Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

September 6th, 2011

COUNTY TRUCK WINDOWS SHOT AT

• Somebody fired a gun at the windshields of two parked dump trucks belonging to Lewis County Public Works, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. It was reported on Thursday morning and happened sometime after 4:30 p.m. the Friday before at the county shop on Kiona Road in Randle, according to the sheriff’s office. The damage estimate is $1,200.

THEFT

• Somebody stole an estimated $5,000 of tools and equipment from a construction shed on Garrard Creek Road west of Centralia, the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reported this morning.  It happened near milepost two sometime after 6 p.m. on Friday and 8:15 a.m. the following day, according to a report made to a deputy on Saturday.

• A 2006 Craftsman riding lawn mower was stolen from the 100 block of Jordan Road in Salkum, the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reported this morning. It was taken sometime between Aug. 24 and 29, according to the sheriff’s office. The loss is estimated at $1,000.

• A deputy took a report yesterday of the theft of “New Zealand” fencing tools from  the 600 block of U.S. Highway 12 near Napavine, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

• A break-in to a storage building on the 100 block of Kjesbu Road near Mayfield Lake netted someone several collectibles such as an autographed Wayne Gretzky trading card, three hockey pucks, an antique Viewmaster with Disney slides, Hot Wheel cars and other items. It happened sometime between Aug. 1 and Saturday, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

• Liquor and several bottles of beer were missing after a residential burglary on the 400 block of Larson Road near Mayfield Lake, according to a report made Saturday morning to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

• A stolen vehicle was recovered yesterday morning on Southwest Olympic Drive in Chehalis, according to police.

STALKING

• Centralia police arrested a 34-year-old man yesterday for alleged stalking of his estranged girlfriend. According to police, Chad M. Landsiedel repeatedly followed her, sent harassing text messages and made threats to harm her. Landsiedel, a Centralia resident, was booked into the Lewis County Jail after his arrest last night, according to the Centralia Police Department.

DRUGS

• A 26-year-old Centralia man was arrested for possession of heroin yesterday evening at the 800 block of Ham Hill Road in Centralia. Andrew T. Fields was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Centralia Police Department.

• A 19-year-old Centralia man was arrested last night for possession of methamphetamine after his contact with an officer on the 900 block of Harrison Avenue in Centralia. Tanner Z. Russell  was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Centralia Police Department.

MAN TAKEN TO JAIL FOR TARDY TITLE TRANSFER

• A 40-year-old man from Salem, Ore. was arrested and jailed by Centralia police yesterday for failing to transfer the title of his car within 45 days. Federico Nieves Rojas was stopped about 3:25 p.m. yesterday at East Locust and South Gold streets after an officer “ran” his license plate and noted the misdemeanor, according to Officer John Panco. Rojas was booked and then released about five hours later, according to the Lewis County Jail log.

LEWIS COUNTY CRIME STOPPERS

• Lewis County Crime Stoppers is looking for information about a theft in April of a 2006 16-foot trailer taken from the 300 block of state Route 506 near Vader. The trailer is described as tandem axle dump trailer with side racks. It’s value is $10,000. Crime Stoppers pays for information leading to the clearance of crimes and takes tips anonymously at 1-800-748-6422 or online at www.lewsicountycrimestoppers.org

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News brief: Highway collision west of Chehalis injures several

September 6th, 2011

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Several people were hospitalized after a two-vehicle wreck on Highway 6 near Adna yesterday afternoon.

A trooper called just before 12:30 p.m. to the scene at Bunker Creek Road reported a 16-year-old driver trying to turn left off the highway was cited for failing to yield.

Both the car he was driving and a van were described as totaled.

Trevor D. Moon, 16, of Chehalis, was eastbound and attempted to turn when his 1999 Nissan Altima collided with a westbound Dodge Caravan, according to the Washington State Patrol.

Three people from the van were taken to Providence Centralia Hospital, according to the state patrol. They are the driver Eileen M. Bauman, 66, of Chehalis, with a head injury; and two passengers from Norwalk, Ohio with cuts on their faces, according to the patrol. They are listed as Renee M. Keller, 59, and Barbara Wightman, 65.

The teenage boy suffered bruises and was taken to the hospital by his mother who arrived on the scene, according to responders.

Lewis County Fire District 6 Firefighter Mike Goodwillie said a teenage girl and a father in the car were also taken to Providence by the mother.

Goodwillie said the family’s injuries at first seemed minor but he later learned the father was transferred to Harborview with possible internal injuries.

Providence Centralia Hospital said Bauman and Keller were treated and have been released, although Wightman was transferred to an another hospital.

Everyone was wearing seat belts and airbags deployed in both vehicles, according to Goodwillie.

“If not for the seat belts it could have been worse,” Goodwillie said. “So I think we avoided a tragedy.”

The collision remains under investigation, according to the state patrol.

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Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

September 5th, 2011

GRASS FIRES IN SALKUM, RANDLE

• Hay falling on the exhaust pipe of a one-ton pickup truck ignited yesterday in Salkum, spreading fire to a freshly cut pasture. About a dozen firefighters from Lewis County Fire District 8 were joined by firefighters with the state Department of Natural Resources at the 800 block of Gore Road around 5 p.m., according to Assistant Fire Chief Don Taylor. The truck and an estimated 50 bales of hay – both loaded and sitting in the field – were lost, Taylor said.

• A campfire got out of control near Randle yesterday drawing about seven members of Lewis County Fire District 14 and firefighters with the state Department of Natural Resources. Fire Chief Jeff Jaques said it happened around noontime at recreational property at the River Run Ranch Estates off U.S. Highway 12 east of town. Nobody was hurt and about an acre or more of grass burned, according to Jaques. A travel trailer someone had been dismantling also burned, he said. It happened because the grass around the campfire area had not been adequately cleared beforehand, he said.

DRUGS

• A 51-year-old Centralia woman was arrested for possession of methamphetamine when suspected meth was found in her purse during a traffic stop on Friday night. Deanna M. Frye was stopped about 11:35 p.m. on the 1100 block of Harrison Avenue and found to be driving with a suspended license, according to the Centralia Police Department. She was booked into the Lewis County Jail.

ANOTHER MOTORCYCLE ACCIDENT

• A motorcyclist from Kent was hospitalized with a laceration on his nose after his 2005 Yamaha ran into the back of a car at a stop sign at Chilcoat Road near U.S. Highway 12 in Randle yesterday. A trooper called about 12:50 p.m. reported that Christopher T. Darcy, 31, was going too fast when he struck the rear of a Toyota Camry, driven by Louise A. Darcy, 25, also of Kent. Neither vehicle was damaged, according to the Washington State Patrol.

SECOND CHASE NEAR SALZER ROAD FOR SAME SUSPECT

Item below updated 11:55 a.m. on Tuesday Sept. 6, 2011

• A 39-year-old man who eluded deputies last week in the area of Profitt and Salzer roads was apprehended Sunday afternoon after a pursuit that ended on the same dead-end road outside Centralia. Centralia police assisted the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office around 3 p.m. with a chase that began near Salzer Valley Road, went into the city and back out to Salzer Road, according to law enforcement. The vehicle was boxed in and both the driver and passenger fled into the brush, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Sara A. Jones, 34, of Centralia was taken into custody, with some minor injuries from bare feet and barbed wire, Cmdr. Steve Aust said. Police dog Kayo was called in and subsequently caught up to Jerry L. Warfield, 39, of Rochester, Aust said. Aust said Warfield refused to give up and was bitten in his lower left leg by the dog. Both were treated at Providence Centralia Hospital and then booked into jail, Aust said. Warfield was wanted on a warrant from the state Department of Corrections, according to the sheriff’s office.

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News brief: Troopers, aid, kept busy with Lewis County collisions on Saturday

September 4th, 2011

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Eight people were hospitalized following three different wrecks yesterday afternoon and evening on Lewis County highways including an intoxicated motorcyclist who was airlifted after he ran into the back of a car on Interstate 5 south of Napavine, according to the Washington State Patrol.

Troopers called about 3:40 p.m. to milepost 67 reported that James Brady, 40, of Oak Harbor, was southbound and following too closely when traffic on the freeway slowed and his 2004 Yamaha struck the rear of a Honda Accord

Brady was flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with cuts to his face and arms and chipped teeth, according to the state patrol.

Less than an hour later near Packwood, two people were tossed from a motorcycle when a pickup truck turned in front of them on U.S. Highway 12, according to the patrol.

Both were taken to Morton General Hospital, as was a 13-year-old male passenger from the Dodge Ram, Trooper Jason Hicks reported.

The 2005 Honda motorcycle was totaled and the 2004 Dodge Ram sustained an estimated $5,000 damage, according to Hicks.

The 27-year-old driver of the motorcycle, Christopher A. Shipp, of Ridgefield, suffered injuries to his chest and abdomen; his passenger, 21-year-old Samantha J. Cullinan of Vancouver had leg injuries, according to the trooper.

Timothy Cook, 13, of Benson City, reportedly sustained injuries to his head, neck and spine.

Finally, a four-car chain reaction rear-end collision on state Route 505 a mile north of Toledo drew troopers and aid about 6:20 p.m. yesterday.

Four people were transported to Providence Centralia Hospital with neck and back injuries or scrapes and bruises, according to the investigating trooper.

They are listed as Dylan Hoiseck, 12, and Mark Hoiseck, 46, both of Toledo; Amanda Cox, 21, of Toutle; and Sandra Bartley, 66, of Ethel.

Bartley was ticketed for second-degree negligent driving, according to Trooper Doug Pardue.

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Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

September 2nd, 2011

PARAMEDICS, AMBULANCE, DELIVER NEWBORN TO HOSPITAL

• Centralia firefighters called at 7:35 p.m. yesterday to a house on West Maple Street for a woman in labor delivered a baby girl there at 7:40 p.m. “We had absolutely no time to prepare or anything, we literally walked in and ‘caught it’,” Firefighter-paramedic Jennifer Ternan said this morning. It was pretty straightforward and uncomplicated for her and Firefighter-paramedic Steve Lamb, according to Ternan. The mom’s due date was yesterday, although she wasn’t planning an at-home birth. An AMR ambulance took the mother, baby and paramedics to the labor and delivery unit of Providence Centralia Hospital where “mom and baby are doing extremely well,” Ternan said.

DOG OWNER ARRESTED FOR ATTACKING CAR THAT RAN OVER HIS PET

• A 19-year-old upset when his dog was struck by a car in Centralia yesterday was arrested for misdemeanor assault after he reportedly kicked a dent into the side of the vehicle and broke out the driver’s side window. It happened around 2:50 p.m. on the 1000 block of Mellen Street, according to the Centralia Police Department. Police reported that the two occupants of the car were “showered” with glass. Aaron J. Alexander was cited and then released, according to police.

STOLEN COMPUTERS FOUND IN PORT ORCHARD

• Centralia police detectives arrested a suspect in Port Orchard yesterday they say broke into a business on the 1000 block of Johnson Road and stole computers. Finger prints at the scene led them to Marc J. Strickland, 42, of Port Orchard, where they recovered the property, according to the Centralia Police Department.

VANDALISM

• Chehalis police were called about 8:25 a.m. yesterday to Southeast Adams Avenue where a window had been broken out of a vehicle sometime in the night.

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Conflict: Who will bury the dead in Greenwood Cemetery?

September 2nd, 2011
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John Baker speaks outside his home on Johnson Road about the future of his cemetery.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CENTRALIA – The temporary management of a 10-acre cemetery in Centralia by a longtime friend of its owner ends now, after a court commissioner this week declined to grant an order to permanently ban owner John Baker from the premises.

Jennifer Duncan, an Adna-area resident, agreed to operate Greenwood Cemetery while Baker went to prison last year and while he was incarcerated, the state Funeral and Cemetery Board assisted Duncan with putting the operator’s license in her name.

Baker had granted Duncan a power of attorney to handle his affairs.

Baker, 68, was released in October and returned to his home adjacent to the cemetery.

Since then, relations between the two have deteriorated into allegations that he threatened to kill her and that she illegally sold off part of his land.

Duncan told Lewis County Superior Court Commissioner Tracy Mitchell during a hearing on Tuesday if the temporary order keeping Baker away from her and the cemetery wasn’t extended, she would walk away from care-taking of the cemetery.

The dead won’t get buried, Duncan said. “The community will suffer a disservice if that happens,” she said.

While Baker owns the more than a century-old graveyard, he’s no longer licensed to sell plots and make burials; Duncan is.

New burials are few and far between, with about 10 made last year, according to Duncan.

The cemetery, which sits off Johnson Road, has an estimated 10,000 inhabitants.

What the future holds for Greenwood Cemetery is anybody’s guess.

Even a spokesperson for the licensing arm of the cemetery board won’t speculate.

“(W)e can’t answer the question about what happens to the cemetery,” spokesperson Christine Anthony wrote in response to inquires after the court decision. “Baker owns the land and a licensed corporation must run the cemetery. That’s all we know at this point.”

The arrangement between Baker and Duncan began amicably, according to both.

Baker was jailed after an incident in which police were told he held a propane torch to an employee’s sweatshirt, blasted the garment with a shotgun and then pointed the firearm at the woman and two others individuals. Centralia police found methamphetamine in a tackle box in Baker’s closet.

Baker said he made a so-called Alford plea, and was sentenced to a year in prison.

Duncan, a career Army officer who said she’s known Baker for years, stepped up to help.

“We’ve been friends for 20 years,” Duncan said. “Just because he’s a crazy dude, doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a place in my heart.”

However, the 57-year-old said when she took on the responsibility of Greenwood Cemetery, she had no idea of what she was getting into.

Duncan said she found that Baker’s non-profit cemetery corporation wasn’t kept up to date and that his cemetery license had expired.

She needed $10,000 for Baker’s bail bondsman, and another $6,000 to $7,000 to pay his property taxes and other bills, and to make repairs to his cemetery lawn mower, she said.

She sold four acres of Baker’s vacant land to a local cemetery operator, Don Burbee, who agreed to help her, she said.

Duncan was guided through the process of reestablishing business’s affairs by the licensing office at the state. Even though she had the power of attorney for Baker, she said they told her she had to put it all in her name.

It’s not what she wanted, she said, but she has been a cemetery operator for almost two years now.

Baker, on the other hand, says he fully expected to take back his responsibilities as a cemetery owner and operator after returning home, but that Duncan ignored his revocation of the power of attorney.

Court documents and testimony in the courtroom on Tuesday, describe antagonism between the two that in June, resulted in a temporary protection order, keeping Baker at least 500 feet from Duncan, and from the cemetery.

Duncan wrote that Baker tried to poison her with orange juice, nearly took her head off with a scythe and sent her almost 450 text messages.

She asked the court to allow her new cemetery corporation sole use of a second house on the property (on Van Wormer Street) and make him hand over cemetery records.

“He chases cemetery patrons out with a shovel, screaming the most vile things at them, mostly four-letter words,” she wrote.

“Every time I loan him a piece of equipment, it breaks,” she wrote.

Four times times since July 1, Baker was arrested for violating the temporary protection order, for coming onto the cemetery grounds sometimes when Duncan was present and sometimes when she was not.

Baker disputes much of what his friend alleges, in particular that he tried to harm her with a scythe.

“I’d never hurt Jennifer,” Baker said. “You know if I were diabolical, I wouldn’t do it on a Sunday afternoon right in public.”

The alleged physical threats however weren’t even a topic of discussion when Commissioner Mitchell ruled on whether to extend the protection order.

Mitchell told the two on Tuesday she couldn’t find a legal basis to prevent Baker from going onto the cemetery property, which he owns.

Mitchell asked Duncan if she needed an anti-harassment order keeping Baker away from her personally, and Duncan said she didn’t if she isn’t operating the cemetery.

The commissioner extended the current order for 30 days, the time Duncan said she needs to wrap up obligations she’s made to cemetery clients.

“Really, it’s a relief for me, because I have my own work,” Duncan said when it was over.

She has a husband, children, a farm, and does contract work for the Department of Defense, she said.

Baker meanwhile says he’s had some “nibbles” regarding selling the cemetery. Also, he says there are other people who could be licensed to be the operator for him.

And he’s ready for a battle to get back the four acres he said are worth millions if used for cemetery plots.

Duncan says the writing is on the wall about how much longer Baker can run the cemetery.

During her time in charge, she had some patrons give her back the deeds to their grave sites and ask for their money back, she said.

A handful of caskets have been removed and buried elsewhere by families unhappy with Baker, she said.

Baker calls those personality conflicts, with patrons who don’t like his “flamboyant” style or his political views.

Whether the Funeral and Cemetery Board will issue him a license again is unknown.

Baker has owned and operated Greenwood since 1977, according to the board spokesperson.

His license expired in January of last year while he was locked up and a license was granted to Duncan the following June, according to spokesperson Anthony.

The license can’t simply be transferred back, according to Anthony, a new one would have to be applied for, with eligibility determined at that time.

Duncan contends in her court documents that the Funeral and Cemetery Board has investigated discrepancies of as much as $75,000 in Baker’s cemetery trust funds.

Anthony confirmed “an investigation” was conducted and is being reviewed by the state Attorney General’s Office.

Baker says he’s talked with the regulators about those issues and acknowledges a “lack of current bookkeeping”.

Would they give Baker back his license if he applied, the spokesperson was asked.

“I really can’t speculate on that,” Anthony wrote.

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Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

September 1st, 2011

VEHICLE VERSUS BIKE

• A 53-year-old Chehalis man was hospitalized after his bicycle was struck from behind by a vehicle on Airport Road in Chehalis last night, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Aid and a deputy were called just after 9:30 p.m. and the bicyclist was found laying on the road next to the vehicle. He was taken to Providence Centralia Hospital with scrapes as well as pain in his shoulder, knee and foot, according to the Chehalis Fire Department. Neither the 25-year-old driver nor the bicyclist had working headlights, and both will be cited, according to detective Sgt. Dusty Breen.

CAR VERSUS DEER

• Firefighters called about 10:40 a.m. yesterday to a single-vehicle collision on Salzer Valley Road found a car in a ditch on its side and a dead deer but no driver. The driver was later located but aid wasn’t needed, according to Riverside Fire Authority.

DEPUTY VERSUS FLEEING DRIVER

• Law enforcement officers searched without success for a driver who bailed out of his vehicle after a pursuit yesterday morning in the area of Profitt and Salzer Roads, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Jerry L. Warfield, 39, has a warrant from the state Department of Corrections, detective Sgt. Dusty Breen said this morning.

DRUGS

• A 53-year-old Centralia man was arrested for possession of methamphetamine early yesterday. Russell E. Charnell was booked into the Lewis County Jail after contact with an officer on West Main Street in Centralia, according to the Centralia Police Department.

•••

Correction: One news items has been updated to reflect correctly which man was driving and which man was riding a bicycle when they collided Wednesday night on Airport Road. The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office incorrectly reported to the news media the roles of the participants.

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