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 Bruce Andre
Dinner is a lively time in Bill and
Julie Marler’s waterfront house on Bainbridge Island.
Their oldest daughter, Morgan, is away at a lacrosse game. Their
middle daughter, Olivia, shares in our conversation over generous
plates of grilled salmon and asparagus. She tells about traveling
to Washington, D.C. with her dad last year and sitting patiently
while he told federal and state health inspectors about the value
of their reports in helping the cases of severely infected victims
and tracing chronic food-handling problems. The Marlers all talk
about how much Bill is on the road, either chasing down the facts
of an outbreak or speaking at food-industry meetings. Then Julie
brings up the time a few years ago when Marler flew to Georgia to
visit a water park where more than two dozen children caught E.
coli from a kiddie pool. He came home to find a note on the
door that his wife and girls were taking advantage of a warm
afternoon up at the neighborhood pool. “I ran up there as fast as I
could and yelled ‘Get out! Get out!’” says Marler, waving his arms
for effect.
A smile flashes to Julie’s face, then it fades a little. It
doesn’t make sense, she says. You try to do everything right. You
give your kids exercise and food that’s supposed to be good for
them, but even then you may be placing them in danger.
We stop the conversation when the youngest Marler, Sydney, flies
through the living room with her jump rope. Marler praises her new
skills.
“I’m not suing people for fingers in the chili or hot coffee in
their lap,” he says. “Most of the time now I’m representing kids
and people who are really severely injured.”
Money is a big part of it, he admits. “With money I can help
change people’s lives. I can assure their kids health care for the
rest of their lives, a college education, an ability to pay for
future complications. I can make sure that they’re taken care
of.”
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