How to fix my String Translation error in my selection list value?
This can be fixed via a hook_form_alter, in which you loop through all select list options and run the option text through decode_entities().

Refer to HTML Encoding in Drupal Entity References for more details, which also includes this code sample:

function misc_form_alter(&amp;$form, &amp;$form_state, $form_id) {
 $to_fix = array('field_reference');
 foreach($to_fix as $fix) {
   if (isset($form[$fix]) &amp;&amp; isset($form[$fix][$form[$fix]['#language']]['#options'])) {
     foreach($form[$fix][$form[$fix]['#language']]['#options'] as &amp;$text) {
       $text = decode_entities($text);
     }
   }
 }


}