Municipal Court with reckless endangerment, a gross misdemeanor punishable by up to 364 days in jail and / or a fine of $10,250. He pleaded not guilty last week.

It was an accident, they said.

“What people don’t understand, is I’m legal to have a loaded pistol,” Mark Solomon said.

“The round never left the vehicle, so it’s not reckless,” he said. “It’s not like it ended up in Centralia, or blew through the windshield, or whizzed by a kid’s leg.”

He said he’s had a concealed weapon permit since 2008, as well as for a few years in the mid-1990s. He just got the 9 mm Kel-Tec three or four months ago.

He’s not impressed with the weapon, or the hard plastic holster he bought.

The pistol has an internal automatic safety, he said. It’s not like his other handgun, with an external safety he can turn on or off, he said.

“What I did, I grabbed the butt of the pistol and put it in, and something got the trigger,” he said. “I didn’t touch the trigger, it caught on something.”

Chehalis police have said they didn’t find any intent to do harm,  but that no one should be handling a loaded firearm in a public place like a busy parking lot, nor should a gun’s barrel be pointed at anyone  unless one intends to shoot them.

Given a chance to do that day over, Mark Solomon said he’d probably wait until he got home, and unload his weapon before checking out how it fit in the holster, he said.

“It was kind of like a new toy, I wanted to try it out,” he said.

But that doesn’t change, that what occurred was an accident, he said.

Lisa Solomon has a doctor’s appointment on April 24, when she expects to be told she can walk without the aid of a walker.

Mark Solomon will be back in court, with a public defender that same day.

They’re both anxious for the outcome of his court case.

What they do know for sure though, is they don’t want the Kel-Tec back in their lives.

“If I get the gun back, I’m gonna get rid of it,” he said. “I don’t want it around.”