By By JONATHAN CLAYBORNE
Staff Writer
The Washington Daily News Candidates Forum is set for 7 p.m. April 13 in the Beaufort County Community College auditorium.
The doors will open to the public at 6:30 p.m.
The evening’s moderator will be Kellie Harris Hopkins, Beaufort County’s elections director. Hopkins will ask all questions presented to the candidates.
The timekeeper will be Randy Walker, who tapes the Beaufort County commissioners’ meetings for broadcast on the local cable television system.
Mike Voss, contributing editor of the Daily News, will represent the newspaper and make opening remarks.
The Beaufort-Hyde News is assisting with the forum. All other local media are invited to attend.
Scheduled to appear onstage are the Beaufort County commissioner candidates and the candidates for the District Court seat held by the retiring Judge Sam Grimes.
The Daily News opened the forum to these candidates alone because they are locked in local races that will be affected by the May 4 primary election.
The newspaper’s staff plans to organize a more complete forum featuring additional candidates following the primary.
“The second-best way to learn about our local candidates, the offices they seek and their positions on the issues is to follow our detailed coverage in the Daily News,” said Ashley B. “Brownie” Futrell Jr., publisher of the Daily News. “However, by far the best and most effective way to become an informed citizen is to attend the paper’s candidates’ forum, to hear for yourself the candidates’ messages, and to form your opinions without the filter of any media, no matter how honorable the coverage may be. The concept of a participatory democracy is capturing our nation, and I urge all local citizens to connect to our electoral process at this most basic and important level.”
For more information, call the Daily News at 940-4210.
Candidates who are not slated to participate in the forum may station themselves or their representatives in the lobby of BCCC’s Building 8 at 6:30 p.m. to greet incoming voters April 13.
No tables or chairs will be provided for campaign signs or literature.
Because of time constraints and the number of candidates involved, the Daily News is requesting assistance from voters who wish to quiz the candidates.
The newspaper requests that audience members who wish to ask questions write their queries on slips of paper that will be provided at the door. Those slips of paper will be collected at the door. The moderator will select questions at random from a bucket. The moderator will determine whether each randomly selected question is appropriate.
Personal attacks or single-candidate questions are discouraged.
Because of tight time restrictions, no questions will be taken directly from the audience during the forum.
Some questions will be crafted by the Daily News’ staff.
If you would like to offer questions for the staff to consider, call 940-4210 or send e-mails to jonathan@wdnweb.com.