Warden High School locked down due to gas leak
R. HANS MILLER | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 4 years, 1 month AGO
Managing Editor Rob Miller is a 4-year U.S. Army veteran who grew up in Western Montana in a community about the size of Soap Lake. An honors graduate of Texas State University, he enjoys spending time with his wife, Brandee, and their three dogs, Draco, Pepper and Cinnamon. He has one son, William. During his free time, he enjoys photography, video games, reading and working on the house he and his wife bought in Ephrata. He is passionate about the First Amendment and educating communities. | February 15, 2022 1:00 AM
Warden High School was put into a shelter-in-place scenario Monday morning after construction crews working nearby damaged an underground natural gas line.
“The contractor was using an augur and I have unconfirmed information that one of the utility markers had been moved,” said Grant County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Kyle Foreman.
Foreman said no students, staff or construction workers were injured during the incident. Utility crews arrived about 30 minutes after the break occurred and shut off gas to the affected line so repairs could be made.
The school was put into a shelter-in-place mode as a precaution to ensure students and staff were safe. This means the doors and windows were closed and students ordinarily in portable classrooms were moved inside the main structure of the school as a safety precaution, Foreman said.
Once the scene was cleared and the gas line was cut off, students were provided with lunch and went back to their usual classroom schedules, Foreman added.
ARTICLES BY R. HANS MILLER
Court cases in March 2025 shooting death of Moses Lake teen moving forward
EPHRATA — Jose D. Beltran Rodriguez, 21, of Moses Lake, and Matthew Gabriel Valdez, 19, also of Moses Lake, remain in custody at the Grant County jail after being arrested in connection with a March 21, 2025, drive-by shooting in Moses Lake.
Sentencing hearing set in 2022 Moses Lake murder case
EPHRATA — Juan Gastelum, the suspect in the March 2022 killing of Yanira Cedillos, changed his plea from not guilty to guilty on March 3. He is now scheduled for an April 28 sentencing hearing. According to court documentation, Gastelum, 32, of Hermiston, Ore., pleaded guilty to Murder in the Second Degree with Sexual Motivation. The minimum sentence Gastelum may receive under the law is two years in prison, but the maximum is life imprisonment and up to a $50,000 fine. However, the sentencing hearing is under Special Set Sentencing, an option under Washington state law which allows adjustments to sentencing if a suspect pleads guilty.
Court case in Nov. 2025 Moses Lake shooting moving forward
EPHRATA — The trial into the shooting of a 23 year old Moses Lake man is progressing through Grant County Superior Court. Darwin Nahun Tejada Martinez, 29, of Seattle is on trial facing a single charge of Assault in the First Degree after investigators say he shot the victim in a Nov. 25, 2025, incident.