With the General Election one week away, four candidates are competing to replace outgoing Yellow Springs Mayor David Foubert.
The candidates come from diverse backgrounds. Pam Conine is a retired longtime educator, Laura Curliss is an attorney, Gerald Simms is a retired Wright Patterson Air Force Base employee, and a former member of the Village Council, and Catherine Price works as a pharmacist.
The Yellow Springs mayor performs ceremonial duties and oversees the Mayor’s Court, a system allowing minor cases to be heard in the community, rather than sending them out to a larger court system.
The candidates have all spoken in favor of restorative justice techniques and approaches, but they differ on what to do about the court’s caseload.
Curliss and Price have said more cases should be heard locally rather than in Xenia Municipal Court.
Curliss told the Yellow Springs News handling more cases locally could provide more opportunities for officials to consider alternative sentencing.
For his part, Simms told the newspaper he’s not concerned with the number of cases being heard in Xenia, saying the data show, "most local crime is caused by out-of-towners," the Yellow Springs News reports.
