18 CANDIDATES VIE FOR 6 POSITIONS IN CAIRO; ILLINOIS TOWNS SET TO HOLD PRIMARIES

CAIRO, Ill. -- The process of electing a new mayor and two new members to the city council will get under way here this week.

A total of 18 persons have filed for a half-dozen vacancies on the Cairo City Council, and many of them will face competition in Tuesday's primary election.

Primary elections will be held throughout Southern Illinois Tuesday, with general elections scheduled April 2.

The council field will be narrowed from 12 to 8 at Anna. With only two candidates, the mayor's race is not included on the Anna primary ballot.

There will be no primary elections at Thebes, Tamms or East Cape Girardeau. Six candidates will be seeking three trustee positions at Tamms in the April 2 general election, and four candidates will be seeking four positions mayor and three trustees at Thebes. Only three candidates filed for the three positions at East Cape.

Two Cairo councilmen David Kaelin and Earl Franklin did not file for re-election to council seats.

Also giving up the political scene after 20 years 15 of them as mayor is Cairo businessman Allen Moss.

Only two candidates filed for the vacant mayoral post Carolyn Mayberry and James E. Wilson. Although both names appear on the primary ballots, the "real" race for mayor won't come until the general election in April.

One of the four ward races in the city will pit incumbent councilman-at large Darrell A. Hoppe against two challengers Tyrone Coleman and Mable Hollis. Council member Ernest Morgan will face challengers from three opponents in Ward 2. Filing for the position were Michael Farrow, Bobby Whitaker, and Floretta Simelton.

Other races are in Ward 4 and 5. Candidates in Ward 4 are Richard Harrington, Daniel Shane Mayberry, Joseph M. Thurston, and David Westerman. Ward 5 candidates include Carolyn Ponting, William H. Miller, and Norman R. Hughes.

Meanwhile, at Anna, a special lottery had to be held to establish the order of names on the 12-person ballot for council.

Eight of the candidates were waiting to file on opening day in mid-December. Included on the list were four incumbents, Glen Rosson, Jerry Isom, Dave Tellor and Roy Dillow.

Incumbent Jerry Isom was the first name drawn in the ballot lottery, and will head the list of council candidates. He will be followed, in order, by Glen Rosson, Roy Dillow, Dave Tellor, Rick Tweedy, Lawrence Boyer, Allen James and Albert Lence, all determined by the lottery. The other four candidates will follow, in the order of filing Ray Plott, Ella Earnhart, David Wingate and Tom Ellison.

Voters will pick four candidates Tuesday, with the top eight vote-getters to advance to the April general election.

David D. McNeely, who is currently serving as Thebes mayor pro-tem, will be the only candidate for mayor. He was appointed by the Thebes Village Board of Trustees as mayor pro-tem following the death of Mayor John Masterson.

The terms of three trustees Clyde Dunn, Billie Walsh Howard and Ray Dodson expire this year. Dunn and Walsh have filed for re-election. A third candidate will be Blanche Prater.

McNeely is also one of three trustees whose terms do not expire this year. Following the election, the board will appoint someone to fill McNeely's unexpired trustee term.

Only two incumbents Van Dillow and Carl Hileman will be seeking re-election to the Tamms board. Current member Don Allen did not file for re-election.

Other trustee candidates at Tamms include Darold Dunning, Sharon Hesselmeyer, Larry S. Essex, and Dudley Crayton. The next mayoral election will be in 1993. Mayor Walter Pang was elected to a four-year term in 1989.

There is no mayoral election at East Cape, where Mayor Joe Aden still has two years on his term. Only three candidates incumbents Donnie Joe Kaufman, James Lingle, and William Colyer filed at East Cape for the three trustee positions.