Candidates speak in open forum

Candidates running for local office were given the chance to speak their mind at a series of forums last week.

Hosted by the Navarre Area Chamber of Commerce, the forums were held Aug. 4 and 7 at Navarre High School and Holley-Navarre Intermediate School. Those running for Santa Rosa County Sheriff, board of county commissioners districts 1 and 5, Holley-Navarre fire district seat 2, school board district 2, school superintendent, tax collector and state representative district 1, attended.

“It’s something we’ve done for as long as I’ve been involved with the chamber and we’re talking about 10 or 12 years,”  said Tracey Terry, executive director of the chamber.  “We feel that it’s our civic duty to host these forums and to allow the candidates a chance to offer their opinions and inform the citizens.”

While advertisement for the forums was extensive – ads in the Navarre Press, e-mail, road signs and newsletters – only the candidates’ immediate supporters turned out compared with a small handful of residents.

“Usually any event that we do during the summer we get low attendance for,”  Terry said.  “People go away on vacation and they’re just not around. Plus, I think that there are so many forums in the county that people just pick and choose which ones to go to.”

For more details on this story, see the Aug. 14 issue of Navarre Press or subscribe to our online edition.