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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 14, 2018)
7A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2018 Pilots say Boeing didn’t disclose jet’s new control feature By DAVID KOENIG Associated Press Boeing didn’t tell airline pilots about features of a new flight-con- trol system in its 737 MAX that reportedly is a focus of the inves- tigation into last month’s deadly crash in Indonesia, according to pilots who fly the jet in the U.S. Pilots say they were not trained in new features of an anti-stall sys- tem in the aircraft that differ from previous models of the popular 737. The automated system is designed to help pilots avoid rais- ing the plane’s nose too high, which can cause the plane to stall, or lose the aerodynamic lift needed to keep flying. The system automatically pushes the nose of the plane down. But if that nose-down command is triggered by faulty sensor read- ings — as suspected in the Lion Air crash — pilots can struggle to con- trol the plane, which can go into a dive and perhaps crash, accord- ing to a Boeing safety bulletin and safety regulators. The bulletin included new details on how to stop a runaway series of events from leading to a crash, pilots say. “It is something we did not have before in any of our training. It wasn’t in our books. American didn’t have it,” said Dennis Tajer, a 737 pilot and spokesman for the pilots union at American Airlines. “Now I have to wonder what else is there?” The MAX is the newest ver- sion of the twin-engine Boeing 737. More than 200 have been delivered to airlines worldwide, including American, Southwest and United. Boeing Chairman and CEO Dennis Muilenburg said Tuesday that the Chicago-based company remains confident the MAX is a safe airplane, and that operating details were not withheld from airlines and Sturgell: ‘I’m sorry to my family’ Continued from Page 1A Cunningham, who is in prison for a separate criminal case, faces trial in January. Several of Sturgell’s convic- tions carry a minimum of more than eight years in prison for each count. Circuit Court Judge Paula Brownhill may, however, rule that some of the sentences run concurrently. Daniel Wendel, an attorney with the Oregon Department of Justice, and Clatsop County Deputy District Attorney Dawn Buzzard prosecuted Sturgell. Wendel was the lead prosecu- tor due to a number of direct or indirect relationships local police have with the victim. “The DA’s office is very proud of the fine work of Senior Deputy DA Dawn Buzzard and Assistant Attorney Gen- eral Dan Wendel and the hard work of all the jurors,” District Attorney Josh Marquis said in a statement. “Nobody is above the law.” Brownhill ruled Friday that prosecutors needed to prove that Sturgell knew the woman was incapacitated or physically helpless. Prosecutors and Jason Thompson, Sturgell’s Salem- based attorney, agreed that Sturgell and the victim drank alcohol and took cocaine and that they engaged in a number of sex acts. The victim consumed some beers and liquor shots, some of which were paid for by Sturgell. Described as “blackout drunk,” the victim left a Warrenton bar and got into Sturgell’s truck. Sturgell drove her across the Astoria Bridge to his wooded property in Naselle, Washing- ton. Along the way, he provided her with cocaine. “Who needs a gun and a knife when you’ve got drugs and alcohol?” Wen- del told jurors during closing arguments. “He used drugs and alcohol to prey on this young woman in order to satisfy his own twisted sexual desires,” Wendel said. Thompson, though, argued that the woman voluntarily drank. “She was consuming alco- hol, and she ended up mak- ing decisions that she did not like,” Thompson said. “No one was forcing her to drink that alcohol.” ‘I blacked out’ After arriving at the Naselle property — a field inside a large collection of trees — Sturgell engaged in sex acts with the woman, along with another man who joined them. Because the acts took place in Washing- ton state, they were not prose- cuted in Clatsop County. Sturgell and the victim then drove back to Astoria, taking more cocaine along the way. The victim, at one point, got out of the car and vomited. After arriving in Astoria, Sturgell checked into a hotel, and the victim — struggling behind — followed him into the room. The victim, who testi- fied during the trial. was often overcome with emotion, once asking for a break during questioning. She repeatedly said she did not recall some things or why she took certain actions. “I blacked out, but I was kind of there,” she said. “It’s like pictures almost.” Cunningham allegedly arrived at the hotel after sev- eral calls with Sturgell. At one point, Cunningham looked at the victim, who was lying on a bed, and said, “Where did you find this one?” she said. The victim also testified that, at least once, she could not sufficiently move her body to commit a sex act. A few hours after arriving in the hotel room, the victim began to regain normal func- tions. She left the hotel and called a cab that took her to her car at the Warrenton bar. The victim gave conflict- ing reports to investigators and friends about whether she ever explicitly said “no” during the encounters with the two men. She also testified that she suf- fered from anxiety, post-trau- matic stress disorder, night- mares and suicidal thoughts as a result of the night. Dr. Mindy Mechanic, a psy- chology professor at California State University, Fullerton who specializes in crime trauma, was hired by prosecutors to testify. She said sexual assault victims’ actions during their ordeals can often be “counter- intuitive” — such as not escap- ing situations when opportuni- ties arise — and that memories can be inconsistent. Thompson argued that, while she may have been “blacked out,” Sturgell could not have been expected to know. “If it takes an expert from Southern California to come up here into this courtroom in Ore- gon and tell us all that, how did this fisherman from Warrenton know all that?” Thompson said. Bribery Sturgell was also convicted of two counts of bribing a wit- ness and one count of tamper- ing with a witness stemming from a meeting he held with the victim’s father. During the meeting, he offered $5,000 and threatened to hire attorneys to “dig up dirt” on witnesses in the case, her father testified. When the victim heard about the offer, she became angry and contacted authorities. Thompson said the vic- tim and her father were hoping Sturgell would give her money. In an email sent earlier this year to Oregon Assistant Attorney General Erin Greenawald, the lead prosecutor at the time, the victim said she would rather pursue a civil case than a crim- inal one. Buzzard, however, chal- lenged the notion that she only reported the crime for the money by citing the victim’s anger at Sturgell’s bribe, which had taken place months before. “First of all, she would have asked for the money before she went through with prosecution, and when he offered her money, the first thing she did was call the police,” Buzzard said. Sturgell did not testify during the four-day trial. He placed his head in his hands and appeared to cry a few times during closing arguments. Sturgell is known as a polar- izing figure among commercial fishermen. His crabbing career has brought him from the Ore- gon Coast to Alaska and the San Francisco Bay Area. As he was being led out of the courtroom in handcuffs Tuesday, a crying Sturgell peeked at some of his family sitting in attendance. “I’m sorry to my family,” he said. Forum: Bitter partisanship has spread in Oregon Continued from Page 1A “The Democrats in power have failed,” Horvick said in summarizing Buehler’s mes- sage. “Moderates, liberals — the candidates that you’ve supported in the past are not delivering on the things that you care about. Try something new.” In January, 65 percent of Oregonians hadn’t heard of Buehler. Brown’s strategy, then, was to define and dis- qualify him, using large sums of money from labor unions and progressive groups to do so. “It was a blank slate,” Hor- vick said. “So one of the things that she had to do … (was to) do what she could to define him, to tell voters who he is before he had an opportunity to do it for himself and define him in a way that was going to be negative to the average voter in Oregon, which right now means Republican. It means Trump. It means Wash- ington, D.C.” In speaking with Demo- crats, Horvick noticed that they were generally not upset with the governor but could name few, if any, of her accomplishments. “Satisfaction, but not ela- tion,” Horvick said. “She was doing OK, but they weren’t super excited about her either.” As a result, Horvick said, she needed to tap into her actions as governor that would energize a left-wing base — minimum wage increases, paid family leave, clean energy pol- icies and the $5.3 billion trans- portation package. One major factor work- ing in Brown’s favor was the economy. Because of an eco- nomic upswing this decade, the percentage of Oregonians who identified jobs and the economy as the state’s top issue plummeted from 30 per- cent to 9 percent in the past five years, Horvick said. “So this wasn’t going to be an election that Knute Buehler was going to be able to say, ‘The incumbent has ruined the economy,’” Horvick said. “So he’s going to have to run on some other things.” The strategy didn’t pro- pel Buehler to a win. Horvick noted, though, that economic concerns have not gone away, largely due to the cost of hous- ing and other things. Partisanship On top of polarized answers to specific questions, including economic concerns, Horvick presented data that highlighted exactly how much bitter partisanship has spread in Oregon. In 1994, 16 percent of Democrats held a “very unfa- vorable view” of Republicans, and Republicans felt that way about Democrats at a 17 per- cent rate. Now, those numbers have skyrocketed to 43 per- cent and 45 percent. “Voting, more and more, has been about who you dis- like more than who you like,” Horvick said. “I don’t have an answer to that — what we should do, how to change Stone: Next appearance set for December Continued from Page 1A Circuit Court Judge Cin- dee Matyas ruled that Stone be held at the Clatsop County Jail without bail. Stone and Russell had been driving west on U.S. Highway 30 when one became angry at the way the other passed ahead. They repeatedly passed each other, and one of the men directed an obscene gesture toward the other. Russell stopped his car in front of Stone after pass- ing him one more time after the two turned onto Old Mill Town Road. The Longview man got out of the car and walked toward the truck with a small baseball bat in hand and three other people around him. The truck was struck during the encounter, leading Stone to accelerate around the car and hit Russell, District Attorney Josh Marquis said in court ear- lier this month. In addition to the murder and manslaughter charges, Stone faces two counts of first-degree attempted assault, felony failure to perform the duties of a driver, driv- ing under the influence of intoxicants, reckless driving and two counts of reckless endangerment. The murder charge carries a minimum 25 years in prison and the first-degree man- slaughter count carries at least 10 years. Stone was once the chief of the Westport Volunteer Fire Department. In 2004, he set fire to business records after being accused of embezzle- ment, Marquis said in court. He was convicted of first-de- gree arson and first-degree theft and sentenced to 17 months in prison. Stone’s next court appear- ance is scheduled for December. it. But I show these to help remind us that not everybody in this room is going to think like us.” flight crews. A Southwest spokeswoman said the new automated maneuver- ing system was not included in the operating manual for MAX models. An American spokesman said the airline was unaware of some new automated functions in the MAX but hasn’t experienced nose-direc- tion errors. A United spokesman said Boeing and the FAA do not believe additional pilot training is needed. Housing: ‘This doesn’t solve our problems’ Continued from Page 1A Under the proposal, worker housing would be an outright permitted use. But neighbors and some City Commission- ers pushed for a conditional use process, which would give the city and the public more of a say in how the dor- mitory-style housing would be developed. Pacific Seafood is open to a conditional use pro- cess, company representa- tives said. “We know people are concerned about this and I think that’s fair,” said Michael Robinson, a land use attorney representing the seafood processor. The company offered to hold community meetings and draft a “good neighbor” commitment before apply- ing for any building permits if the code amendment was approved. A housing shortage on the North Coast and the logistics of housing employees who may only need somewhere to live for a season has forced the company to look at cre- ative ways to house seasonal employees, Pacific Seafood representatives said. If they can’t find a place for employees to live, “this business won’t be here,” Robinson said. Pacific Seafood rebuilt its Warrenton processing plant after a fire destroyed a previous plant in 2013. Ini- tially, the company expected to employ as many as 140 full time and 100 seasonal workers at the new plant. On Tuesday, plant manager Hiram Cho said the com- pany could need 260 to 280 employees to run the facility at full capacity. Loren Gramson, a resi- dent who spoke against the housing project, said the code amendment would help Pacific Seafood and their employees, but would not do much to solve the city’s housing needs overall. “It’s not housing for young families looking for a place to start. It’s not hous- ing for people looking to be a part of the community in any way, shape or form,” he said. “This doesn’t solve our problems,” he added. “This is short-term housing for a major company to shuffle workers in and out and then warehouse them somewhere else for the next season to roll around. Who benefits? This only benefits Pacific by allowing them to shuffle around a transient workforce instead of paying them a fair amount to allow them to put down roots.” Concerns about neigh- borhood safety and crime were common themes Tues- day as the City Commission considered the code amend- ment, leading Commissioner Mark Baldwin to exclaim, “Are we hiring barbarians? They’re cannery workers.” Baldwin felt the proj- ect and workers were being vilified. He said he trusted Pacific Seafood to conduct background checks and manage employees, not- ing that the business is an important support to both the local fishing-based econ- omy and the city. Still, he agreed with other commis- sioners that they, along with the community, needed more information. “I think we have a lot of the answers we need,” Com- missioner Pam Ackley said. But, she added, “I think there’s some more work to be done.” Mayor Henry Balen- sifer agreed, calling the code amendment proposal and housing project “bold experimentation.” “Just because it’s new and it’s scary doesn’t neces- sarily mean we shouldn’t try it,” he said.
