Published: October 01, 2007 03:38 pm            

HIGGS: Know your general election candidates

Well, the primary election is over and now we move on to the general election on Nov. 6.

There has been plenty of publicity about the candidates. You will recall the Niagara Falls Block Club Council held a candidates forum in September prior to the primary election to educate the public on the background, qualifications and reasons for seeking the office on the candidates for city council and mayor of Niagara Falls.

There will be a second candidates night on Oct. 30 at the Niagara Falls High School Performing Arts Center beginning at 6:30 p.m. with the candidates for Niagara County Family and City courts. This will be followed by the council at 7 p.m. After a short break, the candidates for mayor will be presented at 8:15 p.m. This event will include mayoral and council candidates Candra Thomason and Christina Ventry who did not have a primary contest.

There will be a few changes in the format as follows: The candidates for judge will be offered the opportunity to present their qualifications, background and experience for the officer they are seeking. The format for the council and mayoral candidates will be altered slightly for variety. There will be no questions prefaced by a statement this time. Rather a topic will be given and each candidate will be given a few minutes to state their knowledge of the topic, if they feel change is needed and, if so, what change they would make and how they would go about doing it. These topics would be presented on a rotational basis with each candidate given the opportunity to discuss each topic in no particular order. There will be no questions from the audience. Topics can be e-mailed to nfbc@aol.com at any time before Oct. 29. Please submit topics in two words or less, such as: city infrastructure.

The first candidates night was well attended and there was an opportunity to view this on the Niagara Falls High School Channel OSC 21.

Mark you calendar now and make plans to attend. We hope to be in a position to offer the telecast on the OSC 21 again. This is a student-run local television channel under the direction of Rich Meranto, director of media education for the Niagara Falls School District. According to its Web site, OSC-TV 21, the Our Schools Channel is an educational access channel. The programming that it creates or accepts from schools and colleges to be broadcast is educational in nature. The station is operated by the NFHS students who are part of the Media Production Program.

We are fortunate to have the services of this facility and it is a great opportunity for career development for our area students. This channel also offers a billboard for posting of events between their regular programming such as class reunions, festivals and information from other community organizations. You may post your item via e-mail at mintern@nfschools.net. They ask that you be brief and include contact information when you submit your information.

You will be reminded about the candidates night, but mark your calendar now. It is important to listen carefully to the thoughts and opinions of these candidates as the term of office is four years (judges serve for 10 years) and they will be making decisions that will affect your life and that of your children and grandchildren.

Block club news

The Pierce, LaSalle, Willow and Whitney Avenue block clubs are holding their annual Kids ID, Bike Registration, Fire & Crime Prevention, Drug Awareness and Disaster Preparedness Day from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday at the Niagara Falls Boys and Girls Club, 725 17th Street. Plenty of events and entertainment will be available along with free refreshments and a Chinese auction. The market entrance should be used and children should be accompanied by an adult. Why not stop over to talk to the representatives from Niagara Falls City Drug Court and learn about drug recognition and alternatives to incarceration. Joe Highway, a CERT team leader, will be presenting complete information on all aspects of disaster preparedness and how to set up a home preparedness kit.

Norma Higgs serves with the Niagara Beautification Commission and Niagara Falls Block Club Council. Her columns appear Mondays in the Gazette.

        

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