In Our View:

MEMORIAL FITTING FOR OFFICERS WHO DIED IN DUTY

It took our nation 14 years to realize that Prohibition was a failure. Had
we wised up several months sooner, the murders of two federal agents near
Camp Bonneville -- the only double loss of life in Clark County law
enforcement history -- might have been avoided.

Now a group of local residents, led by District Court Judge John Wulle, is
studying the possibility of converting the old war memorial in front of the
county courthouse -- now outdated, thanks to the new Clark County Veterans
War Memorial at Vancouver Barracks -- into a memorial for public safety
officers who have died in the line of duty. Among the names that would be
affixed there are those of an undetermined number of firefighters and at
least six police officers, including the two slain Prohibition agents, B.W.
Turner and Edward Vlasich.

The pair had been investigating illegal liquor production in Clark County
for several months when, on the evening of Sept. 19, 1932, they made an
undercover visit to the farm of Jesse Cousins, south of Hockinson. Within
moments, Turner lay dead; Vlasich, severely wounded, lingered for two weeks
before succumbing. Cousins fled and was located a month and a half after
the shooting, living in a tarp-covered pit near the railroad tracks
northwest of Vancouver.

The subsequent trial, as described by former Columbian reporter Cathy
Kessinger in the 1987 edition of Clark County History, hinged on the simple
question of whether or not Cousins acted in self-defense. Before dying,
Vlasich testified that he and Turner had agreed to buy two gallons of
moonshine from Cousins for $10, and that when they tried to arrest him, he
opened fire.

Cousins' account, delivered at trial, differed hardly at all. He said the
agents had never identified themselves, and when they threw him to the
ground and began to draw their guns, he took them for robbers and shot them
both.

Cousins was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in
prison on Jan. 23, 1933. Eleven months later, Prohibition was repealed. The
cause was misguided, but the sacrifice was noble. Turner, Vlasich and the
other public safety officers who have been killed doing their jobs deserve
to be remembered and thanked.

Checked-by: Richard Lake