By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – I’m still waiting to hear back from Michael Golden and Sheriff Steve Mansfield …
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More to come
Election: More comments from candidates coming
November 2nd, 2010Election: Cheeseman nipping at sheriff’s heels
November 2nd, 2010By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – Sgt. Ken Cheeseman nearly closed the gap between him and Lewis County Steve Mansfield that existed in the primary.
Mansfield leads tonight with 51.47 percent while challenger Cheeseman has 48.53 percent.
Zandell says the outcome of that race can change.
“I’m thinking, great,” Cheeseman said in a brief phone conversation. He is working tonight and spoke from the side of the road in Randle.
“It sounds close. I knew it’d be a close race. We’ll take it right down to the wire.”
At this time the night of the primary election, Cheeseman had only 40.87 percent of the votes.
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More to come
Election: McLeod ahead of Hurley for coroner
November 2nd, 2010By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – In the race for a new Lewis County coroner, community college instructor Warren McLeod has captured almost 55 percent of the votes while retired DEA agent Micheal Hurley got just over 45 percent.
Is it possible there are enough votes still to be counted to change that? Yes, says, Lewis County Auditor Gary Zandell.
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More to come
Election: Meyer will be county prosecutor, “done deal”
November 2nd, 2010By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – With ballots counted from more than half the registered voters in Lewis County, the numbers show its a “done deal” with challenger Jonathan Meyer leading Lewis County Prosecutor Michael Golden, according to longtime Lewis County Auditor Gary Zandell.
The Centralia attorney has 66.28 percent of the votes compared with 33.72 percent for the incumbent.
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More to come
Deaths of two Lewis County men ruled accidental following residential fires
November 2nd, 2010By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – The Lewis County Coroner’s Office is identifying the Centralia man who whose body was found when a fire in his apartment was extinguished early yesterday as Ron Ray Meeks, age 56.
Centralia fire authorities had listed Meeks yesterday as 54.
Ron Meeks home
Chief Deputy Coroner Dawn Harris said this morning Meeks died from smoke inhalation and his manner of death is being classified as an accident.
The cause of the approximately 4 a.m. fire on Monday on the 300 block of Magnolia Street has not been released, but the fire chief has said it is not suspicious.
Meeks moved into the complex in February and his girlfriend moved out about three weeks ago, according to neighbors.
Harris said his only immediate family is one sister who lives in Utah.
Harris said this morning the office has made the same findings about 54-year-old Gary Ike, who perished in his Ethel home late Wednesday night.
The cause of that fire is most likely an accident from combustible materials too close to a space heater, according to fire investigator Derrick Paul.
Gary Allen Ike
Seven space heaters were found in the house, which had a wood stove as its main heat source , Paul said. Ike had been burning in the wood stove, Paul said this morning.
It was partially the large amount of material kept in the small house that led Paul to that conclusion, he said.
“There was lots and lots of clutter, there was lots and lots of stuff everywhere,” he said.
In both fires, investigators lamented the lack of working smoke detectors.
Paul said last week that’s a commonality in almost every fire fatality they see.
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Read “Resident from Ethel’s fatal house fire was a ‘good guy’ ” from 7:46 a.m. on Friday Oct. 29, 2010 here
Read “Cause of fatal Centralia apartment fire still unknown, but not suspicious, fire chief says” from 7 p.m. yesterday Monday Nov. 1, 2010 here
News brief: Road rage incident escalates into shots fired at Ethel resident’s truck
November 2nd, 2010By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
An Ethel man’s response to an inconsiderate and aggressive driver grew into a road rage incident Sunday night that led to multiple shots being fired from a Ford pickup at the Ethel man’s truck southwest of Olympia, according to the Washington State Patrol.
Nobody was injured but troopers believe four shots were fired and three struck the Dodge Ram being driven by 58-year-old Donald Palmer of Ethel, according to a new release yesterday.
Palmer and his passenger, Margaret Eldridge of Elma, pulled off state Route 101 and called 911 after the approximately 9 p.m. incident. A pair of 22-year-old men were subsequently arrested. Two handguns were confiscated.
Detectives are asking any witnesses to call the state patrol at 253-538-3172.
It began on state Route 101 in Mason County and ended near the Black Lake Boulevard exit in west Thurston County, according to the news release.
The state patrol reported that after the pickup truck tailgated Palmer and then pulled ahead of it and slowed down, Palmer responded by flashing his lights, tailgating and honking his horn, according to the news release.
This kind of incident is completely avoidable, state patrol Capt. Jeff DeVere said in a news release.
While motorists can’t control the behavior of other drivers, they can control their own attitude and actions, he wrote.
“It’s not worth your life or anyone else’s life just to have the last word,” DeVere wrote.
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Read The Olympian’s news story from today here for more about the incident and arrests.
Bus parked, evacuated in Onalaska after bomb scare
November 2nd, 2010
A Washington State Patrol bomb squad and a sheriff's deputy wait in Onalaska for a bomb sniffing dog to inspect a Lewis Mountain Highway Transit bus yesterday.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
ONALASKA – A bus carrying eight passengers from East Lewis County was tracked down and evacuated yesterday after somebody phoned in a bomb threat.
An anonymous caller on a cell phone told 911 somebody put a bomb on a transit bus at about 11 a.m., according to Lewis County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Fred Wetzel. Deputies rushed east on U.S. Highway 12 to intercept the bus as the driver was notified, he said.
The driver dropped off the passengers at Brenda’s Country Market on state Route 508 in Onalaska and parked the bus a ways up a side road, he said.
The Lewis Mountain Highway Transit bus was making its 85 mile trip from Packwood to Centralia.
Doug Hayden, executive director White Pass Community Services Coalition which operates the bus service, waited at Alexander Street near the sheriff’s office road block for a bomb squad from the Washington State Patrol to inspect the vehicle.
“We’ve never had a bomb scare before, in the 12 years we’ve been operating,” Hayden said.
He said they hadn’t had anybody angry at the bus service that he knew of.
“So it’s just somebody doing something stupid,” he speculated.
The Morton-based bus service makes three round trips each day between Packwood and the Twin Cities.
The passengers, which included three children, had already been picked up by another bus by 1 p.m.
Bomb squad members did a quick check of the bus and brought in a bomb-sniffing dog.
Trooper Bill Henkel, of the state patrol’s Homeland Security Division, came from Seattle with his canine partner Tru. It took the pair less than 10 minutes to determine if the bus was safe.
It was.
Trooper Bill Henkel, of the state patrol's Homeland Security Division, came from Seattle with his canine partner Tru to check for possible explosives on a bus in Onalaska yesterday.
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