To the editor:

Hearing candidates in person at two re-cent public forums was enlightening.

Regarding the Mehlville Board of Edu-cation candidates, I find it disturbing that incumbents Cindy Christopher and Marea Kluth-Hoppe don’t consider the almost 30 percent cost overruns of Proposition P projects poor planning and oversight. How can we trust the district does a better job managing the operating budget?

That criticism aside, both incumbents and a challenging candidate, Ken Leach, were courteous in their discourse.

I found the attack accusations of the fourth candidate, Karl Frank Jr., who repeatedly called Ms. Christopher a liar, downright rude.

In his summation statement, Mr. Frank said he believes in government by inquisition. Is that with or without Inquisition tactics?

Incumbent candidates for the Mehlville Fire Protection District, Dave Gralike and Tom O’Driscoll, and challengers Bonnie Stegman and Steven Mueller were courteous and spoke to the issues raised in questioning.

The third challenger, Aaron Hilmer, in-stead answered most questions with a re-curring diatribe on a minor issue.

Mr. Hilmer referred several times to when he and Ms. Stegman take over control of the board. I thought board members are elected to serve public interest, not take over. Perhaps Mr. Hilmer missed that lesson in civics class.

Challenging how incumbents spend our taxes is fair and prudent. Mudslinging is merely dirty and divisive.

Some advice to Mr. Frank and Mr. Hilmer, not everything is about you.

Mary Ruth McGinnis

Oakville