ONE INCUMBENT UNOPPOSED, ONE CHALLENGED IN COUNTY COMMISSION RACES

BLOOMFIELD, Mo. -- One Democratic incumbent will ease into the November election while the other faces an Aug. 8 primary battle against three opponents in races for the Stoddard County Commission.

In the 1st District, Democrat Frank Sifford is unopposed in the primary. His Republican opponent will be either Elam "Sonny" Newsom, who ran as a Democrat four years ago, or Grady Smith, a semi-retired former insurance man.

In the 2nd District, Democratic incumbent Ray Coats has opposition from Pam Dowdy, Gaylon Dillard and Charlie Parrish. On the Republican side, Truman "Butch" Waldrup is unopposed.

Newsom garnered 42 percent of the vote "on a very hot day" when he lost the 1996 Democratic primary to Sifford. "The incumbent always has an advantage," he said.

This time Newsom will try the incumbent-free Republican primary.

A Puxico resident, Newsom is in the trucking business and has been in the fertilizer business in the past.

He objects to some of the spending the county commission has committed taxpayers to. "I don't see how we're going to get much benefit," he said. "It's just a big bill."

Newsom and his wife, Marilyn, have two children.

His opponent Aug. 8 will be Puxico resident Grady Smith, who previously ran for the job 20 years ago and lost to Bob Holland in a close race.

Smith, who owned the Puxico Livestock Auction for 14 years, says it's time for new blood on the commission. "My theory is, the fellow in there has been in there a good bit and it's time for a change."

Sifford has been on the commission for 12 years.

Smith is strongly opposed to the Scenic Byway that has been proposed to run through Stoddard County. "It would put quite a hardship on farmers who would have to move back their equipment," he said, referring to the byway's view-producing requirements.

Smith and his wife, Lydia Anne, have two children.

Democrat Coats has served eight years as the 2nd District commissioner. The service director for a car dealership, he says the formation of the Industrial Development Board, the donation of land for the Veterans Cemetery in Bloomfield and the construction under way of a new justice and detention center are among the commission's accomplishments while he has been onboard.

"I think my record for administration speaks for itself," he said, adding that the commission has spent the county's funds prudently.

"This is more or less a conservative type county," he said. "We try to make the money go a long way."

He lives in Bernie. He and his wife, Biddy, have one child.

One of Coats' challengers is Pam Dowdy, who tried unsuccessfully for the job eight years ago. The Scenic Byways issue was the reason she ran back then. "The majority of people were against it and I felt the representation wasn't listening to the people," she said.

The Scenic Byway issue, currently on hold while an advisory committee seeks more information about the impact on private property, is also the reason she wants to join the commission now.

"I'm not opposed to tourists coming in to Stoddard County," she says. "I am opposed to unanswered questions concerning private property that might be jeopardized."

A bookkeeper for a plastics company, Dowdy and her husband, David, operate a family farm near Dexter. They have two children.

"We need a common sense approach to government," she says. "The Scenic Byway is looked at as a way to give us an economic boost ... but the commission seems to home in on that one avenue. There are other resources that haven't been tapped without involving property rights."

The other two Democratic candidates for 2nd District commissioner, Gaylon Lillard and Charlie Parrish, could not be reached for this story. Both men are from Dexter.