School board and health district races gearing up
Fall elections see 11 contested races
COLUMBIA BASIN — With the filing deadline for fall elections past, eight races for school district board elections will be contested races this fall. There will be three contested hospital district races.
Quincy
Incumbent Terry Nelson of the Quincy School District is up against Tricia Lubach for position No. 5.
Lubach has been a Quincy resident for 13 years and works as a marketing consultant for Lubach Communications.
"I would really like to see communication between the school board, teachers, parents, and administration improved," Lubach said.
Lubach's qualifications include: Starting the Pumpkin Patch Daycare Center in Quincy; volunteering with the school district; and sitting on a strategic planning committee for the school district.
Nelson, a resident of Quincy since 1982, works as a chemist for JACO Analytical.
Nelson has served on the school board for the last four years and said he is interested in serving QSD children and their families and wants to have a positive impact in his community.
Also in Quincy, candidates running unopposed for Hospital District No. 2 include: Randy Zolman for position No. 1, Donald Condit for position No. 3 and Robert Poindexter for position No. 4.
Warden
New candidate Sharon Buck of the Warden School District, is up against Scott Marks to get a No. 2 spot on the school board.
Buck, a lifelong resident of Warden, has worked part-time in a dental office since 1981, has five children and has served on a parents committee with the school district for several years.
Buck is running as a concerned parent and citizen who wants to be involved in the decision-making processes of the district and a voice for students and parents.
Marks has lived in Warden since 1989 and has been on the school board 13 years.
He currently works as a field man for Cenex Harvest States out of Bruce and believes his presence in the community and with local farmers enables him to keep current on the needs of his community.
Steven Graham and Rob Shuler are running uncontested for position Nos. 1 and 4 for the WSD.
Soap Lake
Soap Lake School District candidates Gerry Ramm and Curtis Dotson are both running for position No. 5.
Ramm is a lifelong resident of Soap Lake who has been on the school board for eight years, serving as president of the Soap Lake Chamber of Commerce Board and on state, regional and national boards for various causes.
Owner of Inland Oil Company in Ephrata, Ramm wants to run to stay active in his community and local schools.
Dotson, also a Soap Lake resident for the majority of his life, is a biologist with the Fish, Wildlife and Water Quality program through the Grant County PUD.
"I feel I have a real sense for the history of Soap Lake and the direction it's going," Dotson said.
John Marthini is running unchallenged for position No. 2 in the SLSD.
There are no contested candidates up for Hospital District No. 4 in Soap Lake.
Candidates running unopposed in Soap Lake are: Peggy Trexler for position No. 2, Harry Bauermeister for position No. 3, Betty Cadle for position No. 4 and Mary Ackerman for position No. 5.
Royal City
The Royal School District has two new candidates running for position No. 5 — Mike Scroggins and Gary Piercy.
Scroggins is a farmer and 33-year resident of Royal City with 10 years experience on a local church board and four years on a booster board.
An alumni of Royal High School with two children who graduated from RHS, Scroggins wants to continue to be active in his community.
Piercy has been a Royal City resident since 1960 with experience serving on the Grant County Planning Commission and has had five children go through the RSD.
Also a farmer, Piercy has a strong desire to continue taking an active interest in the education of local school children.
Bonney Brown is the only candidate running for school board position No. 1 with the RSD.
Only one candidate has filed for Royal City Hospital District No. 7, Becky Carter, who is running for the No. 4 position.
Ephrata
Alan Key of the Ephrata School District, who was appointed in 2005, will run against Diane Swensen for the No. 5 spot.
Key is a lifelong resident of Ephrata, working previously for the U.S. Coast Guard, the Grant County Sheriff's Office and is currently employed by Canfield and Associates.
Key was appointed to the school board in 2005 and said he has always felt the schools and the kids should be a priority in the community.
Swensen worked as a teacher for 25 years and wants to bring new change to the board and school district and provide an educator's voice in decision making processes.
Other qualifications include being president for the Ephrata Education Association and being a parent of four children who have all gone through the ESD.
The No. 3 position for the ESD is being run for by Robert Herzog.
In Hospital District No. 3 out of Ephrata, position Nos. 3 and 5 are open, with no candidates filing for position 3 and Keith Knitter running for position No. 5. A special filing period will be held Aug. 10 through the 12 to try and fill the No. 3 position.
Othello
Robert Wilson and Todd Ashton are both running for position No. 4 with the Othello School District.
Wilson is an 11-year resident of Othello and actively involved in the Othello Cooperative Preschool. He also sat on the Learning Improvement Team Board at Lutacaga Elementary last school year.
"I feel as a concerned parent I want to do what's best for my children as well as the rest of the community," Wilson said.
If elected, Wilson wants to work towards strengthening reading programs for Hispanic students.
Wilson's opponent, Ashton, grew up in the Othello area and is an insurance agent for Ashton Financial Group, where he has worked for 13 years.
Ashton said he is running because he wants to continue helping the school district improve and provide students with educational opportunities.
Charles Garcia is running unopposed for the OSD board for position No. 1.
Other races for the Othello Public Hospital District No. 3 include three candidates running for position No. 3: Shirley McCullough, Bob Carlson and Israel Rodriguez.
McCullough has served several times on a local school board and has worked as a office manager for Harvest Fresh Potato in Othello.
McCullough's past experience with school boards and ability to work well with people are attributes she believes make her a good candidate for the position.
Carlson has experience running his own business — Bob's Korner — for 18 years and has attended several hospital board meetings over the last four years.
Carlson's desire to communicate to taxpayers on issues affecting the hospital district is why he is interested in running.
Candidate No. 3, Rodriguez, owns Weeping Ridge Estate Adult Family Home in Othello and has served on the hospital board for six years.
"I'm very proactive for providing services to residents in Othello and nearby communities," Rodriguez said.
Running for position No. 5 with the Othello Public Hospital District No. 5 is Larry McCourtie and Don Rumsey.
McCourtie is also a lifelong resident of Othello and is running for his second term.
"I've enjoyed it very much and I feel I can do a better job in the next six years from knowledge picked up from first term," McCourtie said.
Opponent Rumsey could not be reached for comment before press time.
Lynda Bowers is running unchallenged for position No. 1 for Othello Public Hospital District No. 3.
Odessa and Almira
The Odessa and Almira School Districts have two positions with contested races.
Molly Brunner, the incumbent for position No. 5, is running against Shawn Groh in the Almira School District with incumbent Lisa Peha up for re-election to the No. 3 position.
Position No. 4 in the Odessa School District is being held between Steven Finkbeiner and Peggy DeWulf.
A three-day special filing period starting on Monday, Aug. 8, will be held for position No. 1 which has not had anyone file for it.
The Lincoln County Auditor's office could not be reached before press time to get comments for the Almira and Odessa School District candidates.
There are five school districts throughout Grant County with races that are unopposed: Moses Lake, Wahluke, Coulee-Hartline, Wilson Creek and Grand Coulee Dam.
Moses Lake
In the Moses Lake School District, Lew Mason is running for position No. 2 and incumbent Randy Bruce is running for a No. 4 spot.
Candidate Kim Jorgensen is running for No. 3 in the Coulee-Hartline School District; Paul Friend and Ron Lesser for positions 3 and 5 in the Wilson Creek School District; Ray Gilman and Donna DeWinkler running for positions 1 and 2 for the Grand Coulee Dam School District; and in the Wahluke School District Scott Nesbit for position No. 1, Marcos Gonzalez for position No. 2, and Jef Gallacci for a No. 5 spot.
Also in Moses Lake, Debra Hembroff and Dick Smith, who are running for positions on the board of Hospital District No. 1, are both new candidates for the fall elections.
Hembroff has been a resident of Moses Lake since 1960 and worked as a nurse for 17 years at Samaritan Hospital until 1997.
Working currently as a physician's assistant at the Moses Lake Clinic, Hembroff said part of her interest in running for the position is to reduce the number of patients being sent to hospitals outside of Moses Lake.
"I think it's critical that we keep our hospital strong financially and on the cutting edge," Hembroff said.
Smith, Hembroff's opponent, is chief operating officer for the Moses Lake Community Health Center, a position he has held since February, and has served on the Board of Regents for Moses Lake Christian Academy and as a Samaritan Healthcare representative to Washington Health Foundation.
Other qualifications include past president of the Moses Lake Rotary Club, commissioner with the Moses Lake Planning Commission and founding board member of the Rural Health Clinic Association of Washington.
Michael Bolander is running uncontested for position No. 3 with Hospital District No. 1.
Allen Clow and Suzan Lowell are running for position Nos. 2 and 3 for Hospital District No. 5 in Mattawa.
Hospital district election candidates for district No. 6 in Coulee-Hartline are Greg Behrens for position No. 2, Richard King for position No. 3 and Geary Oliver for position No. 4.