CANDIDATES PROVIDE RACES IN 4 AREA SCHOOL DISTRICTS

Four area school districts will have contests for board members in the April 4 election while incumbents in three districts are still unopposed.

Candidates may file at the school superintendent's office of their districts during regular business hours Monday and Tuesday until 5 p.m.

Two, three-year seats are open in each school district.

The Perry County School District in Perryville will have two new board members in April because both incumbents have indicated they won't seek re-election.

Seeking the two open seats are Tim Rhodes, Carolyn Pontillas and Randy P. Adams, all lifelong Perry County residents.

Rhodes, 42, and his wife, Sheila, have two children in the Perryville School District, a high school senior and a sixth-grader; their older daughter is a graduate. The candidate has been an aircraft sheet metal worker for McDonnell-Douglas in St. Louis for 10 years. He's active as a coach in youth soccer and baseball.

Pontillas, 43, is the wife of Dr. Job Pontillas and a homemaker who has volunteered in school and community activities. They have three children, ages 8, 13 and 16. The oldest child is a junior at Perryville High School and the two younger children are at St. Vincent's middle school.

Randy P. Adams, 39, has been an aircraft spray painter for McDonnell-Douglas in St. Louis for 10 years. His wife, Denise, is in her ninth year as a teacher in the Perryville School District. They have two daughters in high school.

Five candidates have already filed for the two seats in the Delta School District. There will be at least one new board member because incumbent Phil Thompson has indicated he won't seek re-election.

Filing first for the Delta board was Robert Goehman, who also sought a seat in last year's election. Incumbent Keith Cook, who works for Procter & Gamble, was the second candidate to file. The other challengers for the Delta seats are Bill Cook, Charles Lawson and John Livingston.

Both incumbents are at the top of the ballot for the Scott City School Board. Two challengers have also filed for the seats.

Incumbent Kevin Hillemann works for the Dana Corp. in Cape Girardeau. Incumbent Tom Anderson is the principal at Oran Elementary School. Both have served for several years on the board.

The Scott City challengers include Debbi Miller and Jim May.

Miller, 41, helps her husband, Mike, in his business, Miller Drywall, manages some apartments and is a homemaker. Their daughter, Jennifer, is a high school sophomore, and their son, Lance, is a junior. Two older children have also graduated from Scott City High School.

May, 49, works for Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. He and his wife, Glendella, have one daughter, Mandy, who is a sophomore at Scott City High School, and an older son who is a local graduate.

In Chaffee, current school board president Bob Sullivan, 58, has filed for re-election after serving several years on the board. He works for Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. He and his wife, Janet, have five children who are Chaffee High School graduates.

Incumbent Sharon Crowden, 43, has served on the Chaffee board since 1991 and also seeks re-election. She and her husband, Gary, live at Rockview and they have a son, Mike, who is a senior this year. She works part-time as a sales clerk for Parsons' Stained Glass in Cape Girardeau.

Alvin Vandeven, 40, is also seeking a seat on the Chaffee board. He has worked seven years at Lone Star Industries in Cape Girardeau as a mechanic. He and his wife, Betty, have three children; the oldest one is a sophomore at Chaffee High School while the younger two are students at St. Ambrose Catholic School. He has served three years on the St. Ambrose School Board and is coaching boys' basketball in the parochial league.

Incumbents are unopposed at this point in the Oran, Kelly and Scott County Central school districts.

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

Both incumbents in the Kelly School District are completing their first three-year terms. Seeking re-election are Rita Milam, 37, county clerk in Scott County, and John Felter, 43, a farmer who also works part-time with Baker Implement Co. in Cape Girardeau.

The two incumbents to file in the Scott County Central School District near Morley are Kay Boley Griffin a nurse who works with the Scott County Health Department, and Gary Kesler, a farmer. Both have served several years on the board.