News brief: Search for climber may resume later this week

June 9th, 2010

The search for the body of the missing climber on Mount Rainier will hopefully resume later this week, a park spokesperson said this morning.

Mark Wedeven, 27, of Olympia, went missing after an avalanche early Saturday morning on the Ingraham Glacier. He was one of 11 people overtaken by the snow. The others survived, but Wedeven is presumed dead, according to Mount Rainier National Park spokesperson Kevin Bacher.

Ironically, the worst ever climbing accident in U.S. history was on Mount Rainier, on the same glacier and on the same route, Bacher said.

It happened almost 29 years ago, on June 21, 1981. It was also a “slab” avalanche, according to Bacher.

“In that case, 11 people were killed by the avalanche, so the similarities in this case were spooky,” he said.

This particular route is an off-shoot of one of the two most popular climbs on Mount Rainier. Climbers depart from Paradise for the hike, Bacher said.

A limited search took place yesterday for Wedeven, Bacher said.

Park rangers stationed at Camp Muir continue to be hampered in their ability to search due to dangerous avalanche conditions on the upper mountain, Bacher said.

The search will resume as soon as it is safe, Bacher said.

News brief: Car hits child on bicycle

June 9th, 2010

An 11-year-old boy on a bicycle was struck by a car on Harrison Avenue in Centralia yesterday.

Police and aid called just after 5 p.m. said the Centralia resident sustained cuts and a leg injury. He was taken to Providence Centralia Hospital.

Centralia Police Department Sgt. Carl Buster said the child came across the busy arterial from the south side near the Panda Inn restaurant and was hit by a westbound Mitsubishi Lancer. He was accompanied by three other young bicyclists, Buster said.

One driver stopped, but the 18-year-old driver of the Mitsubishi didn’t even have a chance to see the boy, Buster said. She was not cited, he said.

Sharyns Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

June 8th, 2010

TWO MEN TASED BY CENTRALIA POLICE

• Officers discharged their Taser guns in two separate incidents yesterday afternoon in Centralia when subjects reportedly resisted arrest. Police say Daniel J. Miller, 19, tried to pull away and fight after a 3:20 p.m. traffic stop on Kresky Avenue and East Summa Street. The Centralia resident was then booked for obstructing and resisting arrest, according to police. The initial traffic offense for which Miller was being arrested wasn’t released. At about 3:35 p.m., as another officer was arresting a 27-year-old Centralia man for shoplifting shoes over on Lum Road, the subject resisted and he was Tased, according to police. Bradley P. Whitcomb was then booked for third-degree theft, police reported. Further details were not immediately available this morning.

MORE STUFF STOLEN

• Two firearms, jewelry and tools were reportedly taken in a burglary to a residence on the 700 block of North Pearl Street in Centralia, according to a report made about 9:45 last night.

• Centralia police responded to a report made about 10:25 a.m. yesterday about a burglary to an un-named business. Somebody had disabled the surveillance equipment at the establishment on the 1200 block of Alder Street, according to an officer’s report. Police did not report details about what was taken.

• Somebody broke out a vehicle window and made off with a woman’s purse, according to a report made to Chehalis police about 8:45 a.m. yesterday. The Dodge caravan was parked in the 100 block of Northeast Washington Avenue.

• Several tools were stolen during a vehicle prowl in a lot on the 2000 block of Johnson Road in Centralia, according to a report made to police about 2:40 p.m. yesterday.

VEHICLE WINDOW SHATTERED

• Yet another smashed windshield was reported in Centralia yesterday afternoon. Police were called about 4:50 p.m. about the vandalism on the 200 block of Tilley Avenue.

STAFF MEMBERS AT GREEN HILL SCHOOL KICKED, PUSHED AND PUNCHED

• Chehalis police yesterday handled two reports of residents of Green Hill School assaulting staff members. The incidents actually occurred last month at the state prison for juvenile males on 11th Street, according to Chehalis Police Department detective Sgt. Rick McNamara. One subject, an 18-year-old reportedly kicked a male staff member in the head and has already been transferred to the state prison for adults based on the incident, McNamara said. In a separate case, a 16-year-old reportedly pushed one staff member into a wall and punched another staff member in the head, the sergeant said. No serious injuries resulted, he said. Each were arrested and the cases referred on for charging decisions for custodial assault. The delay in the arrests comes from the customary flow of paperwork from Green Hill to the police department, McNamara said.

News brief: One woman hospitalized after three-vehicle pile up

June 8th, 2010

Traffic was clogged up on Harrison Avenue in Centralia yesterday evening after a three-vehicle collision, but no serious injuries were reported.

Troopers and aid were called about 5:20 p.m. to the wreck on the 2800 block of Harrison Avenue, about one mile north of the city limits.

The Washington State Patrol blamed the crash on inattention, when the 17-year-old driver of a 1990 Toyota Camry was distracted by something outside his car and rear-ended a 2009 Kia Optima, pushing that car into a Ford 450 flatbed truck.

A northbound lane was closed for about an hour and motorists were rerouted onto a side street, according to the Riverside Fire Authority.

The driver of the Kia, Rebecca L. Freeman, 41, was taken by ambulance to Providence Centralia Hospital with possible neck and back injuries, according to the state patrol. The Rochester woman was treated and has been released, the hospital said this morning.

The two cars were described as totaled and the truck sustained an estimated $1000 damage, according to the responding trooper.

Franklin C. Swenson, 17, of Rochester, was to be cited for second-degree negligent driving, according to the state patrol.

News brief: Much of stolen property found at Reynolds Avenue home returned to theft victims

June 7th, 2010

Centralia police have recovered virtually truckloads of stolen goods as they searched a home and an undisclosed location following last week’s surprise find by one of its own officers of property stolen from his residence.

Centralia Police Department detective Sgt. Pat Fitzgerald said today he didn’t have an estimate of the monetary value, but going through the items and attempting to return them to their owners has been time consuming.

“We’re talking lawn mowers, pressure washers, just huge amounts of tools,” Fitzgerald said. “Lawn care equipment, weed eaters, imagine what you would keep in your garage.”

Fitzgerald said he took phone calls all day Wednesday and Thursday from members of the public wondering about their own missing items after the find was publicized early last week.

Officers didn’t actually load up all the loot into trucks, but arranged for theft victims to come and pick it up.

Police have searched the house on the 700 block of Reynolds Avenue three times now, Fitzgerald said.

It was kind of a fluke that one of the men police believe is connected with the case was arrested on Thursday afternoon, for possession of several different kinds of drugs, according to Fitzgerald.

Fitzgerald said he was on his way to court to get one of the search warrants signed, when he spotted 49-year-old Daniel J. Miller Sr. driving in the south end of town. Miller was booked and then charged Friday for possession of methamphetamine, oxycodone, methadone and hydrocodone.

The searches began after a Centralia police officer went to the Reynolds’ Avenue residence with a man who said he was going to retrieve a vehicle registration for the officer to prove a car he was trying to start with a screwdriver belonged to him. While standing at the door, the officer reportedly saw several items he recognized as having been stolen from his garage in Chehalis a few days earlier, according to police. Fitzgerald declined to name the officer at the officer’s request.

Much of the found property has been confirmed to have been taken from homes, garages, sheds and storage units in Centralia and Chehalis over the past few months, police reported.

News brief: Fire breaks out at Salkum home, nobody hurt

June 7th, 2010

A man and woman escaped safely when a Salkum area home caught fire early yesterday morning thanks to a working smoke alarm, according to Lewis County Fire District 8.

Four fire departments responded to the pre- 7 a .m. call at the single story house off of Shanklin Road, Assistant Fire Chief Don Taylor said this morning.

“When we arrived we had a pretty good fire through the roof which was knocked down pretty quickly,” Taylor said.

The blaze destroyed a large portion of the roof and left heavy smoke damage inside, he said.

A fire investigator was looking into the specific cause.

Sharyn’s Sirens: Daily police and fire roundup

June 7th, 2010

Hub of satellite TV services trashed in East End

• Cable TV service was cut off Sunday in the Glenoma and Randle area after somebody broke into a building on the 8000 block of U.S. Highway 12 and caused an estimated $20,000 damage to fiber optic and satellite television equipment, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. A deputy was called about 7:15 a.m. when an individual who lives on the Glenoma property spotted a man who reportedly forced his way inside and used a saw to cut cables. The vandal was gone when the deputy arrived, but a suspect was arrested a short time later in Randle, Chief Criminal Deputy Gene Seiber said. Seiber said he didn’t know the motivation for the incident but said the suspect was not an employee or former employee of the business owner, Broadstripe LLC. Lyle R. West, 58, of Glenoma, was booked into the Lewis County Jail for first-degree malicious mischief and second-degree burglary.

Car windshields broken overnight in Centralia

• Centralia police responded to three incidents on Sunday to vehicle windows and windshields being smashed around town. The first was just before 1 a.m. on the 400 block of East Maple Street; and then at 9:30 a.m. another was reported on the 300 block of South Gold Street. About an hour later, an officer responded to similar vandalism on the 500 block of Courtland Street. Centralia Police Department Sgt. Carl Buster said it seemed like a pattern, and a rock was used in at least one of the incidents. Also, the glass front door of a business on the 200 block of South Tower Avenue was discovered shattered about 9:40 a.m. the same day.

Car Thefts

• Centralia police reported on Sunday the second of two Saturns stolen over the weekend in Centralia. A 2009 Saturn, license plate 430YHK, was taken from the 1200 block of Alder Street sometime before about 6 p.m. on Saturday, according to police. At about 4 a.m. the same day an individual on the 2000 block of North Pearl Street called police and said he went back into his residence while his blue 1998 Saturn was warming up and within just a couple of minutes, it vanished. It bears a license plate reading 280 YTY.

Diamond ring reported stolen

• A call to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office about a missing diamond ring on Friday led to an arrest  of a woman who allegedly took the $1,000 item and sold it to a pawn shop. Cathy M. Myers, 43, was arrested and booked into the Lewis County Jail for trafficking of stolen property, according to Chief Criminal Deputy Gene Seiber. Seiber described Myers as a former renter at the residence on the 100 block of Fisher Road where the theft reportedly occurred.

Pain meds lifted from unlocked vehicle at Wal-Mart

• Chehalis police reported today an officer was contacted Saturday evening about some medication – approximately 100 pain pills – stolen from an unlocked vehicle in the parking lot at Wal-Mart on Northwest Louisiana Avenue in Chehalis.

Chehalis police break up downtown brawl

• Chehalis police broke up a fight between at least six men outside a downtown bar just after 2 a.m. on Sunday. Nobody was hurt seriously and nobody wanted to go the hospital, but one man with a baseball bat was arrested for second-degree assault. Detective Sgt. Rick McNamara said one group was crossing the street and another group piled out of a car. “It sounds like there was a disagreement, words were exchanged … ,” McNamara said of the incident outside the establishment on the 500 block of North Market Boulevard. Gustavo A. Casimiro Gomez, 25, Chehalis, was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to McNamara. A 27-year-old Centralia man, Victor A. Ponce Ramirez, was arrested for misdemeanor assault, and then released. Five others, all in the same age group, were cited for disorderly conduct.

Elderly woman’s handgun missing

• The Thurston County Sheriff’s Office took a report on Friday that an 84-year-old Tenino-area woman was missing her .357 Taurus snub-nosed revolver. The woman’s son told a deputy he gave his mother the aluminum-colored handgun about two years ago so she could carry it with her when she went on walks. He said that on his recent regular visit to her home on the 17,000 block of Johnson Creek Road, he noticed the weapon was not in its box where it belonged. He said he was not sure if it was missing or just misplaced, sheriff’s Lt. Chris Mealy said this morning.

Freezer raided overnight in Rochester

• An estimated $150 of “quick-fix” microwavable food items were discovered missing from a large freezer in a back room of a Rochester area home, the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office said this morning. The report was made Wednesday after the discovery of the theft. Sheriff’s Lt. Chris Mealy said the resident woke up about 1:30 a.m. last Monday to their dogs barking and growling. A initial quick search of the home on the 18,100 block of Applegate Street Southwest and yard turned up nothing, but on Wednesday, the victim contacted the sheriff’s office upon realizing the items were gone.

Four gumball machines taken in Rochester burglary

• The Thurston County Sheriff’s Office reported this morning that four gum ball vending machines were stolen in a burglary on the 17,400 block of Moon Road Southwest in Rochester. Sometime between about 2 a.m. last Tuesday and 2 a.m. the next day, somebody broke the door lock to a storage building and removed the items. The loss was estimated at $150.

Man jailed after meth found during traffic stop

• A traffic stop, a suspended driver’s license and then a search led to the arrest Sunday evening of a Winlock man for possession of methamphetamine. A deputy contacted Ronald I. Kinswa, 41, on the 900 block of Byham Road, Winlock and discovered a small ziplock bag of a white crystal substance which tested positive for meth, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Kinswa was booked into the Lewis County Jail.

Dirty texting to minor alleged

• A Glenoma man was arrested Sunday following an investigation into reportedly sexually explicit text messages being sent to an underage girl. The messages were received between November and May to the female, who was described only as younger than 18. Shawn J. Pelletier, 27, was booked into the Lewis County Jail for communication with a minor for immoral purposes, according to Lewis County Sheriff’s Office Chief Criminal Deputy Gene Seiber.

Marijuana found at school dance

• A 15-year-old boy was arrested at a dance at Centralia High School for possession of marijuana on Friday night, according to the Centralia Police Department. Sgt. Carl Buster said this morning it was a small amount of marijuana and the arrest came after the school resource officer noticed something not quite right about the teen during a conversation at the event on the 800 block of Eshom Road. Buster said he couldn’t confirm if the boy was a student or not. The un-named juvenile was released after his arrest, according to police.