Traffic safety professionals and volunteers were honored at an awards ceremony in Vancouver last week that marked the beginning of heightened holiday enforcement for impaired drivers.
Ridgefield and Vancouver police officers, Clark County sheriff’s deputies and county dispatchers were among the award recipients at Night of a Thousand Stars on Friday. The event was hosted by the Washington Traffic Safety Commission’s Target Zero program, the state’s strategy for eliminating traffic fatalities and serious injuries by 2030.
Vancouver police Sgt. Therese Kubala received a lifetime achievement award for her expertise in the field of impaired driving detection, according to the traffic safety commission.
“She readily shares her skill and knowledge in this area with her peers both within VPD and with outside agencies,” according to the commission.
Kubala moved up the ranks from patrol officer to traffic unit sergeant and oversees seven traffic officers. She has arrested more than 1,000 impaired drivers and assisted in countless other DUI investigations during her career.
Clark County Deputy James Naramore also received a lifetime achievement award for his three decades at the sheriff’s office, the bulk of which was spent focused on traffic safety.
In the 1990s, Naramore was a Traffic Unit collision investigator and chaired the DUI Traffic Safety Task Force. He was also instrumental in bringing radar enforcement to the county around that time, according to the commission. He taught hundreds of the area’s officers how to properly use radar guns to catch speeders.
Naramore has spent the last 14 years assigned to CCSO’s Traffic Unit as a commercial vehicle enforcement officer, keeping an eye on the trucking and heavy equipment industry.
“One cannot go to a tow company, trucking establishment, or Public Works department in Clark County without knowing who James Naramore is,” the safety commission said.
Law enforcement agencies are carrying out extra DUI patrols through Jan. 1.
“With the holiday season here, the probability that there will be a higher volume of impaired drivers on the Clark County roads is likely,” said Hilary Torres, a program manager with Target Zero.
Officials cautioned people to make a plan for getting home before going out to drink or smoke marijuana.
