{"id":13298,"date":"2012-07-12T19:29:35","date_gmt":"2012-07-13T02:29:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lewiscountysirens.com\/?p=13298"},"modified":"2012-07-12T19:31:07","modified_gmt":"2012-07-13T02:31:07","slug":"missing-manhole-cover-trips-blind-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/?p=13298","title":{"rendered":"Missing manhole cover trips blind man"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"012.0712.stormwaterhole\"<\/a>

The pit along Southwest 11th Street is covered by plywood today, but it was open last night.<\/p><\/div>\n

By Sharyn\u00a0 L. Decker
\nLewis County Sirens news reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n

CHEHALIS – A blind man walking to the grocery store to buy milk dropped into a brick-lined pit of an uncovered storm drain in Chehalis last night.<\/p>\n

Police and aid called about 11:30 p.m. to the corner of Southwest 11th Street at Market Boulevard found 42-year-old Tim Franklin just pulling himself out.<\/p>\n

\"2012.0712.tim.franklin.small\"<\/a>

Tim Franklin<\/p><\/div>\n

He said he was stuck down there about five minutes.<\/p>\n

“I stepped into it, went forward and smacked my head on the other side,” Franklin said.<\/p>\n

It was only chest-deep, but one of his feet got wedged in a small pipe about halfway down, he said.<\/p>\n

“There I was, I was yelling,” Franklin said. “Not for help, I was cussin’.”<\/p>\n

Franklin, who uses a white cane to make his way around town, was more annoyed than he was hurt. Today however, the brim of his hat hid a purplish-red scuff mark on his forehead.<\/p>\n

“You know, I never go on this side of the sidewalk, he said.<\/p>\n

A woman across 11th Street who heard him and called 911 told him it’s been uncovered for about three days, he said.<\/p>\n

“Why would they leave it this way,” he said. “I’m pissed.”<\/p>\n

The opening – on the shoulder next to the sidewalk – is about three feet long by two feet wide. A shallow stream of water trickled across the bottom of it this afternoon.<\/p>\n

A piece of plywood and orange cones set atop it now.<\/p>\n

The cover that belongs over it is more like a grate, according to Chehalis Fire Department Capt. Kevin Curfman. He said he was told by the street department it keeps getting stolen.<\/p>\n

“(They’re) gonna have to figure out how to bolt it down or something,” Curfman said.<\/p>\n

Franklin declined to go to the hospital, a paramedic checked his neck, he said.<\/p>\n

The Chehalis man says he’s not immune to accidents because of his lack of sight. A hereditary condition gradually took his vision until it was entirely gone at age 30, he said.<\/p>\n

Four or five years ago he fell at Stan Hedwall Park and broke his ankle, he said.<\/p>\n

The ankle is sore, he said today. He planned to have his doctor check it, his hip and his head, he said.<\/p>\n

Last night, after the nice paramedic was done with him, he nixed the trip to Safeway and limped the 13 blocks back home, he said.<\/p>\n

“They didn’t offer me a ride home,” he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Sharyn\u00a0 L. Decker Lewis County Sirens news reporter CHEHALIS – A blind man walking to the grocery store to buy milk dropped into a brick-lined pit of an uncovered storm drain in Chehalis last night. Police and aid called about 11:30 p.m. to the corner of Southwest 11th Street at Market Boulevard found 42-year-old […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10],"class_list":["post-13298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-top-story","tag-by-sharyn-l-decker","tag-news-reporter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13298"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13298\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13304,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13298\/revisions\/13304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}