Freeholder candidates forum is also citizens' forum

What if they gave a candidates forum and nobody came? Or if too few came and Maple Hall echoed with the sounds of silence? The election of Freeholders is up to you. Voting is the easy part, a mere checking of names, filling in of boxes. The hard part is determining why one candidate and not another gets your vote. The challenge is to consider – indeed develop – a vision for Skagit County and articulate it, or struggle with its shape, and discuss your hopes and dreams for a future that is guaranteed to look very different from the present moment. It is up to you to decide that you are going to participate, be part of shaping your community.

An election is called. Even if the Freeholder choice, providing for the development of a charter is voted down, the future will still come. Is discussing your hopes and concerns about Skagit County such a terrible thing that you can’t come out to Maple Hall Thursday at 7 p.m. and offer your two cents?

Forget the baby sitter. Bring your kids so they can gain a life lesson in civic discourse, in being part of the larger Skagit County family.