FERRELL RE-ELECTED IN SCOTT; THREE INCUMBENTS DEFEATED IN COUNTY

BENTON -- Three Scott County incumbents were defeated in Tuesday's Democratic primary, while three others, including Sheriff Bill Ferrell, were re-elected.

Voter turnout was heavy, with 10,568 voters or 46 percent of Scott County's 22,890 registered voters casting ballots, election officials said.

The primary was tantamount to election as there were no Republican candidates on the ballot.

Sikeston businessman Walter E. Bizzell defeated 1st District Commissioner Lynn Ingram by a vote of 2,723 to 1,644. Ingram had been seeking re-election to a second term.

Sikeston businesswoman and former school teacher Teresa Houchin won election as county assessor, defeating longtime incumbent Gerald Inman and challenger, Terry Herndon, a former city planner for Sikeston.

Houchin garnered 4,180 votes in the three-person race. Inman, who has served as county assessor since 1976, received 3,833 votes. Herndon was third with 1,290.

Scott County Prosecuting Attorney David Dolan defeated Fielding Potashnick of Sikeston for the position of Division IV associate circuit judge. The vote was 5,654 for Dolan to 3,391 for Potashnick.

Potashnick was serving as Division IV judge, having been appointed in December to fill an unexpired term. He had been seeking election to serve the remaining two years of the unexpired term.

In the sheriff's race, Ferrell won by more than 1,600 votes over challenger and former state trooper A.E. "Bud" Mills of Sikeston in a hard fought campaign.

Ferrell and many of the other candidates and their supporters crowded into the circuit courtroom to watch the results being tallied on a large tote board set up in the circuit courtroom.

Ferrell said the campaign had been his "most difficult" because of repeated allegations about operations at the sheriff's department and threats from supporters of Mills.

He said his family had been followed and threats had been made against him and his deputies.

"We were constantly having to disprove something," he said.

Ferrell said he was relieved the election was over. "Crime doesn't pay, but dirty politics doesn't either," he said.

Second District Commissioner Joe Spalding of Benton won election to a third, two-year term. Spalding defeated former Oran mayor Bob Dennis by a vote of 2,560 to 2,234.

Coroner Scott Amick won re-election, defeating Sikeston funeral home operator Lonnie Ponder by a vote of 5,623 to 3,589.