Threatening Calls
Hit Several Schools
We have learned that the same kind of computer generated threatening calls that were received in Chehalis were made to schools in Pacific County last Thursday.
Similar threatening calls have been made to schools in Spokane, Lacey and Olympia. Also last week, schools in Flagstaff and Phoenix, Arizona, received the same type of call. We are definitely not alone in dealing with this issue.
Thankfully, the threats made in all of these calls have been untrue, but because of the fear caused, many students missed school and harm was caused to them by disrupting their education. Every day that a student misses school is a certain loss of learning.
Based on the information above, I do not believe that the caller is in Chehalis. The calls come to schools in many communities far apart. The last threatening call to Olympic School claimed falsely that the caller was in a second-grade classroom, at that moment. No stranger was in any classroom in Chehalis when that call came in and second-graders don’t attend Olympic.
The caller is using sophisticated technology, but the law enforcement team working to catch this person or persons is more sophisticated, and I believe that the caller will be apprehended.
We are grateful to the police in Chehalis, Olympia and Spokane, and we also appreciate Congresswoman Jaime Herrera-Beutler and her staff for their continued support and involvement.
Ed Rothlin
superintendent
Chehalis School District
What Is the Status
of Centralia Station?
In the Thursday, April 16, edition of The Chronicle, earned praise was given for the success of the Northwest Sports Hub complex near Fort Borst Park.
When construction started on the indoor sports center, there were significant problems, and the project was halted for an extended period of time. Eventually, all the parties involved regrouped and solved those problems, and the building proceeded.
In the same edition of The Chronicle was an insert announcing the Home and Garden show to be held in the Northwest Sports Hub April 17-19. Readers were also treated to another stale artist’s rendition of the Port of Centralia’s planned Centralia Station.
I have to wonder what the Port of Centralia has firmly planned and scheduled for Centralia Station. What are the hard numbers? What is the financial status of the project? If the information was previously published, I missed it. Regardless, some current investigative reporting by The Chronicle bringing us up to speed on the status of Centralia Station would be welcome.
So far, the Port of Centralia has succeeded in bullying several homeowners on Long Road to sell their property to them, forcing them to move or face the threat of their property being condemned and taken under the cloak of eminent domain. Those purchases began nearly two and a half years ago.
The slum of abandoned homes the Port of Centralia owns on Long Road is a shameful disgrace. One has to wonder, are they making it up as they go? Are there funds to at least raze the abandoned eyesores that used to be someone’s beloved home?
The port was also successful in slugging it out with Lewis County over their SEPA permit determination of non-significance regarding the suitability of South Street as a feeder for hundreds of vehicles daily to Centralia Station.
Anyone wanting to see if South Street is suitable can simply drive west from South Tower Avenue to Long Road. Beware of the vehicle launching hump created by the Tacoma Rail tracks. Once past the tracks, it becomes obvious the cow path of a narrow street to Long Road is even less suitable for the projected traffic than the portion between Tower Avenue and the tracks.
Will the county be forced to foot the bill for its portion of street upgrades? What plans do the port or the city have for upgrading the portion within the city limits? Any reasonable person can see that South Street is not suitable in its current state for the expected traffic.
Hopefully, progress will soon be witnessed at Centralia Station. Great things have been promised. I’d hate to see the project get rolling and have the Port of Centralia call a mulligan, and halt the project because of a lack of due diligence, as we saw with the Northwest Sports Hub complex.
Brian Vetch
Centralia
