Electric Buses Tenino Football Twin Transit Announces Plans to Randy Swilley’s Contract Not Renewed Consider New Vehicles / Main 6 After Two Years With Program / Sports Woman $1 Charged With Early Week Edition False Identity Tuesday / Main 5 Reaching 110,000 Readers in Print and Online — www.chronline.com Dec. 15, 2015 Flooding Damages 19 Lewis County Homes EVALUATING: County Throughout the weekend, 19 homes have been damaged by Mansfield said the first pri- to get volunteers trained by Red flood recovery work continued the floods, but there could be ority is safety and getting those Cross officials to do the survey Working to Get a as Lewis County crews assessed more. affected the help they need. work and get a better idea of the Better Idea of Extent of damage to homes, roads and The extent of damage to each At this point, typically the extent of the damage and pre- other infrastructure and did residence is currently unknown. American Red Cross would be cisely what people’s needs are. Individual and Public some debris cleanup to provide “I have people telling me assisting with surveying dam- Mansfield’s department last Property Damage access for residents. it’s horrible, I have people tell- age to homes, but the organi- week advised people wanting to Steve Mansfield, Depart- ing me there’s no damage, and zation’s resources are working donate to flood victims to call By Kaylee Osowski ment of Emergency Manage- somewhere in between is the elsewhere currently. [email protected] ment director, said an estimated truth,” Mansfield said. Mansfield said he is working please see FLOODING, page Main 13 County Chehalis Artist Brings the Proposes New Holidays to Local Windows License System for Dog Breeders THREE TIERS: New Code Still in Planning Phase; Breeders React Positively By Natalie Johnson [email protected] Dog breeders large and small reacted positively at a public meeting Monday night on a pro- posal to create county licenses for dog kennels. “I think any reasonable per- son who raises dogs as we do … would not want to see dogs in the condition that we saw on the screen,” said breeder Ste- ven Ross about a presentation Pete Caster / [email protected] showing pictures of puppy mills Karen Betts paints Peanuts characters on the windows of the Lewis County PUD building on Monday, Dec. 7, in Chehalis. at the meeting. “As far as I can see, the county needs something that (has) the teeth to take care KAREN BETTS: Chehalis Woman Has Been of some of these situations.” Lewis County Public Health Painting Windows Nearly 30 Years and Social Services doesn’t yet By Carrina Stanton have a draft version of the pro- For The Chronicle posed code, but held Monday night’s public meeting to get In her striped socks and pointy hat, one could al- input from stakeholders in the most mistake Karen Betts for a Christmas elf. community. About 20 people, In a way, perhaps she is one of sorts. After all, for many of whom identified them- nearly 30 years she has been creating Christmas mag- selves as at least occasional dog ic wherever she goes. breeders, attended the hour- Since 1986, Betts has been responsible for most of long meeting. the Christmas art you see on windows throughout Bill Teitzel, supervisor for the Twin Cities and beyond. public health and environmen- Among her artistic endeavors, Betts is also a sign tal services for Lewis County, and window painter. Locally, she painted the fruit gave a brief presentation to start stand signs for Jeremy's Fruit Stand and does seasonal out the meeting, showing pic- window displays for Sabra's Place. But by far her busi- tures of puppy mills of various est time of year is the Christmas season, when she Karen Betts' box of paints sits below the windowsill at the Lewis County PUD on Monday. please see DOG, page Main 13 please see ARTIST, page Main 13 The Chronicle, Serving The Greater Ugly Sweater Run Breakfast With Santa Deaths Lewis County Area Since 1889 Runners Adna Grange Brown, Cellie, 91, Toledo Follow Us on Twitter Sandford, Rhonda, 56, @chronline Brave Event Chehalis Weather Connect Louderback, Johnnie Irwin, Find Us on Facebook for a Good Children 80, Winlock www.facebook.com/ Blackburn, Leslie C. thecentraliachronicle Cause in With Saint (Hobo), 74, Centralia Centralia Nick / Main 10 / Main 3 Celebrating Over as 50 Years ristm customers! Merry h f Christmas to our o Merry to our family of y Christmas l customers C i family of m customers Merry to our fa • over 53 years of servicing Lewis County • over 53 years perfecting our roof installs making us rooing SPECIALISTS Merry Merry Christmas Christmas to our to our family of family of customers customers • over 53 years of providing warmth to your homes • over 53 years of servicing your heating systems • over 53 years of maintaining your heating systems Merry Christmas to our family of customers • Rooing • Heating, Cooling • Electrical • Generators • Maintenance • Emergency Service 24/7 CH551465bw.cg 1-800-201-9221 (360) 748-9221 • www.chehalissheetmetal.com Lewis and Thurston Counties Financing Available OAC Main 2 • The Chronicle, Centralia/Chehalis, Wash., Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2015 PAGE TWO News Daily Outtake: of the Weird Head-Scratching Over The holidays are her busiest time of year, when consumers Gifts? How About Part yearn for that special something that sets their gift apart from the of a Human Skull? pack — or flock. NEW YORK (AP) — What “It’s the same reason they to get the loved one who has want to buy anything hand- everything? Steven Rabinowitz made,” she said. wracked his brain before settling on (spoiler alert, relatives!) a rac- coon skull. Utah Community “We’ll see how it goes,” Rabi- nowitz, 31, said as he revealed Leaves Fake Packages his purchase near a crowded on Doorstep for Thieves display of animal skulls, antique medical instruments — and a SOUTH JORDAN, Utah bowl full of human teeth. (AP) — A man in one Utah com- The bizarre bazaar that drew munity says his neighbors have begun placing decoy packages Rabinowitz and other curious / [email protected] on front porches in an effort to Brandon Hansen clientele Sunday was the Morbid Grapplers face of at the Centralia Tiger Classic Saturday. For details, see today’s Sports section. See more online at thwart holiday delivery thieves. Anatomy Museum Holiday Flea www.lewiscountysports.com. Market — offering gifts both Rocks, old clothes and junk frightful and festive. televisions are among items that In the dim light of a pair resident Kroger Menzer says of golden chandeliers, about a residents in the Daybreak neigh- dozen vendors displayed their borhood of South Jordan have Notable Quote horrific wares: pieces of human been putting in shipping boxes. skulls, a wide variety of taxi- People are also using surveil- dermy and earrings made from lance video. muskrat jaws. One vendor, Di- “The goal isn’t to catch them “We recognize that we are an organization that is taxpayer funded, vya Anantharaman, stood by in the act, that’s for the police,” her display of two-headed taxi- Menzer told KSL-TV. “The goal and we have to live within our means. Converting to electric buses is an dermied birds — complete with is to make it confusing and frus- Santa hats. excellent way to provide bus services within our budget.” trating. So they come and steal a Joanna Ebenstein helped box, and they get home and it’s open the museum in 2014 as an Rob LaFontaine extension of an art project on a bunch of rocks, there’s a good anatomical history and artifacts. chance that they’re probably not Twin Transit general manager Initially, Ebenstein said she had going to come back to steal an- (see page Main 6 for the full story) to hide her odd obsession from other box.” her co-workers at a children’s Menzer said one of his neigh- book publishing company. bors came up with the idea and “I didn’t want them to know posted it to the Daybreak com- I was into all this scary death munity Facebook page. stuff,” she said. “This is a very tight-knit com- Today in History The museum hosts a wide range munity,” said Menzer, a real es- ate troops led by Gen. John Bell In 1964, Canada’s House of of events like taxidermy classes, lec- tate agent. “Even though there Today’s Highlight in History: Hood; the result was a resound- Commons approved dropping ture series and film screenings. But On Dec. 15, 1965, two U.S. are 4,000 homes and 15,000 ing Northern victory. the country’s “Red Ensign” flag Ebenstein said the flea markets are manned spacecraft, Gemini people living here, we all get to In 1890, Sioux Indian Chief in favor of a new design, the the most successful. 6A and Gemini 7, maneuvered know each other pretty well.” Sitting Bull and 11 other tribe “Maple Leaf” flag. “People like me don’t want to within 10 feet of each other Lt. John Barker, of the Uni- members were killed in Grand In 1974, the horror spoof to buy normal Christmas stuff,” while in orbit. fied Police Department, said it River, South Dakota, during a “Young Frankenstein,” star- she said. can take just seconds for a thief confrontation with Indian po- ring Gene Wilder and directed The flea markets have proven to jump out of a car, grab a pack- On This Date: lice. by Mel Brooks, was released by so popular they had to be moved age and run.