INCUMBENT FACES BUSINESS PROFESSOR IN STODDARD RACE

BLOOMFIELD -- The race for presiding commissioner of Stoddard County is a choice between a man most people say has done a good job in his three previous terms and a man who thinks three terms is one too many.

Voters will decide whether the prefer Democratic incumbent Norman Moore or Republican Jerry Elder on Nov. 3.

As he did before defeating three challengers in the primary, Moore is happy to run on his record.

"I've served the people for a few years now and I feel like if they approve of what I've been doing they'll vote for me or else vote another way," he said.

He prides himself on helping get Stoddard County's deficit spending habit under control when he became presiding commissioner.

Elder, who wants to wring more jobs from the county's agricultural base by pursuing value-added industries, thinks 12 years is too long for a presiding commissioner to serve.

"There are other qualified people with new ideas and new approaches," he said.

Moore wonders in what endeavor it makes sense to get rid of someone who has experience.

"Experience is essential," he said.

Elder is a part-time business professor at Southeast Missouri State University who also owns small businesses and farms. The veteran of 26 years in the U.S. Air Force has never held political office.

Both Moore and Elder have been involved in the cattle business, Moore as a buyer and Elder as a farmer.

Elder says value-added industries would create new products from the county's forest and grain crops. "Imagination is the only thing that limits the things we can do with out crops," he said.

Moore says most people want to attract new light industry and points out that the county's Industrial Development Authority was created under his tenure.

He said the county also has to work to keep the jobs it has. "We don't have any large cities and real large factories. We have to be aware they could go someplace else if we don't provide incentive for them to stay," he said.

Because of his farm, his businesses and his teaching job, the issue of how much time Elder will be able to devote to the job has come up. He says he and his wife, Pam, both manage the businesses and the farm. And he has made a commitment only to teach on Tuesdays and Thursdays and only half days.

"I do feel my experience and my affiliation with the university will very much help me do a better job," the marketing professor said.

"I believe my background and experience will enable me to make Stoddard County live up to its potential."

Moore said he hopes for a good turnout on election day. "I'd like them to be an informed voter and then vote," he said.

Norman Moore

Party: Democrat.

Hometown: Bloomfield.

Age: 69.

Education: Attended elementary schools in Stoddard County and the upper grades in New Madrid County.

Job history: He was employed by a large cattle-buying operation and then did cattle buying on his own. He is completing his third term as presiding commissioner of Stoddard County. He has served on numerous county boards.

Family: He and his wife, Frances, have one son.

Jerry Elder

Party: Republican.

Hometown: Rural Bloomfield.

Age: 57.

Education: Received degrees in engineering, management and logistics from the Air Force Academy and the Air Force Institute of Technology.

Job history: He served in the U.S. Air Force for 26 years. Has been teaching business at Southeast Missouri State University for the past 11 years. He and his wife, Pam, also own a feed store, an auto salvage yard in New York and are part owners of a print shop. He also farms cattle and grain.

Family: Elder has two sons in their 20s and 3-year-old twin daughters.