Dear editor,

We are soliciting questions from the faith community for the upcoming mayoral debate/forum that will be held Sunday, July 31 at 3 p.m. in the Selma High School Auditorium. The debate forum will be moderated by Mr. Darryl Hood, WAKA newscaster. All five mayoral candidates have agreed to be present. The questions submitted will be used to guide the discussion and be asked of the mayoral candidates.

The mayoral candidates are:

Mayor George Evans

Former Mayor, the Rev. James Perkins

Minister Jerria Martin

Councilman Greg Blejke

State Rep. Darrio Melton

To ensure no candidate has an advantage, Dr. Bridgett A. King, assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at Auburn University has agreed to assist us and provide administrative support for question submission.

Dr. King, will be the person with access to the questions prior to the debate. Dr. King will go through them to remove any language that is inflammatory and/or biased. Duplicate questions will also be removed.

You may submit questions from June 12-30, 2016. The questions will go directly to Dr. King and be used in preparation for the mayoral debate/forum. If you would like to address a specific question to a candidate, please do so.

Submitted questions may address the following categories:

Economy

Crime

Education

Infrastructure

City Services

Communities and neighborhoods

Questions can be submitted online or by U.S. mail.For online question submission visit: www.facebook.com/selmafaithunited or www.unitingselma.org

You do not need a Facebook account to submit online. Once on the Selma Faith United page, you will be directed to an online form.

For U.S. mail question submission, questions must be postmarked by June 30, 2016 and can be sent to:

Dr. Bridgett A. King

Assistant Professor

Department of Political Science

Auburn University

351 W. Thach Ave.

7080 Haley Center

Auburn, AL 36849

We have worked very hard to ensure that all is done “decently and in order.” We especially want to thank Auburn University and Dr. Bridgett King for their technical support.

Please pray for guidance and direction for us and Selma!

Dr. Jerry Light and Juanda Maxwell

Selma