News

Kevin Hines, a suicide survivor who has gone on to become an advocate for improving mental health, will host a free community presentation at W.F. West High School at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 25.

The community presentation is sponsored by the Drew North Foundation. The public is invited to attend.

“In 2000, Hines attempted to take his own life by jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge. He is one of only 36 people to survive the fall,” the Chehalis School District stated in a news release. “The miracle of his survival inspired him to share his story and attempt to help others who were feeling the same way and to spread a message about how to survive and thrive, even if you struggle with mental health issues.”

Hines’ story was featured in the 2006 film “The Bridge” by Eric Steel, and Hines has also released a memoir titled “Cracked Not Broken, Surviving and Thriving After a Suicide Attempt” and his own documentary titled “Suicide: The Ripple Effect.”

He received the Clifford W. Beers Award from Mental Health America in 2016 and has also received the Lifetime Achievement Award from National Council of Behavioral Health.

“Hine’s visit is thanks to the work of W.F. West senior Abigail Alexander,” the Chehalis School District wrote. “Inspired by the loss of classmates in her own school to suicide as well as the mental health toll she saw in her peers during COVID, Alexander approached community members to raise the money needed to put on this important event.”

Hines will give a separate presentation to W.F. West High School students during the school day on April 25.

Donors who helped make Hines’ visit possible were Drew North, NW Pediatrics, Dr. Jennifer Scalici, Security State Bank, Bethel Church, Wagner Orthodontics, Mike and Sue Austin, The Eklund Family, The Alexander Family, Chehalis Education Association and WEA Chinook.

CENTRALIA POLICE DEPARTMENT

Criminal trespass

• Two homeless Centralia residents were cited for trespassing at Blakeslee Junction on Eckerson Road at 8:30 a.m. on April 19 for continuing to live there after it was cleared. Both were previously issued warnings, according to the Centralia Police Department.

• A homeless Centralia man was trespassed from a business in the 200 block of Centralia College Boulevard just before 8:30 a.m. on April 21 after the property owner “observed him defecating on his property.”

Disorderly conduct

• At approximately 6:25 p.m. on April 21, police received a report of a disorderly male in the 400 block of North Tower Avenue “who was covered in feces and blood, and who appeared to be under the influence of narcotics, throwing unknown items behind the building.” An officer contacted the man, “who was not covered in feces,” and found he “was frustrated after he had accidentally tripped over his cart in the roadway.” An officer helped him pick up his belongings.

• A disorderly woman was reportedly “hitting her own vehicle with a knife” in the 100 block of South Gold Street just before 6:55 p.m. on April 21. No crime was committed. An officer advised the woman of local resources, which she reportedly declined.

• A man was reportedly “walking down the sidewalk swinging a machete” in the 1000 block of Eckerson Rad at approximately 11:35 p.m. on April 21. No threats or assaults were reported. When contacted by an officer, the man “advised he was just practicing his machete moves.” he “agreed it was reasonable not to do this on a city sidewalk.”

Assault

• A fourth-degree assault that occurred near the gazebo at Washington Park in the 100 block of South Silver Street just before 2 p.m. on April 19 is under investigation.

Hit-and-run

• A hit-and-run was reported in the 1300 block of Harrison Avenue at approximately 8:50 p.m. on April 19. The suspect reportedly drove an “older,” white Toyota.

• A hit-and-run reported in the 1100 block of Harrison Avenue at 12:50 p.m. on April 20 is under investigation.

Vehicle accident

• A non-injury, two-vehicle collision was reported in the 1200 block of Belmont Avenue just after 11 a.m. on April 20.

Child abuse/neglect

• An allegation of child abuse reported in the 1100 block of Cobra Lane just after 2:30 p.m. on April 20 is under investigation.

DUI

• A 34-year-old Auburn man was arrested in the 600 block of South Gold Street just after 7:55 p.m. on April 20 and was booked into the Lewis County Jail for DUI.

• A 33-year-old Winlock woman was arrested in the 300 block of Noel Avenue just after 8:20 a.m. on April 21 and was booked into the Lewis County Jail for being in physical control of a motor vehicle while under the influence and for knowing possessing a controlled substance. A 30-year-old Chehalis woman was also cited for knowing possession of a controlled substance

• Just after 8:05 p.m. on April 21, officers responded to a reported dispute in the 1000 block of Scammon Creek Road involving an intoxicated male who refused to leave an apartment after being asked to by the resident.  It was determined that no crime had occurred, as the dispute was only verbal.  Officers offered to transport the involved male to a local hotel or shelter “as he was clearly intoxicated,” but “he refused any assistance.”  Officers reportedly “warned the male numerous times not to drive” before they left. The male, 39 of Saint Helens, Oregon, was arrested and booked into the Chehalis Tribal Jail for DUI a short time later.   

Vehicle prowls

• At approximately 10:05 p.m. on April 20, an attempted vehicle prowl that occurred in the 800 block of Johnson Road between 2:20 and 8 p.m. that day was reported. The suspect reportedly broke the vehicle's rear side window. Nothing inside the vehicle was reported stolen.

• A backpack containing an iPad and other belongings was reported stolen from a vehicle in the 700 block of Allen Avenue just before 8:10 p.m. on April 20. The suspect broke the vehicle’s side window.

Other Theft

• At approximately 7:50 p.m. on April 20, a battery was reported stolen from a parked vehicle in the 1600 block of South Gold Street sometime within the past week.

• An unknown male subject reportedly attempted to shoplift from a business in the 1200 block of Lum Road just before 11 a.m. on April 21. The items were recovered but the suspect was not located.

Recovered vehicle

• A stolen utility trailer was found in the 1200 block of South Tower Avenue just before 4:50 p.m. on April 21 and was recovered by its owner.

Eluding

• A vehicle eluded police after a Centralia police officer attempted to stop it for a traffic violation in the 1000 block of Harrison Avenue just before 6:55 p.m. on April 21. The officer did not pursue the vehicle to comply with state pursuit laws. The vehicle was last seen traveling at excessive speeds while passing vehicles on the right. A Napavine Police Department officer located the vehicle and attempted a traffic stop, but the suspect vehicle eluded police again, south on Interstate 5. The vehicle was later located, unoccupied, in Cowlitz County. The suspect driver was subsequently identified as a 22-year-old Ocean Shores resident. He was referred to the Lewis County Prosecutor's Office for possible charges.

Dispute

• A physical dispute between two homeless men was reported at the intersection of South Ash Street and Centralia College Boulevard just before 10:15 p.m. on April 21. Officers located one of the involved parties, who reportedly “denied that a physical altercation occurred and did not wish to be a victim.”

CHEHALIS POLICE DEPARTMENT

Theft

• $15 in change that was left at a self-checkout in the 1600 block of Northwest Louisiana Avenue was reported stolen just after 11:30 a.m. on April 19.

• Just before 1:40 p.m. on April 20, a bicycle was reported stolen from the 1400 block of Southwest Johnson Avenue two weeks prior.

• A male subject reportedly shoplifted two beers and a blue plastic grocery bag from a business in the 500 block of South Market Boulevard just before 1:10 p.m. on April 21.

Hit-and-run

• A hit-and-run was reported in the 1100 block of South Market Boulevard just before 12:50 p.m. on April 19.

Harassment

• Harassment reported in the 300 block of Northwest North Street just after 1 p.m. on April 19 is under investigation.

Disorderly conduct

• A man was reportedly “yelling at nobody” on the railroad tracks in the 500 block of Northwest Front Street just after 2:15 p.m. on April 19.

DUI

• A subject was arrested for being in physical control of a vehicle while under the influence at the intersection of Northwest State Avenue and Northwest Prindle Street at 7:15 a.m. on April 21.

Suspicious circumstances

• Just before 8:55 a.m. on April 21, a citizen reported she was being followed by a white van in the 100 block of North Market Boulevard. She advised the driver, described as “an older male (with a) gray beard,” “had a loud speaker he was talking through,” was “cussing at (her) and had repeatedly pulled in front of her and slammed on the break before going behind and tailgating her. He reportedly stopped when she picked up her phone to call the police.

• A car was reportedly blocking the roadway at the intersection of Northeast Adams Avenue and Northeast Boistfort Street just before 10 p.m. on April 21. The driver was reportedly “cussing at people.”

Juvenile problem

• A group of four to five girls between the ages of 12 and 14 were reportedly “cussing and threatening to beat children … up” in the 200 block of Southwest 13th Street at 4:15 p.m. on April 21.

Assault 

• Just before 7 p.m. on April 21,  a citizen reported their niece told her boyfriend to leave her residence in the 400 block of Northwest Quincy Place, but he returned and “pulled a gun” on the citizen’s niece and wife.

• A possible assault was reported in the 300 block of Southwest James Street just after 11:25 p.m. on April 21.

Eluding

• A case of eluding reported in the 1700 block of Northwest Louisiana Avenue just before 7:40 p.m. on April 21 is under investigation.

Criminal trespass

• A trespass reported in the 10 block of Southwest Chehalis Avenue just after 6:35 a.m. on April 22 is under investigation.

FIRE AND EMS CALLS

• Between Friday morning and Monday morning, Lewis County 911 Communications logged approximately 55 illness-related calls, 33 injury-related calls, 12 fire-related calls, nine non-emergency service calls, two pregnancy-related calls, four Lifeline medical alerts, two public assist requests, one vehicle accident, one suicide-related call, one 911 hangup, one traffic hazard report and three other calls.

JAIL STATISTICS

• As of Monday morning, the Lewis County Jail had a total system population of 140 inmates, including 126 in the general population and 14 in the Work Ethic and Restitution Center (WERC). Of general population inmates, 104 were reported male and 22 were reported female. Of the WERC inmates, 12 were reported male and two were reported female.

• As of Monday morning, the Chehalis Tribal Jail had a total system population of 20 inmates, including seven 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 McCleary and three booked by Chehalis Tribal Court.

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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.

On Thursday, April 25, the Centralia Planning Commission will hold a special meeting to discuss a number of topics, including emergency housing, according to a city news release.

The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. and be held in the council chambers at Centralia City Hall — located at 118 W. Maple St. in Centralia.

Along with emergency housing in Centralia, other topics to be discussed at this meeting include:

• A request from the Sage Investment Group along with the City of Centralia to allow multi-family housing in the C-2 zoning district

• The definition of an accessory building

• A request from someone to allow landscaping and nursery businesses in residential zones

• A request from both residents and the City of Centralia to allow 7-foot high fences

To view this special meeting’s agenda, visit https://bit.ly/49OjCy5. 

For more information, email Hillary Hoke, Centralia Community Development Department assistant director, at HHoke@cityofcentralia.com. 

Mother Joseph of the Sacred Heart, the French-Canadian Sister of Providence who started nearly 30 schools, orphanages and hospitals in the Pacific Northwest during the 19th century, never started a hospital in Lewis County, but she did oversee construction of St. Peter’s Hospital in Olympia.

After the Sisters of Providence began a boarding school in Olympia in 1881, local citizens begged them to build a hospital and even offered to donate land for it, saying they’d give the Methodists the opportunity if the nuns didn’t do it.

Mother Joseph responded by raising $2,250 through subscriptions from residents to purchase land near the Providence Academy, Catholic Church and Capitol, and on April 7, 1887, she began construction of a 30-bed hospital, according to a recently compiled history of Providence South Puget Sound St. Peter and Centralia hospitals.

The hospital added a school of nursing in 1919. Students boarded at the hospital, worked 12-hour days and studied at night. The Sisters of Providence paid $12,000 for land on Main Street (today Capitol Way) to erect the second St. Peter Hospital in 1924, a five-story brick building on Sherman Street. After training 341 students, the nursing school closed in 1953 because it could no longer obtain accreditation.

A community board of 16 members formed in 1965 to help the Sisters of Providence manage the hospital and recommended construction of a new building to accommodate growth. The following year, in 1966, Providence purchased land on Lilly Road and built a $6 million, 150-bed hospital, which is the present-day St. Peter Hospital. Three years later, they added three additional patient floors, which boosted the cost to $10 million. It opened on Jan. 6, 1971.

“Providence St. Peter Hospital, which has undergone several expansions since the 1970s, is Providence’s second largest Washington state hospital,” the recent Providence South Puget Sound history states. “Providence St. Peter features 390 beds in the medical/surgical tower with 42 private rooms in the emergency department (including a four-bed locked mental health evaluation unit), more than 40 observation beds, 18 beds in the psychiatry building, and 42 beds in the critical care unit.”

In Lewis County, early doctors provided medical care and overnight stays to early pioneers. Smaller towns also had doctors who kept patients overnight in small hospitals, such as the upper floor of the Toledo Hardware store, which Dr. Glen H. Matthis used as a hospital.

Chehalis hospitals

Dr. Guy W. Kennicott, who graduated from Rush Medical School in 1885, rode horseback, forded rivers and operated by lantern to treat patients in the east end of the county, according to the 1985 History of Lewis County by Alma and John Nix. Kennicott built the first hospital in Lewis County in 1903 next to his home at Prindle and State streets in Chehalis, the book states.

On Dec. 11, 1907, the Dominican Sisters of Holy Cross opened the four-story St. Helen Hospital in Chehalis. It was built at the request of local citizens and the Union Pacific Railroad to care for the elderly and the poor. Local residents raised $11,000 and local mills contributed lumber while three benefactors and a bank loaned the Dominican Sisters $19,000, according to the South Puget Sound Providence history. Father Francis Moens, a priest at St. John’s Catholic Church in Chehalis, helped secure the loan, oversaw construction and did the carpentry work without payment. The first patients treated at the new hospital were a young brother and sister with meningitis who both recovered and returned home, according to The Daily Chronicle’s July 1976 Bicentennial Edition.

In 1927, a new two-story reinforced concrete building at 1332 Washington Ave. replaced the original St. Helen Hospital, which was later bulldozed to make room for parking.

St. Helen Hospital underwent renovations and expansion again in 1952, bringing total beds to 79. In 1960, it added a laundry building, and in April 1964, the Sisters of Providence opened the $735,000 Rosary Manor nursing home with 53 beds in a wing annexed to the hospital, according to the Oct. 22, 1965, issue of the Catholic Northwest Progress. In July 1970, a million-dollar remodeling relocated the maternity ward and added a new surgery unit, lobby, pharmacy, chapel, and parking spaces, the 1976 Bicentennial Edition article states. Sister Virginia Pearson, one of five nuns who worked there in 1976, described the organization as “just getting by” with 58 hospital beds and 41 in the nursing home. It employed 164 full-time and part-time employees with a $1.2 million payroll.

Centralia hospitals

Meanwhile, in Centralia, Dr. J.H. Dumon ran a hospital at Pearl and Pine streets until purchasing the former Northwest Baptist seminary in 1907. He turned the seminary, built in 1890 but by then a private residence, into a general hospital and called it Centralia General Hospital. When he retired in 1913, he sold the property to the Lumbermen’s Association.

Five or six years later, according to the 1976 Chronicle Bicentennial Edition article, Dr. Lee Scace, a surgeon at the Lumbermen’s hospital, purchased the building and closed it after constructing a new hospital at First and H streets, called Scace Hospital. Dr. Scace died two years later, but his hospital, known as St. Luke’s Hospital and Sweet Clinic, continued operating and added a new wing in 1923.

In the early 1940s, the Archdiocese of Seattle bought St. Luke’s Hospital in Centralia, and for three years, the Carmelite Sisters of New York tended the elderly in the building at 701 H St. called St. Luke’s Infirmary. When Carmelite nuns returned to the East Coast in 1945, Bishop Gerald Shaughnessy of the Archdiocese of Seattle asked the Sisters of Providence to temporarily run the 70-bed home. They agreed and purchased St. Luke’s from the archdiocese in 1953, sending six sisters to staff the home until it closed in 1969.

“We finally came to the conclusion that the cost of renovating the building to bring it up to standard would be as great as building a new home,” Provincial Superior Sister Cecelia Abhold said in 1968. “Actually, we didn’t have the money to do either.”

Until the 1940s, Dr. D.O. Nugent also operated a small hospital on South Gold Street and another at Tower and Maple.

In 1926, a couple of blocks away from St. Luke’s, six doctors opened Lewis County General Hospital at Hanson and Iron streets in Centralia, which they turned over to Lewis County in 1940. The county added a new west wing in 1953. Then, in September 1957, the Stewards Foundation of Chicago purchased the 65-bed hospital for $100,000. The foundation, established in 1945 by the nondenominational Plymouth Brethren Church, also operated a hospital in Auburn. But the old hospital also showed its age, unable to meet minimum state standards, so in March 1969, the Stewards Foundation released an artist’s conception of a new $1.4 million Centralia General Hospital off Cooks Hill Road. At the time, the hospital had 47 beds and a staff of 90. The new Centralia General Hospital opened on Aug. 25, 1971, and by 1976, it employed 127 people with an annual payroll of about $1.1 million.

In July 1983, the Sisters of Providence bought St. Helen Hospital and, five years later, in January 1988, they filed paperwork to purchase Centralia General Hospital, which officially became Providence Hospital Centralia on April 1, 1988. The two hospitals combined under Providence Centralia Hospital later that year, and gradually consolidated all functions in Centralia, while the Chehalis campus housed Providence Addictions Recovery Center and Sound Home Care and Hospice.

In the mid-1990s, Providence launched a $15 million expansion and renovation at Centralia that added a new emergency room, a surgical services department, the outpatient surgery center, diagnostic imaging services and another 60 beds. In 2002, another remodeling added a 24-hour kitchen, therapy offices, spiritual care space and a medical records department, according to the Providence history.

In 2007, Providence spent $7.2 million to expand the Emergency Department to 15,000 square feet with 22 beds, two major medical and trauma rooms, and an expanded triage area and waiting room.

Two years later, in May 2009, Providence sold the old St. Helen Hospital campus for $2.5 million to the operators of American Behavioral Health Systems treatment centers.

“Providence Regional Cancer System teamed with RadiantCare and Washington Orthopaedic Center to open the $6 million, 17,000 square-foot Lewis County Cancer Center in 2009,” the Providence history states.

Today, the not-for-profit Providence Centralia hospital has 128 beds and provides emergency, diagnostic, cancer, birthing and surgical services.

Morton hospital

Morton General Hospital, known since January 2019 as Arbor Health–Morton Hospital, opened in 1937 with 11 beds to serve East Lewis County residents. Dr. C.B. Ritchie and Gladys Howlett, a registered nurse, cared for the patients and Howlett lived in the adjacent house with her family and cooked meals for the patients and did the laundry, according to the Arbor Health website at https://tinyurl.com/mvt4x3yh.

Other doctors joined the hospital, including Dr. Leonard Asmundson and later Dr. LeGrande Anderson, who bought out Dr. Ritchie’s share and, in 1946, purchased Asmundson’s share as well. He operated the hospital until adding Dr. Brandt Bede as a partner later that year. Dr. J. Arnold Wark bought out Dr. Anderson’s share in 1950. For nearly three decades, Drs. Wark and Bede ran the hospital and constructed a new building in 1952.

Then, in 1978, the East Lewis County community created a hospital district to purchase the private hospital at Morton and run it as a public healthcare center, which today includes the Randle Clinic and the Mossyrock Clinic (formerly Riffe Medical Center). In 1992, the hospital district built a 30-bed long-term care addition, which was converted later into hospital rooms. In 2006, the district replaced the 1952 brick building with a larger hospital, which opened in January 2007 with 25 acute care beds and more room for imaging, labs, and a cafeteria.

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Julie McDonald, a personal historian from Toledo, may be reached at memoirs@chaptersoflife.com.

As part of a growing list of international partners, Washington Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz met with a delegation of Ukrainian officials last week to discuss wildfire mitigation and sustainable forestry management.

On Thursday, Franz met with a delegation led by State Specialized Forest Enterprise Director General Yurii Bolokhovets, who requested the meeting to strengthen bilateral cooperation in forestry. The cooperation is the latest partnership for the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), which includes meetings with officials from British Columbia, Iceland and Finland.

“In Washington, how we protect, manage, and fight for our forests is the measure of our state’s strength and values,” Franz said in a statement. “We’re eager to share best practices because forests are critical to solving the climate crisis and powering economies. 

In a news release, DNR noted the risk that Ukraine's forests face, particularly as the war with Russia continues. According to the Ukrainian State Forest Resources Agency, over the past three years, an estimated 30% of the country's forests have suffered damage.

“The people of Ukraine and people of Washington state stand united not only in our commitment to defend freedom and democracy, but we also want to combine efforts to safeguard our shared values protecting nature with its ecosystem for the generations yet to come,” Honorary Consul of Ukraine Valeriy Goloborodko said in a statement.

According to DNR, the war between the two countries has caused more than $2 trillion in environmental damage and resulted in reduced biodiversity, increased air pollution and an increase in wildfires, among other damage.

“Our forests everywhere face great threats from development to disease to, sadly, war. All of us, here in Washington and across the globe, must unite to defend our forests,” Franz said. “That is why we are proud to stand with Ukraine and offer any assistance we can in their struggle to defend their people and lands.”

According to the DNR, the meeting included a discussion of Washington’s Forest Health Strategic Plan. Created in 2017, the 20-year, $250 million plan invests in forest restoration, wildfire suppression and economic development.

In the first six years of the plan, Washington has completed more than 600,000 acres of forest health treatments on federal, state, tribal and private forest lands. The state is currently on track to complete over a million treatment acres by 2027.

According to a DNR spokesperson, the state should expect a “normal” fire season this year. The Washington State Department of Ecology declared a statewide drought last week, stating “With winter’s snow storms largely behind us, our state’s low snowpack and forecasts for a dry and warm spring and summer have spurred the Department of Ecology to declare a drought emergency for most of Washington.”

Beginning at 9 a.m. on Saturday, June 22, the Lewis County Autism Coalition and Cornerstone Center for Development will hold a fundraiser car and BMX bike show at the Veterans Memorial Museum, located at 100 SW Veterans Way in Chehalis. The show will end at 1 p.m.

“All the proceeds are going toward the Autism Coalition. The museum isn’t getting anything,” Veterans Memorial Museum Executive Director Chip Duncan said. “I just love being able to partner with them and help them host the show.”

Duncan reached out to the Lewis County Autism Coalition when he heard it was initially planning on using a small, locally available parking lot, which wouldn’t have given them much space for cars.

With the fields at the Veterans Memorial Museum, there is now room for hundreds of cars to be displayed for the show. And for those who can’t drive yet, they can still show their BMX or other kinds of bikes.

“It’s an avenue where a 10-year-old kid can become a part of a car show, bring his bicycle in, clean it up, spray paint it, whatever they want to do,” Duncan said.

Those planning on displaying their bikes are asked not to ride them near the cars.

He noted the eighth annual Ride the Willapa bike ride will also be starting that day. Cyclists will be on the Willapa Hills Trail, which starts near the museum.

“So it’s going to end up being like this bicycle-car thing. Those two don’t normally go together, but here we are,” Duncan added.

Along with the cars and bikes, live music will be performed, food trucks will be available and a 50/50 raffle will be held. Additionally, all children who register a bike in the show will receive a free Hot Wheels car.

Registration for the inaugural Lewis County Autism Coalition Car and BMX Show is now open and costs $20 per car. Bicycle registration is free.

To register, visit the Lewis County Autism Coalition’s website at https://www.lcautism.org/carshow/ or register in person at the Veterans Memorial Museum. 

Founded in 2010, the Lewis County Autism Coalition is a partnership of various agencies, educators, health professionals and adults on the autism spectrum.

The coalition’s goal is to grow and sustain resources for children and adults on the spectrum, along with their parents, families and surrounding communities within Lewis County. For more information, visit https://www.lcautism.org/. 

The Cornerstone Center for Development, located in Centralia, is a center where parents with children on the spectrum or with other disabilities can get outpatient speech, occupational and physical therapies.

To learn more about Cornerstone, read The Chronicle’s previous feature on it at https://bit.ly/4b02431. 

A local nonprofit, the Veterans Memorial Museum is dedicated to preserving the memories and telling the stories of veterans.

For more information, visit https://www.veteransmuseum.org/ or find the museum on Facebook.