CALLS FOR CALM
STAYING HOT
Leadership urges cease-fire in Ukraine, A7
Yankees’ pitcher picks up 11th win, B3
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 18, 2014
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Drug dealer sentenced to 18 months
Pageant winners sent off in style
Previously convicted felon admitted to selling drugs, was stockpiling firearms for world’s apocalytpic end ■
BY THOMAS MORIARTY The World
COQUILLE — A drug dealer caught with dozens of firearms this fall will spend more than a year in prison. Leslie Alan Amsbary pleaded guilty in Coos County Circuit Court on Monday to unlawful delivery of methamphetamine and being a felon in possession of a firearm. The 61-year-old was sentenced to 18 months in prison and will have to spend 24 months under supervision when he’s released. Amsbary was arrested in December when detectives from the South Coast Interagency Narcotics Team and Coos Bay police served a search warrant at his home at 1426 Juniper Ave. They had received a tip that he was dealing out of the house and property near the Milner Crest Education Center. The house is just around the corner from Coos Bay School District offices at the former elementary school. When detectives searched the home, they found 28 grams of meth and more than 2 pounds of marijuana, along with manufacturing and packaging materials. When questioned by police, he admitted he sold drugs. Amsbary also told police he planned to grow marijuana to supplement his income. Another man found at the home, Neal Leon Wisegarver, had an outstanding warrant and also was taken into custody. In addition to the drugs, police found a 9mm Colt pistol and ammunition, which Amsbary, a convicted felon, was barred from possessing. The gun was right where he had been sitting at the time officers entered the house. Amsbary was previously charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm and unlawful use of a firearm in 2012 when he allegedly fired a shot into the floor of an Empire-area home during an argument. Detectives discovered even more firearms when they served a second search warrant at a Barview-area storage facility where Amsbary had been renting two units. Inside, they found 21 rifles, which Amsbary told police he was stockpiling for what he believed to be an impending revolution. “No telling when the world (is) going to end,” he told officers. Reporter Thomas Moriarty can be reached at 541ext. 240, or by email at 269-1222, thomas.moriarty@theworldlink.com. Follow him on Twitter: @ThomasMoriarty.
Above, Miss Coos County Rande Jones shows off her evening gown for friends and family at a send-off party Tuesday before the 2014 Miss Oregon Pageant in Seaside next week. Right, Miss Coos County Rande Jones, left, and Miss Coos County Outstanding Teen Parker Stocker wear their “top five” outfits. Top, Miss Coos County Rande Jones puts the finishing touches on her hair in the bathroom before modeling her pageantgown. Jones says it takes about 11⁄2 hours just to get her hair ready for competition. Photos by Alysha Beck, The World
Oregon gas prices spike
Lawmakers: IRS lost more emails in tea party probe BY STEPHEN OHLEMACHER The Associated Press
Unstable Iraq blamed for domestic uptick ■
BY TIM NOVOTNY The World
COOS BAY — This is typically the time of year where gasoline prices start to settle down, but continued uncertainty overseas has them going in the other direction. AAA Oregon/Idaho Public Affairs Director Marie Dodds says gas prices are peaking all over the state as violence in Iraq has intensified.
“The national average for regular unleaded adds two cents this week to $3.66 a gallon, while the Oregon average gains three cents to $3.93, which is the year-to-date high,” she says. Gas prices often decline in June, with the national average falling the previous three years at an average of about 20 cents per gallon. A year ago the national average was turning lower as domestic production and distribution issues eased, although market watchers were keeping a close eye on geopolitical tensions in Syria. While
WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service has lost more emails connected to the tea party investigation, congressional investigators said Tuesday. The IRS said last Friday it had lost an untold number of emails when Lois Lerner’s computer crashed in 2011. Lerner used to head the division that handles applications for tax-exempt status. On Tuesday, two key lawmakers said the IRS has also lost emails from six additional IRS workers whose computers crashed. Among them was Nikole Flax, who was chief of staff to Lerner’s boss, then-deputy commissioner Steven Miller. Miller later became acting IRS commissioner,but was forced to resign last year after the agency acknowledged that agents had improperly scrutinized tea party and
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US aims to try Benghazi suspect on Navy transport BY LOLITA C. BALDOR AND NANCY BENAC The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The capture of an alleged leader of the deadly 2012 attacks on Americans in Benghazi, Libya, gave U.S. officials a rare moment of good news.Now,they are preparing to try the captured Libyan
Joyce Basso-Dade, Coos Bay Carl Bowers, Winchester Bay Clarence Buckles, San Tan Valley, Ariz.
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in the U.S. court system and pledging to double down on catching others responsible for the deaths of the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans in the attacks. U.S. officials said Ahmed Abu Khattala was being held on the USS New York, a Navy amphibious transport dock ship in the Mediterranean Sea. The officials
Rygrass mixture from Tangent-based grass seed company was over seeded on every field used in the World Cup. Page A5
FORECAST
FBI Director James Comey addresses a news conference Tuesday at the FBI Minneapolis field office. He said the arrest Sunday of a Libyan militant in the deadly attack on Americans in Benghazi is a very good day for law enforcement.
Police reports . . . . A2 What’s Up. . . . . . . . A3 South Coast. . . . . . A3 Opinion. . . . . . . . . . A4
The Associated Press
Former Internal Revenue Service official Lois Lerner speaks March 5 on Capitol Hill in Washington. The IRS has lost more emails connected to the tea party investigation, congressional investigators said Tuesday. The IRS said last Friday it had lost an untold number of emails when Lois Lerner’s computer crashed in 2011.
spoke only on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the Libyan’s whereabouts publicly by name. Abu Khattala, who was captured Sunday on the outskirts of Benghazi by U.S. special forces, was headed to the United States to face what
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