Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

April 27th, 2011

TWO PEDESTRIANS HIT IN CENTRALIA CROSSWALKS

• Two pedestrians were struck by vehicles in crosswalks in Centralia yesterday, but neither resulted in serious injuries according to police. Aid and police were called about 12:40 p.m. to West Main and Yew streets where a 44-year-old woman from Napavine was hit by a Suburban, according to the Centralia Police Department. She was taken to Providence Centralia Hospital with a possible wrist injury, according to Sgt. Kurt Reichert. The driver, a 56-year-old Winlock resident, was cited for  failure to yield the right of away to a pedestrian, Reichert said. Then just after 4 p.m., a pickup truck ran over the foot of a 13-year-old Centralia boy in a crosswalk at North Tower Avenue and East Maple Street, according to police. The driver in that case, a 58-year-old Centralia man, was not cited as it appeared the teenager had stepped out from where he was not visible to the driver, Reichert said.

VANDALISM

• A security camera at the Aerie building on the 200 block of South Tower Avenue in Centralia captured an image of a possible suspect about the same time the camera was struck and broken by a board, according to a report made to the Centralia Police Department yesterday morning.

CAR PROWLS

• Police were called about 7:15 a.m. yesterday to a car prowl on the 900 block of North Washington Avenue in Centralia. Taken was cash as well as a backpack with schoolwork inside from an unlocked vehicle, according to the Centralia Police Department.

• Centralia police were called about noon yesterday to a vehicle prowl on the 700 block of H Street. Somebody got inside by damaging the handle to the rear hatch and then rummaged through the vehicle, according to police.

One year later: Vigil set in Chehalis for Kayla Croft-Payne

April 26th, 2011

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A vigil is set for the still missing-Kayla Croft-Payne on Thursday evening, the one year anniversary of the Lewis County teenager’s disappearance.

Croft-Payne was 18 years old and living in a trailer between Chehalis and Napavine on April 28, 2010 when she last logged onto her MySpace internet account. She was reported missing on May 5 by a friend who hadn’t seen or heard from her for several days.

Kayla Croft-Payne

The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office has followed tips up into Pierce County, down into Cowlitz County and beyond but the young woman hasn’t turned up.

Last month, detectives said the last place they could verify she was seen was a  a trailer park in the Toutle area.

Winlock resident Jerome Painter is organizing Thursday’s event at Penny Playground in Chehalis. His cousin is a really good friend of Croft-Payne’s, he said.

“I know a lot of people who know Kayla and love Kayla and want answers, like her family,” Painter said. “It’s just touched my heart and I really wanted to do something.”

Painter said people who know her and people who don’t are equally welcome to attend.

Her parents and other family members will be there, he said.

Her father, Thomas Payne of Longview, said he’d rather his daughter was found, so he didn’t have to go to such a gathering, but he will be there to honor his daughter.

“I’m hoping some of her friends will come up and talk with me,” Payne said today.

He’s frustrated, having so little information about his daughter’s movements before she vanished, and hopes perhaps someone who hasn’t been comfortable talking with law enforcement would feel okay talking to her father, he said.

Painter put Croft-Payne’s parents to work, giving them tasks such as spreading the word and trying to round up donations of candles and helium balloons.
•••

What: Vigil for Kayla Croft-Payne
Where: Penny Playground in Chehalis, at Southwest 13th Street, off Interstate 5 exit 76
When: 6:30 p.m. Thursday April 28, 2011
For information: contact Jerome Painter at jeremy@zebracomputers.com

Join the Missing Kayla Facebook page, here
•••

Read background on Kayla Croft-Payne, here

News brief: Rochester meeting set to gather feedback on new prison

April 26th, 2011

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

The state Department of Corrections is inviting public comment on the possible impacts of building a new state prison facility in Grand Mound or two other potential locations.

Members of the public can offer their thoughts by letter, by email or at a meeting scheduled next week at Rochester High School.

DOC hopes to construct what they call a prison reception center in Western Washington – with 1,024 beds.

It’s the place offenders go first, to be evaluated for physical, mental health, security and other needs and to determine the particular prison where they will serve their time, according to DOC.

Officials anticipate a staff of approximately 500 in a 356,000 square-foot building on roughly 50 acres.

They are looking at the site which currently is home to Maple Lane School – a state juvenile correctional facility at 20311 Old Highway 9 SW in Grand Mound which is slated for closure.

DOC is also considering two other properties: in Kitsap County near Belfair and Bremerton, as well as in Mason County near Shelton and the existing Washington State Correctional Center.

They would like what they are calling the Westside Prison Reception Center to be up and running by 2016, since prison population forecasts indicate a bed shortage for male offenders by that time.

Prison officials are proposing environmental impact statements be conducted on all three sites, to determine probable, significant adverse environmental impacts.

Those could include a broad range of effects, such as on water, plants, animals, air quality, noise, utilities, transportation, schools, police and fire services and more, according to DOC.

Agencies and members of the public are being asked to offer feedback on the scope of the environmental impact statements and may comment on such things as alternatives, mitigation measures and expected impacts, according to DOC.

The state legislature has approved funding to find a location and for pre-design costs but have not yet approved funds to build the new facility, according to DOC.

Properties pitched earlier this year by Winlock, Morton and Castle Rock didn’t make the cut.

Comments can be submitted before 5 p.m. on May 13, 2011.

By email: to David B. Jansen at receptioncentersiting@doc.wa.gov

On the DOC website: at http://www.doc.wa.gov/business/capitalprograms/prisonsiting

By mail: to David B. Jansen at WA Department of Corrections, PO Box 41112, Mail stop 41112, Olympia, Wash. 08504-1112

At the meeting scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday May 4 in the commons room at Rochester High School at 19800 Carper Road SW, Rochester.

Similar meetings will be held the same week at Bremerton City Hall and Mason County Public Works.

Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

April 26th, 2011

BICYCLIST HIT WITH FLYING SODA

• Centralia police were called about 4:25 p.m. yesterday to North Pearl Street and West Oakview Avenue about a juvenile male throwing a soda at a woman riding a bike. The case involving the youth, whose age was not released, was referred to a prosecutor for a possible charge of fourth-degree assault, according to the Centralia Police Department.

THEFT

• Centralia police were called about 7:30 p.m. yesterday to the 700 block of South Silver Street about the theft of copper wire from a vacant residence.

• A car reported stolen on April 22 was reported found abandoned yesterday behind a business on the 1200 block of South Gold Street in Centralia, according to police.

• Chehalis police were called yesterday morning to to Southeast Aust Manor Drive about a possible identity theft.

• Centralia police were called yesterday about a cell phone stolen from an unlocked vehicle on Saturday on the 1700 block of Harrison Avenue.

• Police were called about 2:15 p.m. yesterday about graffiti on a wall at the 400 block of South Tower Avenue in Centralia.

ASSAULT

• Centralia police took a report yesterday morning of a sexual assault on a teenager. Further details were not readily available.

HARASSMENT

• The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reported this morning a 36-year-old man was arrested following an incident in Toledo on Saturday in which he allegedly threatened, with a knife, to kill a relative. Deputies called about 4:45 p.m. to the 100 block of Layton Road found the suspect and others had left but subsequently arrested Lester G. Kirkendoll, of Toledo, according to the sheriff’s office. Kirkendoll was booked into the Lewis County Jail for felony harassment.

News brief: Chehalis woman killed in Onalaska wreck

April 25th, 2011
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The cause of the Monday afternoon wreck in Onalaska is under investigation. / Courtesy photo by Lewis County Fire District 1

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A 27-year-old Chehalis woman died after her car struck a power pole on state Route 508 in Onalaska this afternoon.

A 6-year-old girl inside the Chevrolet Impala escaped with only bumps and bruises, according to responders.

Aid and troopers were called about 2:30 p.m. to the scene near Gish Road – about five miles east of Interstate 5.

The driver, Diann M. Harding, 27, of Chehalis, passed away en route to the hospital, according to the Washington State Patrol.

Harding’s 2001 Impala was eastbound and crossed the centerline, hitting the pole with the passenger side of the car, the state patrol reported.

The cause is under investigation.

The child’s name was not reported, but Lewis County Fire District 1 Chief Mark Conner said he understood the girl is Harding’s daughter.

•••

Correction: This news items was updated on Tuesday April 26, 2011 to reflect the correct spelling of Lewis County Fire District 1 Chief Mark Conner’s name.

Randle woman missing for more than three weeks

April 25th, 2011

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office took a missing person report of a 57-year-old Randle woman who left her her house without her purse and car and hasn’t been seen since for almost three weeks.

2011.0422.trisha.mckenzie.fire.close_2

Trisha McKenzie-Fire

Trisha McKenzie-Fire lives with her boyfriend Kent Anderson on Silverbrook Road in Randle.

Anderson, 67, said he called authorities on April 2 after he woke up and she wasn’t home.

Sheriff’s detective Jamey McGinty said last week it’s not entirely unlike her leave without telling him where she’s gone.

But Anderson says he’s sick with worry.

“I want her found,” he said. “Nineteen days, that’s enough. She’s never done this before in her life, since I’ve known her.

“Just to walk out with no ID, no bank cards, no purse. Her purse is here and her car’s in my garage. Just nothing.”

The night before, the two, along with a friend, were drinking whiskey and Anderson went off to bed, he said. At about 3 a.m. or 4 a.m., the friend, who was sleeping on the couch, saw her go outside with a cigarette, Anderson said.

He has searched the property, and posted missing person flyers from Packwood to Centralia.

Anderson has been checking with her bank to find if there is any activity on her account; the sheriff’s office is doing the same.

McGinty said they’ve notified law enforcement up and down the Interstate 5 corridor.

The couple lived in a Chehalis apartment until about three years ago. She doesn’t work.

“When you get someone who just walks out the door and seemed fine, you just don’t know where to start,” McGinty said.

Anderson had suggested to the detective McKenzie-Fire might have checked herself in to a treatment facility. Because of drug and alcohol treatment centers’ confidentiality restrictions however, that can’t be confirmed, he said.

Anderson said he had left her a note before he went to bed that night about that. She left her prescription medications behind as well, he said.

McKenzie-Fire has brown hair and blue eyes. She is described as 5-foot 10-inches tall and 150 pounds.

Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

April 25th, 2011

ATM MACHINE LIFTED FROM SKI LODGE

• Somebody broke into the ski lodge at White Pass over the weekend and hauled away an ATM machine, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Sometime between 11:30 p.m. on Saturday and 12:45 a.m. on Sunday someone pried a bar off an entrance door, went inside and pulled the machine loose from its bolts, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said this morning. Brown said deputies have suspect vehicle information and an investigation is underway. The loss, not including cash inside the ATM, is estimated at $1,000, Brown said.

MAN HIDES IN WOMEN’S RESTROOM AT CENTRALIA RESTAURANT

• Police were called to Burgerville on Harrison Avenue in Centralia yesterday when a woman reported she was inside the women’s bathroom, looked up and saw a man’s face from another stall. He fled the area and was not found, according to police.

THEFT

• Centralia police were called Saturday afternoon to an antique store on the 100 block of North Tower Avenue about the theft of a set of smoking pipes and a child’s rocker.

• Centralia police were called yesterday morning to a nursery on the 700 block of North Tower Avenue where someone had scaled the fence, damaged several items and took some plants.

• A 29-year-old Centralia man was arrested on Friday morning at the 1000 block of Eckerson Road for vehicle theft. Mical S. Ryan was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Centralia Police Department.

• A deputy was called to the 500 block of State Street in Centralia Friday for a report of stolen white 1993 Honda Civic. The victim said at about 11 a.m. he was inside his home when he heard his car start up and drive away, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The vehicle has a license plate of 643 SGB.

• A stolen vehicle was found by its owner about 2:30 a.m. last Wednesday abandoned just east of Morton, according to the Morton Police Department.

• A pair of dogs escaped a vehicle parked in Centralia on Friday, ran across a parking lot and were picked up by an unknown motorist, according to Centralia police. An officer called about 11 a.m. to the 1100 block of Harrison Avenue was told the owner tried to stop the motorist, but they drove away. One of the animals had apparently stood on the electric window switch to open the window.

GRAFFITI

• Centralia police were called Saturday morning to a report somebody hand-painted graffiti on a building on the 100 block of West Walnut Street.

GUN FOUND IN DUMPSTER

• Chehalis police were called to the 300 block of South Market Boulevard in Chehalis yesterday when a gun was found in a dumpster. It was a BB gun, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

DRUGS

• A 22-year-old Chehalis resident was arrested for possession of methamphetamine about 10 p.m. last night after contact with an officer at Mellon Street and Interstate 5 in Centralia. Javier J. Villalavazo was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Centralia Police Department. Villalavazo was not charged and was released from jail this afternoon pending further investigation.

• An individual arrested for shoplifting at K-Mart in Chehalis yesterday was cited and released but is also being referred for  a possible charge of possession of methamphetamine, according to the Chehalis Police Department.

UNRULY PATIENT KICKED OUT OF HOSPITAL, ARRESTED

• Police were called at 9 a.m. on Saturday to Morton General Hospital for a reportedly disruptive patient who refused to leave. Officers escorted Steven B. Rogers, 42, out of the facility but then arrested him for fourth-degree assault after witnessing him strike his wife as she was helping him to their vehicle, according to the Morton Police Department.

WRECKS

• A 51-year-old Longview man was hospitalized after a motorcycle wreck yesterday in the Boistfort Valley. A deputy called about 10 a.m. to the 600 block of Wildwood Road reported the man was taken to St. John Medical Center in Longview with injuries to his shoulder, chest, ribs, elbow and ankle, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

• The Spokesman-Review reports 73-year-old Pe Ell resident William L. Ainsworth, was killed in a traffic accident on Sunday on Interstate 90 near Spokane. Read the news story here