Perry, Bollinger counties to select sheriffs for next four-year term

No matter what happens Tuesday, two Southeast Missouri sheriffs are assured their badges for at least four more years. Not so in two nearby counties where that iconic five-pointed star is up for grabs in races between a 20-year incumbent with a familiar foe and two who are trying to replace a sitting sheriff who has already been set aside.

With no challengers, the incumbents in Scott and Cape Girardeau counties -- Rick Walter and John Jordan -- can rest easy in their job security, though Jordan has signaled this may be his last go-round. No one's resting in Marble Hill and Perryville, where four men are hoping to become their county's next top lawman.

In Perry County, Republican incumbent Gary Schaaf, first elected in 1992, will again face Democrat Ted Christisen, the man he beat in 2008 by 5,000 votes. The race strikes some as curious and perhaps lopsided, considering Christisen's previous showing and what some have described as a meager 2012 campaign, one marked by a few small yard signs and a handful of appearances. He also raised no money in this contest.

Christisen, who has never held office, hasn't returned many phone calls from reporters seeking comment, mirroring his 2008 campaign. On Wednesday, Christisen, a truck driver of three decades, could not be reached for comment.

In a rare, albeit brief, interview in June, he said he would run the office in a "professional way" and that he would be honest about all department activities.

Ted Christisen

The man he hopes to replace said Wednesday that he's taking nothing for granted. For the undecided, Schaaf again pointed to his record, which he says emphasizes drug enforcement, falling crime rates over his tenure and technological improvements made within his department.

"I'm as impressed as I can be with the way things have progressed over the years," Schaaf said.

Schaaf also notes that his career spans 30 years in law enforcement, starting as the Perryville police chief, a post he won in 1986 and held until he was elected sheriff. His crowning achievement over the last two years, he said, is an undercover drug operation that has seen a string of arrests.

Drugs, he said, is one of Perry County's main problems.

"If you can work on the drug problem and cut that down, it will help address some of your other problems," Schaaf said. "People looking for drugs will steal, commit robberies -- just about anything you can think of."

Meanwhile, Perry County's neighbors to the south are guaranteed a new top county cop. With Leo McElrath out of the election picture, voters will choose between Republican Darin Shell and independent Stash Petton, whose contests have been civil, with both agreeing that whoever comes out on top will make a good sheriff.

Neither Shell, Marble Hill's assistant fire chief, nor Petton, a security employee at Saint Francis Medical Center, would comment on situations that may have factored into McElrath's defeat in August's primary, such as when a deputy shot and killed a Chihuahua in February 2011 after allegedly being told to do so by the county veterinarian. The deputy was acquitted by a jury and now has filed a lawsuit against the department.

Also, a jail inmate died in June after being found bleeding during a dispatcher's routine check. The dispatchers, who act as jailers overnight, are not trained police officers, thus not allowed to open jail cells. A deputy, once alerted, took eight minutes to make it to the jail. But it was too late.

While not interested in critiquing McElrath, they both said that perhaps better training could help the department avoid making similar mistakes in the future.

They both also admitted that the sheriff's job in Bollinger County is daunting, considering a tight budget, manpower shortage and less-than-optimum facilities. Tuesday's winner will administer a department with an annual budget of $457,948, which includes $42,000 for the sheriff's salary, $33,000 for the chief deputy's salary, $243,120 to pay the other deputies, $21,000 for liability insurance and $54,000 for vehicle expenses.

"The budget is one of the more important issues," said Petton, 37, a former military policeman with the U.S. Marine Corps. "But this is my home. I want to make it better."

After his honorable discharge, Petton became a reserve deputy with the county, coming on full-time as a K-9 handler, working his way up to chief deputy until 2010. Since then, he was an investigator with the Missouri Humane Society and now in security for the Cape Girardeau hospital.

Shell, 41, also has a law enforcement background that he says makes him best suited for the job. He earned a bachelor's in criminal justice before a 22-year career in public safety that included stints at police departments in Jackson, Marble Hill and the Bollinger County Sheriff's Department.

Shell says that he wants to emphasize community policing if elected. He also said he has a lot to learn, declining to comment on several issues, he said, until he has been able to fully study the issues.

"I believe in getting out there in the community," Shell said. "It's a two-way street. If people become involved with something, they will work harder to get it fixed. That's how it happened."

smoyers@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

Marble Hill, Mo.

Perryville, Mo.