The Aug. 8 article “Feds find fault with Vancouver port in grain inspection flap,” reported the fiasco at the Port of Vancouver’s gate between United Grain and the International Longshore and Warehouse union that was threatening the state/federal grain inspectors’ safety in entering the port.
The issue is not about the two disputing parties. It’s about the government’s responsibility to protect the law-abiding public, which includes the government’s own inspectors complying with the government’s own laws requiring grain inspections. This issue is tantamount to government law enforcement agencies intervening between two gangs disputing over neighborhood turf. If public safety is at risk, for any reason, it is the government’s (local, state and/or federal) responsibility, to ensure that the public, especially the law-required inspectors, are protected without bias regarding the disputing parties’ issue. The dispute is civil. Let them work it out.
Feds, do your job. This matter is public safety. Keep the bias and ideologies out of it.
James H. Hayes
Vancouver
