By Larry Henry
In a two-hour candidate forum for the 9th Congressional District, confrontation was lacking among the six participants, but levity punctuated the public-policy remarks by candidates.
Former state Senate Majority Leader Bill Stephens, a 53-year-old communications executive, prompted laughter among the two dozen or so attendees in an auditorium at Dalton State College with a comment on fiscal responsibility.
Mr. Stephens, one of six Republicans in the May 11 special election, said that, as a state legislative leader, he bestowed a Stuck Pig Award on the Georgia Department of Corrections for spending $57,000 on “holistic stress management for prisoners.”
As those in attendance laughed, Mr. Stephens added that he always thought “it ought to be stressful in prison.”