Posts Tagged ‘By Sharyn L. Decker’

News brief: Eighteen potential victims survive U.S. Highway 12 crash

Monday, August 13th, 2012

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A two-vehicle collision on U.S. Highway 12 west of Rochester on Saturday sent seven people to the hospital, including four children riding in the open back of a truck.

It was a T-bone crash at the intersection of Anderson Road that occurred when the driver of a Chevrolet Avalanche blew a stop sign, according to the Washington State Patrol.

The van it hit had 11 passenger, Trooper Guy Gill said.

“It’s never a good idea to let children ride in the back of a pickup truck,” he said.

Troopers called about 3:40 p.m. said there were no life-threatening injuries, but the occupants of the Avalanche were all taken to Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia. The speed limit on Highway 12 is 55 mph.

Nobody in the van was hurt, Gill said.

“In this case, we’re lucky we’re not dealing with fatalities,” Gill said. “In a collision like this, it could have been much much worse.”

The driver of the Avalanche, a 25-year-old Oakville woman, shouldn’t have even been behind the wheel, he said.

She was cited for driving without insurance, third-degree driving with a suspended license and four counts of allowing individuals under 16 to ride without a seat belt, according to Gill.

News brief: Bothell resident drowns in Ohanapecosh River

Monday, August 13th, 2012

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A Bothell man drowned in East Lewis County after getting pinned down in a river between large logs and rocks.

Michael Lloyd Barrett, 41, was rescued by a group of kayakers who assisted Barrett’s fellow campers, but was pronounced dead at Morton General Hospital.

It happened Saturday afternoon on the Ohanapecosh River just outside the southern border of Mount Rainier National Park.

The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office said Barrett was sitting in a shallow area of the river cooling off and when he moved to a deeper area lost his balance.

It is believed he may have intended to ride over a waterfall into a lower pool, something he’d done during previous visits there, according to Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown.

His fellow campers tried but couldn’t get him out of the water, according to Brown. A well-trained group of kayakers happened upon the scene and pulled him out, she said.

Barrett was transported to the hospital, but didn’t make it, according to Brown.

News brief: Fires strike two structures in Centralia

Monday, August 13th, 2012

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A Centralia man was hospitalized yesterday for smoke inhalation after a fire at his apartment on the 100 block of West First Street.

Firefighters called about 9:30 p.m. learned that neighbors alerted the resident, knocking on his door and waking him up, according to Riverside Fire Authority.

The fire affected an exterior wall; there was no damage to the interior of the ground floor unit but smoke got inside, according to Fire Capt. Scott Weinert.

The cause is still under investigation but it began in an area where the resident kept an ashtray and said he smoked, Weinert said.

Earlier in the day, firefighters were joined by crews from Chehalis and Rochester at Century Market on the 500 block of North Tower Avenue when a fire broke out.

Firefighters called about 1:30 p.m. quickly extinguished it, according to Weinert.

That blaze started outside the building and began to extend into a storeroom, Weinert said. Tower Avenue was closed for about an hour, according to police.

The cause is under investigation but one possibility may be discarded smoking materials, Weinert said.

Centralia firefighters were extremely busy yesterday, with 21 calls in the first 20 hours of their shift, the captain said.

Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

Sunday, August 12th, 2012

BAD GUESTS

• Centralia police were called around 10:15 a.m. on Friday to the 1400 block of Johnson Road where they were told an individual allowed two friends to spend the night during which they stole his Xbox and then pawned it,  according to the Centralia Police Department.

DRUGS

• A 20-year-old Centralia man was arrested for possession of methamphetamine early this morning in Centralia. Emmanuel Martinez was booked into the Lewis County Jail following contact with an officer about 5:30 a.m. at the 900 block of Main Street,  according to the Centralia Police Department.

CAR PROWLS

• A Garmin brand GPS device was stolen from  vehicle on the 500 block of South Silver Street in Centralia, according to a report made to police about 1:35 p.m. yesterday.

• Someone smashed out a window and took a radar detector from a vehicle parked on the 800 block of Hamilton Avenue in Centralia, according to  report made to police about 9:45 a.m. yesterday.

• An electric guitar amplifier was stolen from a vehicle on the 500 block of North Iron Street in Centralia, according to a report made to police on Friday morning. A back window was smashed out,  according to the Centralia Police Department.

Toledo man succumbs to injuries from fire

Friday, August 10th, 2012
2012.0810.toledo.fifthwheel

Fire destroyed Carl Gasoway's fifth-wheel trailer in Toledo.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter


TOLEDO – Carl Gasaway didn’t make it.

The 60-year-old Toledo resident was rushed by helicopter to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle yesterday morning after the fifth-wheel trailer where he was sleeping caught fire.

His daughter Chanin Holdt said her father was burned over 90 percent of his body, but he refused any drugs so he could spend his last hours aware of his surroundings, and his family.

Family members from out of state arrived to the hospital about 2:30 a.m. today and he passed away two hours later surrounded by family, she said.

“It was very peaceful,” his son-in-law Lonnie Holdt said.

Gasaway, known for the family business Prairie Ridge Tack and Feed adjacent to the home on Jackson Highway, worked for 35 years at NC Machinery.

He had retired. He was a Vietnam veteran, according to his family.

Firefighters called about 5:15 a.m. yesterday to reports of an explosion and fire at the 5400 block of Jackson Highway found the fifth-wheel trailer fully involved in flames.

Gasaway had to kick open the door to escape, according to Lewis County Fire District 2 Chief Grant Wiltbank.

Fire Investigator Ted McCarty said the force blew one of the side walls right off the trailer.

McCarty said this morning he’s still looking into the cause of the blaze, but he assumes it was related to propane.

“It’s the only product that would do something like that,” he said.

Family and friends have been gathering this afternoon at the family home.

Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

Friday, August 10th, 2012

DOG FIGHT ENDS IN DEATH

• A man walking his small dog on the 1000 block of West Fourth Street in Centralia called police after another dog came onto the sidewalk and attacked his pet yesterday. The Yorkie-type dog had to be put to sleep because of its injuries, according to the Centralia Police Department. Police Sgt. Kurt Reichert said he expected an animal control officer would be following up on the case.

CALLER TO 911 BOOKED INTO JAIL

• A woman who called 911 regarding a dispute on the 100 block of Smokey Valley Road near Toledo about 2 o’clock this morning ended up getting arrested. An arriving deputy learned Heidi M. Catlin, 43, of Toledo, had an outstanding warrant and when she was searched, a small baggie of suspected methamphetamine was found on her jeans pocket, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Catlin was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the sheriff’s office.

BIG HAUL FROM JOHN DEERE DEALER

• A deputy was called to the John Deere / Washington Tractor business on the 100 block of Hamilton Road North in Chehalis yesterday morning where someone had broken in and made off with several pieces of equipment including six walk-behind mowers, a pressure washer, a generator and a John Deere Gator ATV. It happened sometime between 5 p.m. Wednesday and 8 a.m. yesterday, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. A list of missing items is still being compiled, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said.

THEFT OF EQUIPMENT

• Someone broke into a shop on the 100 block of Ribelin Road in Chehalis sometime between Saturday and Tuesday and stole a chainsaw and a large torch and welding unit, according to a report made to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office yesterday. The loss is more than $1,000.

EMPLOYEE SUSPECTED OF STEALING

• Centralia police were called yesterday about a suspected embezzlement at a medical practitioner’s office on the 1000 block of South Schueber Road. Officers are looking into an employee who may have forged an employer’s signature on several checks involving a “significant amount”, according to the Centralia Police Department.

MISSING MONEY

• Centralia police were called late yesterday afternoon to a nursing home on the 900 block of South Schueber Road where a resident said a small amount of money was missing.

UNLOCKED CARS GET PROWLED

• Centralia police were called just before 7 o’clock this morning to a vehicle prowl on the 200 block of West Pear Street where someone had rifled through the trunk and glove box. The victim wasn’t sure if anything was missing, according to the police department. The vehicle had been left unlocked. In the same area less than a half hour earlier, an officer took a report of cash stolen from another unlocked vehicle.

GET OUTA THERE

• A 33-year-old Centralia man was arrested yesterday for trespass after he was found to have been sleeping inside a trailer on the 700 block of North Tower Avenue. The city had posted a do not enter sign on the trailer, according to the Centralia Police Department. Justin L. Haynes was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to police.

GET BACK HERE

• Lewis County sheriff’s detectives yesterday went to Yelm to arrest a 31-year-old Yelm resident because he was living in Yelm instead of on Downing Road in Centralia, the address he gave when he registered as a sex offender in September 2011, according to the sheriff’s office. Joseph F. Laabs, a level one sex offender, was booked into the Lewis County Jail for failing to register, according to the sheriff’s office.

WRECKS

• A 17-year-old bicyclist ended up with cuts and scrapes when her bike got stuck in the grill of a car on North National Avenue yesterday morning in Chehalis. Police called to the scene about 8:40 a.m. learned the car was making a left turn off Median Street onto National when it struck the northbound bicycle. The girl was ejected, according to police.

• A 26-year-old Seattle woman was taken to Providence Centralia Hospital as a precautionary measure after she veered her pickup truck into the oncoming lane on U.S. Highway 12 in Oakville yesterday and struck another truck. A trooper called just after 5 p.m. reported Caitlin Caldwell was eastbound and swerved to avoid traffic slowing for tire debris in the roadway. The truck she hit was driven by Ana Lucia Perez Sanchez, 29, of Centralia. She was reportedly uninjured.

Pipe bomb confiscated from Morton man

Friday, August 10th, 2012

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Deputies last night found a pipe bomb inside a backpack believed to have been carried by a 46-year-old Morton man during a burglary.

Vern V. Hamilton was arrested for possession of an explosive device and burglary in connection with a break-in to a business near his home on the 900 block of Davis Lake Road, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies were called yesterday to Davis Lake Materials where overnight someone had gotten inside the office and a storage shed and stolen 12 dozen pairs of work gloves, a generator, a plastic container, a cash box with $5 in change as well as a hand cart and some Busch beer, according to the sheriff’s office.

Because a witness reported seeing Hamilton that morning walking down the road with some of the missing items, deputies searched his home, the sheriff’s office stated in a news release.

Deputies conducted the search and arrested Hamilton about 7 p.m., she said.

The homemade pipe bomb – described as the size of a piece of dynamite – was found inside a backpack inside the camper where Hamilton resides, Chief Civl Deputy Stacy Brown stated in the news release.

Hamilton was seen wearing the backpack following the burglary, according to Brown.

Brown said they are assuming Hamilton may have been planning to use the pipe bomb for the burglary, but he’s not offering any explanation.

“They’ve been burglarized previously and been trying to fortify (the business),” Brown said.

Specialists with the Washington State Patrol responded about 10:30 p.m. and detonated the device, Brown reported.

Some of the stolen goods were found inside the camper, others were stashed in the woods, according to Brown.