BARKLAGE WON'T RUN; WHITE WILL

Cape Girardeau City Councilman Hugh White announced Thursday that he will seek re-election, but two-term incumbent David Barklage said he won't seek another four years.

White joins incumbent Al Spradling III and four other candidates in seeking three council seats up for election next April.

Other candidates are Lawrence Godfrey, Melvin Kasten, Melvin Gateley, and former Councilman Loretta Schneider. The filing deadline is today.

White said he's enjoyed serving on the council and wants to continue to work to better Cape Girardeau city government.

"I will be asking the citizens to look at my record and my methods during this election," he said. "I have been a part of every significant accomplishment achieved by the city government over the past four years."

White said he is particularly proud of his role in the Corps of Engineers Flood Control Project, and in promoting the city's master planning efforts in several areas.

"This city now has a readily identifiable master sewer plan, master street development plan, and a realistic capital improvement program," he said. "The city government of Cape Girardeau has not stood by while events controlled it.

"We have come face-to-face with the problems facing this city and marched boldly forward with a well thought-out plan of action."

White said the city has been able to take limited financial resources and "spread those to encompass the largest number of needs.

"We are not right all the time, but we are always working to get it right."

White said he thought a key issue for the city in the next four years will be solid waste and how best to comply with a new state law that mandates a 40 percent reduction by 1998 in the amount of waste going to landfills.

"The big job now is going to be manage the expenses that are going to come along with complying with that bill and getting citizen acceptance for complying with it," he said.

He said the transition into a publicly owned water system also will be an immediate challenge for next year's city council. White said he thinks he can provide the necessary leadership to help govern the city through those efforts.

"I don't promise to continue what I have been doing, but rather I pledge to keep getting better," he said.

White is president-elect of the Cape West Rotary Club, a member of the Chamber of Commerce Economic Development Board and Ward Committeeman and an elder at First Christian Church.

White is a warehousing and transportation supervisor for Wetterau Inc. in Scott City. A native of Dunklin County, White has lived in Cape Girardeau for 15 years. He received a bachelor's degree in business administration from Southeast Missouri State University.

He and his wife, Flora, live at 2069 Steven. White unsuccessfully ran for a council seat in 1986, before winning a four-year term in 1988.

In announcing he won't seek re-election, Barklage said he waited until he was certain there was an adequate field of candidates before he decided against another election bid.

"I waited to see who would file and felt several qualified candidates have filed," he said. "Many are people who I feel not only will serve well, but will have the community's interest at heart.

"Eight years is a long time for anybody. I did my time and it's time for somebody else to serve."

Barklage, 30, ran his first election campaign as a 21-year-old student at Southeast Missouri State University. He said that although the council can claim many positive accomplishments over the past eight years, Barklage refused to accept credit for them.

"In government, everything is a team effort," he said. "Whether you make a greater contribution than somebody else isn't really important. What's important are the results.

"The results are, did the community benefit from what you did?"

Although Barklage was involved in many controversies during his tenure most notably a long-standing and hearty feud with Mayor Gene Rhodes he said the discord often fostered better government.

"Over the last eight years, there's been a great deal of controversy, and controversy makes people uncomfortable," he said.

"But controversy is part of the democratic process. It allows people to hear open, unedited debate of the issues."

Barklage said it's more important to look at the results of heated debate and the decisions it fosters, than to see only the dissension.

"If you look at controversy and look at the results of those actions, I would argue that our community is better off from the controversy," he said. "The biggest disappointment is when people aren't able to separate the results from the controversy."

Barklage conceded that diplomacy might not always have been his strongest attribute, but he said he's always tried to do what he thinks is in the best interest of the city.

"From a negative standpoint, I feel like I made mistakes," he said. "I was wrong sometimes and right sometimes, but I always did what I thought was right and in the interest of good government.

"But unless you have a benevolent dictator, you're going to have seven different views from seven different council members, and if you believe in your convictions, you have an obligation to fight to have your views heard and your positions expressed."

Barklage said the most gratifying part of serving on the council was knowing that the community has been helped by his efforts.

"Regardless of whether anybody else knows, if you know that you made a difference that the community is a little better off because of the time or commitment or expertise that you gave that's what's satisfying," he said.

Barklage said he has no further political aspirations, and indicated that eight years on the city council likely has dimmed his public popularity.

"I think I passed up other political aspirations when I ran for a second term," he said. "When you run for a second term you're out before the public for eight years and the people in Cape Girardeau are informed and continually scrutinize your decisions.

"It's very hard from a political standpoint to maintain popularity if you really do what you believe is right."