MCLAIN NOT ELIGIBLE FOR SHERIFF RACE

JACKSON - Ivan E. McLain, who expressed an interest in running for sheriff of Cape Girardeau County after resigning as police chief in Chaffee this week, would not meet the one-year residency requirement outlined in state law for sheriff candidates.

As a step toward establishing residency in Cape County, McLain changed his voter registration last week from Scott County to here, listing his new address as Route 3, Jackson.

However, Missouri statutes that outline qualifications for county sheriffs state that a candidate must be a resident taxpayer and voter of the county and "shall have resided in said county for more than one whole year next before filing for said office ... "

Filing for county offices begins Jan. 14 and runs until the end of March, which means McLain would not have been a resident long enough to qualify as a candidate.

McLain said Wednesday he had an attorney investigating the possibility of his bid for sheriff.

Norman Copeland, the present Cape County sheriff, said Wednesday he is undecided on whether to seek another term in 1992. The sheriff said he would make a decision after the first of next year.

McLain served as police chief in Chaffee for nearly nine years. He previously served as sheriff of Cape County for over 10 years.

McLain was first elected sheriff in 1966 following the resignation of John Crites, and re-elected in 1968 and 1972. He lost the Republican nomination for sheriff to George Rouse in 1976, and later was unsuccessful in a bid to re-gain the office four years later.

In 1982, he was an unsuccessful candidate for associate county commissioner, when he challenged J. Ronald Fischer.

Before his election to sheriff, McLain worked 11 years with the Cape Girardeau Police Department, and after leaving the sheriff's office, sold real estate and managed a gas station for Rhodes Oil Co.