Mayoral election forums next week

Vincennes University is joining with community organizations to conduct mayoral election forums in two Dubois County cities this fall.

The Jasper mayoral candidates will be presented on Tuesday, October 20, 7:00 p.m. EST in the Center for Technology, Innovation, and Manufacturing building on the VU Jasper Campus. The agreement to participate has been signed by Democratic candidate Wayne Schuetter, Republican incumbent Terry Seitz and Independent candidate Joshua Budd. The Jasper forum is hosted by Vincennes University Jasper Campus and the Rotary Club.

The candidates for Mayor of Huntingburg will be featured in a forum on Wednesday, October 21, 7:00 p.m. EST in the Huntingburg Event Center. Ron Drew, Democratic candidate, and Republican incumbent Denny Spinner, have agreed to participate in the event. Joining with VU in sponsoring the Huntingburg forum is the Huntingburg Chamber of Commerce.

At each forum the candidates will deliver a short speech to articulate their vision for the city during the four-year term of office and explain their strategies to achieve that vision. Immediately following each speech the candidate will be interviewed on stage by a panel of local journalists. For the Jasper forum, Candy Neal of the Dubois County Herald and Mick Birge of NewsNow Dubois County will conduct the interview. For Huntingburg, Jim O’Neil of WITZ and Bradford Raths of WBCD/WJTS will conduct the interview.

VUJC Dean Chris Gray will be the moderator for each forum.

For the second half of the forum, all candidates will be on stage to answer questions the audience submits in writing at the forum. The questions will be collected and given to the moderator.

At the end of the forum, each candidate will be given two minutes to give a closing statement.

Both forums will broadcast live on radio stations WITZ and WBDC; NewsNow Dubois County will also stream the forum live online. The forum will also be recorded and shown later on WJTS-TV.