A near-capacity crowd gathered at the Harlan Center on Thursday for a candidate forum sponsored by the Harlan Chamber of Commerce.

Moderated by WYMT’s Brandon Robinson, the event featured many candidates on the local and state level. Among the most anticipated, Harlan County Judge-Executive Dan Mosley (-D) and challenger Darla Carter Heflin (-R) took the stage to answer questions which had been submitted online by concerned Harlan County voters.

The candidates were given two minutes for an opening, then addressed questions.

Robinson posed the first question to Heflin, asking for her thoughts on adventure tourism.

“I love this question because I have a very adventurous husband,” Heflin replied. “He takes pictures and travels everywhere. There’s never a dull moment with him. That is why we moved to Harlan, he’s from Paducah and that’s where I lived for around three years…What attracted us back to Harlan was the mountains.”

Heflin said she has talked in length with her husband about biking and hiking trails.

“We love that people are starting to get out and enjoy our lakes and our rivers,” Heflin said. “But, we need to clean the river, we need a clean lake. Every time he goes to Cranks Lake, he brings back three bags of trash. We need dumpsters in these places. We need people willing to go and pick up trash. I feel like people want to come to Harlan. It’s hustle bustle, wonderful internet everywhere you go, but they come here and they slow down. Our friends from other places come here because they don’t want people to get hold of them. They come here because they don’t want cell phone service sometimes.”

Heflin said while she does want better internet and cell phone service, the county should make the most of available assets.

“Let’s make the most of what we have right now,” Heflin said. “They need places to stay…we have a campground, we have room for other campgrounds. We have room for cabins. We have room in Harlan to make it a place where people can come and enjoy tourism and enjoy the adventure that’s here.”

Mosley then responded to the question of adventure tourism.

“Adventure tourism…is our low hanging fruit,” Mosley said. “Our off-road park is very successful. This Labor Day weekend, just on the Putney trail alone, they sold $14,000 worth of permits to ride our off-road park. It’s thriving.”

Mosley said a large part of the reason adventure tourism is thriving in Harlan County is the Harlan County Tourism Commission.

“We created the Harlan County Tourism Commission three years ago to work with our individual entities,” Mosley said. “This generated another $180,000 over the course of time to throw back into promotion, that’s why you see billboards when you go to Corbin or when you go over to Big Stone. But we can do more.”

Robinson also asked the candidates about their plans for economic development.

“Economic development has been one of the top priorities of my administration,” Mosley said. “We have focused strongly on diversifying our economy. We have a business park project underway. Have you all ever heard the saying you can’t sell from an empty wagon? Well, you can’t. We’ve not had anything to offer from a business park perspective like Pikeville. Everybody gets mad when Pikeville gets a company. Pikeville gets companies because they’ve had industrial parks developed.”

Mosley said Harlan County must make investments in infrastructure from a business park perspective.

“We have a 150 acre golf course up in Cumberland,” Mosley said. “We have a lot of adjacent property there that is available to be developed. We’re working on a certified build ready site…you don’t go and build an industrial building that nobody can use because the eave heights aren’t good enough or there aren’t enough bay doors. You develop the site and get all the permitting done and then market it as certified build ready. There is not one site east of I-75 and south of I-64 in this state. That’s a unique opportunity. We have to focus on light manufacturers. We’re in a perfect location to go after things that relate to the automobile industry.”

Heflin then gave a one minute rebuttal.

“I’m going to talk about something that’s not being spoken,” Heflin said. “We need a clean slate here in Harlan. So many times I’ve talked to people…and everybody says the same thing. We have the same people in there in our magistrate jobs, we have the same people at the courthouse on the boards, we have the same people, and here we are, here’s Harlan.”

Heflin said she had recently been through Paintsville.

“You drive through…and it’s no harder to get to Harlan than it is to get there,” Heflin said. “The mountains aren’t any different…it’s lack of representation.”

The next question posed to the candidates inquired about their stance on whether or not Harlan should allow the sale of alcohol in grocery stores, liquor stores and sports bars.

“I had no idea what was going to be asked, but I figured that would,” Heflin said. ”That is an issued that we vote on. As far as I know, that is a petition that goes around and we take it into the booth and it’s an individual thing. We actually go in and we vote on it, so I’m one vote in that. But, I understand why it’s being asked here today. Does that surprise anybody that they asked me that question? I don’t agree with it because I’m a very strong Christian and I don’t agree with drinking alcohol. I don’t drink. I don’t think it’s something that’s necessary.”

Heflin said she was familiar with the argument that alcohol sales would create a booming economy.

“We’re going to be like Pineville, because Pineville is just booming with their liquor store next to their dialysis center,” Heflin said. “We’re going to boom because of that. So, no, I don’t agree with it…but take it in the booth and click your vote on it. That’s your decision Harlan County. It’s your decision.”

Mosley then provided his rebuttal.

“I’m not surprised it’s being asked either, because 3,800 people signed a petition trying to get it on the ballot, but it failed because only 2,000 of them were registered voters,” Mosley said. “Part my responsibility as county judge-executive is to look at the petition. I counted every one of them. Preston and other people did a nice job going around and trying to get it on the ballot, I commend people for being involved in processes.”

Mosley also gave his opinion on the alcohol issue.

“Here’s my stance,” Mosley said. “I don’t think it’s my place to sway one way or another. The county judge-executive is responsible for carrying out the duties of the people, what you all want. Like she said, you vote on it. I would have to sign an executive order to put on the ballot and uphold the law if it meets the threshold. It did not meet the threshold.”

Mosley said the Harlan County Clerk’s Office spent three weeks counting and verifying the signatures on the petition.

“It did not meet the threshold, so it did not go on the ballot,” Mosley said. “We’ve been very involved in addiction recovery, and alcoholism is a major problem. There are pros and cons to this issue, but you all have to weigh that out.”

The candidates also responded to a question on the state of the county’s roadways.

“It takes representation from the state and federal level,” Mosley said. “That U.S. 421 hasn’t been finished to the Virginia line is an absolute debacle. We shouldn’t even have to ask for that road to be finished. That road should have been finished 20 years ago.”

Mosley added the federal government should be pushed to extend I-26 from Kingsport, Tennessee, to intersect with I-75 in London.

“I can’t disagree with what he said, it does boil down to representation,” Heflin said. “I traveled to Morehead…and on my way back, we came the back way through Jackson and Hazard. I was so impressed with the road.”

Heflin said the difference in the quality of the roadways is evidence of the differences made between Harlan and other nearby areas.

“The closer I got to Harlan, the worse the roads were,” Heflin said. “I thought it is pretty obvious we’re forgotten about. I feel like we should be mad about this. I feel like we should have some indignation about it. I feel like we should ask some questions and I feel like we should put pressure on our politicians.”