ELECTION '98: CITY RACES SHAPING UP FOR SPRING ELECTION

There are now two races on the April ballot for the Cape Girardeau City Council elections.

In Ward 3, Jay Purcell, 30, of 315 N. Pacific filed Tuesday for the council. He faces his neighbor, Gerald Stevens, 57, who lives at 329 N. Pacific.

Stevens and Purcell are competing for the seat left vacant by Jack Rickard's resignation in October. They are seeking a two-year unexpired term.

Stevens owns 30 apartments and a laundromat and works in shipping and receiving at Dana Corp. Purcell owns the H&R Block offices in Ste. Genevieve and Perryville and is a realtor in Cape Girardeau.

Filing for the April 7 election closed Tuesday.

There's also a contested race in Ward 1, where incumbent James "J.J." Williamson and Frank Stoffregen are competing for a seat on the council.

Williamson, 45, owns an insurance agency. He is seeking his second term on the council.

Stoffregen, 43, is service manager at a Jackson auto parts store and part-owner of a real estate development firm.

Williamson and Stoffregen squared off in 1994 in the city's first ward system race. Williamson won by 15 votes.

There are no other contested races on the ballot for City Council.

Incumbent Mayor Al Spradling is seeking re-election, as are Councilmen Tom Neumeyer in Ward 2 and Richard "Butch" Eggiman in Ward 6.

There are no open seats in Wards 4 and 5.