CANDIDATES MAKE FILING DEADLINE FOR AREA ELECTIONS

Races developed this week for school board members in the Oran and Kelly school districts.

Voters will select two board members for three-year terms in all area school districts at the April 4 election.

Two candidates filed Tuesday, the last day for filing, to challenge incumbents in both the Oran and Kelly school board races.

In the Oran School District, incumbents John Bertrand and Mike Wheeler face challengers Brenda Cook and Aleta Trankler.

Both incumbents are completing their sixth year on the Oran School Board. Bertrand, 43, is a senior operator with the Texas Eastern Products Pipeline. Wheeler, 45, works for Wheeler Equipment Co. in Morley.

Cook, 37, previously ran for the board. She's a sewing machine operator for Thorngate in Chaffee.

Trankler, 31, is the director for Region IX Council for Developmental Disabilities, which covers nine counties and is based in Sikeston.

In the Kelly School District near Benton, challengers Michael Riley and David Felter have filed against incumbents Rita Milam and John Felter, who both will finish their first term this year.

Riley, 37, is a dock supervisor for Next Day Motor Freight in Sikeston.

David Felter, 35, has been handling the blueprint drawings at Morley Building Supply for about a year. He had been a self-employed contractor and is still involved in real estate management. This is his first run for the school board.

Milam, 37, took over the county clerk's position in Scott County on Jan. 1 after serving several years as a deputy clerk.

John Felter, 43, is a farmer who also works part-time with Baker Implement Co. in Cape Girardeau.

Doyle Parmer, owner of Dutchtown Electronics, added his name to the list of candidates in the Delta School District on Tuesday. The other five candidates include Robert Goehman, incumbent Keith Cook, Bill Cook, Charles Lawson and John Livingston.

Seeking the seats in the Perry County School District are Tim Rhodes, 42, an aircraft sheet metal worker for McDonnell-Douglas in St. Louis; Carolyn Pontillas, 43, a homemaker and volunteer in school and community activities; and Randy P. Adams, 39, an aircraft spray painter for McDonnell-Douglas in St. Louis.

Only incumbents have filed in the Altenburg Public School District No. 48. Caroline Littge of Altenburg, a retired teacher who was appointed to the board, filed for a one-year unexpired term.

Filing for the three-year terms were Albert Bottcher, an Altenburg area farmer who's served on the board since 1980, and Roger Schlitting of Frohna, who works for Citizens Electric and has served since 1992.

At Nell Holcomb, incumbent Karen Fornkahl and candidate Debbie Followell are unopposed for two seats on the school board.

At Oak Ridge, incumbents Bob Eisenhauer and Dan Sebaugh are unopposed in their bids for re-election.

At Scott City, incumbents Kevin Hillemann, who works for the DANA Corporation in Cape Girardeau, and Tom Anderson, the principal at Oran Elementary School, face challengers Debbi Miller, a homemaker with business interests, and Jim May, who works for Southwestern Bell Telephone Co.

In Chaffee, school board president Bob Sullivan, who works for Southwestern Bell Telephone Co, and incumbent Sharon Crowden, who's served four years on the board, face a challenge from Alvin Vandeven, a mechanic for Lone Star Industries in Cape Girardeau.

In the Scott County Central School District near Morley, incumbents Kay Boley Griffin, a registered nurse with the Scott County Health Department, and Gary Kesler, a farmer, are the only two candidates to have filed.