Challenger joins Jackson race

A lifelong Jackson resident pushing "quality of life" issues filed late last week as a challenger to 16-year incumbent alderwoman Valerie Tuschoff in the city's Third Ward.

Mark Dambach, 50, shop supervisor for Biomedical Services at Southeast Missouri Hospital, is making his first foray into politics. The son of an alderman who served in the 1980s, Dambach wants the city to shift some of its focus away from expansion and development toward improving services and making city life more pleasant.

"We need a change in focus and a change in priorities," he said. "People move here because of the quality of life, but the focus has been on roads, industrial parks and such."

One of the biggest items on his agenda, he said, is a new fire station in the northern areas of the city. "We need one really bad," he said. "A new map has come out, and it is frightening how far some of us are away from a response."

To decide whether to run, Dambach said he sat down and made a list of things he wants from the city. Some of the ideas include better control of storm water runoff, full-time animal control and mosquito spraying. As the city grows, Dambach said, many residents in new areas are coming face to face with wild animals such as raccoons and opossums. "These animals can be rabid and most of the time they are sick," he said.

Dambach is married to Lisa Dambach, a nurse at Southeast Missouri Hospital. They have two children, Travis, 22, and Lauren, 19. Taking on a well-known incumbent wasn't a big deterrent, Dambach said.

-- Rudi Keller