FORKS — Candidates for the Position 5 seat on the City Council answered questions about water, education and Navy flyovers at a forum at the Forks Chamber of Commerce meeting Wednesday.
Christina “Stina” Kohout, 32, and Jon Preston, 56, introduced themselves and fielded questions from an audience of about 20 chamber members and guests at Blakeslee’s Bar & Grill.
Neither has run for public office before.
Preston, a park ranger at Olympic National Park, said he wants to be on the City Council to serve in what he said is an important task.
He said he has lived on the North Olympic Peninsula since 1989 and has been an education park ranger at the Hoh Rain Forest for 14 years.
Preston said he has seen who comes through the area, where they are coming from and what they do when they get here.
Money from tourists
“Forks can do a better job of sucking up some of that money driving through,” he said.
Any time the city addresses issues regarding Olympic National Park itself, Preston said he would have to abstain from voting since he is still a park ranger.
Kohout, a disabled Air Force veteran, said she sought out Forks for its sense of community.
She moved to Forks with her two children four years ago to make a permanent home after a service-related injury forced her to leave the military.
Her husband remains on active duty and is now deployed in Afghanistan, Kohout said.
She said she is studying to become a teacher at Peninsula College, is currently an Olympic Community Action Programs Policy Counsel parent and represents the entire Olympic Peninsula on the state Association of Head Start and the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program.
In that role, she recently traveled to Washington, D.C., where she met with President Barack Obama and 22 members of Congress to promote early childhood education programs, she said.
Education
However, she said, the education issue begins at home.
“Forks has a problem. We can’t hold on to teachers,” she said.
“Why can’t we grow them here?”
Preston said he is also keenly interested in education, particularly in science — for instance, using rocketry as a tool to inspire students to be interested in math and science.
He noted that after a rocketry project he led with a Forks fifth-grade class, the class gained 15 points in state testing.
Kohout and Preston were asked how the City Council can help with children’s indoor activities during the long, wet winters.
Kohout said she would support the creation of a children’s museum, with science experiments, local biology and other activities where parents and children could learn together.
Preston said there are many activities at Olympic National Park that area residents can take advantage of, such as the junior ranger program.
“You don’t move here unless you have a good raincoat,” he noted.
Navy jets
When asked their views on flyovers of Navy aircraft, both candidates said that while the noise of the flights is not ideal, they are probably here to stay.
Preston said the Navy has been flying over the area for 68 years and essentially owns the airspace above 1,200 feet.
“Would I love to get rid of them? Right on. But they are not going to back off because they have a right to do it,” he said.
He noted that the West End Thunder car race events produce more sustained noise than the Navy aircraft, particularly at his own home, but it is ultimately good for the community.
Kohout said she once worked on Air Force flight lines and lost part of her hearing because of it.
Navy flights are unlikely to end, but with enough pressure from the public in the form of letters and complaints, the number of flights and night flights might be reduced, she said.
Water, sewer
Regarding a question on water and sewer issues, Kohout said she was not yet completely familiar with the city’s water and sewer issues but supports continued conservation because of drought conditions.
Preston said expanded sewer systems are necessary for the city to gain new businesses and home construction.
Sewer systems are better than septic systems, he said, adding that he would like to add his own home to a sewer system someday.
A new, deeper well is needed to address the drought to make the city’s water supply more stable, he said.
________
Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
