Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

August 20th, 2012

EMPLOYEE FILES STOLEN FROM CENTRALIA BUSINESS

• Someone got into a safe at a business on the 2800 block of Harrison Avenue in Centralia and stole items including a computer hard drive containing personnel information of more than 100 present and past employees, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The owner arriving to the Zaldivar Forestry Corporation about 4:30 a.m. on Saturday found the door to the office and shop kicked in, according to sheriff’s office. Also missing is a welder, a cutting torch and a Honda off-road vehicle, according to  Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said. The loss is estimated at $5,900, according to Brown. There was evidence left at the scene and it is being “processed,” Brown said.

DRUGS

• A 41-year-old Lacey man was arrested overnight when a search of his vehicle turned up scales, empty baggies and suspected methamphetamine, according to the Chehalis Police Department. Jason A. Juneau was stopped by officers about 1 a.m. today at the 500 block of Northwest Pacific Avenue in Chehalis near a tavern because of a defective exhaust system and no splash guards on his vehicle, according to police. He had a warrant with nationwide extradition requested related to drug possession, Officer Linda Bailey said. So a police dog sniffed around and Juneau’s vehicle was impounded and searched, Bailey said.  A hypodermic needle was found as well, she said. Juneau was booked into the Lewis County jail for possession of methamphetamine, according to Bailey.

• A 41-year-old was arrested for possession of methamphetamine about 11:40 p.m. yesterday after contact with a police officer at South Diamond and East Chestnut streets in Centralia. Shane S. Poeschl was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Centralia Police Department.

DOMESTIC INCIDENTS

• Centralia police reported yesterday they were looking for a 34-year-old Centralia man in connection with  second-degree assault called in about 2:10 a.m. at the 300 block of North Diamond Street in Centralia. Officers were told he beat up his girlfriend, according to the Centralia Police Department.

• Deputies called about 6:30 p.m. on Saturday about a dispute at the 200 block of Roe Road in Winlock subsequently arrested a 30-year-old Chehalis man who allegedly broke the trim on his girlfriend’s door her front door, threw a bag of food at her head and said he was going to “get her,” according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Adam C. Sullivan was booked for violation of a no-contact order and possibly faces other charges, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Sullivan was picked up when he returned later to the home, according to the sheriff’s office.

• A 64-year-old Centralia man was arrested for felony harassment on Friday in Centralia in connection with an angry message left on a phone, according to Centralia police. Deputies had been looking for Melvyn J. Valentine after an approximately 4:45 a.m. call he showed up at at his ex-girlfriend’s residence on the 3300 block of Harrison Avenue in violation of a no-contact order, according to the sheriff’s office. Valentine was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to police.

• A 41-year-old man found laying atop a tanker rail car in Centralia late Friday night was arrested for trespassing and violating a no-contact order allegedly earlier in the evening at an address on the 2100 block of Taylor Street in Centralia, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Ernest A. Calderon was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the sheriff’s office.

MAN ACUSED OF RECYCLING SOMEONE ELSE’S STUFF

• Two RV batteries stolen from a travel trailer during the night turned up among batteries accepted for recycling by a business on the 600 block of South Tower Avenue, according to the Centralia Police Department. The victim called police who reviewed surveillance video and then detained a suspect who returned to the service station-food mart about 9 p.m. yesterday, according to police. Steve Ingle Jr., no age or city immediately available, said he found them, according to police. Officers booked Ingle into the Lewis County Jail for trafficking in stolen property.

THEFT OF ELECTRONICS

• Centralia police were called just after 7 p.m. yesterday to a home on the 1400 block of Harrison Avenue about a laptop computer which had been stolen the prior evening from the home. The case is under investigation, according to the Centralia Police Department.

• Police were called about 2 p.m. Saturday to the 1200 block of Alder Street in Centralia about a theft of a Kindle.

• A Hewlett-Packard laptop computer and GPS device were stolen from a car at the 500 block of East Main Street in Centralia, according to a report made to an officer on Saturday.

• Two flat-screen televisions and a first-aid kit were stolen from a trailer at the Cascade Peaks RV Park on the 11,000 block of U.S. Highway 12 in Randle, the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reported this morning. A 50-year-old man from Pasco said it occurred sometime between July 16 and last Thursday, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said.

TRICYCLE TAKEN

• A “collectible tricycle” was reported stolen Saturday from a front yard on the 600 block of West Pine Street in Centralia.

CAR PROWL

• A woman called police after leaving the 100 block of Southwest Sixth Street in Chehalis on Friday and realizing the purse she’d left in her locked vehicle was missing.

• A Pioneer CD changer was stolen from an unlocked vehicle at the 3000 block of Ives Road outside Centralia sometime between 10 p.m. on Saturday and 8 a.m. yesterday, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The hood and door were damaged as well, according to the sheriff’s office.

MAN RUNS FROM POLICE DOG

• A 20-year-old man with a felony warrant who police said ran from officers was caught by a police dog and taken to Providence Centralia Hospital for treatment of his injuries early Sunday morning. The incident occurred on B and Sixth streets in Centralia about 2:50 a.m., according to the Centralia Police Department. Matthew D. Christiansen, a Centralia, resident, was then booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to police.

Upper level of Chehalis home burns, cause unknown

August 20th, 2012
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Neighbors watched as firefighters battled a house fire on Saturday afternoon in Chehalis. / Courtesy photo by Teresa Steffens

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The top floor of a Chehalis home was destroyed by fire on Saturday, but no one was hurt.

The cause remains under investigation.

Firefighters called just before 3 p.m. found fire coming out windows and the roof ridge vent of the house on the 700 block of Southwest Chehalis Avenue, according to the Chehalis Fire Department.

“About an hour before, he was upstairs putting up dry wall and was taking a break on the front porch reading a book,” Firefighter-investigator Jay Birley said.

“The cause? I got no idea,” Birley said.

It wasn’t safe to go into the area where he thinks it might have began, Birley said, as he could fall through the floor.

Chehalis firefighters were assisted by crews from Centralia and Lewis County Fire District 6. Riverside Fire Authority Chief Jim Walkowski took over as incident commander as Chehalis’s fire chief as not in town, according to Birley.

While the upstairs was destroyed, a lot of the belongings of the the couple who lives there with a baby were saved, according to Birley.

“They got a lot of their stuff out, it was wet,” he said.

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Firefighters put water and foam onto a burning Chehalis Avenue house. / Photo by Branden Willson

Ham Hill cat attack yields potentially dangerous dog label for pet

August 17th, 2012

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CENTRALIA – Besides getting a $250 citation for dog at large, the owner of a dog that attacked a neighbor cat on Ham Hill Road late last month has been informed his pet is now designated a potentially dangerous dog.

Police were called when a resident awoke to dogs barking and found her young Siamese outside in the mouth of one of a pair of strange dogs behind her house.

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Bailey and Roscoe

Cheryl Oakley chased them away and when daylight came, found her older tabby cat dead across the road.

An officer who responded to the 3:15 a.m. call on July 30 found two dogs on the next block heading back through an open gate on their property. They matched the description Oakley gave, according to the Centralia police report.

Bailey, a 9-month-old Siamese kitty spent three days at the veterinary clinic being treated for wounds.

The felines were indoor cats, but apparently pushed out the screen of an open window.

The dog owner, Felipe Loa-Vargas, told police he does what he can to keep them on his Yakima Street property, but they sometimes jump out of their kennel, according to the report. Loa-Vargas said he usually keeps the gate in front closed, but his wife may have left it open when she left for work, the report noted.

Had anyone witnessed one of the dogs killing the tabby, that dog likely would have been impounded and deemed a dangerous dog, a designation that puts heavy restrictions on such an animal, according to officer Boe Wohld, the city’s special services officer.

Instead, a notice was sent to the dog owner his dog is now a potentially dangerous dog.

One of the dogs is described in the police report as a chocolate-colored lab-type dog. The other is described as a Pit Bull with white on its chest. Wohld said they look related to each other.

Wohld said he wasn’t sure which dog got in trouble for attacking the Siamese. A copy of the notice sent to Loa-Vargas wasn’t immediately available.

The label of potentially dangerous is appealable.

If the dog is caught roaming again, it may be impounded, according to city code. If it bites again, it can be declared dangerous.

Among the requirements for a dangerous dog, according to Centralia’s code, are being kept in an enclosure with a secure top, proof of $250,000 special liability insurance and in some cases having to wear a muzzle when taken for walks.
•••

For background, read “Dogs that kill” from Saturday Aug. 4, 2012, here

Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

August 17th, 2012

WILDFIRE, POSSIBLE DEATH AVERTED

• Responders rushed to a call of a possible brush fire along Interstate 5 near Vader yesterday afternoon but found instead a man sitting atop a gas can smoking a cigarette. His car had run out of fuel and was stopped on the the northbound onramp near the Gee Cees truck stop, according to Lewis County Medic One paramedic Jason Shepherd. He was told he’d shouldn’t be doing that,  Shepherd said. Responders suspect the 911 caller may have just seen some dust kicked up by the car. A paramedic got the Chehalis man some gasoline and while they were fueling up the vehicle for him, he tried once more to light up, Shepherd said. “He was definitely not understanding us, or maybe he was just shining us on.”

NEAR MISS ON LOGGING ROAD

• A log truck tipped over far enough to lose its load but then righted itself yesterday morning on the 200 block of Green Mountain Road in Mossyrock. The 26-year-old Port Angeles driver said he was leaving a work site when he had to move to the far right because an oncoming Honda crossed over the centerline, according to  Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The cab and trailer touched the ground and spilled the logs before tipping back up, according to the sheriff’s office. The damage to the trailer was estimated at $1,500, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said. The Honda driver returned briefly and then took off, according to Brown.

CAR VERSUS TREE

• A 32-year-old Chehalis man reportedly was uninjured when he lost control of his Ford Escort and slid sideways into a tree on the 1000 block of North Fork Road outside Chehalis last night. A deputy called just before 10 p.m. cited the driver for second-degree negligent driving and no insurance,  according to  Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The car sustained major damage, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said.

FAMILY SUSPECTED IN JEWERY, TRUCK THEFT

• A Chehalis area man called sheriff’s office last night when he returned home and discovered his 1989 Dodge pickup truck was missing. A deputy called to the home on the 800 block of Lucas Creek Road was told the man’s sister-in-law from Florida had been staying with him as his wife recently passed away, according to  Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. She was due to fly home Wednesday and the 52-year-old victim was out of town until yesterday, the sheriff’s office reported. Also missing was most of the wife’s jewelry, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said.

BURGLARY

• A computer was reported stolen from a home yesterday a the 1100 block of Plum Street in Centralia, according to the Centralia Police Department.

MISSING CAR FOUND IN WOODS

• A 1989 Acura Legacy stolen earlier this month in Chehalis turned up yesterday on a logging road near the 1000 block of Brown Road West near Chehalis, according to  Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

VANDALISM

• Centralia police took a report yesterday of someone using a rock to break the window of a vehicle overnight at the 100 block of East Center Street.

DRUGS

• A 23-year-old Chehalis man was arrested for a warrant and possession of methamphetamine after he was spotted walking in the area of the 1400 block of South Market Boulevard in Chehalis about 11:45 p.m. yesterday. An officer found a baggie of suspected methamphetamine in his pocket, according to the Chehalis Police Department. Ezekiel L. Johnson was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to police. He is to be released on the potential drug offense with no charges pending further investigation.

Read about Littlerock man shot by officers is identified as former corrections officer …

August 16th, 2012

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

The Olympian reports the 70-year-old man who died after an exchange of gunfire with police at his Littlerock home yesterday is identified as David W. Mack, a retired corrections officers at the Cedar Creek Corrections Center

News reporter Jeremy Pawloski writes that Lewis County Sheriff’s Office detective Dan Riordan is among the investigators looking into the shooting.

Read about it here.

News brief: Brush fires add to smoke in area

August 16th, 2012
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One acre in Rochester is scorched / Courtesy photo by West Thurston Regional Fire Authority

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Crews from three fire departments were joined by wildland firefighters from the state Department of Natural Resources at a 3:30 p.m. brush fire in Rochester yesterday.

Lt. Lanette Dyer of West Thurston Regional Fire Authority reports one acre burned on the unimproved property along 180th Way Southwest near Albany Place.

A nearby homeowner called 911 after seeing smoke and observing five young people fleeing the scene, Dyer said in a news release.

The wind-driven flames were quickly contained, according to Dyer. A small shed was saved, she said.

DNR brought in a 10-person crew from Cedar Creek Corrections Center near Littlerock to mop up, she stated.

The fire was suspicious and was turned over to DNR and the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office to investigate its origins, according to Dyer.

The blaze came about the same time residents from Centralia to Napavine were reporting haze and smoke over the area that local fire officials attributed to the large wild fire burning in Cle Elum, east of the mountains.

Later in the evening, at least one Lewis County fire crew joined firefighters north of Castle Rock where a five-acre brush fire ignited, according to The (Longview) Daily News.

Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

August 16th, 2012

ELDERLY MOTORCYCLIST TUMBLES OFF LOGGING ROAD

• An 81-year-old man on a motorcycle was rescued after he went over a 30-foot embankment off a forest service road south of Randle and struck a tree. Responders called about 3:40 p.m. on Tuesday to the road headed to the Burley Mountain Lookout used their four-wheel drive ambulance to crawl up the windy, steep and rutted logging road, according to Lewis County Fire District 14. Chief Jeff Jaques said the man, from out of the area, was ejected and tumbled farther after hitting the tree. He suffered non-life threatening injuries and was taken to Morton General Hospital, Jaques said. The motorcyclist was traveling with others and the fire department was notified by a a Forest Service crew that came upon the accident, according to the chief.

BAD DRIVING

• Police were called about 8:45 p.m. yesterday to the 1300 block of Harrison Avenue where an individual said he was jogging when a white vehicle struck him and then continued on. He was not injured, according to the Centralia Police Department.

• A 48-year-old Centralia man was arrested for first-degree negligent driving and a suspended license just after 10 p.m. on Tuesday at North Tower Avenue and East Pine Street in Centralia. Jeffrey Hanson was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Centralia Police Department.

• Two men were hospitalized for non-life-threatening injuries early this morning after a semi truck ran into the rear of Department of Transportation dump truck which was stopped on Interstate 5 south of Chehalis. Troopers called just after 3 a.m to the southbound lanes blamed the 38-year-old driver of the big rig for not paying attention. His 2004 Freightliner sustained about $20,000 damage and he had a sore chest and head, according to the Washington State Patrol. The driver of the dump truck Beau L. Weimer, 29, of Olympia, had a sore wrist, the state patrol reported. His truck was towed with about $10,000 damage, according to the state patrol. Both were taken to Providence Centralia Hospital.

BURGLARY AND THEFT

• Centralia police were called about 3 o’clock this morning to the 2400 block of Seward Avenue about a possible burglary to the home while its owner was in custody.

• Centralia police took a report yesterday afternoon from the 1100 block of West Cherry Street about a debit card number that had been compromised and used. Centralia police Sgt. Stacy Denham said it used a “couple of times in Oregon for a couple hundred bucks.”

• Centralia police arrested a California man yesterday they suspect shoplifted from multiple stores at the Centralia Outlet Mall. Jeremy D. Jackson, 30, was booked into the Lewis County Jail for third-degree theft, according to the Centralia Police Department.

• A quad and tools were reported stolen from a garage on the 800 block of South Tower Avenue, according to a report made to police on Tuesday afternoon.

• The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reported this morning that a 14-foot boat and trailer was stolen from the 100 block of Templeton Road near Toledo sometime between Friday afternoon and Sunday night. The loss is estimated at $3,500, according to the sheriff’s office.

• Someone snuck onto property on the 2000 block of Rice Road in Chehalis and left with six radiators. A deputy called Tuesday afternoon when the theft was discovered was told it must have occurred sometime during the previous week. Four of the radiators are from military jeeps, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The loss is estimated at $1,500.

• Centralia police reported yesterday they took a report from the 1100 block of Long Road they day before that a firearm was stolen from a home there sometime during the previous week.

• Chehalis police were called Tuesday about a vehicle prowl that occurred on Sunday on Southwest 20th Street.

MAN MISSING FROM MORTON

• Morton police are asking anyone with information about 39-year-old Richard A. Alston to contact them. The former California man has been living on Seventh Street in Morton the past few months with his sister, but walked away on Aug. 9 and hasn’t been seen since, Chief Dan Mortensen said yesterday. “They had a little discussion, argument, and he left,” Mortensen said. Alston is not believed to be endangered, just missing, Mortensen said.