The debate was well organized and to everyone's surprise the conference room at the WVC library was well over capacity.  It is strange that the Republican party has not organized more sponsored meet the candidate activities. The one that was organized had the time changed and my friend who is another county delegate and I both missed the meeting and we were disappointed that emails and calls did not go out to the delegates. Gary Ott, Mark Crockett, Mike Winder,m Larry Decker, Richard Snelgove and Merril Cook all showed up for the debate.

Out of these gentlemen three stood out as well spoken and informed and able to present themselves professionally as mayoral material. The first was Mark Crockett who looks good, sounds professional and had excellent answers.

The second was Richard Snelgove who in my book was doing very well and gaining more points in my notebook than the other gentlemen. Richard knows his facts and can answer the questions well. He presents himself well yet he seems a bit angry. It really came out when he was asked a question about gay rights and as far as I am concerned he really blew it when he tried to answer this question. He came across very poorly. We need a candidate that could actually win against a democrat in this race and with the type of answer he gave it made me really doubt his ability to work well with others under every circumstance. It takes quite a bit to offend me and it was more disappointing than offensive.

Mike Winder moved ahead when he used tact and reasonable answers when talking about gay rights and the other topics. Mike seems like the type of person that would be moderate enough to win against a democrat in this race.

The other three seem to be nice guys although Merril Cook seem a bit flustered and angry as well. He has experience and seems educated enough although I don't see him as the SL County Mayor.

Gary Ott and Larry Decker both seem to be caring individuals

and Larry Decker got emotional when speaking about immigration and both show that they are the type of people you would want to have in your organization to keep things running the right way.