Candidate forums are scheduled Oct. 7 and Oct. 16.

The Tuesday, Oct. 7, forum will be held at the Seven Lakes West Community Center under sponsorship of the League of Women Voters, the Moore County chapter of the NAACP and the Seven Lakes Civic Club.

It will feature candidates for N.C. House, N.C. Senate, district attorney and district court judge.

The Thursday, Oct. 16, forum will be held at the Senior Enrichment Center on U.S. 15-501 north of the Pinehurst Traffic Circle.

Candidates for the Moore County Board of Education and the Moore County Soil and Water Conservation District Board of Supervisors will be heard. The League of Women Voters of Moore County is the lone sponsor of this forum

Both will begin at 7 p.m. and are open to the public without charge.

NARFE -- The Sandhills chapter of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees (NARFE) will sponsor a legislative forum in Southern Pines on Monday, Oct. 13.

It will be held at 10:30 a.m. at Community Congregational Church at 141 N. Bennett St.

Democrat Betty Mangum and Republican Jamie Boles, candidates for the District 52 seat in the N.C. House of Representatives, have accepted the invitation extended by Paul Sams, vice president/legislative chairman of the Sandhills NARFE chapter.

Although the forum is planned especially for NARFE members, it will be open to the public. Members unable to attend can forward questions for the candidates to Vilma Geisert, editor, P.O. Box 2393, Southern Pines 28388 or by e-mail to vilmag@nc.rr.com no later than Friday, Oct. 10.

VOTER ADVICE -- Speech may be free, but voters must be careful about campaign expressions when they enter the polling booth Nov. 4.

George H. Wilson Jr., chairman of the Moore County NAACP Political Action Committee, is advising voters that the wearing of T-shirts, hats or campaign buttons into the polling place can be interpreted as campaigning, something the law prohibits in the polling place.

"Please do not show up at the polls wearing your candidate's tee shirts, hats or campaign buttons," Wilson said. "It is considered to be campaigning within the polling place and it can result in the violators being asked to leave without casting their ballots. Know your rights, but know when you are wrong as well."

Demand for candidate promotional materials has been exceptionally high in the current campaign season when voters are preparing to pick a new president.

COBLE -- The Jefferson Islands Club presented its Citizen of the Year Award to Congressman Howard Coble in a Thursday ceremony in Washington, D.C.

It is the club's most prestigious award and recognizes Coble for lengthy service to the club.

"The Jefferson Islands Club was founded as an all-male, Democrats-only social organization back in the 1930s, and today the club is coed and bipartisan," Coble said in a statement released Friday. "I have been proud to have been affiliated with the club for many years, and I am honored that Jefferson Islands would bestow its Citizen of the Year Award upon me. Based on some of the past recipients, I am entering into some pretty high cotton."

Past recipients include former President George H.W. Bush and such members of Congress as John Dingell, Trent Lott, Robert Byrd and Steny Hoyer.

Coble, a Republican, serves the 6th District, which includes Moore County. He is North Carolina's longest-serving Republican in the U.S. House.