Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

June 29th, 2012

CAT SAVED, HOME LOST IN PE ELL FIRE

• A Pe Ell home was pretty much destroyed by an attic fire this morning, but after it was extinguished crews found a pet cat hiding on top of a kitchen cabinet. The cat was fine, Lewis County Fire District 11 Michael Krafczyk said. Crews called about 6:40 a.m. to South First Street across from the school found flames coming from the roof, Krafczyk said. They conducted an interior attack but a portion of the roof caved in and there was significant smoke and water damage to the contents, according to the chief. The man who lives there had already left for work, he said. Some 15 to 20 personnel responded from District 11, 13 and 16. “We got great help from the other districts,” Krafczyk said. “Everything went as best as it could. Nobody got hurt.” An investigator is on the scene looking for the cause.

THEFT

• Centralia police yesterday afternoon arrested a 34-year-old man for burglary and possession of methamphetamine in connection with an address on the 1400 block of Oxford Avenue. Jake A. Ruble, of Centralia, was booked into the Lewis County Jail and officers are looking for his female companion, according to the Centralia Police Department. Police did not note what might have been stolen.

• A deputy was called yesterday about a burglary to a detached garage on the 200 block of Gore Road near Onalaska, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Among the items missing were old baseboard heaters, metal shelves, cabinets, a small refrigerator and two air compressors, the sheriff’s office reported. It apparently occurred sometime in the previous two weeks, detective Sgt. Dusty Breen said.

• An individual arriving at an unoccupied home on the 900 block of South Market Boulevard in Chehalis called police about 6:30 p.m. yesterday when she heard someone inside and then saw two males run out the front door. A backpack was found inside and a 33-year-old Chehalis man was arrested for burglary, according to police. The other individual wasn’t found, Sgt. Gwen Carrell said. Richard S. Warren was booked into the Lewis County Jail, Carrell said.

• Centralia police were called about 5:25 p.m. yesterday to a report a male stole a bottle of alcohol from an unnamed business on an unspecified portion of South Tower Avenue in Centralia.

“OUT OF SORTS”

• Chehalis police were called at least three times last night about a man who appeared he might jump from a freeway overpass and finally was reportedly doing cartwheels down the middle of Southwest Interstate Avenue. The first call came about 7:20 p.m. at the Main Street overpass, but the individual told police he was just waiting for someone, according to the Chehalis Police Department. Later a caller noted him in the area of 13th Street and officers learned an employee at the AM / PM had asked him to leave. “He was acting really out of sorts,” Sgt. Gwen Carrell said. The 22-year-old was contacted about 11:25 p.m. after returning to the convenience store and arrested for trespass. He was booked into the Lewis County Jail.

DRUGS

• A 30-year-old Centralia man was arrested for a warrant and possession of methamphetamine about 9 p.m. yesterday at East Reynolds Avenue and North Pearl Street, according to the Centralia Police Department. Rodolfo Romo was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to police.

• A 27-year-old Winlock man was arrested last night after he was contacted trespassing on railroad tracks near the 1400 block of Ferrier Road in Winlock. During a search, a deputy found a baggie containing suspected methamphetamine and needles, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Gabriel S. Huffman was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to detective Sgt. Dusty Breen.

TRESPASS

• A 33-year-old Centralia woman found again in an uninhabitable residence on the 700 block of North Tower Avenue yesterday morning was arrested for trespassing, according to the Centralia Police Department. Amber Metcalf was given her citation and then released, according to the Centralia Police Department.

WRECK WITH LOG TRUCK

• A mother and two young children were hospitalized yesterday morning after their car pulled in front of a fully loaded log truck near Castle Rock. Aid and deputies called about 7:35 a.m.  Westside Highway at Magpie Drive found the family was taking their cat to the vet when it escaped its box causing a distraction, according to the Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office. Shannon Strozyk was seat belted and her 6-year-old boy and 4-year-old girl were strapped in the car seats in the back, according to the sheriff’s office. The driver of the North Fork Timber log truck, Michael McNew, 49, of Toledo, was reportedly uninjured, according to a news release from the sheriff’s office. The log truck had been southbound on Westside Highway when Strozyk attempted to turn northbound from the side road, according to the sheriff’s office. The Strozyks were taken to St. John Medical Center in Longview, the sheriff’s office reported.

MAN KILLED BY TRAIN NEAR ELMA

• The (Aberdeen) Daily World reports a man laying on the tracks was killed yesterday morning by a train about two miles west of Elma towards Oakville. The newspaper writes he may have been transient as personal possessions and a bicycle were found nearby.

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Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

June 28th, 2012

THEFT

• Police were called about 2:45 a.m. today to the intersection of South Washington Avenue and Centralia College Boulevard where a taxi driver said a pair of passengers tried to pay with a fake $100 bill. When the driver noted the counterfeit money, the two men ran off, according to the Centralia Police Department. The currency was actually an altered $5 bill, according to police.

• Officers were called about 4:45 p.m. yesterday to the 1100 block of Harrison Avenue in Centralia where two teenage boys allegedly stole alcohol from a store. Centralia police noted in a summary nobody was arrested but also reported one 15-year-old was booked into the Lewis County Juvenile Detention Center, while the case involving the other 15-year-old was referred for a charge of theft as well as possession of alcohol by a minor.

• Centralia police took a report of misdemeanor theft of money from the 900 block of Johnson Road yesterday afternoon.

• A laptop computer was reported stolen from a business on the 1500 block of Northwest Louisiana Avenue in Chehalis yesterday morning.

• Makeup and medication were reported missing a vehicle on the 100 block of McFadden Avenue in Chehalis yesterday.

FIREWORKS START FIRE

• Riverside Fire Authority said it was juveniles and fireworks that caused a fire that destroyed a vehicle Tuesday evening off the 400 block of West Reynolds Avenue in Centralia.

WRECK

• One driver was hospitalized with a laceration to his forehead after a near head-on collision this morning on the 1300 block of Mellen Street in Centralia. Police called just before 7 a.m. reported that one vehicle turned in front of another and the ensuing collision pushed it into a third vehicle.

• A 32-year-old Chehalis man was among four people injured on a car versus truck collision yesterday on U.S. Highway 12 just west of Montesano, according to the Washington State Patrol. Brian A. Schweitzer was a passenger in a Ford 150 pickup that was running out of gas and slowly moving to the shoulder when it was rear ended by a passenger car shortly before 1 p.m., according to he state patrol. All were hospitalized but none of the injuries were life threatening, the state patrol reported.

CENTRALIA 5-YEAR-OLD APPLAUDED FOR CALLING 911

• A 5-year-old child will be honored by the Lewis County Board of Commissioners after making a 911 call summoning aid to Centralia on Sunday morning. The child used a cell phone and stated “Daddy is sick” but couldn’t provide an address, according to a news release from the Lewis County dispatch center. A call taker used satellite coordinates while the little one consoled the ill parent and responders found the location, according to the news release.

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Morton founder of missing children organization loses appeal on felony conviction

June 28th, 2012

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

An appeals court has upheld the insurance fraud conviction of Jennifer M. Mau, a Morton woman best known for her private endeavors to search for missing children in high profile cases.

Mau, then 30, and her boyfriend David Eden, then 47, were found guilty in September 2010 of making a false insurance claim involving a U-Haul trailer they said leaked and damaged their belongings during a move from Centralia to Morton three years earlier.

According to the findings issued by the Washington State Court of Appeals, Mau was told the loss from rain and water damage was not covered under the protections she had purchased but told to make a report to U-Haul’s insurance company anyhow.

Mau provided a seven-page list of items totaling approximately $16,000, but said they had taken the damaged items to the dump, according to the decision.

The claims administrator found it suspicious and the claim was denied, according to the decision.

Mau testified it was her understanding it was a preliminary list of items that potentially could have been damaged.

Her appeals attorney argued the list was not made under a contract of insurance. Eden’s appeal involved a denial he was an accomplice. The panel of three judges disagreed in their opinion issued on Tuesday.

The crime is a class C felony, which prosecutors said at the time of conviction could mean up to 12 months in jail.

Mau, a criminal justice student, was founder of the Mount St. Helens Chapter of a Texas-based group called Guardians of the Children, an organization she said helped with abused and missing kids.

In the summer of 2010, she organized volunteer searchers who eventually found the body of a missing 16-year-old Morton boy with the help of a Portland psychic.

A 21-year-old friend of Austin King was subsequently convicted of manslaughter in his death.

Mau, who has since started a different group called Search and Seek, indicates she will appeal the decision.

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Napavine man lightens burden of traveler’s tragedy

June 27th, 2012
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Firefighters finish putting out travel trailer fire south of Chehalis. / Courtesy photo by Lewis County Fire District 5

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – After the flames that virtually consumed Ken Schumann’s travel trailer on Interstate 5 were extinguished, a local man stuck around to help the Alaska resident salvage what he could of his possessions while they waited for a tow truck.

Schumann was relocating to Arizona, pulling the 31-foot trailer that has been his home for the past two years. Most everything he owned was inside, except his dog which was riding in the far back of his GMC Yukon sport utility vehicle.

“We found a coin collection, some old album photos and, I think that’s about it,” Antonio Martinez said.

Schumann, who turns 80 next month, was southbound near milepost 68 outside Chehalis just before 11 a.m. on Sunday when he thought he might have a tire fire. He pulled over and grabbed his little fire extinguisher, but quickly realized it was a losing battle, he said.

About that time, Martinez and his family were crossing the Avery Road overpass, on their way to breakfast at Spiffy’s and the father of three could see the motorist attempting to unhook his truck from the burning trailer.

“I saw the old man was struggling,” Martinez said. “I can’t believe how many people were on the bridge, taking pictures and video. I told my wife, I’m going to go help him.”

Martinez said the fire was growing so big, he told the elderly gentleman they needed to get the dog out of the truck. They struggled until they realized the end of his leash was stuck.

Schumann said he had to unhook the leash from “Spook’s” collar, and sure was glad he wasn’t alone on the side of the freeway with his unleashed pet.

Two passing motorists also stopped to help, one from Oregon and another on his way to California, Martinez said.

“In less than 10 minutes, it was gone, the trailer,” he said. “It was amazing how fast.”

Lewis County Fire District 5 found the trailer fully engulfed in flames, and put it out.

Schumann said he’d tucked away cash, not much but it was his savings, inside the trailer. He literally jumped up and hugged two firefighters at the same time, when they managed to find the money – soaking wet – among the ashes, he said.

And while the backside of his truck was “baked” as if badly sunburned, it was still drivable, according to Schumann.

“I don’t feel 80,” Schumann said Monday night after he rested. “At least I didn’t until the trailer situation.”

Schumann’s Alaska-based business, before he retired, involved traveling to do service calls to repair electronics. He liked to tinker, he said. Which is why he had three flat screened televisions and various other projects in his trailer, he said.

For about 10 years, he lived in Central America, still taking on some repair jobs after he turned his business over to his son.

“I sold my little house in Belize, took the money and bought a trailer,” he said. “All my life I’ve admired people who traveled in travel trailers. That was my chance.”

At one job on a military base in Honduras four years ago, he picked up a retired Air Force guard dog that looks like a miniature German Shepherd, but is actually a Belgian Malinois, with eyes so light blue he named her Spook, he said.

Spook has traveled with him ever since, and is a good companion except she barks too much, he said. The ordeal on Sunday apparently cured her of that.

“She has not opened her mouth a squeak since she sat and watched that trailer burn,” he said.

While Schumann and Martinez waited for the right kind of tow truck to come on Sunday, they scavenged through the debris looking for a coin collection and other items the retired businessman hoped to save.

The 32-year-old Napavine man sent his family on to the restaurant without him.

“My wife said, hey, you gonna come to breakfast? I said, I don’t think so, because everybody had left,” Martinez said. “He was shaking so bad, I felt bad to leave him alone.”

Martinez’s wife brought them back burgers, plain for the dog.

As they picked through the remains, Schumann lost his balance and fell from the wreckage onto a pile of debris on the pavement.

Schumann said he swung his arm back, gouging his wrist on a sharp beam. He didn’t see the wound, but Martinez grabbed his forearm like a baseball bat and held pressure on it until medics arrived, he said.

Schumann was taken by ambulance to Providence Centralia Hospital.

Lewis County Fire District 5’s Lt. Laura Hanson said they often find that folks stop briefly to assist in bad situations, but she called Martinez a good samaritan who stayed and helped above and beyond.

Martinez took the dog to his Napavine home, and then went to the hospital to wait until Schumann was released at about 8 p.m. The family invited him to stay over, but he wanted to overnight in Longview, so he could get to the tow yard first thing in the morning, he said.

He wanted to check for some keepsakes, he said, like a belt buckle personally given to him by Elvis Presley in Biloxi, Mississippi, and perhaps his medications from the V.A., he said. But the floor was six to 12 inches deep with charred wood and soot.

The medicine cabinet was nonexistent, and, Schumann said, come to think of it, he never even saw what had been the bathroom.

Schumann stopped Monday evening back at the Martinez’s Napavine home; he’d forgotten to write down his address. He was on his way to Wal-Mart to buy a charger for his cell phone, and then on to Seattle to talk with his insurance company.

He couldn’t have asked for a better man to help him than Martinez, he said. “All the way through this, he was so much help,” he said.

“If you use the word hero anywhere, the right place might be Antonio,” Schumann said.

The idea of moving to Arizona was his son’s he said. He was actually partial to wintering in southern Texas, in a place that is half giant flea market, half mobile home park.

“You know how crazy this is turning out, I don’t have any reason to go to Phoenix anymore,” he said.

“The insurance will cover the trailer, but at my age I wonder if I want to buy another one.”

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Southbound Interstate 5 near milepost 68 on Sunday. / Courtesy photo by Kristal Tardiff

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Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

June 27th, 2012

THEFT

• Police were contacted by a Centralia business yesterday morning after the discovery their debit card had been used over the weekend racking up spending of around $800. The card had been stolen, according to the Centralia Police Department.

• Police called yesterday afternoon to a shoplifting incident involving clothing at an Outlet Mall store in Centralia are investigating are the possibility multiple stores in the mall were hit yesterday by the same subjects, according to the Centralia Police Department.

• Chehalis police were contacted yesterday about an incident on Saturday at Wal-Mart in which a customer apparently stole a Shark steam cleaner and tennis shoes, and returned them in exchange for a gift card.

• Chehalis police were called about 7 o’clock this morning about mail found in a yard on the 1800 block of Southwest Fair Avenue.

• Centralia police were called about 3:25 p.m. yesterday to the 400 block of South Iron Street about a license plate getting stolen.

UNCOOPERATIVE SHOPPER

• Chehalis police contacted an individual in the parking lot at Wal-Mart yesterday afternoon after employees called because they found drug paraphernalia including needles inside the restroom. Chehalis police Sgt. Gwen Carrell said for whatever reason he was uncooperative and was taken to the ground by officers. The subject was transported to Providence Centralia Hospital for observation because of apparent drug usage, Carrell said.

WRECK

• A 37-year-old motorist was hospitalized overnight after he totaled his car on Interstate 5 just north of Centralia. Troopers were called just before 3 a.m. after Stephen K. German’s 1996 Geo Metro struck a bridge railing on the right hand side of the northbound lanes, crossed over and hit the center barrier and overturned, according to the Washington State Patrol. The Salem, Ore. resident was taken to Providence Centralia Hospital with a head laceration, according to the state patrol.

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Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

June 26th, 2012

POLICE: MAN BREAKS GIRLFRIEND’S NOSE

• Chehalis police called to an apartment complex about 2 o’clock this morning found a 22-year-old woman who said she was trying to leave and her boyfriend attempted to to drag her back inside by her hair. James R. Payne, 31, of Chehalis, was arrested for second-degree assault as an officer learned the victim had been hit in the face a couple of days earlier leaving her with a broken nose and possibly a broken eye socket, according to the Chehalis Police Department. Payne was booked into the Lewis County Jail, Sgt. Gwen Carrell said.

ALLEGED DEATH THREAT

• A 41-year-old Chehalis man was arrested for harassment last night after he allegedly told his girlfriend to sit on the bed and that he would kill her if she moved. An officer called about 11:45 p.m. to the 1500 block of Southwest Mills Avenue was told the man was drinking all day and broke some items inside the home, according to the Chehalis Police Department. He was booked into the Lewis County Jail but is being released without charges.

STOLEN CAR RECOVERED, MAN ARRESTED

• A Thurston County man was arrested yesterday for extortion after allegedly contacting the victim of an auto theft and saying he would tell her where her vehicle was if she paid him $500. The red PT Cruiser had been stolen from Centralia the weekend before last and the man somehow learned who it belonged to, according to detective Sgt. Pat Fitzgerald. The owner contacted police and yesterday detectives met the suspect in Grand Mound, Fitzgerald said. After he led them to the car, they arrested him, he said. Ezra L. Yoder, age unavailable, was booked into the Lewis County Jail for extortion and also for trafficking in stolen property, according to police. The partially stripped vehicle was in the woods on the Chehalis Reservation, Fitzgerald said.

INTRUDER RIFLES THROUGH BEDROOM

• A deputy was called to a home on the 200 block of Wilson Road near Mossyrock yesterday where a woman said someone had been in her bedroom and left her dresser drawers and closet door open, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The light was left on as well.

GUNS, OTHER VALUABLES MISSING AFTER BURGLARIES

• An M1 rifle, a Mossberg shotgun and a 55-inch HD 3-D television were among the loot when a Chehalis area home was burglarized yesterday. It happened sometime between between 1:50 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. on the 100 block of Juanita Lane, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The loss is estimated at more than $7,000.

• A deputy called yesterday to the 200 block of Bevin Lake Road in Packwood to a report of a break in to a recreational vehicle was told a Glock 22 handgun, a compound bow, a shaving kit, a first-aid blanket and a splint were among items missing. It happened sometime since Thursday, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

MISSING MOTORCYCLE

• A 1990 Honda motorcycle was stolen from near a front porch on the 800 block of Davis Lake Road near Morton, according to a report made to the Lewis County Sheriff’s office yesterday.

THREE BIKES TAKEN

• Police were called about 12:15 a.m. today to the 500 block of West Cherry Street in Centralia to a report of two bicycles stolen from the driveway. One was a white women’s Peugeot with yellow handle bars and the other a red, yellow and blue GT mountain bike, according to Centralia police. The same victim said a third bike had been taken during the previous week.

CAR PROWL

• Chehalis police were called about 5 p.m. yesterday to the 1200 block of Southwest William Avenue where someone had broke into a vehicle and taken luggage and prescription medication.

• Tools were stolen from a vehicle parked at the 1200 block of Mellen Street in Centralia sometime between Sunday night and Monday morning, according to the Centralia Police Department.

BAD SHOT, BUT CAN HIT THE SIDE OF A HOUSE

• A deputy was called about 9:10 p.m. on Saturday to the 200 block of Brim Road near Ethel after an apparently stray bullet came through the side of a home and struck an entertainment center. The person reporting the incident had heard what he thought were people target shooting, according to Lewis County Sheriff’s Office Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown. The person who fired the shot wasn’t found, according to Brown. Further details were not available.

WRECK

• A 19-year-old Rochester woman lost control of her Honda Civic last night on the 600 block of Independence Road, rolling it and leaving it totaled, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. She said she was not injured, just sore, according to the sheriff’ office.

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Read about coming limits on public defender caseloads …

June 26th, 2012

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

The Seattle Times reports on the expected financial impact on local governments of new case limits for public defenders – attorneys appointed to represent poor defendants – imposed by the state Supreme Court.

“Beginning in September 2013, public defenders should not handle more than 300 to 400 misdemeanor cases or 150 felony cases a year, limits designed to make sure the lawyers have enough time to devote to their clients and ensure those defendants are getting their constitutional right to an attorney, Gene Johnson of The Associated Press writes in the Seattle Times.

Read more here

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