Candidates' forums are planned in Pinehurst, Carthage and Southern Pines in advance of the Nov. 3 municipal elections.

The League of Women Voters will sponsor forums in Carthage and Pinehurst later this month, and the Southern Pines Civic Club will host a forum for Southern Pines candidates in early October.

The Carthage forum is planned for Thursday, Sept. 24, from 7 until 9 p.m. at the Old Town Hall on McReynolds Street. The Pinehurst forum will be held Tuesday, Sept. 29, from 7 until 9 p.m. at Village Hall on Magnolia Road.

The Southern Pines forum will be held Tuesday, Oct. 6, from 7 until 9 p.m. at the Douglass Center on West Pennsylvania Avenue. Moore County Elections Director Glenda Clendenin will speak, as will candidates for seats on the town council. Candidates will be asked to field questions from co-sponsoring nonprofit community organizations.

NONPARTISAN -- The Moore County Board of Elections will supervise elections in all 11 municipalities this fall. All municipal elections in the county are nonpartisan.

The League of Women Voters offers to sponsor forums in all municipalities that have contested races, provided a sufficient number of candidates agree to participate.

Residents who are not registered to vote must register at the elections office in Carthage by 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 9, the date when registration books will be closed in preparation for the Nov. 3 elections.

DEM WOMEN -- The Democratic Women of Moore County will focus on the health-care reform bill at the Saturday, Sept. 12, meeting, which will begin at 10 a.m. at county Democratic headquarters, 104-A North McNeill St. in Carthage.

Guest speaker will be Dr. Lori Heim, a family physician and president-elect of the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), representing more than 93,000 physicians and medical students nationwide. As president-elect, Heim advocates on behalf of family physicians and patients to inspire positive change in the U.S. health-care system.

In addition, she serves on the board of managers of TransforMED LLC, an $8 million initiative of the AAFP focused on transformative medical practice redesign.

Heim now serves as a hospitalist at Scotland Memorial Hospital in Laurinburg. A member of AAFP since 1985, she served as a delegate to the AAFP Congress of Delegates from 2000 to 2004. She has served on the Commission on Health Care Services and the Task Force of Linkages to Practice Improvement and has held the offices of president, vice-president, newsletter editor and member of the Uniformed Services Academy of Family Physicians board of directors.

The Saturday meeting is open to the public without charge, and all interested persons will be welcome, according to a spokesperson.

LWV -- Superior Court Judge James Webb and County Manager Cary McSwain will be the speakers for the Tuesday, Sept. 15, meeting of the League of Women Voters.

They will speak on "Meeting the Needs of the Judicial System in Moore County."

Also during the meeting, the Issues Committee will present three views on health care. The meeting will begin at 11:45 a.m. at the Table on the Green, and reservations are required.

Contact Florence Gilkeson at 693-2479 or by e-mail at florence@thepilot.com.