Amid a low audience turnout, political candidates competing for various local seats showed their faces at a political forum held at Wallace Community College on Tuesday.

The forum was sponsored by the Selma Alumni Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta, a community service organization which, among other things, promotes political events nation-wide, said Selma Alumni member Jackie Walker.

Walker, who was the main organizer of the event, said all candidates running for local seats were notified about the forum.

“Most of candidates said they would show up – there were only a few who said they had other engagements they needed to attend to,” Walker said.

Local candidates like Latosha Brown, Erskine Minor, Ronald Peoples, James Martin and Steve Cameron, vying for the House District 67 seat, held by present incumbent Ed Maull, and Glen McCord and Bill Minor vying for the House District 69 seat, held by incumbent James Thomas, spoke about issues, such as bringing new jobs to Dallas County; keeping Dallas County’s youth in Dallas County; improving the education system; empowering all citizens; and maintaining strong Christian values.

“One thing we really need to do is stop people from leaving our county,” said Martin. “If we fail to have a plan to keep people within our county, our county will just continue to become more and more desolate.”

Brown similarly said when she asked students in various schools how many would stay in Dallas County, almost all students said they would leave the Selma-Dallas County area.

“In Dallas County, we rank almost fiftieth in every category in the state for all issues that are youth related,” Brown said. “That really needs to change.”

The other issue mentioned in several candidates’ speeches was the new $1 billion Hyundai plant to be built in Hope Hull, a plant whose suppliers are offering the possibility of jobs to Dallas County.

Despite the positive news of Hyundai’s arrival, McCord said Selma is still not ready for new suppliers.

“The problem is when Hyundai finally arrived, we just were not prepared for it,” McCord said. “The reason–lack of proper leadership. Until our leadership changes, we still will not be prepared. It is up to us to elect leaders who will be able to guide us so that we are ready when suppliers come to our county.”

Added Minor, “We need to gear our education more towards jobs, especially with the arrival of Hyundai.”

Other issues added to the plate by candidates included the need for more prayer. “If we all pray together, we will be a much better community overall,” Cameron said. Similarly Peoples added, “I believe in strong Christian values.”

Other candidates who showed their faces Tuesday night included candidates running for Dallas County Sheriff, including Harris Huffman, the present sheriff, who has held the position for the past eight years, and his challenger Selma Police Capt. Michael Perry.

Huffman, when asked by an African American member of the audience why the black community should support him, Huffman said he was “everybody’s sheriff, someone that is there to help all members of the community.”

Said Huffman, “I am here to help you all as much as I can. And if can’t do that, then someone else needs to take over.”

Perry, who spoke later, spoke about the need for more community policing.

“We [law enforcement] need to be out there among members of our community, showing we are there to help our community, not just being there when we need to arrest people,” he said.

“This is extremely important, and it is something that will improve our community overall.”