MOST STATE LEGISLATORS FROM AREA HAVE FILED FOR RE-ELECTION

JEFFERSON CITY -- One Southeast Missouri legislator has announced plans to retire, and another has not yet announced his plans, but all others have filed for re-election to new terms in 1994.

And of those who have filed, just three have opposition already. Filing began two weeks ago and will continue until March 29. Generally, most candidates either file early or late; there is very little filing activity during the rest of the period.

Rep. Herb Fallert, D-Ste. Genevieve, announced in January that he would retire from his 155th district seat of Perry and Ste. Genevieve counties after 12 years of service. Another veteran lawmaker, Rep. Dennis Ziegenhorn, D-Sikeston, will announce next week whether he will run for an eighth term.

Drawing opposition so far have been Sen. Danny Staples, D-Eminence, who is seeking a fourth four-year term from the 20th District, Rep. James Graham, R-Fredericktown, who is seeking a third term from the 106th District, and 156th District Rep. Bill Foster, R-Poplar Bluff.

Staples is challenged in the August primary by Dean Burk, a teacher from DeSoto, who unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for Congress in the 8th District in 1992.

Graham, whose district includes Madison County and parts of St. Francois and Bollinger counties, is challenged so far by Don Weiland, a Democrat from Fredericktown.

Foster, who was elected last August to serve out the remainder of the term of Rep. Joe Driskill after Gov. Mel Carnahan named him to head the Department of Economic Development, is opposed for a second term by Marvin Bowles. A Democrat from Piedmont, Bowles is currently serving as presiding commissioner of Wayne County.

The 156th District includes: all of Wayne County, and parts of Ripley, Butler and Bollinger Counties. The Bollinger County part of the district includes the county's most populated areas of Marble Hill, Leopold and the Zalma area.

In the 160th District now represented by Ziegenhorn, one Democrat filed on the first day of filing, Feb. 22. Already in the race is Democrat Joe Heckemeyer, who is the son of former Rep. and current Scott-Mississippi County Circuit Judge Tony Heckemeyer. The district includes the city of Sikeston and north Scott County areas of Benton, New Hamburg, Kelso and a large part of Scott City.

Four candidates -- two Democrats and two Republicans -- have filed for Fallert's seat in the 155th District. The most recent filing came Tuesday, when Perry County Coroner Patrick Naeger entered the GOP Primary. The other Republican candidate is James D. Williams, who was defeated by Fallert in 1992.

On the Democratic side, the candidate are Thomas F. Schaaf and Mel Thurman, both from Ste. Genevieve, who filed on the first day.

Among the representatives who do not have opposition so far is the senior member of the Missouri General Assembly, Rep. Gene Copeland, D-New Madrid. Copeland, whose 161st District includes a large part of New Madrid County, Mississippi County and a part of Scott County that includes a third of Scott City and Commerce, won his first term in the Missouri House in 1960.

Other Democrats who are unchallenged at this point are Rep. Don Prost of Caruthersville, who represents the 162nd District; Rep. Larry Thomason of Kennett, who serves the 163rd District; and Rep. Marilyn Williams, D-Dudley, serving the 159th District.

Thomason, who serves as the House majority whip, is seeking a fourth term; Prost a second term, and Williams a third term.

Republicans who are unchallenged at this point are: 158th District Rep. Mary Kasten of Cape Girardeau; Rep. David Schwab, of Jackson, in the 157th District; and Rep. Mark Richardson of Poplar Bluff, who serves the 154th District.

Kasten is seeking her seventh term, Schwab his fourth, and Richardson his third term.

Two Southeast Missouri senators, Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, and Jerry Howard, D-Dexter, are in the middle of four-year Senate terms and are not on the ballot again until 1996.