3A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2016 Warrenton man gets two years in prison in sex abuse case Abused teenage boy last fall By KYLE SPURR The Daily Astorian Submitted Photo Warrenton Police Chief Mathew Workman, right, poses with Rock Rakosi, of the Myrtle Point Police Depart- ment, during the Oregon Association of Chiefs of Po- lice conference. Warrenton Police chief honored at state conference By KYLE SPURR The Daily Astorian By DERRICK DePLEDGE The Daily Astorian W A NTED Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber N orth w es t H a rdw oods • Lon gview , W A Contact: Steve Axtell • 360-430-0885 or John Anderson • 360-269-2500 lationship with the strip club. The state commission views a “no action” vote the same as lo- cal approval. While a majority took John- ston’s advice, City Councilor Cindy Price voted “no,” explain- ing that she wanted to stand with residents who have complained about problems at the strip club. ____________________________________________________________________ Teachers have a big job and a big impact ___________________________ • What draws them to teaching? • What are their successes? • What are their ___________________________ frustrations? Sarah Kangas, a physical education teacher at Warrenton Grade School Read the words of our region’s educators starting Friday in The Daily Astorian. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___ The Astoria City Council agreed Monday night to pro- vide a $90,000 loan guarantee for window restoration at the Astoria Armory. The restoration is part of a broader $590,000 improvement plan by the Friends of Astoria Ar- mory to turn the historic build- ing into a proitable event venue. The nonproit is taking over the Armory from Craft3, a com- munity lender that helped rescue the building in 2014. The city had provided a loan guarantee on the Craft3 purchase. The nonproit is hopeful a U.S. Department of Agricul- ture loan will help inance the takeover and the bulk of the im- provements. But since the USDA loan cannot go for window res- toration, because the repairs are not tied to revenue generation, the city will backstop that por- tion of the project. The loan guarantee, which will come from a city revolv- ing loan fund, will be in place for ive years. In other business Monday night, the City Council: • Voted 3-1 to take no action on an application by Annie’s Saloon to sell distilled spirits. The strip club, which can now sell beer and wine, is seeking an expanded license from the Or- egon Liquor Control Commis- sion. Annie’s will have to serve food and have dining seats as a condition. City councilors can only make recommendations to the state commission, which has the inal say. Astoria Police had recom- mended against a liquor license for Annie’s in 2012 but were overruled by the City Council. Police Chief Brad Johnston said there has been a reduction in the number of police calls to Annie’s since 2012. Johnston told the City Coun- cil that it was unlikely the state commission would reject the application. He urged the coun- cil to either recommend the ex- panded license or take no action to help preserve the police’s re- ___________________________________ www.eomediagroup.com Between October and December, Deputy District Attorney Dawn Buzzard said, Mecham sent the boy 567 calls or texts, mostly during the night. “The victim is having a dificult time struggling with this,” Buzzard said. “He had what he thought were feel- ings for this older man, but has come to realize it was not just illegal, but a wrong relation- ship that he was being taken advantage of.” As part of his 28-month prison sentence, Mecham is ordered to have no con- tact with the victim and pay a $1,000 civil ine. City provides loan guarantee for windows at armory ___________________________________ The most valuable and respected source of local news, advertising and information for our communities. local park last summer and became a fam- ily friend. He provided the victim with marijuana, alcohol, and showed Sidney Sean Mecham him sexu- ally explicit material. The abuse began in Octo- ber. The victim was able to stop the abuse in late Novem- ber and came forward to fam- ily members after further harassment from Mecham. Family members then noti- ied the Sheriff’s Ofice. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___ Warrenton Police Chief Mathew Workman was hon- ored at the Oregon Association of Chiefs of Police conference last month with the President’s Award for his role with the association’s scholarship and membership committees. Workman, an association member since 2004, is the co-chair of the scholarship committee and membership committee. Each year, the associa- tion awards $1,000 college scholarships to students who plan to enter a law enforce- ment or other criminal justice career. As a scholarship com- mittee member, Workman goes through all the appli- cations with the committee and decides who is awarded. Last year, seven students were awarded the scholarships. A $2,000 scholarship is also awarded to assist one chief from a smaller agency to attend the annual International Chiefs of Police Conference. Last year, Astoria Police Chief Brad Johnston was awarded the scholarship and attended the annual con- ference, which was held in Chicago. This year’s inter- national conference is being held in San Diego. On the membership com- mittee, Workman helps vet new applications. Most recently, the committee began creating rules for someone to be removed as a member if they are decer- tiied as an oficer. Every local police agency in Clatsop County is a part of the state association. Along with Workman, members include Johnston, Gearhart Police Chief Jeff Bowman, Seaside Police Chief Dave Ham and Cannon Beach Police Chief Jason Schermerhorn. The association has about 300 members, including more than 100 police chiefs around Oregon. A predatory sex offender who sexually abused a 16-year-old boy while liv- ing in Warrenton last fall was sentenced Monday in Clatsop County Circuit Court to more than two years in prison. Sid- ney Sean Mecham, 35, pleaded no contest to third-degree sod- omy, third-degree sex abuse, unlawful delivery of mari- juana, furnishing alcohol to a minor, interfering with mak- ing a report, menacing, harass- ment, endangering the welfare of a minor and failure to regis- ter as a sex offender. Mecham is listed by Ore- gon State Police as a preda- tory sex offender following a 1999 conviction in Mult- nomah County. Despite having lived in Warrenton since July, Mecham reported his address as an apartment complex in southeast Portland. The Clatsop County Sheriff’s Ofice and Warrenton Police arrested him in December at a residence on the 100 block of N.W. First Street in Warrenton. 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