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Around 11pm on Friday, October 14th, ColSec sergeant Vitaliy Shcheglyuk noticed a hole in the cyclone fence between the facility he was patrolling and the rear yard of the equipment rental company next door. Since it was not a client, he elected not to take any immediate action, but to monitor it for the rest of the night.

Subsequent inspections revealed no change until shortly after 5am when he discovered that the hole was much bigger. Inside, he could see several valuable items apparently laid out to be picked up. He immediately notified the Longview police.

Within minutes, police officers swarmed the area, but the bad guys were gone. As it turned out, some of the items belonged to the rental company, but others were the property of another business which also shares a fence. In checking that location, a very large pile of tools and equipment was also discovered, apparently left behind when culprits beat a hasty retreat.

While the criminals may have escaped, they had little to show for a very frustrating night’s work. In the photo, sergeant Shcheglyuk indicates the entry point in the re-secured fence.

Odessa Brown is our hospital courier. This service was set up by environmental services and David Chenoweth. Odessa has an 8 hour schedule that is dedicated to PeachHealth St John’s (Medical Center) needs. She delivers mail to the Women’s Pavilion and to all outlying clinics and connects us to the Broadway Campus. She also picks up labs and is called upon for special deliveries by finance and receiving (departments). She does pharmacy and lab transports and is called upon for “stat” runs and other miscellaneous errands.

She puts these into her already packed day and always does it with a smile. Her attitude is a true testimony of her dedication to our hospital. She is loved by all and we consider her a friend. I have heard her saying yes to requests, knowing that she will be cutting her lunch break short in order to do it.

We need to really thank her and let her know how appreciated she is because we all agree that she is a hard worker and a fine example of dedication and compassion. We are very lucky to have Odessa Brown taking care of our hospital in so many ways! A special “thank you” is long overdue. This is the opinion of a great number of employees!

Sandy Davis
Mailroom Supervisor

 

On March 26, 2011 around 7:40pm, officer Ben Lyons while patrolling through an export grain terminal construction project, spotted a car inside the project area. Lyons drove his SUV patrol vehicle in behind the car, a1999 Infinity with two male occupants and signaled for it to stop. After radioing dispatch, he contacted the driver who was somewhat uncooperative, refusing to present identification to the officer.

Lyons re-contacted the dispatcher requesting a deputy sheriff’s unit respond. In the meantime, another ColSec officer Al Smith who was patrolling another nearby site, pulled in as a safety backup. A Cowlitz County deputy arrived shortly after 8pm and subsequently convinced the occupants to produce their driver’s licenses.

In addition to trespassing charges, the driver was found to have two outstanding warrants and was taken into custody. 

Columbia Security was contracted to control access, under U.S. MARSEC regulations, to and from a Greek-registered ship unloading in Longview.  On March 24th around 7:30pm, ColSec Sergeant Bill Aberle was assigned to the project when he was notified that two crew members were to be coming off the ship.

When the two reached the guard shack, they both presented official shore-leave passes.  But when Aberle checked them against the ship’s crew list, one of them was listed as restricted.  Following established procedures, Bill contacted the client representative who in-turn alerted Customs/Border Patrol (CBP).  Learning of this delay, the two seamen decided to return to the ship.

A CBP officer arrived shortly thereafter, collected the information from the ColSec sergeant and then went aboard the ship.  About a half hour later, he returned with both crewmen waiving the “restriction” and transported them both to town.

The following morning, the ColSec office received this email from the client representative: Email Copy (click)

“Lady Washington” on the Columbia River	The “Hawaiian Chieftain” (Rainier in the background)

To whom it may concern,

Officer Haebe was at our Kalama location during the day a week or so ago.  We had an elderly member who obviously needed help out to his car with some heavier items that he had in a box. Our member announced loudly it was silver from his safebox.  A few of us offered to help him to his car and he declined.  Officer Haebe insisted that he help him out to the car.  Our member allowed this and you could tell our member was stubborn at first but glad to have the help out to the car.  I really appreciate Officer Haebe helping out and being so alert to the situation.

Andrew S. Peterson

BBranch Supervisor
Fibre Federal Credit Union

At about 1:30 on February 19, 2011, a sunny winter Sunday afternoon, ColSec sergeant Doug McLean pulled his patrol car onto the Nor Tech property located in the Kelso industrial area. A silver Dodge ½ ton pickup with a number of 10’steel tubes in the back and two men inside came towards and then past him, not heeding his signal to stop. Simultaneously, an employee came out of the nearby building yelling “They’re stealing those (tubes)!”

McLean turned his car around and proceeded after the truck which started heading north on the road. Its tailgate was down covering the license plate, so only a vehicle description could be forwarded to the police. Before he could complete the radio call, Doug watched the pickup suddenly turn into a nearby industrial yard, coming back out going the opposite way past the officer.

Turning his car around once again, the sergeant followed the truck as it re-entered the Nor Tech site and stopped next to a pile of metal tubes. As McLean approached, the two men exited the truck and began to deposit their load onto the tube pile. Upon completion, both men delivered identification to the security officer.

Hearing the radio call, ColSec officer Ben Lyons realizing McLean was at the property he’d just patrolled a few minutes prior, turned and headed back. Meanwhile, Doug held the two culprits at bay, waiting for assistance to arrive. “Are we in trouble?” one of them asked. “Are we going to jail?” questioned the other. “Possibly” Mclean replied.

Within a few minutes, two Kelso police cars came rolling in followed by Lyons shortly thereafter. While the police officers assumed custody of the thieves, Doug and Ben surmised that the perpetrators had watched Ben patrol the site earlier. Then, figuring that the coast would be clear for awhile, loaded their truck not expecting another patrol visit again so soon.

As the photo shows, Kelso police handcuffed and transported the two away.