If you haven’t heard, the Greater Limestone County Chamber of Commerce, The News Courier and Athens State University will sponsor a public information forum on the property tax referendum Tuesday evening at the Sandridge Student Center on the campus of Athens State University.

If you need something bigger and splashier to tell you that, see page 8A of today’s edition.

Also, in case you haven’t heard, the Vietnam Veterans of America will host a candidate forum for those pursuing the State House District 5 seat, vacated by the untimely death of Dan Williams.

The forum on the property tax referendum begins at 6 p.m. The candidate forum also begins at 6 p.m. What a strange coinkydink!

Or is it?

I’ve heard from two sources, which shall remain nameless, that the candidate forum was hastily arranged by supporters of the Stop the Athens Small Business Tax political action committee as a way to prevent “no” voters from attending the property tax forum.

“Surely not!” I exclaimed loudly and boldly to these anonymous sources. “Why, that would just be childish! Why wouldn’t those opposed to the property tax increase for Athens City Schools want to come to hear more information about how the tax money would be spent, if it passed? That’s just absurd! You must have your wires crossed, buddy!”

It is absurd and unthinkable, and I’m sure it’s just a coincidence these events are happening at the exact same time. But, just in case I’m wrong, let me give you a little background about why those who have shouted, strutted and Facebooked the loudest against the tax decided not to participate in our forum.

Our forum planning committee established, what I thought, was an air-tight program that no one could say was biased toward one side or the other. We divided the program into four segments, all of which were aimed to inform; not sway voters.

The running order of Tuesday’s forum will be as follows:

• 5:30-6 p.m.: Doors open and anyone who would like to submit questions to be asked of city schools officials, city government representatives or Limestone County Revenue Commissioner Brian Patterson or License Commissioner Greg Tucker can drop their question in one of five receptacles to be on hand.

• Segment 1: Trey Holladay would give a non-political presentation on how the proposed $74 million raised by raising property taxes by 12 mills would be spent.

• Segment 2: Patterson and Tucker will give a presentation on how your property taxes and license renewals would be affected, and a city representative would explain the ballot and what a “yes” and “no” vote means on both of the sections.

• Segment 3: One person from the “Vote Yes” political action committee and the “Stop the Athens Small Business Tax” PAC would have received seven and a half minutes each to tell those in attendance why they should vote yes or no. The order of who spoke last would have been decided by the flip of a coin. (Notice I said “would have been).

• Segment 4: Each of those questions dropped off in the 30 minutes before the program begins will be read to those experts on hand. This segment will last 30 to 45 minutes.

So, what went wrong? How could the “Vote No” folks find fault with a program the organizers expressly sought to keep “fair and balanced” and straight down the middle?

Well, the “Vote No” folks didn’t like the fact we asked the superintendent to speak. I guess it’s a dumb idea to learn more about the capital plan. The “Vote No” folks also didn’t like the fact the chamber has now publicly come out in support of the referendum, hence making one of the event organizers no longer unbiased. That would be the reason why the “Stop the Athens Small Business Tax” folks will not be in attendance Tuesday night.

The organizers tried their darndest to help develop, what we thought, was a nonpolitical event that could be a source of information to the public. But, as they say, “no good deed goes unpunished.”

If the “No Vote” folks change their minds, they’re still welcome to attend, though I’m sure the candidate forum will be very enlightening and a great service to the community. I also hope there’s cocktail weenies and various cheeses on a stick.

There will be no food at our forum, so eat a snack beforehand.

The News Courier will also have someone on hand covering the Vietnam Veterans forum, by the way, and you can read all about it in Thursday’s edition. You can also read all about the property tax referendum forum in Thursday’s edition.

— Editor Adam Smith can be reached at adam@athensnews-courier.com.