The Record Delta Should Cancel the Second City Election Debate

By: Editorial Board, Mountaineer News

EXCLUSIVE

Posted: March 19, 2020 at 11:59PM EST

Buckhannon - The Record Delta has scheduled the Second City Election Debate for Tuesday, March 31, 2020 at 6:00 P.M. (Now changed to Thursday, April 2, 2020 at 6:00 P.M.)

Although the event is still being planned and on schedule, we feel that a live and in-person forum at this time may be putting lives at risk.

Therefore, we are asking The Record Delta to heed all warnings from President Donald J. Trump, Governor Jim Justice and our Buckhannon City Council members by postponing this event, which would most likely result in spread of Covid-19 infection and potentially cause a tremendous degree of liability for their publication.

Our attempts to contact the Publisher of the paper and its organizers were unsuccessful.

Please be advised, Governor Justice mandated the closure of all restaurants, bars, casinos, barbershops, nail salons and hair dressers to the list of businesses closed throughout the Mountain State. On March 13, Governor Justice announced that all public K-12 schools would be closed for the foreseeable future. Last week, the governor issued a travel ban for all state employees and requested that citizens of West Virginia reconsider any non-essential travel. Government agencies were also told to avoid having large meetings or gatherings.

Please, The Record Delta, listen to the authorities and health experts. A public forum would not be in the public's best interest at this time.

Mountaineer News has offered an alternative method to bring the candidates together from the comfort of their own homes via a live online forum. Thus far, only one candidate has agreed to participate. We'll keep you updated.

Let's use technology to our advantage while keeping our social distance. The Candidates can still be heard without unnecessarily placing lives at risk.