How our troubled ferry network became embroiled in a horrific criminal case

We cannot let this curious sign of the times go unnoticed. It speaks volumes about our current situation. It happened on July 25, 2024, during the first court appearance of inter-island ferry captain Albert Brant, at his son's trial on the horrific charge of possession of child pornography.

The hearing that followed his arrest was to determine “conditions of release.” Prosecutors wanted the defendant’s bail set at $500,000 because he, Richard Alexander Brant, had obtained and traded nine photographs “of children between the ages of 18 months and 9 years old … being raped.” The defendant wanted bail reduced to $2,500 because he was not a flight risk, had no criminal record and would stay with his father, an upstanding citizen who counts local law enforcement among his good friends. He would work on his father’s farm in Friday Harbor, they said. Apparently, there’s plenty to do there. Plenty to keep the defendant busy. As Christians like to say, an idle mind is the devil’s workshop.

After arguments for very high and very low bail were presented to Judge Carolyn Jewett, Capt. Albert Brant addressed the court in his uniform.

As the final summer vacation of 2024 approaches, when thousands of people plan to take a ferry, cancellations and delays are changing many routes operated by Washington State Ferries.

— KOMO News (@komonews) August 27, 2024

The ferry captain first pointed out that his son was only charged with possessing two criminal photos, not nine (Judge Jewett reminded the defendant’s father that the current session was not concerned with that issue), then warned the court of the consequences of bail that was far beyond his means. Having his son behind bars on the mainland, he said, would force him to miss work (to visit his son) and disrupt the area’s ferry service. “If I don’t work,” the captain said frankly, “the ferry doesn’t run here, okay?”

The captain's statements so upset San Juan County Sheriff Eric Peter that he issued an open letter to the Washington Department of Transportation The Orcassonian titled “Ferry Captain Makes Inappropriate Comment/Threat in SJC District Court.”

Let's get straight to the point of the complaint:

I [Sheriff Eric Peter]as well as several other colleagues, were appalled by the arrogant attitude and threatening comments Captain Brant said the possible incarceration of his son would in some way negatively impact our transportation system in San Juan County, especially in this volatile time we are currently living in, with seemingly weekly cancellations of our interisland ferry.

Here we can step back and imagine someone who is new to the city or to this part of the Pacific Northwest. What would they think if they happened to read the sheriff’s public letter that caught the attention of WDSOT (“Washington State Ferries is conducting a formal investigation into this matter,” the department said) The stranger.) The visitor would find this somewhat disconcerting. What does the sheriff mean by “unstable weather”? And what do these “weekly cancellations” mean? And why does the ferry captain sound “threatening”? It is difficult to make sense of the sheriff’s distress without some background information.

At this point, we might imagine meeting this bewildered visitor perhaps at the bar of the Athenian seafood restaurant, which offers an excellent view of the ferries coming and going from Bainbridge. For the sake of ambiance, let it be a rainy day. But this rain is not like the kind you find in a detective series. The Murderwhich, although set in Seattle, poorly describes the rain that falls in the city: it is so heavy and constant that it requires sheltering under an umbrella.

Against this dark backdrop—the intermittent rain outside, the beers in frosty glasses at the bar—one might imagine explaining to the visitor that Washington State's ferry system is currently in the grip of a crisis that, for the most part, originated in an initiative sponsored by local baddie Tim Eyman, Initiative 695.

Here’s what happened: Voters voted in 1999, by a large majority, to eliminate a major source of funding for the ferry system, the Motor Vehicle Excise Tax (MVET). We’re not going to dwell on the fact that cars already account for the lion’s share of the state’s transportation budget, or on the fact that the ferry system would be faster and more efficient if it didn’t have to haul cars around. We’ll put that aside for now and just point out that I-695 set off a chain reaction that has exacerbated other structural problems, like aging ferries and crews. It’s true that BC Ferries also faces a staffing shortage, but that’s not made worse by underfunding. With Washington State Ferry, it’s just one thing after another, and the department’s budget turmoil has no end in sight for now. In fact, it could get even worse if voters decide in November to eliminate the Carbon Cap-and-Invest Program.

With this explanation, the visitor would understand why Sheriff Eric Peter interpreted Captain Albert Brant’s comments about disrupting interisland ferry service as a real and tangible threat. The situation is bad enough as it is, and Brant was heard to say: If my son is prevented from staying on my farm in Friday Harbor while he awaits trial (guilty or not guilty of keeping and sharing images of raped babies and children), then San Juan is going to get what he deserves. More lines, more waiting, and more of that regional rain, including Billy Campbell, the actor who, in The murder, plays a Seattle city council member, which could be “a metaphor for tears.”