8A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2016
Bandit: Folk-celebrity fugitive asked the
public for $125K to pay for flight training
Continued from Page 1A
“I would have an outstanding job …
that would enable me to pay my restitution
decades before I otherwise would be,” Har-
ris-Moore said.
But Smith said flight school is out of
the question until Harris-Moore fulfills his
legal obligation of restitution.
“I know he has this belief that if he pur-
sues this education he can earn more money
… We can discuss that, and discuss where
that might go, but not until the victims are
paid in full,” she said.
Harris-Moore said he planned to chal-
lenge the probation office in court.
“It’s either this or you sit around for a
couple decades as I make pennies toward
these payments,” he said. “This isn’t a
whimsical thing I want to do on the week-
end for personal pleasure. This is my
career.”
Harris-Moore said the deal with 20th
Century Fox to sell his story shows that he
is serious about restitution.
“It’s selling my soul to the devil. I never
wanted the movie. I currently don’t want
the movie,” he said. “I don’t get anything
out of that deal. There’s the possibility 20th
Century Fox is going to take my life and
turn it more into a myth than it already is.”
“He is not allowed to have a GoFundMe
account to fund his wish to go to flying
school when the victims aren’t whole,”
said Connie Smith, chief U.S. probation
and pretrial officer for western Washington.
“The money in that GoFundMe account
will need to go to victims.”
Harris-Moore said he had made about
$1,600 before he shut down the fundraiser,
and announced in a tweet that his “dream
has been crushed.”
Most of his court-ordered restitution
has been paid. In exchange for rights to his
story, a Hollywood movie studio coughed
up more than $1 million in restitution for
Harris-Moore. The money mostly paid for
the planes he wrecked.
The victims
Both John Miller and Scott Lancaster
were victims of Harris-Moore’s crimes.
Harris-Moore burglarized Lancaster’s
Ace Hardware store on Orcas Island.
“There’s just so much of the innocence
here he took away. Nickels on the dollar
won’t replace that,” Lancaster said in an
interview before the fundraiser was ended.
“It does not make me happy he’s trying to
scam another $125,000 out of everybody to
get flight school. He ought to work.”
Miller, along with his brother, owned the
Cessna Harris-Moore crashed in the Baha-
mas. Miller has since struck up a friendship
with the young man, visiting him in jail and
talking on the phone about 12 times since
Harris-Moore was released from prison this
summer.
“You know his story, you know about
his upbringing. He’s had a bad hand dealt
to him … He made a mistake, he served
his time and he deserves a second chance,”
Miller said. “It’s just an airplane — what
the hell, they make ’em all the time.”
When Miller visited Harris-Moore in
prison, the two talked about flying, he said.
“He’s a smart kid — very impressive. I
think he’ll make a good pilot … He knows
more about it than I do,” Miller said. “Heck,
he’s already done a solo flight,” noting that
is a requirement toward a pilot’s license.
Miller said he was willing to donate to
help pay for Harris-Moore’s flight school.
Island County Sheriff’s Office
This July 2009 file self-portrait provided by the Island County Sheriff’s Office
shows Colton Harris-Moore. Bahamas police captured the teenage U.S. fugitive in
2010, bringing to an end the “Barefoot Bandit’s” two-year flight from U.S. justice.
Flight fascination
File Photo
Ilwaco fishing boat Fat Cat was the subject of brief fame in 2010 after it was stolen by
the Barefoot Bandit, who eventually stole an airplane and crashed in the Bahamas.
Grant: County will study
investor-funded preschool
Investing in the future
Local Way to Wellville
Coordinator Sydney Van
Dusen said the national well-
ness group learned about the
Pay for Success grants through
an organizer on the East Coast.
Pay for Success financ-
ing partners service provid-
ers, such as preschools, with
philanthropic and private sec-
tor investors to fund improved
services. The government
entity receiving the investment
promises to pay the money
back with interest to the inves-
tors if the improved services
lead to cost savings. If not, the
investors lose some or all of
the investment.
Investment firm Goldman
Sachs and venture capitalist
J.B. Pritzker funded 600 spots
in public and private preschool
programs in 2013, according
to the Salt Lake City Tribune.
Of the first cohort of kids, 110
4-year-olds were expected to
need special education. The
investors were to receive 95
percent of any savings on spe-
cial education for funding
preschool.
Only one student needed
special education services after
attending two years of pre-
school. Utah’s public educa-
tion system avoided $281,000
in special education costs, and
a $267,000 check was cut to
the investors.
A similar funding model
has been used for programs
lowering criminal recidivism
and homelessness.
Implementation
After six to nine months of
studying the region’s needs,
Gaffney said, organizers will
engage with an organization that
develops and manages Pay for
Success projects and the social
impact bonds that fund them.
“Once we complete the fea-
sibility study, we’ll be within
six months of implementa-
tion,” Van Dusen said. “In the
middle of 2018 we’d be get-
ting it ready to go.”
The 2018-19 school year
would be the earliest inves-
tor-funded preschool could
happen.
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Train: Former prison shop teacher
keeps layout ready for 30-plus years
Continued from Page 1A
“Our first layout in 1984
was really sort of modest, and
someone asked, I think it was
in the paper, someone asked
Gov. Atiyeh what he thought
of this,” Curtis said.
Atiyeh said he liked the
layout, but that he couldn’t
wait to see models of historic
Salem homes the next year,
Curtis said.
“Guess what we did the
next year?” Curtis said. “We
made the models of historic
Salem homes.”
There’s a model of
Salem’s Victorian-era Deep-
wood house, and the railroad
station is a replica of the one
in Salem around the turn of
the century.
Claire Withycombe/EO Media Group
The model railroad that runs under the Capitol Christmas
tree each year has morphed and changed over the years.
licas of historic buildings to
scale, Curtis raised some eye-
brows when he went up to the
bank building in Independence
with a tape measure. He began
sizing up the building’s fea-
tures and, after some inquiries
from the bank manager, even-
tually was invited in for a tour.
The trains themselves are
antique American Flyer mod-
els, most of them from the
1950s, Curtis said.
Curtis said they chose the
From scratch
The structures are built
from scratch — no kits
involved. Curtis also made
the natural features. Azalea
branches are especially good
for making tiny trees, he says.
Devoted to making the rep-
American Flyer trains because
the company was owned by
A.C. Gilbert. Gilbert, a doctor
who was born in Salem and
went on to develop a host of
classic children’s toys, is the
namesake of the Gilbert House
Children’s Museum in Salem.
There are a number of
locomotives available for use
— if the one that is currently
running around the tree “gets
tired,” Curtis says, another can
take its place.
The seasons in the Christ-
mas layout have changed over
the years, Curtis said. It was
a summer scene for a while,
then winter for about 20 years.
But it was hard to keep all of
the fake snow clean, so Curtis
redid the set to depict autumn.
The whole structure sits on
plywood boxes and can eas-
ily be packed up when the sea-
son’s over.
Curtis works with Alan
Bennett, a train enthusiast
from Keizer, to put the scene
together every year. After more
than 30 years, what keeps him
setting up the miniatures?
“Well, you know, it’s just a
real joy to see the reaction of
the children when they come
to the Capitol building, and
not only to see the tree, but
they come to see the train and
operate the train underneath
the tree,” Curtis said. “So
that’s sort of an encourage-
ment to us.”
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Post-prison
“No. 1, this will be based
upon curriculum that is
research-based,” Gaffney said.
“And we also want to make
sure we have good involve-
ment by families.”
Gaffney said researchers
will reach out to existing pre-
school providers to gauge their
interest in taking part. The
grant could also help with pre-
school in Columbia County,
part of a regional Early Learn-
ing Hub also covering Clatsop
and Tillamook counties.
leaves him with very little to save for flight
school or for repaying victims.
“GoFundMe is really my only realistic
option,” Harris-Moore said. “It’s ironic. If
I earned these (pilot) licenses and certifica-
tions or endorsements and ratings, it would
qualify me to work for a charter company.
Browne said Harris-Moore did not con-
sult him about posting to GoFundMe.
“I have nothing to do with it, and would
you put that in caps, please,” Browne said
Tuesday.
Harris-Moore said his office job with
Browne’s firm is meant to be temporary and
Since leaving prison, Harris-Moore has
been working part time for his high-profile
Seattle attorney, John Henry Browne.
Continued from Page 1A
He said he has always had a fascination
with airplanes.
“When I look at an airplane, I can liter-
ally feel the endorphins firing in my brain,”
he said. “This is 100 percent a career focus.”
Luke Lysen, who owns The Flight
Academy, a pilot instruction company, said
he spoke with Harris-Moore about his plans
recently and believes he is genuine.
“He was educated enough to research
what it takes. He was asking about the
length of time, the lesson and the costs,”
Lysen said. “He certainly strikes me as an
apt pupil.”
Harris-Moore said life after prison has
been lonely. He is planning to move from
his halfway house soon.
“Everything professionally and person-
ally is going slower than the speed I want to
move at,” he said.
Harris-Moore said he’d go to great
lengths to realize his lofty dream.
“I have the email address of Kelly-
anne Conway,” he said, referring to Presi-
dent-elect Donald Trump’s campaign man-
ager and counselor.
“If it comes to this, I’ll get this taken
care of from the top down.”
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