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NewsMarch 1, 2000

JACKSON -- Eleven candidates filed for Cape Girardeau County offices Tuesday, the first day of filing. County commissioners Max Stovall and Larry Bock, Treasurer Bill Reynolds, Sheriff John Jordan, Coroner John Carpenter and Public Administrator John Ferguson filed for re-election. All six are incumbents...

JACKSON -- Eleven candidates filed for Cape Girardeau County offices Tuesday, the first day of filing.

County commissioners Max Stovall and Larry Bock, Treasurer Bill Reynolds, Sheriff John Jordan, Coroner John Carpenter and Public Administrator John Ferguson filed for re-election. All six are incumbents.

Carpenter and Ferguson face primary challenges in the GOP primary in August. Carpenter has served as coroner for 11 years. He faces a challenge from Wayne T. Godwin and Don "Butch" Gast, both of Jackson.

Ferguson, who has served as public administrator for the past 11 years, is opposed by Phyllis Schwab of rural Jackson and Ken Bryan of Cape Girardeau.

Bock has served as First District commissioner since winning election in 1992. He is opposed by Doug Flannery of Whitewater.

Flannery was one of two Democrats who filed for office Tuesday. The other was Stovall. All the other candidates filed as Republicans.

The 75-year-old Stovall was elected in 1996. He is seeking re-election to a second four-year term.

Carpenter said he is the only board-certified forensic examiner serving as coroner in Missouri. He is a graduate of the Southeast Missouri Law Enforcement Academy.

"I look at it as being rehired by the citizens," said Carpenter.

"I've investigated everything from children's deaths to airplane crashes to multiple homicides," he said.

Carpenter is past president of the Missouri Coroners and Medical Examiners Association. He also serves as district coroner for the 13 counties in the Missouri Highway Patrol's Troop E area of Southeast Missouri.

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Godwin is a security officer at the Federal Building in Cape Girardeau. A former paramedic, Godwin worked in the emergency room at Southeast Missouri Hospital and with ambulance services in Cape Girardeau and Sikeston. He also worked as a security officer at St. Francis Medical Center before taking a similar job at the Federal Building.

Godwin said it is time for a change in the coroner's office.

"Being thorough in my investigations, professionalism, honesty and hard work are a few things I have to offer the people of Cape Girardeau County," he said..

A native of Jackson, Godwin has two children. He attends the First Assembly of God Church in Cape Girardeau.

Gast served as deputy coroner in Cape County for several months last year. He completed a death investigation course offered by St. Louis University. He does insurance physicals for a St. Louis firm. He works out of his home in Jackson.

Gast was a paramedic for Cape County Private Ambulance Service for 10 years and a hospital corpsman in the Navy for six years. He is a member of the American Legion.

He said the coroner's office needs to develop a major disaster plan.

Gast and his wife, Rebecca, have five children. He is a member of Covenant Christian Center in Fruitland.

Reynolds, the county treasurer, has served nearly 20 years in office. "I want one more term," he said.

"All of the money from the county goes through the county treasurer's office. We have about 30 different accounts that we have to keep track of," he said.

Jordan as served as sheriff since winning election to serve out an unexpired term in 1994. He was re-elected to a four-year term in 1996.

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