Centralia workers recently installed signage at the entrance to the Discovery Trail stating the specific timeframe in which the park is closed to the public each night. Residents of the area deem this inadequate because the sun sets hours earlier than 10 p.m. during most of the year.
A sign marking the line between Centralia and Lewis County jurisdiction at the entrance to the Discovery Trail stands to the left of a sign stating operating hours of “dawn to dusk” which conflicts with new signage stating the park is closed overnight from 10 p.m. until 6 a.m.
Terry Hetzel, whose property at 1308 Goodrich Road sits directly across from the entrance to the Discovery Trail, says he’s about ready to sell his place and move due to what he and other neighborhood residents say has been inadequate attention paid by Centralia and Lewis County officials to illicit activities in the area.
When the Discovery Trail opened to the public in September 2006, Centralia residents celebrated the 1.5 miles of easy walking along the Chehalis River.
The trail itself is still a popular destination for people to walk their dogs or take the family for an afternoon stroll. But those who live along Goodrich Road near the entrance to the trail are discovering far more than they bargained for.
“You name it, I’ve picked it up,” said Terry Hetzel, who has lived at 1308 Goodrich Road directly across from the parking area adjacent to the trail entrance since 2005. “Beer cans, needles, condoms and worse. I’ve been told to get (lost) by people so many times, it’s almost comical.”
According to Hetzel and many other residents who live nearby, the area leading up to and including the trail entrance has become a haven for illicit activities that sometimes spill over from public land onto their own private properties.
He and neighbors John and Stacy Kaech, who live up the road from Hetzel, allege thefts are becoming more common in the area as generators and expensive farm equipment seem to disappear more and more frequently. Hetzel also claims to have lately seen acts of prostitution happening outside his window.
“Something is going to happen out here sooner or later,” Hetzel said. “Someone will get attacked, or worse. Every time it closes down for maintenance or because of a storm, people here are hoping it stays closed for good.”
City and county officials say they’re actively working to come up with solutions to address the situation. Centralia workers recently installed new signs stating the trail is closed to the public nightly from 10 p.m. until 6 a.m., which residents say is not an improvement from the previous time frame of dusk to dawn given that it gets dark well before 10 p.m.
Centralia Public Works Director Kim Ashmore said the city has also put up motion-sensor lights and redirected a surveillance camera at the wastewater plant down the road to capture more of the road.
“We’re trying to look at options and to see what we can do with the information people have provided,” Ashmore said. “There’s a mix there between people who live there and don’t like it and those who use it for socializing and getting exercise. We have to find a balance … I don’t know what it is we can do other than moving the parking area to a different location.”
Complicating matters is that one portion of the problem area is under the oversight of one governing body while the other is the responsibility of another.
The trail exists on a 200-foot wide habitat conservation easement that runs alongside the Chehalis River in both Lewis County and Thurston County. The city of Centralia has jurisdiction over the easement as the result of a 2003 agreement between numerous bodies including the Chehalis River Basin Land Trust and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Goodrich Road exists outside Centralia city limits and is managed by Lewis County. This makes it difficult for residents to know who to call about issues taking place at the entrance to the trail, though they’ve gotten the attention of Centralia City Councilor Susan Luond, whose council district neighbors the trail.
“I do feel strongly that if it can be proven that there are property violations and things like what they’re saying have taken place since the trail opened, that it may be in the best interests to block it off so people can’t go there at all if the trail is causing all these problems,” Luond said. “I would like to find out if the issues are isolated to a couple people or if everyone out there is having the same problem. You’d hate to cut something like that off from the public, but if something like that is causing the chaos people have described, then you really have to look at it.”
The Kaechs have taken it upon themselves to speak out publicly regarding the concerns of the neighborhood. Neither returned requests for comment, but both addressed the Centralia City Council on Oct. 9.
Stacy Kaech did the majority of the talking and said she’s reluctant to allow her 11-and-12-year-old boys to play outside, due to the conduct of others. She suggested the trail entrance be moved a few hundred feet toward an access road used by workers at the treatment plant which would place it inside city limits.
“Our quality of life and safety have drastically decreased,” Kaech told the council. “…We are becoming victims in our own neighborhood.”
Lewis County Sheriff Rob Snaza has proposed a different approach in conversations with city officials. He would like the city council to adopt a county ordinance or cite the Revised Code of Washington (state law) as the basis for enforcing rules and regulations at the trail.
Snaza added that he had deputies pull logs of calls for service in that area. Other than an uptick in traffic complaints, they haven’t seen spikes in thefts or drug enforcement.
“We try to get down there whenever we’re available,” Snaza said. “I’ve met with (Centralia Chief of Police Carl Nielsen) and talked to him about having the signs use a county ordinance or an RCW. If it’s just a city ordinance, it makes it difficult for us to enforce it unless I call a Centralia officer out to enforce it.”
Hetzel said he’s only called the police a few times during the dozen years he’s lived on Goodrich Road. Most of the time, he goes out to confront the alleged lawbreakers himself. A “no trespassing” sign with a picture of a gun that asks “any questions?” gives passersby a sense of how protective he is of his livelihood.
He bought his farm following more than three decades of working for Northwest Airlines. Once the last of his horses dies off, though, he said he’s likely to put the place up for sale.
“I didn’t come out here to put up with these things,” Hetzel said. “A lot of the people who come out to the trail are good folks. It’s the few bad ones that ruin it all.”
