The Decatur County Political Candidate Forum, sponsored by The Post-Searchlight and Live 101.9 FM, will be held Thursday, July 19, from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m., at the Kirbo Center at Bainbridge College.

Candidates who are involved in a local race that will be contested in the July 31 general primary will be taking part in the forum. Those races include the office of Sheriff, Board of County Commissioners seats for District 3 and District 5 (both Democratic and Republican candidates), and Board of Education seats for District 1 and District 3.

The public is invited to attend this free event. Members of the public may also submit questions they would like to ask the candidates by sending an e-mail to news@thepostsearchlight.com, calling Live 101.9 at 246-7776 or delivering a written question in person at The Post-Searchlight on Crawford Street or at Live 101.9’s office in the Scott Street shopping plaza.

Citizens should specify which candidates they would like the question directed to. Citizens should include a name and hometown with their questions; however, that information is for verification purposes only and will not be released publicly. The Post-Searchlight and Live 101.9 reserve the right to select the final questions that will be asked of the candidates.

The candidate forum will be moderated. The format of the forum is as follows:

• Each of the candidates will be briefly introduced at the start of the event.

• All of the candidates in each of the five races will be given the opportunity to answer three questions chosen by the forum’s organizers. The response time for each question is two minutes per candidate. The questions will be asked in a “round-robin” manner; that is, the first question for each particular race will be asked and answered by the candidates in turn and the process will be repeated for the second and third questions.

• After all candidates have been asked three questions, they will be allowed to make a closing statement on any topic of their choosing, not to exceed three minutes in length.

Candidates who are being invited to attend the forum are:

Sheriff

Wiley Griffin (D-incumbent)

Brock Washington (D)

County Commissioner, District 3

Charles Stafford (D-incumbent)

Dennis Brinson (D)

County Commissioner, District 5

Russell Smith (D-incumbent)

Max Bryant (D)

Terry Ellis (R)

Board of Education, District 1 (non-partisan)

Kelvin Bouie

Debbie Elkins

Board of Education, District 3 (non-partisan)

Winston Rollins

George Washington Jr.

Michele Miller