BIZ NEWS: LOCAL REAL ESTATE AGENT PROFILES INSIDE DailyAstorian.com // WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 8, 2018 146TH YEAR, NO. 28 ONE DOLLAR Data center pitched for Warrenton nology incubation space and other amenities, such as artificial ponds and a running track around the perimeter. By EDWARD STRATTON The data center would employ The Daily Astorian around 76 people, with an average WARRENTON — An internet wage of $75,000, Cox said. He hopes entrepreneur wants to build a data to open the center by the end of 2020. County commissioners will con- center and technology incubator at the sider whether to sell a 67-acre North Coast Business Park lot in the business park for in Warrenton, a project that the project. The business could help spark more diver- sity in the region’s economy. park has been slow to take Mark Cox, a former Asto- off. Fort George Brewery in ria resident and CEO of Agile Astoria was the first com- pany to show interest in the Design, will present the proj- ect to the Clatsop County property when the brewery Mark Cox Board of Commission- announced expansion plans ers tonight. The proposed in 2016. campus, across from Costco on Cox, who lives in Southern Cal- 19th Street, would include a nearly See CENTER, Page 7A 100,000-square-foot data center, tech- Cox has local ties Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian A proposed data center in Warrenton would be built near Costco and Walmart by the end of 2020. More online: See an aerial view of the project: bit.ly/data-center-site D.B. COOPER BUFFS REVEAL CODES BEHIND THEORY Some believe they know the famous skyjacker’s identity Warrenton finalizes $38.5M bond Money for a new master campus By ERICK BENGEL The Daily Astorian By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian T he private investigator who dug into Astoria’s past while searching for D.B. Coo- per’s identity has chosen to publicly reveal the codes embedded in letters, allegedly from the skyjacker, that point to his top suspect. In essence, Thomas Colbert, a sleuth from Ventura County, Califor- nia, and his “Cold Case Team” are showing their work. Twice this year, Colbert has argued that typed Cooper letters — one from 1971 copied to four major news outlets, another from 1972 sent to The Oregonian — contain coded scripts that implicate Robert Wesley Rackstraw, an ex-convict and Viet- nam paratrooper, as the author. Addi- tional letters attributed to Cooper, which have long been public, also contain intriguing clues. The evidence, according to Col- bert, suggests that Rackstraw is the elusive skydiving thief who, on Nov. 24, 1971, armed with a supposed briefcase bomb, commandeered a Boeing 727 flying from Portland to Seattle, ransomed $200,000 upon landing, ordered a trip to Mexico, jumped from the plane unseen above the Oregon-Washington border and vanished with the loot. Ever since The Oregonian let- ter came to light earlier this summer, media outlets have been clamoring for the Cooper codes, which are copy- righted, so that readers can arrive at their own conclusions. “We decided, for history’s sake, to lay it out,” said Colbert, who wrote “The Last Master Outlaw,” a 2016 book about his multiyear search for the culprit. WARRENTON — The War- renton-Hammond School Board on Tuesday finalized a 31-year, $38.5 million bond that will go before vot- ers in November. The money would pay for the pur- chase of a new master campus, likely on Warrenton Fiber land along Dol- phin Avenue, and the construction of a new middle school to relieve over- crowding at Warrenton Grade School. The bond is part of a longer-term effort to move all the school district’s campuses out of the tsunami inunda- tion zone. A facilities committee also recommended a 2022 bond to move the high school to the master cam- pus, and a 2032 bond to move the elementary school. Mark Jeffery, superintendent in Warrenton, said the bond is war- ranted because of the school dis- trict’s need for more space to accommodate growing enrollment, to move students away from tsunami danger and for the increased security of a modern campus. “I think it’s the right thing, and if we don’t start now, when?” Jeffery said. “Our challenges aren’t going to change.” The bond is expected to raise property taxes by $2.03 per $1,000 of assessed value. The overall prop- See BOND, Page 7A Thomas Colbert See COOPER, Page 5A Images of Robert Wesley Rackstraw through the years, with D.B. Cooper sketches inserted in the time- line. Rackstraw’s late sister, Linda Lee Loduca, supplied Colbert’s team with many of these photos. Port, Life Flight reach deal for new hangar A $1 million project Astoria tackles final leg of riverfront plan Urban Core would guide downtown By KATIE FRANKOWICZ The Daily Astorian Life Flight Network will build a new $1 million hangar and crew quarters in its existing space at the Astoria Regional Airport after agree- ing to a long-term lease with the Port of Astoria. The Port Commission on Tues- day approved a 20-year lease with Life Flight, a helicopter medevac service that has been operating for more than three years out of a trailer and nearby rented hangar space. The lease includes four five-year exten- sion options, locking in Life Flight for up to 40 years. Life Flight Network The Astoria Planning Commission on Tuesday night kicked off debate on the Urban Core, the final piece of the Riverfront Vision Plan that will guide future development along the Columbia River. City leaders expect to spend at least 10 months discussing, debating and fine-tuning a planning document that helps shape land use policy. Planning commissioners did not make any decisions Tuesday, or even dig too deeply into what kind of things should or shouldn’t be allowed to unfold in the Urban Core, a densely developed area downtown that extends from Second Street to 16th Street. Instead, the session was a chance See HANGAR, Page 7A The new hangar at the Astoria Regional Airport will resemble Life Flight Net- work’s location in Pendleton. See PLANNING, Page 7A By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian