{news} Courant: Scott Deshefy in Enfield high school debate TONIGHT

[David Bedell]

Notice the debate will be shown later on CPTV and E-TV Channel 16.

http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-enfdebate1017.artoct17,0,5920244.story

ENFIELD
High School Students In Enfield Organize Election Debates

By SHAWN R. BEALS
The Hartford Courant
October 17, 2008

ENFIELD -The town's high school students this month have been organizing two
debates, one at each high school, in U.S. House, state Senate and state
House races as part of the Youth Vote Program.

"The students are completely in charge of every aspect of it," said Amy
Witbro, school district partnership coordinator.

The students at each school have done all of the research to prepare the
questions for the candidates on "every topic you could imagine," Witbro
said.

First up is the 2nd Congressional District debate at Enrico Fermi High
School among Democratic incumbent Joe Courtney and challengers Sean
Sullivan, a Republican, and G. Scott Deshefy, a Green Party candidate. The
debate will be held on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Enfield High School will hold a debate in the state 7th Senate District race
on Oct. 27 at 7 p.m. between Republican incumbent John Kissel and Democratic
challenger George Colli IV. There will also be a debate in the 58th and 59th
state House district races.

"We are constantly revising the questions," said Fermi senior Michelle
Polek, 16.

She said she is excited to see how the debate turns out and thinks that the
perspective of the students will allow the questions to be precise and
direct.

"Every minute that we spent will be well worth it because we'll be bringing
the issues to the residents in the 2nd District," Polek said.

The debate will cover foreign, domestic and student issues.

"We're trying to build a sense of civic responsibility," Witbro said.

Witbro said the juniors and seniors running the debates will not vote in the
election on Nov. 4, but will participate in a mock election that day.

The Fermi debate moderator is WNPR host Ray Hardman. The debate will be
taped and shown later on CPTV and E-TV Channel 16.

Copyright © 2008, The Hartford Courant