WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21, 1995

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21, 1995

Editorials

Candidate Forums

i he process of qualifying for election has been completed, and all voting districts in the county will have races for the School Board. Two will have races for the Board of Supervisors.

All the districts also have fire halls. Once the carnival season has passed and people are paying more attention to the upcoming elections, it w ould be a good idea if the fire departments sponsored candidate forums. They could invite both candidates for the 31st District House of Delegates seat and both candidates for Sheriff. Then they could invite their local candidates for Board of Supervisors and School Board.

Unopposed candidates for constitutional offices could come also and make brief presentations, but the forums could be mainly for the voters who will have to make choices to ask questions arid get a clearer idea of how the candidates' views differ. In the case of unopposed candidates for the Board of Supervisors, the forums would prov ide an opportunity for voters to question them also about how they are handling the county’s business.

One large forum with all these candidates would probably be poorly attended, and candidates would have to be restricted in how long they could speak, but perhaps also the First Thursday group could also sponsor a candidates' forum for just School Board candidates.

A phalanx of people from the Allen Administration descended on Rappahannock Tuesday to discuss how welfare reform is to be implemented here with Social Services employees and community representatives.

In general it was a positive session, but it has become increasing!> ob\ ious there is less that is going to happen as a result of changes ir. welfare than at first appeared.

■Already the county’s caseload of families receiving Aid to families with Dependent Children is lower than earlier in the year. Whether that is because of people getting off the roles because of mmol s of the impending reform or the usual uptick in employment in the county that comes with warmer weather is not known. ■ However, of 18 current cases, apparently only seven involve people who will be required to find work. Three of those are already well on their way to self sufficiency.

fwo of those are taking classes to prepare them for jobs. While the> will be required to work part-time, the number of hours they will he required to work will not preclude their finishing their course work.

Fur the others the keys will be instilling a work ethic and finding a solution to transportation problems.

Breaking the cycle of dependency is worth doing whether it saves money or not. However, when the number of bureaucrats in the room far exceeded the number of potential clients, it was difficult to believe the savings will be very great.