CHAFFEE: FOUR SEEKING SCHOOL BOARD SEATS; ALDERMEN UNOPPOSED

CHAFFEE -- Voters in the Chaffee School District will elect three members to the Chaffee Board of Education Tuesday. At least two will be newcomers to the school board.

Because of legislation approved last year by the Missouri General Assembly, the number of seats on local school boards in the state will expand from six to seven. That means voters in most school districts will be voting for three instead of two candidates on Tuesday.

There are four candidates competing for the three seats on the Chaffee school board: Tom Davenport, Randy Dooley, incumbent James H. Chronister, and Greg. L. Ourth Jr.

Five-term board member Philip Dame is not running for another term. He will retire in April after serving 15 years on the school board, most of them as president of the school board.

Davenport, 46, said he has no particular issues to pursue other than to serve as a board member. It's his first try at public office.

Dooley, 32, is no stranger to public service in Chaffee; he served as an alderman from 1990 to 1991, when he resigned after moving out of his ward.

Dooley is employed as a staff pharmacist at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Prior to that Dooley operated a pharmacy in Chaffee.

Chronister, 56, is a retired sales and marketing manager for the Frisco and Burlington Northern railroads. He retired from the BN in 1988 and returned to Chaffee with his wife, Irmgard.

Chronister is completing his first term on the school board. If re-elected, he wants to help the district prepare for phase three of its building program that will include demolition of the old Chaffee High School building and construction of a new home economics, shop and band rooms, which will adjoin the east end of the junior- and senior-high school.

Ourth, 36, is manager of the Chaffee IGA. He serves on the Chaffee Park Board and the Chaffee School District Advisory Committee. This is his third attempt for the school board. Ourth said he decided to run for the school board when the extra board seat was created.

None of the four incumbent Chaffee aldermen faces opposition for another term. They are Ward 1 Alderman Bill Cannon, Ward 2 Alderman Ed Gauthier, Ward 3 Alderman Danny Finley, and Ward 4 Alderman and mayor pro tem Tom Cunningham.