City Council candidates tackled the issue of lowering the bar entry age as well as other city issues at the candidate forum Wednesday.

Incumbents Larry Rennels, John Winnet and Marge Knoop were present at the forum along with candidates Tom Watson, Faye Cobble, Lorelei Sims and Michael Strange.

The candidates were split over whether it is better to keep the bar entry age at 21, or to lower it back to 19.

“People of all ages can find something better to do with their free time than to be out drinking,” said Cobble, a member of the parks and recreation board.

Council member Knoop said she would be in favor of allowing 19-year-olds to be admitted into the bars on an experimental basis and see how they handle it. If the City Council was to treat the students like adults, the students might act like adults, she said.

Retired Eastern food service worker Michael Strange said he would like to see the bar entry age lowered not to 19, but to 18. Students should be given a chance to interact and mature in a social environment, Strange said.

Lorelei Sims, owner of the Five Points Blacksmith Shop, agreed that bars are not a place that students go to just drink, it is a place for entertainment. The bar entry age should be lowered to 19, or the city should give young people an alternate place for entertainment, Sims said.

Council members Winnett and Rennels both support keeping the bar entry age at 21.

The town has had less crimes and deaths since the bar entry age was raised to 21 in 1993, Winnett said.

The state law says that everyone needs to be 21 to drink, and it is hard for bartenders and waitresses to enforce that when 19-year-olds are allowed into the bar, Rennels said.

Tom Watson, retired emergency medical technician, agreed that lowering the bar entry age would cause problems.

“The only reason to go to the bar is to drink,” Watson said.

Another issue that was brought up at the forum is whether City Council meetings would be able to be broadcast on a television station like WEIU-TV.

Strange suggested that instead of having City Council meetings at City Hall, they should take place at Eastern. It would be simpler for fewer people to go to an area with more people, and perhaps WEIU-TV could cover it.

All of the town meetings are open to the public and WEIU-TV is welcome to come and cover it any time they like, Winnett said. Knoop, however, said that it would have to be popular enough for any news station to cover it, and that depends on the ratings they receive.

Sims said that she thought broadcasting the meetings on television or radio would be a good idea.

“Anyway that we can get more input into the meetings, the better off we are,” Sims said.

One possibility would be to get space on cable public access television so that people who cannot make it to the meetings would be able to see it, Rennels said.

Another question asked the candidates about their opinion of Charleston’s appearance.

Watson said historical districts have deteriorated since he was a child growing up in Charleston and would like to see them turned back to their original beauty.

Some candidates commented on the condition of the north side of Charleston.

Cobble said that she has always lived on the north end of town and has seen significant improvements over the years, and would like to see such work continue.

Winnett lived on the north end of Charleston for 30 years and said he remembers when the houses would be covered from dirt and debris from factories. However, that side of town has come a long way and it is a place where people can be proud to live, he said.

Charleston seems to have different faces, Strange said, and how much money a person has seems to influence the condition of the area in which they live. The more money a person acquires, the better off their standard of living is, he said.

Sims said that although people need to take care of their own property and keep it clean, the city needs to work on sidewalks and other deteriorating structures in town.

Rennels said that the Five-Year Plan has done a good job of outlining what work will be done with streets, sewers and water, and the city should continue on with its work according to the plan.

Knoop said she enjoys the atmosphere in Charleston, especially the area around the Square.

The general election is April 3.