CORONER, EX-CORONER VYING FOR POSITION

John Carpenter would like his job back, and Harold Cobb would like his job back. But the present and past Cape Girardeau County coroners want the same job.

Carpenter took the job away from Cobb when he was elected in 1988 by a difference of 180 votes. When Cobb tried to return as coroner in 1992, he lost 11,028 to 15,980.

Cobb took a break from campaigning in 1996, but he said he was compelled to run this year.

"I can do a better job," Cobb said.

Cobb, unlike Carpenter, has two college degrees, one in criminal justice from Southeast Missouri State University.

Cobb said he has been stressing his professional experience to the voters.

He served as coroner for nearly 10 years after he was appointed to the post in 1979. Before that, he began working at Ford & Sons as a funeral director. He still works there, going on 36 years.

On top of that, Cobb said, he worked with ambulance services, first through the funeral home and then with Cape County Private Ambulance Service.

Along with his ongoing work at Ford & Sons, Cobb has continued to work for the university's Department of Public Safety as a dispatcher for 14 years.

"I don't know what else I could do to be qualified," Cobb said.

Greater advertising in this campaign is something Cobb hopes will help voters remember him when they go to the polls.

Carpenter has run a more low-key campaign. Few of his small black-and-white yard signs have been put out. He plans to get more out this week as the election nears. People get tired of looking at the signs after a while, and the rain makes the cardboard warp, he said.

"Besides, signs don't elect people," Carpenter said. "People elect people."

Carpenter originally planned to work as an osteopathic physician, but after five years of learning and teaching at an embalming school in Louisville, Ky., he decided he preferred mortuary work.

"In this job you meet people under tremendously hard times," Carpenter said. "But it's good to know that you're trained to help them through hard times."

He came to work for Ford & Sons in 1977, and has continued in the same profession around Cape Girardeau County ever since.

Carpenter's responsibilities as coroner have extended to consulting with other coroners in Southeast Missouri as the district coroner for the Missouri Highway Patrol.

Overall, Carpenter said he has been satisfied with his work.

"There might have been a few things that I would have done differently, but I've never done anything that has jeopardized a case," he said.

During his years as coroner, Cobb said the hardest part of his job was telling relatives that a family member had died. He said he would never do this over the phone. It must be done in person, Cobb said.

If he gets his job back, Cobb said he would go out on all death calls, since that's what the coroner gets paid to do. He would also like to computerize records so that death certificates are more easily accessible to the public.

Carpenter would like to see more money for training put into the coroner's budget. Presently, about $9,000 annually goes to training.

One of the best things that could be done for coroners statewide is to set up certain requirements to be elected coroner, Carpenter said. But so far, he said, no legislator has been willing to make it a priority.

CORONER RACE

John Carpenter

Age: 54

Hometown: Sikeston, Mo.

Party: Republican

Family: Married. He and his wife have no children.

Profession: Operator of mortuary service.

Affiliations: Masons, Knights of Columbus, past president of Missouri State Coroner's Association.

Endorsements: None.

Political history: Elected as Cape Girardeau County coroner in 1988; re-elected in 1992, 1996.

Harold G. Cobb

Age: 57

Hometown: Cape Girardeau

Party: independant

Family: A widower. He has one child.

Profession: Funeral director and dispatcher for University police.

Affiliations: None.

Endorsements: None.

Political history: Appointed as Cape Girardeau County coroner to unexpired term in 1979; re-elected in 1980, 1984; lost election in 1988; ran for election in 1992 and lost.