|
 | |||
| Lopez Island | Orcas Island | Visitor's Guide | ||
| Email this page to a friend | ||
| ||||||||||||||||
|
SAN JUAN ISLANDER EDITORIAL |
|
Email this page to a friend RELATED PAGESSAN JUAN ISLANDER EDITORIAL - One way to finance the council's space dilemma; sell the annex SAN JUAN ISLANDER EDITORIAL - Council needs to get real about space needs List of stories about expansion of San Juan County Courthouse | |
EDITORIAL: Ferry reallocations based on faulty mathBy Sharon Kivisto posted 05/17/2007
If the decision had been made in a public meeting, where an open discussion had taken place, someone would surely have pointed out the faulty logic being used. First off, the reallocation is based on the premise that a third of Lopez Island's space allocation leaves the island after 8 p.m. and that isn't fair. So spaces must be taken from Orcas and Friday Harbor to make things fair. A closer look at the facts shows the extra space in the evening is because of an anamoly in the schedule. Look at the entire day, Lopez has a total of 452 spaces. Friday Harbor has 906. Those 8:25 p.m. spaces aren't really being factored into Lopez Island's allocation. If they were, Lopez has way too many spaces. The population is not half of San Juan Island's. Orcas Island has 838 spaces allocated. So we start off with a non-existent "fairness" problem which doesn't need to be remedied. FAC Chair Alex MacLeod told the county Council Lopez Island has a day-long overload problem. Reallocating 10 spaces from the Friday Harbor redeye and 20 spaces from the Orcas 9:40 a.m. ferry is necessary to help alleviate the problem especially because of the way Lopez' allocation is so heavily weighted towards the evening, he said. The FAC members had studied the records kept at each terminal last summer to come up with the solution. When I called to ask to see the data, it turned out the FAC didn't keep copies. But according to MacLeod, 24 percent of the time Lopez is overloaded on the redeye ferry. So Friday Harbor will give up 10 spaces 100 percent of the time to solve a problem that occurs one out of every four days on Lopez. This doesn't make sense. Something else that didn't make sense was the difficulty the agricultural community had in getting help from the FAC. The mobile slaughtering unit was not allowed to use priority loading and as a result livestock could not be processed in a timely manner. Efforts to have the FAC discuss livestock priority loading were dismissed outright by the FAC during the past year. Instead of holding a meeting and listening to the issues and concerns, the committee decided it did not want to make any changes. Finally, after the issue was brought up at a county council meeting, and the FAC was directed to look into the specific problem of the mobile slaughtering unit, the problem was resolved. The mobile slaughtering unit now has priority loading. Something else that didn't make sense was the schedule the FAC was working on for the summer. Fortunately, WSF staff realize islanders like to return home rather than being stranded on the mainland and didn't use the schedule. If the FAC plans to make significant changes, it should talk to islanders first. Saying they prefer to operate "behind a screen" so for example - Orcas businesses don't catch on that they were trying to eliminate the Sidney run from stopping at Orcas - is an arrogant way to operate an advisory committee. If the committee cannot operate in the open, something is seriously wrong. The FAC is composed of volunteers and we should thank them for their time and efforts. But we are all dependent on the ferry system and we need a FAC that follows policies which were created to make sure everyone's needs are represented. The county Council is in the process of rewriting ordinances for the various boards and committees. It is time we make sure the FAC represents the ferry users (farmers, workers, families, students, tourism-businesses, commercial truckers, public works, etc) meets regularly and in public. Vehicular homicide charge filed in March 5 car crashposted 05/17/2007
According to the report filed by Det. Brent Johnson, the three stopped at the Little Store shortly before 10 p.m. According to a witness, Benedict was driving the vehicle and got out to give her a hug. Beeston bought some gas, Teasdale purchased some beer. Beeston told the witness it was her car, but Benedict was driving because she was too intoxicated. The three got back into the car, Benedict was driving according to the report. Ten minutes later, aid units and deputies responded to a report of a car crash. Beeston allegedly told aid personnel Benedict was driving and the car left the road and started rolling. When it stopped, she took off her seatbelt and managed to crawl out before the car caught fire. She went to summon help. According to the report, a neighbor found Benedict confused and disoriented walking nearby. Teasdale's body was found by rescue workers. Reconstruction of the accident leads deputies to believe the car was traveling over 70 mph in a 45 mph zone when it crossed into the oncoming lane, slid sideways into a field, started to roll, collided with a boulder, and eventually came to rest. Vehicular homicide is a Class C felony and carries a maximum penalty of life in prison and/or a $50,000 fine. Benedict is scheduled to enter a plea at 9 a.m. Friday, May 25, 2007. |
|
|
SAN JUAN ISLANDER © 2008 |
|