The City Council Candidate Forum Last Night - 10/29/2009 - (Audio Available)

I attended last night's City Council forum at the Chamber of Commerce. I want to thank the Hickory Young professional for providing this format. I want to thank the Chamber for allowing the use of their venue. I want to thank the candidates for their participation. I want to thank all of the people who attended the event

I think that each candidate represented themselves well. I thought that the questions and statements from the audience were fair and representative of what the public, in this community, desires to here. Below is a summary of each of the candidates, who they are, and which ward they are running for:

Z. Ann Hoyle is the incumbent in Ward 4. She is from the Ridgeview area and is a strong supporter and advocate for the African-American community. She has served on the city council since 1990.

Hank Guess is the challenger in Ward 4. He is a Retired former Police Captain with the City of Hickory. He resides in the Mountain View area.

Jill Patton is the incumbent in Ward 6. She lives in Northwest Hickory. She is the Vice-President of DeFeet International in Hildebran. Mrs. Patton has served on the council since 2005.

Harry Hipps is the challenger in Ward 6. He is from Newton and a lifelong resident of Catawba County. He has been a resident in Hickory since 1998 and manages the Pretzel Time store in the Valley Hills Mall.

Below is the audio from the forum. Most of you know that I support Harry Hipps, who is a contributor on this blog and a person that I have known for 25 years. I do not want to influence your opinions of the answers that were given during this debate, so I will not provide commentary in this article. I tried to amplify the recording and reduce the hiss level to the best of my ability. So without further adieu, here are the audio links:

City Council Candidate Forum - Segment 1
City Council Candidate Forum - Segment 2
City Council Candidate Forum - Segment 3
City Council Candidate Forum - Segment 4
City Council Candidate Forum - Segment 5

Below are the download links to the recordiing of each candidate from WHKY's First Talk Show -
Audio Download link to Ms. Hoyle's appearance on Hal Row's Show.
Audio Download link to Mr. Guess's appearance on Hal Row's Show.
Audio link to Mrs. Patton's appearance on Hal Row's Show.
Audio Link to Mr. Hipp's appearance on Hal Row's Show.