EDITORIAL: Cheers & Jeers: Safe landing; costly mandates
Cheers: To a safe landing. A small plane took an unconventional path to Pearson Field Airport recently after landing on the eastbound lanes of Highway 14. After sticking the landing and coming to rest on the shoulder of the highway, the plane was escorted by rescue vehicles as it taxied to an exit and eventually returned to Pearson in the westbound lanes of the highway.
The plane reportedly experienced mechanical troubles shortly after taking off from the airport, forcing the landing approximately one mile to the east. No injuries or damages to vehicles were reported, although there was a brief closure of the highway. Cheers are warranted for a quick-thinking pilot, first responders who effectively handled a unique situation and nearby drivers who managed to avoid being distracted. But we would not recommend taxiing along a highway as an efficient mode of plane travel.
Jeers: To unfunded mandates. Officials in Evergreen Public schools say they are not adhering to a state mandate requiring school districts to go electric when they purchase replacement school buses. The reason? The initial phase of implementation would cost the district $3.6 million.
Various incentive programs can reduce the cost - as would savings from not having to purchase fuel for the buses - but it does not pencil out for the district. "Right now this is a huge unfunded mandate that we are not moving forward with," Superintendent Christine Moloney said. Jeers go to legislators, who often hand down mandates to counties, cities or school districts without fully considering the price tag. Unfunded mandates amount to nothing more than wishful thinking.
Cheers ... and jeers: To winter shelters. Organizers report that Clark County overnight shelters for homeless people were mostly at capacity throughout the winter. As one local official told The Columbian, "It's about the Vancouver community coming together and supporting, loving one another."
A coalition of local churches provides overnight facilities for those in need, with staffing coming from a battalion of volunteers. Cheers go to all those involved with helping to keep people in our community safe and warm; jeers go to the social and economic conditions that create the need for such shelters.
Jeers: To stolen identities. Pasco police are seeking information about two men who have been living under aliases for 36 years, after assuming the identities of children who died in the 1970s. The men reportedly go by Tim Seidenfeld, 58, and Glenn Scotzin, 56.
"We're not looking to find them. We're well aware of their location," a Pasco officer said. "We're asking for information about how they've been living their lives with their appropriated names." Police have not said whether the men have committed crimes aside from identity theft, but the situation has an air of creepiness about it.
Cheers: To additional officers. The Clark County Council has approved the hiring of 21 deputies, one sergeant, a volunteer coordinator, a communications specialist and two other support staff, addressing a long-standing staffing shortage. Funding for the positions will come largely from a new sales tax imposed in the county.
Hiring is expected to begin in July; ideally, a police training academy that opened in Vancouver in 2024 will ease the process by providing qualified candidates from this part of the state. Combined with funding efforts from the Legislature, Clark County is working to enhance public safety in our region.
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