Regional briefs for Wednesday, Jan. 21

• Published January 21, 2009

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Thurston County

Comment on flood response at two meetings

Residents in flood-affected areas of Bucoda and Rochester can attend one of two community meetings set for today and Thursday.

The first will be at 7:30 tonight at the Bucoda Gym Center, 403 N. Tennant St.

The second will be at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Rochester Middle School Commons, 9937 U.S. Highway 12 S.W.

Both meetings will give residents the chance to comment to city and county officials on the flood response and recovery and what services or programs they may need, event organizers said.

For more information, call Thurston County Emergency Management at 360-754-3360.

Also, counties have submitted damage estimates from the flooding, and representatives from the state Emergency Management Department, local governments, Federal Emergency Management Agency and Small Business Administration have visited areas to assess the damage for themselves, said Rob Harper, spokesman for the state agency.

The information will be forwarded to Gov. Chris Gregoire, who could make a request for a federal disaster declaration, freeing up federal money to help people and public agencies.

Three suspected of extorting $200,000

Three men are in the Thurston County Jail on suspicion of extorting more than $200,000 from a 78-year-old Rochester man.

They are Calvin A. Bickford, 48; Tony R. Willis, 35; and Adam R. Willis, 35, according to the Thurston County Sheriff's Office. All three were booked on charges of residential burglary and attempted first-degree theft.

The sheriff's office has been investigating the case since May, when the man contacted police through his bank. The suspects reportedly were trying to sell him a replacement mobile home and kept asking for money in amounts ranging from $15,000 to nearly $40,000. They told the man that his home needed to be demolished and that they would help replace it, and they said that if he didn't pay, he would be evicted, police said.

Man in court on game, weapons charges

A Thurston County man with previous felony convictions and a history of big-game poaching was arraigned Tuesday on multiple charges of illegal firearms possession and unlawfully possessing big game, according to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

According to the release:

William Wilder, 65, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to 11 counts of unlawful possession of a firearm in the second degree, a class C felony. He also pleaded not guilty to a charge of unlawful possession of big game, a gross misdemeanor.

The Thurston County Prosecuting Attorney's Office also charged Wilder this month after a deer-poaching investigation conducted by Fish and Wildlife enforcement officers in October.

The Olympian