Last day for filing brings final revisions to ballots

The Cape Girardeau City Council will be shorthanded until June and Scott City voters can add three more candidates to their list of nine for the April municipal election.

It will take a primary election April 5 and a general election on June 7 for Cape Girardeau voters to choose who will fill the open seats created by the resignations of Jay Purcell in Ward 3 and Hugh White in Ward 4.

J. Clay Waller, 34, who operates a painting company, filed Tuesday, the last day candidates could file for the council seats.

Waller, who spent seven years in law enforcement, ran unsuccessfully for Cape Girardeau County commissioner last year.

Waller remains optimistic about running for public office. "You can't make a difference unless you put your name out there and try," he said.

In all, six people are running for the open council seats. Voters in April will narrow the field of council candidates down to four, two in Ward 3 and two in Ward 4.

Waller is the third candidate in Ward 4 on the city's northside to file for the seat. He will face former council members Loretta Schneider and J.J. Williamson in the primary.

Ward 3 in the central part of the city also has three candidates: Ellen Dillon, an instructor at Southeast Missouri State University; Stan Wicks, who operates a general maintenance company; and R. Todd McBride who has a mortgage business.

Scott City

Suzie Chapman, Charles Klughart and Christopher Klughart all filed to run for Scott City Council seats before Tuesday's 5 p.m. deadline. They'll be competing for some of the seven seats to be voted on this April.

Chapman, a legal secretary, filed for the one-year term seat in Ward 3, one of the seats vacated mid-term. Chapman has worked in the legal field for 46 years, giving her a lot of experience with matters affecting city government, she said. She also hopes to bring a fresh perspective to the council.

Her opponent will be newly appointed councilman Ron Cummings, a contractor who also works for Burlington-Northern Railroad and has previous council experience.

In Ward 2, Charles Klughart, owner of Klughart Service Co., has entered the race for a two-year term. Klughart previously served on the council for three terms before taking the last term off to work on his business.

Klughart will face two-term incumbent Terry Gettings, who works for Dakota Service Co.

Klughart's brother, Christopher, has also decided to take a shot at city governance, filing for a seat in Ward 4. He will run for a one-year term (another seat that was vacated midterm) against incumbent Ron Worl, a retired warehouse manager who was appointed last year to fill a vacant seat.

Christopher Klughart is employed at Klughart Service Co. The 26-year-old has no previous council experience, but says he has something else to offer.

"I just wanted to voice my opinion," he said. "Someone younger would help make some needed improvements around the town."

Others who filed include:

* Incumbent Jeff Curnell in Ward 1, for a two-year term.

* Incumbent John Crail in Ward 2, for a one-year term.

* In Ward 3, two-term incumbent Robert Tyler, running unopposed for another two-year term.

* Two-term incumbent Norman Brant in Ward 4, also running for a two-year term. He will be challenged by Larry Taylor.

Normally, only four council seats would be up for a vote in a given year, but seven are up this year due to three resignations over the last term.

Jackson

Rebecca Ward has filed to run against incumbent Paul Sander for mayor in the city of Jackson.

Staff writers Mark Bliss, Matt Sanders and Bob Miller contributed to this report.