Cedartown candidates square off at forum
Central themes include: Grow small business, expand auditorium use, reduce blight
Candidates for Cedartown City Commission found themselves agreeing on most points during Tuesday’s political forum ahead of the November election.
The four facing each other on the ballot this year – Commission chair Dale Tuck, Andrew Carter, David Jameson, and Patrick McNally all found themselves agreeing on main points of interest to local voters: economic development, continuing a program of incentives for small business growth, and better utilization of the city’s auditorium.
The last 90 days of campaigning ahead of the election began with brief opening statements and a question and answer session between the candidates and the small audience that attended the forum. Those questions started with how each candidate proposed to help small businesses establish themselves within the city limits, with an emphasis on the downtown area.
Carter, who opened the session, said he felt it was first and foremost important to “open an ear to the small businesses,” with Jameson agreeing and adding his own thoughts on wanting to provide funding for façade updates on many of the buildings.
McNally, on the other hand, charged that the city hasn’t been doing enough, and among many things proposed that the
Cedartown High School spent last week celebrating Bulldog pride and topped it all off by crowning a new homecoming queen on Friday night.
Senior Areli Cervantes took the top honors on Friday night ahead of first runner up Kiersten Pace and second runner up Bren Lewis.
The daughter of Olga and Froylan Cervantes, Areli is a member of Students Against Destructive Decisions and the Public Safety skills team in Skills USA.
She said her main goal in life is two-fold: work in forensics and in cosmetology.
“It interests me how one can solve a msytery with science and facts, and I would one day like to solve many cases and help families of loved ones find peace,” she said. “I always wanted to study cosmetology because I’ve always had a love for makeup, hair and nails. It amazes me how much confidence one can have with simple beauty.”
Cervantes ultimate goal is to graduate from Georgia State University, and with her degree in forensics “move to a large city like New York and be successful in my life.”
She said she wanted to work forensics by day, and cosmetology in the off hours.
“Later on in life, hopefully I’ll settle down and get married.”
In the meantime, she’ll be rep- resenting the homecoming court of 2015 as the queen. And what was her favorite moment of the week?
“For sure the homecoming pep rally!” she said.
Cervantes represents a court of 19 students from freshmen to senior level.
The court this year included Gabbie Ramos, Kaily Matthews and Callie McDonald from the senior class; juniors Victoria Frazier, Paygon McElwee, Skylar Rogers and Ava Tillmann.
Sophomores incldued Hannah Marchbanks, Yovanka Pineda, Katrina Harris and Chloe Lee. The Freshman court was made up of Ariana Escutia, Evie Blackmon, Emily Matthews, Kendall Lee and Kennedy Barnett.