REP. AMICK COULD BECOME CASUALTY OF REDISTRICTING

State Rep. Ollie Amick of Scott City likely will become a casualty of heavy population losses in the Bootheel when a new map of the 163 Missouri House districts is finalized.

The seven present House districts in Southeast Missouri south of Cape Girardeau County are in total about 23,000 people below the ideal size of a district based on 1990 census figures. That virtually assures that Southeast Missouri will have one less representative when a final plan is agreed to later this year.

Both Democratic and Republican maps will be discussed on Thursday at a meeting of the House Redistricting Commission. They show Amick in districts with incumbent representatives.

Mel Weems, the Democratic member of the commission from the 8th District, said Tuesday that although he has a revised plan he hopes to propose this week, it likely will have Amick sharing a district.

"Any way we shuffle it, in Southeast Missouri we will lose one representative," said Weems, of Bonne Terre. "I'm not sure exactly how this is going to work out."

Weems said his plan, which he wants to discuss with John Lichtenegger of Jackson, the Republican commission member from the 8th District, does not put any representatives in the same district except possibly for Amick.

"Something has to give, and I understand that," said Amick, in his second term. "I'm a realist."

Amick said he did not like the way some of the plans divide small cities and school districts, and he hopes the final map will keep that from happening.

"I don't have much to say about this; I have made my wishes known but the rest is up to the commission or up to the courts," said Amick. "I've been giving it some thought, but I haven't been losing any sleep."

An ideally sized district is 31,393 people. Amick's present 160th District, which includes most of Mississippi County and North Scott County, is 2,648 people shy of the right size. But the three districts in the Bootheel have suffered heavy population losses that will have to be made up by expanding elsewhere.

Rep. Gene Copeland, D-New Madrid, is 5,478 people short of the ideal size in the 161st District; Rep. Opal Parks, D-Caruthersville, is 5,223 people shy in the 162nd District; and Rep. Larry Thomason, D-Kennett, needs to make up 3,931 people in his 163rd District.

Further complicating the problems for Amick is that Rep. Dennis Ziegenhorn, D-Sikeston, is 3,207 residents short in the 157th District, which includes the part of Scott County Amick does not have and a small part of Stoddard County.

Adding to Amick's problems is that he cannot move east because of the Mississippi River and probably cannot move north because of agreement by Weems and Lichtenegger to keep two House districts within the boundaries of Cape County.

"There just is not much room to play," said Amick.

Under a Democratic map that was prepared, Amick would be in the same district as Rep. David Schwab, R-Jackson; under a Republican map, Amick would share a district with Ziegenhorn.

The Democratic map would put Amick and Schwab together, putting only Scott City from Amick's present district into the new district. Wards 16 and 18 in Cape Girardeau, the city of Jackson, and most of the out-county area of Cape County would become part of the new district.

The Whitewater area of Cape County would go into a new district represented by Rep. Marilyn Williams, D-Dudley.

Under the Republican map, all of Mississippi County would be moved from Amick to Copeland with most of north Scott County and all but one precinct in Sikeston going to the district he would share with Ziegenhorn. Oran and Chaffee would be divided under the GOP plan, with half of those communities represented by the Ziegenhorn-Amick district and the other half by Williams.

Another version of the Democratic plan put Williams and Rep. Mark Richardson, R-Poplar Bluff, in the same district. Weems said he opposes such a plan.

"My map leaves Richardson alone; we don't want to try and eliminate Republican representatives that are in office now," said Weems. "Both sides will have to make some compromises, but right now I don't know where those points are going to be. I think my map is workable, feasible and fair to everyone concerned."

Lichtenegger could not be reached on Tuesday; however, Weems said he hoped to meet with him tonight or early Thursday to try and reach a consensus on how the 8th District should look.

"I don't think John and I are too far apart," said Weems.

Weems said he was optimistic that the 18 commissioners will reach a general agreement on a map this week. "I think when we broke up from the last meeting, both sides were resolved that we are going to work this thing out and not let it go to court."

Throughout the process, Weems said he has tried to maintain an open mind and work out a map that is fair to everyone.

"We are not trying to deliberately draw out a Democrat or Republican," said Weems. "We have tried to be as fair as we can and give everybody as fair a territory as we can to do the best thing we can for the state as a whole."