Onslow commish forum Tuesday

The candidates for the Onslow County Board of Commissioners are headed for the firing line again.

At 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, the candidates will take part in a Forum Onslow at Jacksonville City Hall, where they will be given the chance to answer several questions from The Jacksonville-Onslow Chamber of Commerce and the Governmental Affairs Committee.

"The whole reason that we do these forums with political candidates is so that folks can get an opportunity to see what the candidates think on issues that are uppermost in the minds of county residents," said Mona Padrick, president of the chamber of commerce.

Attending candidates will be asked four questions on general topics, including changing the structure of the board, beautification of the county and its gateways, and their thoughts on sales tax distribution.

The 10 commissioner candidates were invited to a September meeting of the Governmental Affairs Committee where the eight who attended were given the questions in advance, as well as the chamber's stance on them.

"We're hoping that they will ... be able to see what some of the, what the business community thinks the issues are and then put some thought into how that might be settled, because our county commissioners make an awful lot of decisions ... that really makes a difference as to the direction this county goes because they will be the leaders," Padrick said.

The candidates will also participate in a question-and-answer period in which each person will be allotted time to answer random questions. The moderator for the forum will be Daily News Publisher Elliott Potter.

"They'll have to think on their feet," Padrick said. "I think that's another element that is important to help get them sort of acclimated to being in the public eye, because that happens a lot ... whenever they get elected."

The forum will air live on the G-10 channel and periodically up until Election Day.

Contact Jacksonville/Onslow government reporter Molly DeWitt at 910-219-8455 or mdewitt@freedomenc.com. Visit www.jdnews.com to comment.