The East Ridge Ruritan Club will be sponsoring a judicial forum on July 31.
"This will be a first-time event for our city," Jackie Fulks said.
She stated, "We have three candidates for judge: incumbent Arvin Reingold, Cris Helton, and Ryan Hanzelik. And, for the first time, we have two candidates for the newly elected position of court clerk; they are Richard “Cubby” Owens and Patricia Cassidy. Each of these candidates have been personally asked about this event, were notified of the date, time, and place and accepted the invitation."
The forum will be held at the East Ridge Elementary School Gym from 6–8 p.m. They will be greeted at the door and given a note card to write down questions they may have for the candidates. There will be a cut-off time for these questions at 6:15 p.m., so the public is asked to arrive on time with their questions ready to write down.
Ms. Fulks said, "Due to the time, we know and realize not all questions will be asked and answered; assistants will help review the cards for duplicate questions, etc. and the attorney will be asking the questions and moderating the event.
"Due to the type of forum this will be, and the concerns of favoritism, we felt it would be more beneficial for an attorney to be our moderator, and we have chosen Kellyann Mulroony Johnson to assume this role and she has graciously accepted. Understanding that the questions asked of the judges may be slightly different than the ordinary questions, they will be asked under the guidance of the Rules of Judicial Ethics and these rules can be found on the internet; please, if possible, review ahead of time. Each candidate will have a time limit to give their platforms and to answer questions; these rules will be further explained at the forum.
"The purpose of this forum, even though it is after much of early voting, is to let the citizens meet the candidates, see them face-to-face, have the opportunity to ask questions regarding their concerns for our city court, and at the same time, be respectful and courteous to the candidates, as well as other citizens attending this event.
"East Ridge Ruritan encourages all of our citizens to attend this special event."