Frontiersman schedules two candidate forums for October

Frontiersman editorial board

On Oct. 21, the Frontiersman will host a candidate forum at Houston High School from 6 to 9 p.m. This forum will take place school's cafetorium and will feature candidates for House District 15 -- Mark Neuman, Myrl "Boone" Thompson and Doyle Holmes. The public is invited, and we hope to have a good turnout for the event.

Another forum, for House and Senate candidates from districts 13, 14, 16 and G, is scheduled for Oct. 26 in the theater at Colony High School. The event at Houston will be co-sponsored by the Big Lake Chamber of Commerce. Our special thanks the chamber and to chamber president Marguerite Bogert for joining us in this important event.

The idea behind these forums is to give the public an opportunity to meet the candidates, and to allow the candidates to answer a series of questions pertinent to their respective races.

The format will be simple, and will encourage audience participation. A panel of journalists from Frontiersman will mediate the event.

Candidates will each be given three minutes to introduce themselves and give a brief explanation of their credentials, experience and positions on important issues.

Following the introductions, the panel will open the questioning with a mix of questions provided by our readers and our staff.

Each candidate will have 90 seconds to answer each question. If necessary, panel members will ask follow-up questions, and the panel may also decide to give other candidates 30 seconds each for rebuttal.

During that question and answer session, audience members will be encouraged to submit additional questions on note cards. A sampling of those questions will also be posed to candidates.

If you wish to submit suggested questions for these forums, please e-mail them to frank.ameduri@frontiersman.com, fax them to 352-2276 or drop them by the Frontiersman at 5751 E. Mayflower Ct., off the Palmer/Wasilla Highway.

At this time we would also like to thank the school board and Borough Assembly candidates who participated in the Sept. 28 Frontiersman forum at Colony High School.

We also extend our appreciation to the audience members from that event, who were gracious and who submitted some very engaging questions. We trust the upcoming events will be just as fruitful.