During Saturday’s six-hour-long candidate forum at the Civic Center, Commissioner Bebe didn’t do well compared to Dr. Shaw and seems to have hurt her campaign. The sheriff contenders didn’t have enough time, one candidate was asked if he’s LU, and a surprisingly high number of candidates didn’t show up.

Jay Neal (GA House 2) was absent due to a vacation his family paid for before the forum was scheduled. Steve Tarvin, his opponent, came and waxed eloquently about issues that have nothing to do with the Georgia legislature. He’s still running for congress and has to make a state legislature stop along the way.

Bebe lost her cool, interrupted Shaw (and got called out for it), came off as fake and incompetent. Shaw brought one of the nasty mailers she paid to send about him, showed it to the audience. He also showed evidence that prove the county is deeper into debt than Heiskell will admit. She should have skipped the forum and went on vacation with the Neals.

Kellie Maples (Clerk of Court) was involved in a car accident and couldn’t make it. Her opponent Carter Brown was asked by the Mayor of Rossville if he’s LU. He isn’t, for the record. None of us are running for office or we’d say so.

Mike Nowlin and John Deffenbaugh (GA House 1) didn’t bother coming but Alan Painter and Tom McMahan did. They won’t face each other on the July ballot because Tom is running under the D banner – they’ll face off in November. Painter is increasingly sure to win because his Republican opponents don’t seem to be serious candidates.

Also not a serious candidate, Ronald Cabero (School Board 4) didn’t show up. That’s probably why his opponent Dale Wilson, who has no chance of not winning, also didn’t make an appearance. Ronald Cabero wouldn’t win school board against Dale Wilson if he promised to pay people $100 for voting for him.

Current Sheriff Steve Wilson got points from the crowd for being the only candidate for Sheriff who knew the details of a new law about prison sentences. There’s little doubt that he knows the law well. But his willingness to fairly and equally enforce the law is another issue entirely. It’s easy to look up and read a law, but fixing broken character is a lot more difficult.

Sheriff candidate Tim Westbrook, also a non-factor in the race, didn’t show up either. The only democrat present at the TEA Party-sponsored forum (without Cabero or Westbrook) was Tom McMahon. So Tom gets points for showing up knowing he would face a hostile crowd.

There will be more information, maybe some quotes or video available later today; we’ll share whatever we find in tomorrow’s Daily Update and on the LU Facebook.

State officials have been bragging about statistics showing the state added jobs last month. But most of those jobs were in a select handful of cities – the rest of the state (including Walker County) is still shrinking economically.

Speaking of shrinking economically..

During a July 2010 meeting, Bebe Heiskell predicted “1,000 new jobs” in the county in three years. Later the same day she changed the prediction to 1,000 jobs in TWO years. She’s got three weeks left to make that happen by the deadline 1,000 new jobs plus about 700 to make up for all the ones lost since she made her prediction.

If you’re in the Villanow area, there will be a meet n greet for WC Sheriff candidate Freddie Roden tonight at Casey & Son Horseshoeing on Hwy. 136 heading towards Calhoun. Free refreshments and BBQ, starts at 6:30 PM. Good chance to hear the things from Freddie he couldn’t share during Saturday’s brief forum appearance.

LaFayette Underground t-shirts are now available to order.

The backs are blank. Adding something to the back wouldn’t make them cost more, and we’d like to do that but never found an idea that we liked. Maybe a quote, either from LU or ABOUT LU. What do you suggest?

Most of the amount being charged goes to the shirt producer, not LU. All shirt sale profits (what little there may be) will go back into keeping this site relevant and sharp.

Beginning July 1, the state will change criteria for how it funds school nurses. Good news is the local high schools will both qualify for their own, and the system will have more nurses overall, but most of the elementary schools in Walker County won’t qualify to get one of their very own without sharing.

“For the first time ever, the state is funding nurses based on student enrollment. The law, which takes effect July 1, sets out money for one nurse for every 750 elementary students and 1,500 middle or high school students.

“It’s a vast improvement over the state’s current ratio of one nurse per 2,300 students — a number that has Georgia ranking 46th among all states and Washington, D.C. What’s more, the state is also requiring for the first time ever that all money allocated for school nurses actually be spent on them.”

Starting today, the state fingerprint database will begin including palmprints, and will integrate with the federal fingerprint system.

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