Candidates for local office were likely feeling some fatigue, as the last of the scheduled forums took place Sunday, sponsored by the Goochland Education Parents Association (GEPA).

One, who shall remain unnamed, admitted as much. What with door knocking, meet and greets, speaking engagements and usually a full-time job to go along with it all, that should come as no surprise. We’ve always marveled at those who would offer themselves for public service and thought that to do so at the very least shows a willingness to give time and energy to public service that many of the rest of us either don’t have or are unwilling to dedicate.

So regardless of their stances, we praise the candidates for enduring the arduous process of seeking public office and putting themselves on the line.

On the various forums, the last one was different and probably had the best format. While candidates made the expected opening statements and took questions from the moderator, there was also a short session for questions from the audience, which produced the most interest among the 30 or so who came to the Sunday afternoon event, held at the Goochland Recreational Center.

The subject was the issue of the amount of unspent funds returned to the county at the end of each fiscal year. The questions centered on whether or not those funds could have been used during the year to fund personnel and/or programs that were cut.

Directed toward the incumbent School Board members, the questions raised an issue that will certainly live on as the final weeks of the campaign wind down.

Letters

Next week will be our last issue before the election and we’d like to run as many letters from our readers as we can. And although as you may have noticed, we’ve bent our guideline for 400 word letter length pretty regularly along the way, we’d ask our correspondents to adhere to it as much as possible next week.

We know that’s not always easy, having our own penchant for running a bit long sometimes and having to cut articles to fit available space.

But give it a try and we’ll do our best to get a representative sampling of opinion in our last letters to the editor section before this most important local election.

Just a reminder though, that although we strive to publish all letters received, if we run out of space, we’ll run a selection that in our judgment fairly represents the views of those that we have received.