Lewis County Sirens.com

James Michael Abbott talks with his lawyer Don Blair in court yesterday as his trial begins.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Gary Dvojack and his wife moved from Spokane to retire in Chehalis so he could hunt and fish but now he’s in a nursing home; he can’t walk, he can barely speak and he can’t take care of himself, Chief Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher told a jury yesterday.

He’s in wheelchair now, and the only reason is because of what happened last November at the Star Tavern, Meagher said.

Dvojack was very drunk when he walked into the Chehalis bar, Meagher continued.

“(Mr. Dvojack) got into an argument with Mr. Abbott, and Mr. Abbott shoved him so hard, Mr. Dvojack fell back and hit his head on the concrete floor,” he said.

His skull was cracked.

Meagher was speaking to a jury in Lewis County Superior Court yesterday morning where James Michael Abbott is on trial for second-degree assault.

Chehalis police arrested Abbott, 49, about a week after the Nov. 30 incident at the watering hole on Northwest Chehalis Avenue in Chehalis. At the time, 65-year-old Dvojack remained unconscious and on life support, according to police.

A jury of five men and seven women are hearing the testimony in a trial that is expected to last into tomorrow.

Meagher spent only about 10 minutes yesterday making his opening statements in the Chehalis courtroom.

He described Dvojack as a drunk old man who made inappropriate comments to the female bartender and told jurors when they see the scene on the security video, they will see Dvojack put the back of his hand on Abbott, and then Abbott using two hands, “launching” Dvojack back several feet.

While the bartender Laurie A. Rager told 911 Abbott told her Dvojack pushed him first, Meagher said, the video will show she had her head down behind the bar and didn’t see it.

“What you’re gonna see might be different from you hear,” Meagher said.

Defense attorney Don Blair spoke to the jurors for about 10 minutes as well.

His client is a longtime resident who used to own a business that sold communications electronics, Blair said.

Abbott went to the tavern to look at the newspaper and watch a Husky game on their big screen television, Blair said. He and others were helping the bartender with her college math homework, he said.

Dvojack had propositioned the bartender, using the F-word and offering her $100, he said.

The bartender is telling Dvojack he’s kicked out; and Abbott is tells Dvojack “why don’t you just leave”, he said.

Dvojack gets more aggressive, Blair says.

“You’ll see in the video, Mr. Dvojack reaches out and hits Mike’s arm,” he said.

He does push him, Blair said.

“And he falls down and hits his head and got injured,” Blair said. “And Mike feels bad about that.”

Was it reasonable?, Blair asks.

“When Mike pushes him, was that push reasonable?” he said. “That’s really the question here.”

The crime charged involves intentional assault and recklessly causing substantial harm; prosecutors are alleging an aggravating circumstance that the victim suffered extreme injuries that are long term.

What jurors won’t hear, is that police arrested the bartender, Rager, for lying. Meagher said he resolved that case; by continuing it.

Fire Chief Matt Hadaller

This news story was updated at 4:18 p.m.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Mossyrock’s fire chief Matt Hadaller passed away last night.

Hadaller was 47.

Members of Lewis County Fire District 3 are gathered at the fire hall today, with outside fire chiefs who came to take calls from the news media and begin to plan a memorial service.

Hadaller has been chief of District 3 seven and half years, and a member of the department for 20 years, according to Lewis County Fire District 13’s Chief Gregg Peterson.

Peterson sent out an announcement just after noon time saying it is with a heavy heart, the volunteers of District 3 announce the death of their chief.

Exactly what happened isn’t yet known, according to Peterson.

Hadaller was at home, on call, last night when he suffered an as-yet undetermined medical issue, according to Peterson. His brother-in-law Mike Kalouse said he was with Hadaller when it happened.

Members of his own fire department took him by ambulance to Morton General Hospital, but he suffered a cardiac arrest on the way, Peterson said.

They made a “valiant effort to revive him, but sadly, were unsuccessful” Peterson wrote in a news release afternoon.

Hadaller served as a Mossyrock city council member for three years, ending in late 2007, according to the city clerk.

He grew up in the community, Peterson said.

Peterson, Randle’s Fire Chief Jeff Jaques, Napavine Fire Chief Eric Linn and Riverside Fire Authority’s Chief Jim Walkowski are at the Mossyrock fire station working out details of a memorial service to be held on Saturday, Peterson said.

It will take place at the Mossyrock High School football stadium, where Hadaller played quarterback for the Viking’s football team, according to Peterson.

The time is 1 p.m. The address is 295 Williams St. in Mossyrock.

District 3’s commissioner’s appointed Assistant Fire Chief Doug Fosburg interim chief effective at noon today.

•••

Update: Peterson says that any agencies wishing to join the procession with their vehicles should email hadallermemorial@gmail.com noting the apparatus type and number of personnel.

Steven Grant Williams listens to the judge in Lewis County Superior Court this morning as he is sentenced.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS –  A judge this morning sent a Chehalis man away for as long as he possibly could in a child abuse case the jury found involved deliberate cruelty to a 7-year-old boy.

“This case was shocking, the pictures of (the child) were shocking,” Lewis County Superior Court Judge James Lawler said. “I’ve been involved in the court system a lot of years, and I’ll tell you, those pictures set me back.”

Steven Grant Williams, 40, was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison for second-degree assault of a child, to be followed by a year and a half of community custody.

The maximum penalty is 10 years with the state Department of Corrections. The standard range for the crime is about two and a half to three and a half years.

Williams, a National Guardsman who had moved to Chehalis with his girlfriend just months before he was arrested last summer, was convicted by a jury at the end of last month.

The boy lives with his paternal grandmother, and had spent two or three weeks weeks visiting his mother and Williams, the first time they’d had him since they moved back to Washington from southern California.

When he testified, Williams admitted he left a handprint-shaped bruise on the butt of his girlfriend’s 7-year-old, and switched to using a belt because he thought it wouldn’t leave marks.

He suggested some of the other bruises came from when he held the boy’s head under the shower, trying to teach him to wash his own hair. Williams said the child would thrash around and get so combative, sometimes he would simply let go, and the child would fall in the tub.

A social worker testified that when she saw him shortly after he was returned to his grandmother last summer, the youngster’s two black eyes were so swollen, he had to open his eyes wide just to see.

The mother worked at night, and the jury learned Williams would wait until after she left the house to give the child showers.

Williams had just recently returned from deployment in Kosovo, where he said part of his duties were as an interrogator.

He and the child’s mother told the jury the first-grader didn’t know his alphabet, didn’t know his numbers and didn’t know how to clean himself. Williams told the jury he tried to teach him those things during the visit.

Williams told the jury he didn’t think about giving the boy baths instead of showers.

Deputy Prosecutor Colin Hayes today asked the judge, who agreed, that Williams be ordered to get treatment for mental health and anger management.

Defense attorney Mike Underwood told Lawler before the sentence was decided, he thought two and half years in prison was appropriate for his client.

Williams was polite when he addressed the judge.

“Your honor, in light of everything I’m losing, I think eight years is excessive,” Williams said, noting his 19-year career in the military.

As he imposed the sentence, Lawler told Williams part of his reasoning was because of Williams lack of remorse.

‘Your comments bear out, this is still about you, and what you’ve lost, and not about what you did to (the child),” Lawler said. “That’s the problem here. That’s what you don’t seem to get.”

At the end of the hearing, Underwood filed a notice of appeal.
•••

Read the most recent story here