TUPELO - The city's two mayoral candidates charged the air in a sometimes-tense political forum held Tuesday at the BancorpSouth Conference Center.

A packed audience listened as Democrat Doyce Deas and Republican Jack Reed Jr. exchanged subtle verbal swipes and made clear their intentions if elected to Tupelo's highest office.

The two appeared at the Cellular South Networking at Noon event.

With the June 2 general election less than two weeks away, the candidates seemed intent on distinguishing themselves from one another.

Reed's style from the start differed from his usual humor-filled, round-about answers. Instead, he presented a no-nonsense introduction and concise replies to most of the moderator's eight queries.

He also responded to some of the indirect criticisms previously raised by the Deas campaign. For example, he said he'd be a full-time mayor and that he was aware the city had challenges; he vowed to overcome them.

While Reed became more assertive, Deas became more aggressive in her remarks. At one point she said the "Tupelo Spirit" suffered from lack of leadership and accused today's business leaders of being short on courage to stand up for Tupelo. She also said the city needs "not a cheerleader, but a leader," in reference to one of Reed's earlier statements that he'd be a cheerleader for the public schools.

"I'm asking everyone in this room to screw it up and get some courage," she said to the crowd, which included some of the city's business leaders.

Deas also jumped on another previous statement by Reed, who had said during a Rotary Club forum last week that he recognized parents' rights to choose whether to send their children to public or private school. She accused him of not supporting public schools as ardently as she.

Reed responded by saying Deas misrepresented his remarks, and he reiterated his passionate support of public schools as key to Tupelo's success.

Deas then criticized the Daily Journal for not releasing more information found in the unedited version of the city's controversial ethics report, saying she had given her unedited copy to a reporter two months ago and nothing had been done.

She said the public focus had been on "victimizing" the report's author, consultant Cindy Brown, but that the city needed to pay attention to what was in the report.

The Daily Journal has written several articles outlining the report's allegations.

Reed called the ethics study a "miserable experience" that not only failed to resolve the issues for which it was commissioned, but in fact, made them worse.

As for the Tupelo Spirit, which Reed described as "citizenship at its best," he said it was alive and well and represented in the faces of the city's many volunteers and civic leaders.

"The biggest problem with the Tupelo Spirit is that the city government collectively over the last four years has not exhibited it," Reed said, taking a swipe at Deas, who currently serves on the City Council as an at-large member. "The spirit is there, we just need for our city government to reflect it."

Reed ended by outlining his five goals: finding jobs for every resident, providing servant leadership, promoting strong neighborhoods, making the city known for its educational opportunities, and turning the city into Mississippi's healthiest.

In her closing remarks, Deas described Tupelo as being at crossroads and the next mayor as determining its future path. She said she'll give the disenfranchised a voice and tackle the city's tough issues.

Contact Emily Le Coz at (662) 678-1588 or emily.lecoz@djournal.com.