Wednesday, October 06, 2004

Oct. 6, 2004

Wilmington, N.C. – The Council of Neighborhood Associations (CONA) in conjunction with WAAV radio, the Star-News and the University of North Carolina Wilmington will sponsor two candidate forums on Thursday, Oct. 14 and Wednesday, Oct. 20 in preparation for the Tuesday, Nov. 2 general election. Both forums begin at 7 p.m. and will be held in the Warwick Center Ballroom on the campus of UNCW.

The public is encouraged to attend and participate. Questions from the floor will be entertained.

Donn Ansell, talk show host for WAAV, will be the moderator. Welcoming and introductory remarks will be made by UNCW Chancellor Rosemary DePaolo.

The forums will be broadcast live on WAAV, 980 AM, and the Learning Network by UNCW-TV on Time Warner Cable Channel 5 and Charter Cable 12.

The Oct. 14 forum will feature two candidates for Senate District 9 (Julia Boseman and Woody White), two candidates for N.C. State House District 18 (Thomas E. Wright and Frankie Roberts) and two candidates for District Attorney 5th Prosecutorial District (Ben David and Jennifer Harjo).

The Oct. 20 forum will feature the five candidates for the New Hanover County Board of Education and the six candidates for the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners.

The forums will feature panelists presenting questions to the candidates. Panelists include Earl Sheridan, professor of political science, and Stephen S. Meinhold, associate professor of political science, both at UNCW, as well as members of the local media.

CONA is a non-profit, grassroots coalition of neighborhoods dedicated to the improvement of the quality of life in New Hanover County through citizen involvement and participation in local government. CONA is comprised of over 37 homeowner associations and affiliated civic organizations and community activists. President is Johnnie Henagan who can be reached at Conawil@aol.com.