BOLLINGER COUNTY: THREE COMPETE FOR SHERIFF TUESDAY

MARBLE HILL - Bollinger County voters Tuesday will choose a new sheriff to replace Januar Peters, who resigned in March after being charged with stealing county funds.

Running for the position are Republican Dan Mesey, a part-time investigator with the Bollinger County Sheriff's Department; the department's acting chief deputy, Democrat Kindal Ward; and independent candidate and former Cape Girardeau labor union official Jimmie G. Bollinger.

Mesey said voters should choose him for sheriff because of his extensive background. A law enforcement veteran of 23 years, Mesey retired in 1988 as a detective with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department.

"I feel that Bollinger County is looking for experienced, professional law enforcement," he said.

Although the St. Louis police department makes a policy not to endorse candidates, Mesey said a former department co-worker, Don Cooksey, now Potosi's police chief, has endorsed him.

Mesey said he had identified certain needs within the sheriff's department and, as a result, had developed a series of goals. Those goals include money-saving procedures through "cost-effective budgeting"; employment of deputies from both the northern and southern ends of the county to lessen the department's response time; department support for existing neighborhood watch programs; and the establishment of an organized patrol plan.

Ward pointed to his familiarity with Bollinger County and the department as the reasons he should be elected. A native of the county, Ward has worked as a deputy sheriff there for two years. Before working as a deputy, he said, he was employed at the department as a dispatcher.

"I know the people here," Ward said. "I believe I can represent them better than the other two (candidates)."

Ward said that if elected, he'd work hard to assure the department is operated efficiently and according to state statutes. When chosen by his party in April, Ward said, "I want to do everything as we're supposed to do. I'm ready to work closely with the County Commission, and there's a real good working relationship between myself and (Bollinger County Prosecutor) Paul Hahn."

Ward said, "My family's lived here in the county for 45 years and I feel real close to the people here. I want to give them the kind of sheriff's office they deserve."

Local upbringing is also being touted by Bollinger, now a used car salesman who said he does a little contracting work on the side.

"I know the mothers and fathers of these kids, and I think for a very long time here they've been handled wrong." The candidate says he also has a lot of common sense and extensive experience in dealing with people, traits which he feels would help him as sheriff.

Bollinger served for about nine years as the business agent for the local union of Laborers International. He left that job in the mid-1980s.

Prior to that, for about a year in the late 1960s, he worked as the sole policeman in Marble Hill and the former city of Lutesville, he said. He has also worked in the construction business.

Bollinger said he wants to get back to the basics of small-town law enforcement and develop and closer relationship with the county's residents.

He is running for the sheriff's position as an independent candidate.