Democratic candidate John Perdue, the state's treasurer, joined Republican candidate Ralph William Clark and Mountain Party nominee Bob Henry Baber.

Students asked the candidates about improving the rural roads in Lincoln County, student and school-related topics and economic development issues.

Lincoln County seniors Morgan Hoke, Austin Lucas and Jamie Lucas asked the questions, while student body president Cody Woodrum kept the candidates on task and within the time allowed. Their 12th-grade classmates listened to the questions and the candidates' responses.

The four students got together to draw up their questions for the candidates, Woodrum said.

"We wrote the question that we thought was best and we asked away," he said.

Hoke, who plans to attend Marshall University, told the three candidates she'll need to live in Huntington even though Marshall's campus is only about 20 miles from her family's home. The reason, she said, is because of the winding and dangerous roads between the two.

One of Perdue's two daughters wants to move to Florida, he said, because she's concerned about limited opportunities in West Virginia.

But he said the state is sitting on a "gold mine, called Marcellus Shale."

He suggested that state revenues generated by drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale could help build new roads, repair and maintain secondary roads and be used to build other infrastructure.

The Marcellus Shale lies underneath parts of West Virginia, New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio. It is one of the world's richest natural gas basins. Marcellus drillers use a controversial practice called hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," where millions of gallons of water are mixed with chemicals and pumped underground to fracture shale deposits.

Perdue said he wants to pursue drilling the Marcellus Shale in a way that protects the state's water sources, the rights of landowners and roads and infrastructure.    

Baber, the former mayor of Richwood, said he's seen his town's business district dry up and all the shops closed or moved to Summersville.

If he's elected governor, he would let towns compete to receive $1 million grants they could use to better develop their small communities.

Clark, the chairman of the philosophy department at WVU, said West Virginia's leaders need to genuinely "put out the welcome mat" for new businesses to come into Southern West Virginia and across the state.

"We need to do all we can to make it easier for large companies and small companies to make a profit," he said.

State government also should cut back on the property taxes it collects, especially "at the corporate level," Clark said.

Still, he expects those business leaders to behave ethically, he said. As a philosophy professor, Clark has studied ethical principles and economic principles and how those interact.

Baber told the students that the coal industry has owned West Virginia's governor for the past 100 years, and that the Mountain Party is the state's true "party for change."

He said what happened at Raleigh County's Upper Big Branch mine in April 2010 was "pure murder," and that if he's elected he'll keep West Virginia miners safe. Twenty-nine miners died in a methane explosion at Upper Big Branch.

Baber said he's not against coal or natural gas, "but I think the people should come first."

Baber and Perdue both said they're against consolidating schools, a particularly contentious issue in rural West Virginia.

Also, Perdue said local boards of education know better than Charleston when it comes to how much money they should spend on technology, teacher salaries and more.

If Richwood lost its high school it "would lose its last shred of dignity and hope," Baber said.

Woodrum believed the forum went well, but wished more of the candidates had shown up. All six Democratic candidates and six Republican candidates were invited. Still, he knows their time is limited during campaign season.

Reach Davin White at davinwh...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1254.