Lewis County Sirens.com

MILL FIRE

• Firefighters were called to the Sierra Pacific sawmill in Centralia on Sunday morning after a piece of equipment caught on fire. Someone was making repairs with a torch when molten metal dropped onto a “man lift”, Riverside Fire Authority Capt. Tim Adolphsen said this morning. The fire in the Port of Centralia’s industrial park off Harrison Avenue was extinguished, but caused an estimated $10,000 damage to the roughly $50,000 piece of equipment, Adolphsen said.

THEFT

• The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reported this morning they investigated a burglary to a garage on Friday in which a Stihl chainsaw, a gas cutting torch and two bottles of gas were stolen. It happened sometime Wednesday evening on the 200 block of East Oakview Street in Centralia, according to the sheriffs office.

• Somebody went into a barn and a residence on the 300 block of North Fork Road outside Chehalis and stole an electric wok, popcorn popper and a welder along with a knife sharpener and stainless steel kitchen utensils, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The sheriff’s office reports a deputy called Saturday about the burglary concluded it happened sometime between 3 p.m. June 18 and 9 a.m. the following day.

• Centralia police were called just before 6 o’clock this morning to a car prowl on the 900 block of South Pearl Street. Taken overnight were a stereo, speaker and amplifier, according to the Centralia Police Department. The vehicle had been locked and it’s unknown how someone got inside, according to police.

• Chehalis police were called just before 5 p.m. on Saturday by a woman who said she saw a man take her purse she had left in a shopping car at a grocery store on the 2100 block of North National Avenue.  No arrest was made.

• A woman called Centralia police yesterday from the 500 block of South Silver Street about receiving a counterfeit $20 bill during a garage sale. Officers have a description of a male suspect and his vehicle, according to the Centralia Police Department.

• Centralia police were called Saturday to a business on the 100 block of High Street about a counterfeit $20 bill they received. Police were given a license plate information of the vehicle belonging to the person who passed the bill, according to the Centralia Police Department.

DRUGS

• Centralia police arrested a 27-year-old woman on Saturday evening at West First and K streets for possession of methamphetamine. April L. Jones, of Toledo, was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Centralia Police Department.

• Centralia police arrested a 47-year-old man on Saturday for allegedly attempting to obtain prescription medication by fraud. The arrest is connected with a location of the 1200 block of Harrison Avenue in Centralia. Douglas B. J. Gogel, of Tacoma, was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Centralia Police Department.

VANDALISM

• Police took a report early Saturday morning of someone “tagging” with spray paint property n the 1200 block of B Street in Centralia.

WRECKS

• Lewis County Fire District 5 was called early Sunday morning to a two-vehicle collision on Interstate 5 in the northbound lanes just north of the U.S. Highway 12 and Avery Road interchange. One car had rolled over and off the roadway and the driver was nowhere to be found, according to Firefighter Kevin Van Egdom. responders searched for more than 30 minutes using a thermal imaging camera, and concluded the driver must have left on his or her own accord, according to Van Egdom.

• An 18-year-old man who was airlifted to a Seattle hospital following a two-vehicle collision in Randle early Saturday with what was described as a lacerated liver and kidney was listed in satisfactory condition this morning. Troopers called about 1:45 a.m. to U.S. Highway 12 blamed driving under the influence on the wreck that also sent two others to the hospital. The investigating trooper reported that William K. Bloomstrom, 25, of Randle, exited the parking lot at the One-Stop Mini Mart in his pickup truck at a high rate of speed and hit the passenger side of an eastbound Chevrolet Cavalier. The passenger in the car, Cody W. Moorhead, 18, of Shelton, was flown by helicopter to Harborview Medical Center, according to the Washington State Patrol. The driver of the Cavalier, Charlotte J. Rathbun, 18, of Winlock, had a sore shoulder and thumb; the passenger in the truck, Benjamin E. Eastman Jr., 32, of Glenoma, got cuts on his nose and right arm, according to the state patrol. They were both taken to Morton General Hospital. Both vehicles were totaled. Bloomstrom was reportedly uninjured. Bloomstrom is under investigation for vehicular assault, according to the patrol.

MILL FIRE IN MORTON

• Fire broke out a lumber mill in Morton this afternoon, drawing firefighters from Morton and Glenoma. It started on the ground inside a large building and worked its way up, burning the underside of the roof, insulation, light fixtures and various hydraulic and air lines, according to Fire Investigator Jay Birley. “It could have been worse, the building had sprinklers that put a good brake on the fire,” Birley said tonight. It happened about 3:45 p.m. at the “Tubafor Mill” on the 300 block of state Route 7, according to Birley. They didn’t have any product inside and weren’t operating today, he said, but workers were there conducting maintenance. Nobody was hurt. The damage was such he didn’t expect operations to resume in that portion of the building on Monday, he said. Sawdust was probably a contributing factor, but the cause remains under investigation, Birley said. The mill is now called TMI Forest Products Inc. and manufactures Western Red Cedar fence boards, according to information from the company’s web site.

TEENAGER HOLDS GRANDMOTHER IN HOME

• An 18-year-old Centralia resident was arrested yesterday for unlawful imprisonment after he allegedly refused to let his grandmother leave a home on the 1300 block of West Main Street in Centralia until she agreed to buy him cigarettes. Police, called just before 11:30 a.m. yesterday, say he destroyed various items in the home and went out the window when officers arrived. A police dog tracked the suspect down, according to the Centralia Police Department. Galen R. Whitmeyer was booked into the Lewis County Jail for unlawful imprisonment and malicious mischief, according to police.

BULLET THROUGH WINDOW IN CENTRALIA

• Police were called about 1:45 p.m. on Thursday to a home on the 1300 block of West Main Street in Centralia after a man arrived home and found a bullet hole through a window. The officer found a .22 caliber (low velocity) round inside the house; it had only hit the window and curtains and fallen to the carpet, according to police. Police Sgt. Brian Warren said the resident didn’t have any reason to think he was targeted. Officers are investigating.

MAN CAUGHT MAILING MARIJUANA

• A Rochester man was arrested after he allegedly tried to mail an ounce of marijuana to an out-of-state friend, the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reported yesterday. A deputy was called Wednesday to the UPS distribution center on Hamilton Road south of Chehalis where the sender had dropped off the package containing marijuana and coffee grounds, sheriff’s Cmdr. Steve Aust said. The investigation concluded Scott R. Griggs, 30, of Rochester, was trying to send the marijuana to a friend in Pennsylvania, Aust said. Griggs was arrested on Thursday and booked into the Lewis County Jail for attempted delivery of marijuana, Aust said.