In our view, Jan. 3: Cheers & Jeers

Cheers: To the Port of Vancouver and BNSF Railway for reaching an agreement that will benefit both parties as well as the local community.

The massively complicated deal took years to negotiate. Highlights include the port’s purchase of a narrow, two-mile long stretch of land from BNSF for $3.1 million. The railway is cleared of any clean-up responsibility, and port officials say no serious contamination has been found on the property. The deal expands rail access for port tenants and is key to the port’s $137 million rail project that will take almost a decade.

BNSF also benefits by becoming the official rail operator on port property and will work with the port on marketing.

The community benefits from more jobs and more tax revenue.

Jeers: To anyone who believes the supposed ban on using cell phones while driving has had a major impact in Washington state. Since the ban took effect on July 1, Washington State Patrol troopers have issued 746 tickets for the violation (through November), according to The Seattle Times. That’s a paltry amount, compared with the 127,185 speeding tickets issued in the same period.

Does this mean drivers are complying? No, according to WSP Sgt. Freddy Williams, who conducted his own off-duty study. He told The Times that “we see about one in three drivers talking on a cell phone. People seem to be ignoring the law.”

That’s because, contrary to conventional wisdom, there actually is no ban on cell phone use while driving. What was banned, essentially, is talking on a cell phone while committing a traffic violation. The cell phone restriction is a secondary law; a driver must be stopped for another violation before a $124 ticket can be written for using a cell phone.

In other words, as long as you don’t violate the law, talk away on your cell phones, motorists. For all the boasting legislators did after passing this “milestone” law that only six other states have, it sure hasn’t had much effect.

Cheers: To fifth-string governor Brian Sonntag. Why cheer a fifth-stringer? Because Sonntag has done a great job as state auditor (among his many excellent performances has been turning out numerous performance audits of state and local agencies) and, as best we can tell, he must have done a pretty good job as governor.

Sonntag became governor at 3:45 p.m. on Dec. 26 when Gov. Chris Gregoire went on vacation, and the next three officials in succession to serve also were out of state: Lt. Gov. Brad Owen, Secretary of State Sam Reed and Treasurer Michael Murphy.

Sonntag — who successfully campaigned for re-election last fall with the plea to his employers (voters) to “Hire Brian Sonntag” — served as governor until 5:55 p.m. on Monday. His primary duty was to be available for a natural disaster or some other type of emergency.

Sunday was Sonntag’s birthday, and he told The Olympian newspaper that he was thinking about decorating his cake with, “Happy Birthday Governor.”

Jeers: To builders of almost 600 illegal dams statewide that have been identified from aerial photos by Department of Ecology officials. Construction permits were not obtained and state officials did not see the projects until the aerial photos. Most of the dams were built for irrigation and frost control, and 96 were identified as “high hazard,” meaning three or more homes are nearby downstream.

Seven illegal dams were built by fruit companies in the Yakima Valley and, according to Doug Johnson, supervisor of dam safety for the DOE, “If they all went at once, they’d wipe out Sunnyside.” State officials could not be reached by press time on Friday to report if any illegal dams are in Clark County.