The Virginia Gazette will host a meet-and-greet forum with the candidates for Board of Supervisors on Oct. 21. The debate will be moderated by Gazette Editor Peggy Bellows, and questions will be posed by Deputy Editor Robert Brauchle as well as WYDaily Managing Editor Nicole Trifone.

“We think debates are a healthy forum to allow voters to hear candidates answer questions and debate the issues in their own words,” said Daily Press Media Group Publisher Digby Solomon.

The Gazette is part of the media group.

The debate will be split into three, hour-long sessions, including one with Berkeley District candidates Mary Jones, an incumbent Republican and Ruth Larson, an independent; one with Roberts District candidates Heather Cordasco, a Republican, and John McGlennon, an incumbent Democrat; and one with Stonehoust District candidates James Kennedy, an incumbent Independent Republican, and Sue Sadler, a Republican.

“We think the more opportunities that voters have to hear the candidates the better informed they will be, and the more confident they can be of their decision when they go to vote,” Solomon said. Steps were being taken to ensure a civil discourse takes place at the forum, he said, which will be held at Legacy Hall in New Town from 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Seating is first-come first-served, but some advance tickets will be reserved for Virginia Gazette subscribers.

“I would add we’re going to make sure the debate is respectful and orderly. We are going to have security to make sure people follow the rules. We don’t want anyone being jeered or being interrupted or placards being waved around. This is for a civil conversation about people with different points of view.

“That’s what our democracy is built on,” Solomon said.

“They key to why debates are important is it’s not a party function or a partisan function,” said Bellows. “The goal is to have all points of view, Democrats, Republicans and Independents.”

“There’s a place for partisan rallies and fundraisers, but this is one where people come together. That has a role in the conversation as well.”

Solomon said WYDaily, a news organization that competes with the Gazette, was invited to the forum to offer an additional perspective.

“We think it’s important to have a questioner from a different organization who might bring a different sensibility to it. That’s why we’re having the public, WYDaily and the Gazette ask questions.”

The Gazette debate will also be webcast live at www.vagazette.com. Subscribers can receive tickets to the debate at vagazette.com/debate.

The Gazette forum is one of several debates and forums that will take place over the next few weeks. On Oct. 14, Roberts District candidates Cordasco and McGlennon will attend a debate held at Williamsburg Landing. The debate begins at 10 a.m. in the Alvin P. Anderson Auditorium. The moderator for that forum will be Michael Fox, Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff and Secretary to the Board of Visitors at the College of William and Mary.

In addition, the League of Women Voters will host a forum with the Board of Supervisors candidates at the James City County Government Center on Oct. 15, which will begin at 7 p.m. The board room for the government center is located at 101 Mounts Bay Road, Suite F.

Bogues can be reached by phone at 757-345-2346.