Anything a boy can do, a girl can do better. That’s what Selah Police Officer Pauli Martin and Selah volunteer firefighter, Megan Messer, were taught.

“I give my parents, Betty and David Yadin a lot of credit,” Martin said. “They were positive, and wouldn’t judge us on our worse day, but would praise us on our best day.”

David Yadin died last year, but Martin and Messer agreed that they’ve needed their father’s and grandfather’s advice everyday in their respective careers.

Martin, 49, a 1976 Selah High graduate, was recently honored for 25 years of service at the Selah Police Department, nine of those years as a patrol officer and a year as a detective, her long-term goal.

She started as an animal control officer and meter maid in 1983.

“I had chalk on a stick,” she said. “The gentlemen who went to the Long Branch Tavern didn’t like having their tires chalked.”

In 1990 she joined the reserve force and in 1993 she became a part-time community service officer along with her full-time dispatch job.

In 1999 she tested through the Yakima Police Department. She was put on the for-hire list and Union Gap wanted to pick her up, but Martin said her heart was in Selah.

She graduated from the police academy in August of 1999.

The bulk of Martin’s training has been in sex crimes, most of those against children. While she was a detective, most of her cases were sexual abuse against children.

“I really enjoy the work because I feel confident in what I’m doing,” Martina said. “It’s interesting work.

Martin said the true heroes of their work are the children and parents who come forward to report sexual abuse crimes.

Messer, 22, a 2004 SHS graduate, started with the Selah Fire Department when she was a junior. She stayed with the department for a year and a half and then moved to Tri-Cities to complete a two-year fire science degree at Columbia Basin College. She was a resident firefighter with
Benton County while going to school full-time.

With only a quarter left she took a full-time job with American Medical Response, a nationwide ambulance company. She moved back to Selah last June and got a job with the Naches Forest Service, a seasonal position.

From there she took a job with Advanced Life Systems and returned to the Selah Fire Department. She married Rob Messer in January. He, too, works at the Selah Fire Department. His father is a battalion chief at Hanford.

Messer remembers a tough time when she was in the middle of her studies at CBC.

She was involved in a drill, which involved climbing the stairs of a 7-story building in full gear. Trainees were required to do 10 pushups on every landing.

“I was the only female and 18 and I had to prove myself,” she said. “No one thought I could do it. I actually came out third out of the group.

“They were all mad. They called me a cheater,” she said.

But her captain told the guys he had been with her and that she beat him fair and square and that he was man enough to admit it. They ended up apologizing.

To get to this point in their careers, they said they have had to be assertive and prove they can do the job, Martin said.

“The way you prove yourself to these guys (other officers) is if you can handle yourself in a physical altercation, then they realize you have their back,” Martin said.

The two women also have each other’s back.

When Messer goes on a fire call, or to another state to fight a fire as she did last summer, Martin tries to find a place in town where she can flash her lights at her daughter as she goes by. It’s her way of saying, “I’m with you.”

“We know the risks, it’s nice to have that last little push,” Messer said.

The often show up at the same emergency calls and know the other is there silently supporting them.

But even though they support each other and have a strong friendship aside from their mother/daughter relationship, they say they don’t completely understand the other’s choice of work.

“I don’t know how she could want to run into a pitch black building with someone wanting to kill her,” Messer said.

“I have a gun, they have water,” Martin said. “I’m the hunter. Whereas the fire is trying to get you guys.”

“This is an ongoing thing,” Martin said “We don’t understand why the other chose the careers they did, but we’re very proud and respect each other for what we do.”

Both women also credit strong male administrators who have supported them throughout their careers.