News

Do you want to put your fall foliage to good use?

Washington State University Lewis County Master Recycler Composter volunteers will host a leaf exchange event from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Floral Park Sustainability Project at the corner of Floral Street and South Tower Avenue in Centralia.

A second event is scheduled for Dec. 7.

Residents can bring leaves in plastic lawn and leaf bags or garbage bags and drop them off with volunteers during the event. The leaf exchange is being offered for free, but the Master Recycler Composter volunteers, who are putting on the program in partnership with the utility, will accept donations to support their community outreach and education programs. 

Gardeners who need healthy leaves can stop by and pick up bags of leaves that will be available on a first-come, first-served basis while supplies last.

Volunteers will be available to answer questions about composting or mulching gardens with leaves.

For more information on the event, call 360-740-1216 or email jason.adams@lewiscountywa.gov. 

Freshman U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania, has praised a recent federal grant to expand broadband access in Lewis County.

Late last month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced it had awarded the Lewis County Public Utility District (PUD) a $4.8 million grant to install a fiber-to-the-premises network to access 1,152 residents and 16 businesses.

In an Oct. 31 announcement, the agency said the grant was part of $63.8 million it had awarded through its Community Connect Program to expand high-speed internet in rural areas across 12 states.

Last year, Gluesenkamp Perez wrote to the Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack in support of the project, writing in June 2023 that the PUD’s “publicly-owned, open access nature of this infrastructure will help the PUD ensure that private service providers offer customers choices at affordable prices, and with quality service.”

Across Washington, the USDA will invest over $11.5 million in three projects and bring high-speed internet to 2,347 residents in the Island, Lewis, Pacific and Spokane counties.

“Struggling to access the internet is a part of daily life for rural communities like mine — my family gets our internet from a radio tower. Getting broadband lines in the ground isn’t about having the bandwidth to stream cat videos — it’s about accessing employment, health care, schoolwork, and the resources to grow a small business,” Gluesenkamp Perez said. “Expanding fiber infrastructure in rural communities isn’t always commercially feasible, so these much-needed funds will jumpstart efforts to connect folks in Lewis County. Our rural and ag communities have been passed over for far too long, so I’ll keep fighting for federal dollars to power transformative investments like this one.”

According to the PUD, the “Connecting the Rural Lewis County Communities of Pe Ell, Doty and Dryad” project has a total cost of $5.6 million, with the Washington state Broadband Office chipping in $732,000.

The project is expected to fund the installation of 47.3 miles of new fiber infrastructure to 622 new locations currently lacking high-speed broadband.

In September, the PUD celebrated its first connections on a grant-funded, fiber-to-the-premises broadband network.

When completed, the projects will serve more than 8,000 households in the county. According to the PUD, the projects are expected to be completed by December 2027.

A Centralia man already in custody after being arrested on a third-degree theft charge from Centralia Municipal Court on Friday, Nov. 8, has now also been charged with second-degree malicious mischief after he allegedly damaged a HomeWAV monitor inside of a holding cell at the Lewis County Jail.

Still in custody, Michael Andrew Kellogg, 53, appeared virtually via Webex at a Lewis County Superior Court preliminary hearing on Tuesday, Nov. 12.

Kellogg was in the jail’s holding cell on Saturday, Nov. 9, when a Lewis County Sheriff’s Office deputy was dispatched to the jail to investigate a malicious mischief complaint from jail staff.

When the deputy arrived at the jail on Nov. 9, he spoke with a jail corrections sergeant who said Kellogg had damaged the HomeWAV monitor in the cell and that the incident had been captured on jail surveillance video.

HomeWAV is a company that specializes in facilitating safe and secure inmate communications and document processing and is used in corrections facilities in more than 30 states, according to its website.

The deputy reviewed the surveillance footage and observed Kellogg in the holding cell when he allegedly struck the monitor causing the screen to crack in a “spider fashion,” according to court documents.

Based on his knowledge of the HomeWAV system, the deputy estimated the repair cost for the monitor would be approximately $1,000. It would also mean one less monitor was available for other inmates and jail staff to use until it was repaired.

When the deputy questioned Kellogg about what happened to the broken monitor, Kellogg allegedly displayed an obscene gesture and spit on the glass separating himself from the deputy before walking away from the cell door and mooning the deputy “all while yelling profanities,” according to court documents.

The prosecuting attorney stated Kellogg had two prior felony convictions — both for possession of heroin with intent to deliver in 2012 — and asked Lewis County Superior Court Judge Andrew Toynbee to set Kellogg’s bail at $5,000 secured as Kellogg was already in custody on the theft charge.

Defense attorney Rachael Tiller stated that Kellogg told her “he was fine in the jail” and did not suggest any different bail amount but said she was happy the state asked for a low amount.

Toynbee asked Kellogg if he was actually OK with staying in jail.

“Yeah, not guilty. I’m gonna be in custody … not guilty, jury trial,” Kellogg said. “I’m so sure.”

Tiller added Kellogg wanted to exercise his right to a trial by jury.

Kellogg then accused the court of theft and breaking his “sh-t” and called staff “morons.” 

Toynbee set Kellogg’s bail at $5,000 and his arraignment hearing for Tuesday, Nov. 21.

The Centralia School Board will review the policy for course design and the selection and adoption of instructional materials during a study session next month and could adopt a modified policy early next year.

The move comes after some community members, including several parents, a Lewis County commissioner and the publisher of The Chronicle, expressed concern over a young adult novel they claim is inappropriate.

According to Centralia Superintendent Lisa Grant, the book “The Poet X” was approved as an optional reading material in 2019 under the district’s current process, though the book is not required reading.

In an email, Grant said ninth grade English students joined literature circles during their trimester, which included selecting one of five books to read.

Students selected books after a discussion of each book by the teacher and were allowed to switch books if either they or their parents suggested it.

During a Centralia School Board meeting Thursday, roughly a dozen attendees discussed the book, though a majority of the attendees seemed to support keeping the book as a reading option.

Centralia High School sophomore Embry Anna Schluter told members of the Centralia School Board Thursday that while a few of the poems “have mature themes,” the book is “not inappropriate.”

“If some parents don’t want their kids to read it, then that’s their choice, and I support that,” Schluter said.

“However, there are also several other books that could have been chosen to read.”

Tricia Ziese, director of community outreach at Bethel Church, said she attended the meeting in her personal capacity. During her comments, Ziese said she found the book “very damaging, especially for our students and youth who have been affected by sexual abuse.”

“I can’t imagine anybody advocating that this book should be read in schools to 14-year-olds,” Ziese said.

The Banned Book Project of Carnegie Mellon University identifies “The Poet X” as banned, and wrote in a description of the book that it “dives deep into the themes of religion and sexuality through the journal of fifteen-year-old Xiomara, a tenth grader struggling against her mother’s stringent Catholicism.”

“It has won a multitude of awards and been nominated for many others, including but certainly not limited to the National Book Award, the LA Times Book Prize, NY Times Editor’s Best Choice, and listed as one of NPR’s Best Books of the Year,” The Banned Book Project wrote.

According to Grant, the school board will review a modified policy during a Dec. 5 study session and could hold a final reading at the board’s January meeting.

Comments from Thursday’s meeting will be one source of input the board considers as it potentially adopts the new policy, Grant said.

Swope, who was not in attendance Thursday, introduced his own proposal last fall for the Timberland Library System to adopt a book rating system, a proposal county commissioners do not have the authority to adopt or enforce.

In an Oct. 29 Facebook post, Swope said, “No parent should be caught off guard by material like this in their child’s school.”

Lewis County maintains exciting potential to capitalize on a greener economy, a collection of speakers said Thursday at a Bioeconomy Summit at Centralia College.

Hosted by the Economic Alliance of Lewis County, the event focused on the county’s potential for a natural resource-based economy and energy through biomass. The event included keynote speakers from the United States Department of Agriculture, the American Forest Resource Council and the Bioeconomy Development Opportunity (BDO) zone.

Earlier this year, Lewis County received an “AA” Bioeconomy Development Opportunity (BDO) Zone rating for pulpwood, forest residues and sawmill residues, the first such rating in the state.

According to the Economic Alliance of Lewis County and Ecostrat, the BDO Zone Initiative “certifies regional readiness for bio-based manufacturing, creates global connections with project developers, and ignites an influx of clean energy opportunities.”

“We got the first AA rating in the United States, the first one for woody biomass, the first one done in the state of Washington,” organizer Bob Russell said.

Richard DeBolt, director of the Economic Alliance of Lewis County, said the designation has “awakened people to the byproducts, and the resources, that we have available in our community.”

“We were fortunate enough to get a very high rating, and it allowed all of these people to have information about Lewis County and what we have available to them,” DeBolt said.

The county features more than 10 companies with dedicated pulpwood chipping capacity and generates more than 600,000 bone-dried tons of woody biomass. Combined with the region’s industrial infrastructure, the county is ideal for large-scale bio-based projects.

“We sent a strong signal with the BDO Zone, and that’s where we’re at,” Russell said. “Today, you’re seeing the results of that signal.”

Following the designation, Russell said he fields interests from an array of industries looking for potential cooperation.

One such call was from Matt Joing, vice president of CleanFiber.

Late last month, the U.S. Department of Energy announced that the New York-based insulation company was awarded a $10 million federal grant to build a 60,000-square-foot production facility in Chehalis that will support 40 full-time jobs.

Earlier this year, CleanFiber was recognized as the Fastest Growing Manufacturing Company in America on the 2024 Inc. 5000 list.

The location of the project and a timeline for completion remain unclear.

“I asked Matt the question, ‘Was it the BDO Zone?’” Russell said. “And he said ‘Some, but a lot of it was the community.’”

Russell said he has also identified raw materials and energy products as other potential industries to pursue.

In 2018, researchers identified Lewis County as an ideal place for a biorefinery, a facility that would convert poplar trees, or biomass, into fuels and chemicals, according to previous reporting by The Chronicle.

CENTRALIA POLICE DEPARTMENT

Hit-and-run

• A hit-and-run to an unattended vehicle in the 600 block of West Pear Street at approximately 8:15 a.m. on Nov. 15 is under investigation.

• A hit-and-run was reported in a parking lot in the 1000 block of Belmont Avenue at approximately 11:20 a.m. on Nov. 17.

Theft

• A juvenile reportedly broke into a property in the 200 block of East Oakview Avenue and stole property just after 10:10 a.m. on Nov. 15. The case is under investigation.

• Two Randle residents were arrested for stealing packages off the porch of a residence in the 200 block of West Second Street just after 10:50 a.m. on Nov. 15.

• A burglary involving the theft of a leaf blower in the 1600 block of Salzer Creek Drive at 10:20 a.m. on Nov. 16 is under investigation.

Malicious mischief

• Damage to a vehicle in a parking lot in the 2000 block of Borst Avenue just after 11:35 a.m. on Nov. 15 is under investigation.

• Damage to heavy equipment and theft of water meters was reported in the 1300 block of Kresky Avenue at 8:05 a.m. on Nov. 18. The case is under investigation.

Assault

• A juvenile was arrested for assaulting another juvenile at Centralia Middle School just after 1:15 p.m. on Nov. 15.

• A 42-year-old Centralia man was arrested for fourth-degree assault, domestic violence in the 1100 block of Scammon Creek Road just before 9:30 p.m. on Nov. 15.

Vehicle accidents

• A minor, non-injury, two-vehicle collision was reported in the 700 block of Harrison Avenue just after 3:30 p.m. on Nov. 16.

• A two-vehicle collision with possible minor injuries was reported at the intersection of Grand Avenue and Fair Street just after 6:20 p.m. on Nov. 16.

CHEHALIS POLICE DEPARTMENT

Disorderly conduct

• A homeless man was reportedly throwing items out of a backpack and yelling in the 300 block of Northwest North Street just after 7:30 a.m. on Nov. 15.

• A woman holding a beer was reportedly standing in the middle of the roadway in the 1400 block of Northwest Louisiana Avenue just after 12:25 p.m. on Nov. 15.

Theft

• Just before 9:50 a.m. on Nov. 15, an elderly couple reported a stranger had picked up their morphine prescription from a pharmacy in the 500 block of South Market Boulevard. The pharmacy reportedly told the couple the prescription had been picked up two days prior.

• A propane tank was reported stolen from the 1900 block of Southwest Snively Way just before 1:40 p.m. on Nov. 15.

• A citizen reported someone had possibly stolen her cat from the 300 block of Southwest Third Street just after 12:20 p.m. on Nov. 16. She found the cat under her couch while she was on the phone with dispatchers.

• Approximately $1,200 worth of merchandise was reported stolen from a business in the 1300 block of Northwest Louisiana Avenue just before 3:15 p.m. on Nov. 16.

• A possible vehicle prowl was reported in the 1000 block of Southwest 20th Street just after 6:05 a.m. on Nov. 18.

Malicious mischief

• A third-degree malicious mischief reported in the 500 block of Northwest Front Street just before 11:20 a.m. on Nov. 15 is under investigation.

Death

• A death reported in the 300 block of Southwest Lewis Street at 2:30 p.m. on Nov. 15 is under investigation.

Suspicious circumstances

• A report of a suspicious person in the 100 block of Northeast Summit Road just after 2:50 p.m. on Nov. 15 is under investigation.

• A report of a suspicious vehicle in the 300 block of Northwest Florida Avenue at approximately 3:55 p.m. on Nov. 15 is under investigation.

• A woman reported “a bunch of weirdos” dressed in all black were surrounding her car in the 2100 block of Jackson Highway just before 1:50 a.m. on Nov. 17.

Vehicle accidents

• A vehicle accident involving a school bus reported in the 1400 block of Southwest Snively Avenue just after 3 p.m. on Nov. 15 is under investigation.

• Minor injuries were reported following a two-vehicle collision in the 1600 block of Northwest Louisiana Avenue at 4:45 p.m. on Nov. 16.

Animal negligence/abuse

• A case of animal negligence/abuse reported in the 1500 block of Northwest Louisiana Avenue just after 3:55 p.m. on Nov. 15 is under investigation.

Criminal trespass

• Two subjects were trespassed from a business in the 1700 block of North National Avenue at 4:35 p.m. on Nov. 15.

• A homeless man was trespassed from a business in the 300 block of Northwest Chehalis Avenue after he reportedly asked to use the business’s bathroom, was denied and refused to leave.

• A man was trespassed from a business in the 10 block of South Market Boulevard for disorderly conduct just before 9:30 a.m. on Nov. 16.

• A homeless man was trespassed from a business in the 500 block of West Main Street at 3:20 p.m. on Nov. 16 for reportedly loitering in the business’s parking lot.

• A man who was sitting on the train tracks and rocking back and forth in the 10 block of Southwest Chehalis Avenue just after 6:25 p.m. on Nov. 16 was moved along.

• A woman was arrested for trespassing in the 10 block of Southwest Pacific Avenue just before  6:35 a.m. on Nov. 17 after she reportedly refused to leave someone’s porch.

• A subject who was sleeping in the entryway of a business in the 400 block of Northwest Chehalis Avenue at approximately 7:05 a.m. on Nov. 18 was moved along.

Burglary

• A woman was reportedly walking into multiple houses and sitting on residents’ sofas in the 1000 block of Southeast Washington Avenue just before 5:50 p.m. on Nov. 15. She was arrested for second-degree burglary just after 6 p.m. after she called 911 to report a strange man was in her house in the 1000 block of Southeast Washington Avenue. Officers learned the house belonged to the man and that the woman had entered without permission.

Contraband

• A subject was cited for introducing contraband at a facility in the 10 block of Southwest Chehalis Avenue just before 7:30 a.m. on Nov. 17.

Dispute

• A verbal dispute was reported in the 100 block of Southwest Alfred Street just after 12:45 p.m. on Nov. 17.

• A verbal dispute between two subjects, one of whom was holding a machete, was reported in the 200 block of North Market Boulevard just before 6:50 p.m. on Nov. 17.

Malicious mischief

• A 70-year-old woman was reportedly hitting the walls of her room in the 600 block of Southeast Dobson Court with a baseball bat at approximately 9:05 p.m. on Nov. 17.

FIRE AND EMS CALLS

• Between Friday morning and Monday morning, Lewis County 911 Communications logged approximately 56 illness-related calls, 23 injury-related calls, three fire-related calls, six non-emergency service calls, 10 vehicle accidents, two Lifeline medical alerts, one overdose and two other calls.

JAIL STATISTICS

• As of Monday morning, the Lewis County Jail had a total system population of 149 inmates, including 136 in the general population and 13 in the Work Ethic and Restitution Center (WERC). Of the general population inmates, 111 were reported male and 25 were reported female. Of the WERC inmates, 11 were reported male and two were reported female.

• As of Monday morning, the Chehalis Tribal Jail had a total system population of 22 inmates, including 11 booked by the Centralia Police Department, eight booked by the state Department of Corrections, one booked by the Lummi Nation, one booked by the City of Elma and one booked by the Tulalip Tribe.

•••

Sirens are compiled by assistant editor Emily Fitzgerald, who can be reached at emily@chronline.com. The Centralia Police Department can be reached at 360-330-7680, the Chehalis Police Department can be reached at 360-748-8605. If you were a victim of physical or sexual abuse, domestic violence or sexual assault, call Hope Alliance at 360-748-6601 or the Youth Advocacy Center of Lewis County at 360-623-1990.

• MALICHI E. GUYTON, 42, Centralia, died Nov. 7 at Providence Centralia Hospital. Services are not planned at this time. Arrangements are under the care of Newell-Hoerling’s Mortuary.

• JULIAN A. WILKES, 73, Chehalis, died Nov. 9 at Providence Centralia Hospital. Services are pending at this time. Arrangements are under the care of Newell-Hoerling’s Mortuary.

• RYAN J. RUDOLPH, 48, Rochester, died Nov. 13 at Virginia Mason Hospital. A graveside service will be held at 11 a.m. Nov. 26 at Grand Mound Cemetery. Arrangements are under the care of Newell-Hoerling’s Mortuary.