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SATURDAY, JULY 19, 2014

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Coos Bay contractor guilty of defrauding government BY JEFF BARNARD The Associated Press A Coos Bay-based defense contractor has pleaded guilty to selling $10 million worth of phony parts for attack helicopters and military vehicles to the U.S. government, including a locknut that secures the rotor on the Kiowa attack helicopter. According to court records, the company Kustom Products Inc., a longtime seller of truck and RV parts; owner Harold Ray Bettencourt II, and four employees pleaded guilty Friday in U.S. District Court in Portland to conspiracy to defraud the United States. “These crooks took deliberate actions to supply defective equipment to our military, putting our service men and women in harm’s way during a time of war,” Kenneth Hines, special agent in charge of Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, said in a statement. “Then, they spun a web of complex lies to cover it all up.” Bettencourt, his sons Harold “Bo” Bettencourt III, Nicholas Ryan Bettencourt and Peter Tracy Bettencourt, and office manager Margo Antoinette Densmore

Photos by Alysha Beck, The World

Stephan Pearson dives into Tenmile Lake to practice search techniques during the Lakeside Fire Department’s dive team training Wednesday.

Dive team no longer finds itself in murky water

SEE FRAUD | A10

BY THOMAS MORIARTY The World

The World captures 15 awards State contest haul includes ‘General Excellence’ nod ■

THE WORLD

Oregon GOP disowns House District 9 candidate Gun rights activist Casey Runyan plans on running in fall election despite felony conviction ■

BY CHELSEA DAVIS The World

REEDSPORT — The gun rights activist hoping to represent the South Coast in the Oregon House is on the defensive after state GOP leaders got word of his felony conviction. Casey Runyan, 32, narrowly won the May primary to face incumbent

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Oregon House District 9 Rep. Caddy McKeown, D-Coos Bay, in the fall election. He beat his Republican opponent, Jason Payne, of Coos Bay, by Runyan just 0.3 percent. This week, the Oregon Republican Party pulled any and all support for Runyan after a 10year-old felony assault charge came to light. “Mr. Runyan’s actions are disturbing and do not reflect the principles and values of the House Republican Caucus,” Oregon

Stella Williamson, Coos Bay Terry Christiansen, Fayetteville, Ga. Blanche May, North Bend John Libby, Roseburg Doris Semon, Coos Bay

PLUS

House Republicans communications director Kara Walker said in an email. “While the residents of House District 9 would be wellserved by a thoughtful Republican representative, we have chosen not to support Mr. Runyan and his campaign.” Runyan is running a campaign almost entirely on a Second Amendment platform, dubbing himself the “voice and the friend of gun-owners.” On Friday, he told The World he doesn’t know how House Republican Leader Mike McLane got wind of his criminal record, but he isn’t surprised. “I was ready to explain, ready to make it understood,” Runyan said.

Manuela James, Coos Bay Robert Haskell, Newport Clyde Pike, North Bend Wallace Robbins, North Bend

Obituaries | A5

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“I was never trying to hide this.” That’s true. At a public hearing in February regarding Senate Bill 1551, Runyan testified to the fact that he had a criminal record: “I know how criminals think and act. I know how they think and act because nine years ago I was placed into custody with about 45 criminals who were of the habitual offender status in my former county of residence in northern Michigan — Ogemaw County to be specific.” “Mr. Runyan himself has alluded to being placed into custody before

SEE RUNYAN | A10

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Jim McCarren leads Brandon Henderson off the Tenmile Lake Boat Ramp on a rope during the Lakeside Fire Department’s dive team training. The dive team has been dispatched to multiple scenes this year, including a boating accident on Tenmile Lake in June when the divers rescued three people trapped underwater.

DEATHS

SALEM — The World took home 15 awards Thursday night in the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association’s 2014 Better Newspaper Contest. The ONPA presented the awards at the organization’s Summer Publishers and Ad Directors Convention at the Salem Convention Center. Among daily newspapers with less than 10,000 circulation, The World garnered third place in general excellence, the first time the newspaper placed in the category in at least 16 years. First and second places in the under 10,000 circulation category went to the Corvallis Gazette-Times and the East Oregonian, Pendleton respectively. “I’m incredibly proud of our news team,” World publisher Jeff Precourt said. “Day after day they produce a fantastic product for our readers and it’s exciting to see this confirmed through recognition at a statewide level.” The World’s newsroom won 14 other individual and staff awards

LAKESIDE — It’s a heartbreaking scene straight out of a Hollywood movie — a family trapped inside a sinking boat, desparately trying to stay afloat in the last pocket of air. In real life, that scenario all too often ends in tragedy. But June 12, Lakeside Fire and Rescue managed to pull off the More online: miraculous: the successful res- Lakeside Fire and cue of five people, including a Rescue dive team 2-year-old child, from an over- practiced its lifeturned sailboat in Tenmile Lake. saving techniques The rescue is being seen in Wednesday. Watch many public safety circles as the video at vindication for the depart- theworldlink.com. ment’s dive team, which was previously part of the North Bend Fire Department before being cut. Word of their exploits even reached the office of Gov. John


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