We welcome letters. Please include your full name, address and telephone number. We edit all letters. Send them to editor@illinoistimes.com.

DEBATE DODGER After listening to the radio the other day, it sounds like several local media outlets requested a public forum between the two candidates currently running for sheriff – and it took Wes Barr two months to discuss this with his campaign manager and get back with them. According to media reports, after two meetings had been rescheduled, his campaign manager showed up without Barr and said the date selected for the debate was not a good date. They accommodated Barr and said he could pick the date. We all know the end results: Barr used the childish excuse that Jeff Regan had said he was “playing games.” I feel Mr. Barr’s campaign manager was trying to find any excuse he could to get out of the debate – and the press release issued by Reagan was just what he needed.

Suck it up, Barr. If the statement “quit playing games” is going to hurt your feelings and make you all sensitive, then you probably should not run for this office. We need a sheriff with a backbone, not one who is going to take 60 days or more to make a simple decision on a one-hour debate. If you are running for office and truly care about the voters, this date (or an alternate date) should have been highlighted on the calendar immediately. My question to the public is this: why did Mr. Barr’s campaign manager not want him to do the public debate? We will probably never know.

In the position of sheriff, there are spur-of-the-moment decisions that are going to have to be made, and the sheriff will not have 60 days for someone else to make that decision for us. I am sure the sheriff’s office is not always a nice place to work. Your feelings will be hurt, as you are not necessarily dealing with nice people. Are Mr. Barr’s feelings going to get hurt every time?

This is a very serious position, and we as a community are doing the hiring. If this were your business, wouldn’t you hire the most qualified applicant? Well, this is your business, so do your research and make an educated decision that you can live with. You’ll be living with it for the next four years. Rita Meacham Springfield

DESTINATION DOWNTOWN Loved the Phil Bradley column on downtown (“Downtown had it all,” Oct. 9). I remember that downtown. Couldn’t wait to walk there from work on a Friday night when stores stayed open until 8:30. Or as a teenager, taking the bus downtown on a Saturday with my mom’s credit card. And the wonderful Christmas holidays, with decorations in every store window. Thank you, Mr. Bradley, for the trip down memory lane. Sharon Woods Springfield

KNOW YOUR JUDGES On Tuesday, Nov. 4, Illinois voters will have a chance to cast their ballots in the general election. In addition to voting for candidates for national and statewide offices, they will have a chance to vote for judges.

Learning about the judicial candidates can be difficult, and all too frequently voters choose to skip voting for these candidates rather than take the time to learn about them. That’s unfortunate because judges have a huge impact on our lives. They strive to ensure that the law is fairly imposed, deciding for example who will have custody of your children or whether to punish someone who is convicted of a crime. The best judges are impartial, committed to public service, nonpartisan, empathetic, fair and extremely knowledgeable about the law.

Thankfully, there are ways to learn about judges running for election and retention. Bar association evaluations and newspaper endorsements are reliable, independent and relevant sources of information about the candidates’ qualifications. All candidates for Illinois judicial offices who won in the March 18 primary election have been rated by Illinois State Bar Association evaluations committees, or in a poll of lawyers conducted by the ISBA. Results are available at isba.org/judicialevaluations.

We urge everyone to review the ratings, then vote for judicial candidates who are truly the most qualified. Download the results and take them into the voting booth with you. Rest assured that the ratings will provide an excellent guide. Richard D. Felice, president, Illinois State Bar Association Wheaton