Candidate Forums with an Emphasis on Agricultural Issues

Free and open to the public–

• Monday, April 30, 2012 – Sponsored by the Calaveras Farm Bureau District 4, Calaveras County Fairgrounds, 7:00 pm
• Wednesday, May 2, 2012 – Sponsored by the Calaveras Farm Bureau District 1, San Andreas Town Hall, 7:00 pm
• Thursday, May 3, 2012 – Sponsored by the Calaveras Farm Bureau District 2, Mokelumne Hill Elementary School Gym, 7:00 pm

Calaveras County, CA…The Calaveras County Farm Bureau, Calaveras County Cattlemen’s Association, Calaveras Grown and the Calaveras Winegrape Alliance are joining forces to hold candidates nights in each of the three supervisorial districts being contested in June. These candidate’s nights will begin with District 4 on Monday April 30th at the Calaveras County Fairgrounds located at 101 Frogtown Road, Angels Camp. District I candidates night will be held on Wednesday, May 2nd at the San Andreas Town Hall located at 24 Church Hill Rd in San Andreas, the District 2 candidates night will be held on Thursday, May 3rd at the Mokelumne Hill Elementary School Gymnasium located at 8350 Highway 26 in Mokelumne Hill All three events will get underway promptly at 7:00 p.m.

According to Toni Ann Fischer, President of the Calaveras County Farm Bureau this may be one of the most important local elections for the agricultural industry of our time. With three seats up for grabs, we could see a majority of new Board Members come next January, she said. Mrs. Fischer further stated the county’s agricultural organizations and their members are looking forward to hearing the views of all the prospective supervisors on land use and where they see agriculture fitting in the big picture.

Robert Garamendi who has spearheaded a group of agriculture, timber and mining interests known as the Agricultural Coalition and a member of the Calaveras Cattlemen’s Association said these supervisorial elections are of great importance to the Ag Industry. He said the Ag Coalition has been working on an Agriculture, Forestry and Mineral Element for the new County General Plan for well over two years. If the current Board is not able to adopt the new General Plan by the end of 2012, that responsibility will fall to whoever is elected to take over in January he said. Garamendi went on to say that even if the General Plan is adopted prior to the current Board leaving office, there is still the matter of revising the zoning codes to align with the General Plan. Garamendi agrees with Fischer that these local elections are of extreme importance to the agricultural community and the future viability of the industry.

In addition to focusing on the supervisor races, time will also be allotted for the candidates who are vying for District Attorney. Rural crime and appropriate penalties for those crimes are also of great importance to everyone involved in agriculture.

Fischer said while these candidates nights may have a specific focus on issues important to agriculture, ANYONE interested in hearing the candidates position on various issues are invited to attend and are encouraged to submit questions, which will be vetted by the ag organizations before being presented to the candidates.

See the original article here.