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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, MAY 13, 2016
Warrenton man gets probation for placing fake bomb on plane
Passenger wanted
to look like a hero
By STEVEN DUBOIS
Associated Press
PORTLAND — A Warrenton man
who placed a fake bomb in a restroom
during an international light — and
then reported it to look like a hero —
has avoided a prison term.
Instead, U.S. District Court
Judge Michael Mosman sentenced
Sean Davies to five years on proba-
tion and ordered him to pay restitu-
tion to KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.
Prosecutors recommended the sen-
tence because the 23-year-old has
no prior arrests, has been received
treatment for alcoholism and also
landed a steady job as a salesman
at a jewelry store in a Portland
suburb.
“I do want you to understand that
this arrest and this conviction really
are an arrow in life pointing you to
a terrible place,” Mosman warned.
“And only by your own actions can
you get off that path.”
KLM Flight 569 was 3½ hours
into a light from Amsterdam to Kili-
manjaro, Tanzania, when Davies told
a member of the cabin crew there was
a strange wire coming out of a cabinet
in the restroom, leading to an electri-
cal socket.
The light captain eventually
inspected the miniature wine bot-
tle with some cables attached to it
and igured it was probably a prank.
But after consulting with KLM secu-
rity, the plane was diverted to Cairo,
Egypt.
The NL Times, which provides
English-language news about the
Netherlands, reported at the time of
the October 2014 incident that 271
Judge Michael Mosman
U.S. District Court, Portland
passengers were aboard the light and
there was no panic.
Egyptian authorities interviewed
Davies because the light crew sus-
pected him of planting the device.
Davies denied involvement and he
continued with the trip.
Davies returned to the U.S. from
Africa in December 2014. Dutch
police interviewed him while he
changed planes in Amsterdam.
Davies told them he made frequent
trips to the bathroom during the Octo-
State lands to hold hearings
on dredging, leasing on water
The Daily Astorian
The Department of State
lands will hold two hearings
on maintenance dredging and
waterway rules Wednesday
in Astoria and Tillamook.
From 5 to 6 p.m. Wednes-
day in Suite 209 of the Port
of Astoria’s newer ofices, 10
Pier 1, the state will discuss
and take public comment
on the issue of maintenance
dredging, speciically about
creating a removal-ill permit
for routine dredging of exist-
ing marinas, boat basins, ter-
minals and access channels
for navigational access.
From 4 to 6 p.m. Wednes-
day in the Tillamook County
Commissioners Conference
Rooms A and B, the state
will cover waterway pro-
grams, speciically about
leases, licenses and registra-
tions for structures and uses
of state-owned submerged
and submersible land. The
meeting will also cover the
submerged lands enhance-
ment fund enacted by the
state Legislature last year.
The fund allows the state
to seize buildings or other
structures over state-owned
lands, if the Department of
State Lands determines they
are abandoned or derelict.
The fund can also be used to
clean up marine debris.
People who cannot attend
the meetings can email
comments to rules@dsl.
state.or.us, or mail them to:
Sabrina Foward, Rules Coor-
dinator, Department of State
Lands, 775 Summer Street
NE, Suite 100, Salem, Ore-
gon 97301-1279. Comments
are accepted until May 31
on maintenance dredging,
and until June 7 on waterway
rules.
For more information on
the rule-making, visit http://
tinyurl.com/gth4zx9
Warrenton VFW raising funds
to build veterans monument
The Daily Astorian
The Fort Stevens Veter-
ans of Foreign Wars Post
and Auxiliary is raising
funds to build a Memo-
rial War Veterans Monu-
ment to honor local vet-
erans in the Warrenton
and Hammond area who
served since World War
II.
The total cost for the
monument is $132,650.
The city of Warrenton is
helping the VFW Post in
applying for a $106,120
Oregon Heritage Veterans
& War Memorials grant.
The VFW Post will cover
the remaining cost, and do
all of the leg work designing
and maintaining the mon-
ument. The goal is to raise
$13,265, and collect mate-
rial and service donations.
The Warrenton Urban
Renewal Advisory Board
recently voted unanimously
to put the monument on the
Warrenton Post Office park
site. The monument will
be placed on a seven-sided
pedestal. The pedestal will
have a bronze plaque repre-
senting each armed service.
Materials needed for the
memorial include concrete
for the pedestal, polished
brown concrete for the base
pedestal, a custom steel-
sided mold form for the
pedestal, and crane service
to set the soldier monument
on the pedestal.
For information on how
to donate to the project,
contact the VFW Post by
calling 503-739-1071 or
emailing vfwpost10580@
gmail.com.
County Planning Commission seeks applicants
The Daily Astorian
The Clatsop County Plan-
ning Commission is inviting
applicants for two open seats.
The Planning Commis-
sion is the county’s commit-
tee for citizen involvement
on development and land use
issues, such as zoning, natural
resources, transportation, natu-
ral hazards, economic develop-
ment, housing, farm and forest
lands and coastal zones.
The commission makes
land use decisions on vari-
ances, conditional uses and
subdivisions. It also makes rec-
ommendations to the Board
of Commissioners on amend-
ments to the comprehensive
plan and its implementing
ordinances.
The Planning Commission
regularly meets at 10 a.m. the
second Tuesday of each month
in Astoria.
The two open positions are
for terms ending June 2020.
The Planning Commission
represents all geographical
areas of the county, including
incorporated cities. It currently
does not have representatives
from the Elsie-Jewell and Sea-
side rural planning areas. How-
ever, all interested parties are
encouraged to apply.
The Board of Commission-
ers will consider the appoint-
ments at one of its upcom-
ing meetings. Application
forms are available from the
county manager’s ofice at
800 Exchange St., Suite 410 in
Astoria, or online at www.co.
eomediagroup.com
ber light because he is an alcoholic
and has kidney stones, and that he
no longer had his iPhone charger
because it burst into lames while in
Africa.
The FBI and Port of Portland
police met him when he returned to
U.S. soil. He initially agreed to take a
polygraph test and then declined. The
polygrapher told him the test wasn’t
necessary, because it was obvious he
was lying.
Davies then confessed, saying he
Budget committee decides on rate increases
7 percent hike
for water, 6
percent for sewer
By ERICK BENGEL
The Daily Astorian
WARRENTON — The
Warrenton Budget Committee
decided at a Thursday meet-
ing to raise the city’s water and
sewer rates.
The proposed budget for
the iscal year that starts in
July is $32.3 million — which
includes the $28.4 million the
city intends to spend, plus a
$3.8 million cushion — up
from $29.3 million this year.
The bulk of the increase is from
a jump in capital expenditures.
And, to compensate for
years of postponing rate hikes
that support the city’s infra-
structure, the committee is
pushing for a plan that raises
water rates 7 percent and
sewer rates 6 percent.
The plan, which City Man-
ager Kurt Fritsch recom-
mended, calls for water rates
to continue rising by 7 per-
cent a year for another four
years before rate hikes start to
lessen. The city will have to
borrow money but will be able
to complete an assortment of
capital improvement projects
in 10 years.
Households
consuming
2,000 gallons of water per
month will pay a combined
water-sewer bill of $93.80,
up from $88.13, a rate study
concluded.
After two years, the budget
committee will reexamine the
plan — not least because one
major ratepayer, Paciic Coast
Seafood, is rebuilding a War-
renton plant destroyed by ire
in 2013. The company’s return
may help boost the city’s reve-
nue stream, though the amount
of water it will use is still
unknown.
Tom Dyer, a city com-
missioner and vice chairman
of the budget committee,
agreed with the committee
on the 6 percent sewer rate
increase but opposed the 7
percent water rate increase,
preferring a stricter “pay as
you go” plan that required
an immediate increase of
13 percent per year but that
allowed for capital improve-
ment projects to be com-
pleted sooner without the
city taking on more debt.
“We’re going to pay for it
some way, but I’m just one of
those guys that likes to pay up
front,” Dyer said.
Last July, Warrenton’s
water rates went up 15 percent,
sewer rates 2.5 percent.
The proposed budget also
contains a 3 percent hike in
WAS
the rate-constrained property
tax collection.
If the budget is adopted, a
home with an assessed valua-
tion of $100,000 will pay a city
property tax of approximately
$204.51, which includes the
city’s permanent tax rate and
voter-approved levies for
police services and the War-
renton Community Library.
On the personnel side,
Fritsch recommended adding
two new positions: a police
sergeant to enhance manage-
ment of the department and take
some work off Chief Mathew
Workman’s plate, and an addi-
tional harbor maintenance
worker for the Warrenton and
Hammond marinas.
The budget includes a con-
tractual 2.5 percent cost-of-liv-
ing wage increase.
A vote to adopt the budget
will take place later this month.
The City Commission — which
makes up half of the 10-member
budget committee — will vote
in June on whether to approve
the recommended budget.
FOUND
a special thanks to
the kind employees of the
astoria co · op
& kmun 91.9
for giving me support &
help in finding stella
stella was found at the co · op on monday evening
clatsop.or.us. The deadline to
apply is 5 p.m. June 8.
For more information, con-
tact Jennifer Bunch, Senior
Planner, at 503-325-8611 or
jbunch@co.clatsop.or.us.
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built the fake bomb with a wine bot-
tle, an e-cigarette battery, water, soap,
an iPhone charging cord and the ear-
phones distributed on the light. He
said he had been feeling down about
himself and wanted to appear heroic.
Davies pleaded guilty in February
to conveying false information con-
cerning a device which could destroy
or damage an aircraft.
He apologized Thursday to the
airline, the passengers, the U.S. gov-
ernment and his family. Davies said
he’s no longer the irresponsible “boy”
who committed that act.
“They say you never learn if
you don’t make mistakes,” he said.
“While my mistakes have been a lit-
tle larger than what I would like, I
needed to have this kick so I could
realize the path I was headed on.”
KLM calculated its losses from
the incident to be $85,330. Davies has
already paid half the money.
‘I do want you to understand that
this arrest and this conviction
really are an arrow in life pointing
you to a terrible place.’
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A. Young
OF BEAVERTON
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