How can our police stop that many young people from being out at night? There is no way. The police are woefully understaffed now, so imagine trying to check all the young people they see for age, and then, when they find some, what do they do? Arrest them? Send them to court? To jail? What? Punish the parents? Fine the parents?

That’s true. Cops won’t be able to everyone under 17 from being out past midnight in the city’s hospitality districts, just like they never will be able to catch everyone who speeds or doesn’t wear their seat belt. But curfew supporters don’t expect that. Instead, they  expect cops to use the curfew as a reason to stop a young person on the street after midnight and ask them what they are doing.

Joseph Azar

Steve Benjamin*

Kirkman Finlay

Aaron Johnson

Steve Morrison

*In this clip, Benjamin says the city must “strongly consider” supporting the Main Street homeless center. Earlier in the night, he said the city must support the center and not doing so would be a “dereliction of duty.”

But today’s forum was especially hard to follow when it comes to the question of consolidating city and county governments and services.

First question: Yes or no — would you support a blue ribbon panel investigating the consolidation of the city and county?

First answers:

Irwin Wilson: No
Gary Myers Jr.: No
Steve Morrison: No
Aaron Johnson: No
Kirkman Finlay: Yes
Sparkle Clark: Yes
Steve Benjamin: Yes
Joseph Azar: Yes

Second question: Do you support consolidating city and county government and services?

Wilson: No
Myers Jr.: No
Morrison: Yes
Johnson: Yes
Finlay: Yes
Clark: Yes
Benjamin: Yes
Azar: Yes

Confused? So were a lot of other people. That’s when the moderator asked the candidates to explain themselves:

(my apologies to Joseph Azar for missing the beginning of his answer. I couldn’t get my camera on fast enough.)

Mayor

• Joseph Azar, Five Points businessman
• Steve Benjamin, attorney, former state Attorney General candidate
• Sparkle Clark, USPS employee, nature photographer
• Kirkman Finlay, City Councilman, farmer, restaurant owner
• Steve Morrison, attorney, partner with Nelson Mullins
• Gary Myers, retired Army lieutenant colonel.

At-large council seat

• Tameika Isaac Devine, attorney and the incumbent
• ??

District 1 council seat

• Sam Davis, state government employee and the incumbent
• ????

District 4 council seat

• Kevin Fisher, advertising executive, Free Times columnist
• Leona Plaugh, former Columbia City Manager
• Walter Powell, real estate, volunteer firefighter

Of course, you can say you are running for any seat. The proof comes when you file your paperwork. Powell, Davis, Devine and all of the mayoral candidates (except Myers) have already filed paperwork with the state ethics commission.

As of 3:13 p.m., the only people to officially file have been Devine for her at-large seat and Clark for the mayor’s race, according to City Clerk Erika Salley.

Salley said she plans to have a link on the city’s homepage in the coming days to keep everyone updated on who has filed for what seat.

UPDATE: Powell has officially filed, according to Salley.

Gary Myers, a retired lieutenant colonel with the United States Army, stopped by my office today and introduced himself as “the other black guy running for mayor.”

Myers was born and raised in several Columbia neighborhoods, including Saxon Homes, Washington Carver Village and Greenview. He is 55 years old, married and has five grown children. He was away from Columbia for many years during his military career and returned recently and decided to run for mayor.

Here he is in his own words:

First, the post card:

I asked Joe who all of those people in the picture are, and he said “They’re all my supporters.”

Next, the sticker:

I actually like this one better than Steve Benjamin’s sticker. But it’s not Steve’s fault he doesn’t have a name that rhymes with “go”. (Of course, some Benjamin supporters have started a Facebook group called “Hens for Ben“)

I’m a big fan of rhyming political slogans. You know, “All the way with LBJ; “Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too“; “Ross for Boss” and my personal favorite “Blaine! Blaine! James G. Blaine! Continental liar from the state of Maine!” (Honorable mention, Ulysses S. Grant’s 1868 slogan “Vote as you shot.” It doesn’t rhyme, but it’s cool.)

What rhyming slogans could Columbia’s mayoral candidates come up with?

Here are some of my ideas:

• Believe in Steve!
• Bob for jobs!
• Noble Coble
• Tameika will beat ya
• Kirkman fights for the workman

I know, those are lame. What are your ideas? The candidates, in case you forgot, are: Mayor Bob Coble, Steve Benjamin and Joe Azar (you can also rhyme Joseph, if you wish). Others considering a run are council members Kirkman Finlay and Tameika Isaac Devine.

Azar held a news conference today on the corner of Main and Washington streets. Because USC plays N.C. State tonight to open the college football season, I asked Azar if he was a Gamecock fan:

“Yes,” he said. “I’ve learned to lose.”

Ba-doom ching.

Here’s a video clip of his news conference. See if you can spot the guy with the mohawk.