Molly Marshall - Spokane County Commission District 5 Candidate

 

            Sept. 23: Noon meeting at the Bark. Speaker: Al French, County Commission candidate.

 

            Sept. 30: Noon meeting at the Bark. Speaker: Michael Baumgartner, 5^th District Congressional candidate.

 

            Oct. 7: Noon meeting at the Bark. Club President’s quarterly update.

 

            Oct. 14: No meeting. (Indigenous People’s Day holiday.)

 

 

     Club activities chair Laura Zahn said upcoming events:

 

     Saturday, Sept. 28, 8:30 a.m. to Noon: Habitat for Humanity build in Deer Park.  The club wants to fill 20 slots, but as of Sept. 16, only two people have signed up.  Please respond to Laura soon if you are able to attend.

 

    Saturday, Oct. 12, 2 p.m., Free Rein tour in Spokane Valley.

 

 

         Scott McCorkle said the club’s new web site should be ready in a few weeks at which the existing web site “will go away.”

 

         Club President Nancy Hanson said next month’s board meeting will be Sept. 25, a week later than scheduled.

 

 

         Club Rotary Foundation officer John Mailliard said 132 Rotary International fellowships are awarded annually to universities around the world to help share the organization’s ideas and activities.

 

Condolences: Sorry to hear about the death this week of Sandy Fink’s brother.

 

 

      Steve Boharski was $2 happy to return from an Alaskan fishing trip and a visit to Italy.  Noting his absence, someone asked Steve “are you a new member?”  Ron Noble added a dollar saying he was “happy he’s back.”

 

       Lenore Romney was happy to spend four days in Colorado with her niece.

 

       Jerry Logan was $5 happy for a mountain hiking trek.

 

      Janine McCorkle was happy that her volunteer status in a District 81 school has been approved.

 

       Laura Zahn was happy for good medical news.

 

       Sheila Fritz, after winning the weekly ticket drawing, donated most of the $23 pot for her working with 52 kids planning a variety of activities at Fairwood.

 

       Dave Hayward was $5 of happiness for his WSU win over UW and for the Spokane Indians’ winning their baseball league.

 

 

       One of the hottest local races this fall is the Spokane County Commission District 5, where Molly Marshall and Al French compete for the vast western section of the county.

 

     

       Marshall is a retired Washington Air Guard pilot, active in West Plains issues.  She is running for office for her first time.  French has been a county commissioner since 2011, following seven years on the Spokane City Council.  A former Marine, French is an architect, real estate broker and investment consultant.  Only a few thousand votes separated the two in the Aug. 6 primary.

 

      Marshall is treasurer of the Grandview/Thorpe Neighborhood Council, co-founder of the Citizens Action for Latah Valley and on the Community Assembly Land Use Executive Commission.  Molly with husband, Adam, also a retired active-duty airman, discussed issues at the club’s Sept. 16 luncheon.

 

      Molly Marshall, a Lincoln, Neb. Native, said she got a Rotary monetary award from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.  She said while Nebraska had Air Guard fighters, women were not allowed to fly.  Washington Air Guard had no such restrictions, so she came to Spokane, graduated from EWU and retired after 30 years as a lieutenant colonel as a Guard pilot and crew member.

 

      She worked as an air fueling specialist, saying her work as a KC135 boom operator “was incredible.”

 

      Flying over the West Plains 5^th District area might be the best way to view what Molly calls “a big, diverse area, stretching from the Whitman County line to Tum Tum.”

 

       A major topic in the area is the level of PFAs, “the everlasting” toxic substances from foam mandated for years by the Air Force.  Water pollution from the years of dumping the foam has poisoned wells in a wide area in west Spokane.  She said safe limits of PFAs are 4 part per trillion, but many contaminated wells now test at thousands of parts per trillion.

 

      Marshall said safe water from Spokane has been sent to Airway Heights, but piping water to private wells from the mainly basalt rock areas is difficult and too expensive.  Livestock as well as lives are at stake, she said, adding that beef from some herds watering are no longer sold.

 

      “After seven years with PFAs, we really don’t understand the problems,” she said.   

 

      “The answer is filtration,” she said, hoping that a timber-generated cellulose may provide some answers.

 

        A number of other issues have been raised in the west part of the county.

 

       With rapid growth in the Grandview and Eagle Ridge areas, Marshall said, “We need to fix State 195, the Sunset Bridge and intersections and access to I-90.”

 

       While overhead bridges over 195 might have been built earlier, the costs have soared and “J-turns” are the response, she said.

 

       Another pressing issue is containing wildfires, Marshall said.

 

       The Latah Valley has had 2,000 new homes built, but the only fire district building is a house, not a bigger fire station, she said.

 

       “It’s alarming when you talk about the wildfires and we are putting homes in areas that will be burned,” Marshall said, adding “There has not been a lot of joint planning.”

 

       Molly said, “I never ran for office before.  The last six months have been tiring, but exhilarating.  People just want to look for quality of life.”