Columbia Missourian Newspaper 1982-11-03

              STATS HISTORIC f, SOCIETY 13134
HITT & LORY ST. GZP. y
COLUMBIA, Ki. 65201
Democrats score big gains in Congress See Page 5A
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75th Year No. 44 Good Mgrnjn! It's Wednesday, November 3, 1 982 7 Sections 60 Pages 25 Cents
By Jim Hlrsch and John Boudreau
Mlssourlan staff writers
Boone County voters Tuesday swept wom-en
into six top county offices and gave Demo-crats
a majority on the County Court
Voters also defeated a controversial fee
proposal to finance an as- yet- unformu- lated
building code but approved increases in
marriage and divorce fees.
In the court races, Democrat Norma Robb
defeated Republican David Kerndge for
Boone County Court Presiding judge. Mrs.
Robb, the first woman to serve in the posi-tion,
ran away with the race, 19,336 to 9,076.
Incumbent Republican Kay Roberts easily
defeated Democrat Don Griffin and indepen-dent
Gene Thieman in the court's Southern
District Mrs. Roberts received 10,301 votes
to Griffin's 5,552 and TMeman's 883.
Democrat Ales Gates defeated Republican
Virgil Lindner for the court's Northern Dis-trict
judicial seat. Gates won easily, 7,161 to
4,184.
, The county clerk's race was no contest,
with Democrat Wendy Noren defeating Re- -
publican Ace Rowley 20,593 to 7,920. And m
the county auditor's race, incumbent Repub-lican
Deborah Robison beat Democratic
challenger James Varvaro, 17,527 to 10,205
Circuit Clerk Marine Owens and Recorder
of Deeds Bettie Johnson, both Democratic
incumbents, were re- elect- ed without opposi-tion.
Mrs. Robb, co- own- er of Little Dixie Press
and former chairman of the Boone County
Democratic Central Committee, cam-paigned
on her experience. Her business and
political ties had given her a high profile in
the Columbia area. Mrs. Robb favored a
countywide version of the building code had
the fee been approved. " I think it was a com-bination
of people agreeing with me on the
issues and of being better known," Robb
said. " I've been involved m county politics,
and I think I have a better knowledge of
county government than ( my opponent)."
Kerndge saw his campaign sputter during
the last two weeks when an accident con-fined
him to his home in Rocheporte, where
he is mayor. Kerndge injured his leg when
he fell from a moving truck during a Colum-bia
parade. When he was active, Kerndge
campaigned that county government needs
to reduce the size of its budget. But Kerndge
lacked the organization and name recogni-tion
to challenge Mrs Robb
" I definitely think I would have made a
better showing if I hadn't had that silly acci-dent,"
Kerndge said. Kerndge cited a pre-ponderance
of " Civil War Democrats" and
" the women's vote" as reasons for his loss.
In retaining her Southern Distnct seat,
Mrs Roberts will be the court's lone Repub-lican
and only returning judge Her cam-paign,
which emphasized she was the one
candidate who could provide continuity to
the next court, had supenor organization to
that of her opponents Her incumbency also
gave her greater media visibility, especially
in Columbia Mrs. Roberts supported a lim-ited
building code proposal after opposing a
countywide code
" When you hold office and work hard, the
people can see that and can make their
judgement at the polls," Mrs. Roberts said
" Regardless of which party controls the next
court, the challenge will still be to serve the
people."
Griffin, currently the county surveyor,
campaigned on his knowledge of the county's
constuction needs specifically, the need
for a countywide building code. Griffin
hoped Mrs. Roberts' position on building
codes which he desenbed as " waffling"
would detract from her support. But Gnf- fin- ' s
campaign was slow in starting and
lacked sufficient money He said he spent
$ 1,500 of his own money.
" I have no real campaign regrets, al-though
perhaps I should have canvassed the
the neighborhoods better " Griffin said " I
will continue to work as county surveyor, but
I do not plan on running for pubbc office
again "
Thieman, an engmeenng consultant and
military surplus dealer, had little visibility
in his campaign Thieman said he ran as ar
independent so he could speak freely on is-sues,
without having to answer to party lead-ers
But without financial or organizational
support, he had little chance to win
For Northern Distnct judge. Gates cele-brated
his 63rd birthday Tuesday with his
victory During the campaign he stressed
his expenence as a career agriculture exten-sion
agent and Boone County farmer His
campaign, organized by a group of 10 to 15
supporters, steered clear of contro ersy In-stead,
it capitalized on Gates rural appeal
and his expenence in pubbc budgets
" I had a lot more pubbc service work than
Mr Lindner," Gates said, " and I have great- Se- e
LOCAL, Page 5A
Election Results
At a Glance
U. S. SENATE
( 3347 of 3988 Precincts)
John Danforth ( R- l- ) 721,313
I Harriett Wood3( D) 698,705
STATE AUDITOR
( 2179 of 3988 Precincts)
Jim Antonio ( R I) . . . 443,643
James Butler ( D) 326,862
U. S. CONGRESS
NINTH DISTRICT
( 326 of 528 Precincts)
Larry Mead ( R) .... 34,202
Harold Volkmer( D- l-) ...... 54,432
U. S. CONGRESS
FOURTH DISTRICT
( 378 of 518 Precincts)
Wendell Bailey ( R) .. 52,762
Ike Skelton ( D) .61 ,637
U. S. CONGRESS
ocicnin urainivi ( 328 of 473 Precincts)
Gene Taylor ( R) 51 ,456
David Gelsler ( D) .49,624
U. S. CONGRESS
EIGHTH DISTRICT
( 344 of 585 Precincts)
Jerry Ford ( D) . .. 45,882
Bill Emerson ( R) 43,690
PROPOSITION B
4- Ce- nt Fuel Tax Increase
( 2076 of 3888 Precincts)
Yes . . .234,319
No -- 41 1,239
PROPOSITION C
Sales Tax for Schools, Roads
( 2076 of 3988 Precincts)
Yes 344,492
No . 315,161
PROPOSITION D
Citizens Utility Board
( 1711 of 3838 Precincts)
Yes 214,567
No . ... 323,920
MISSOURI HOUSE
24th District
diii i- r-ecn
imj 4,3tK
Jim Pauley ( D) 4,461
MISSOURI HOUSE
25th District
Cathy Fitzsimmons( R) 2,694
Ken Jacob( D) 3,513
MISSOURI HOUSE
26th District
Del Gebhardt ( R) 3,552
Chris Kelly ( D) 7,684
COUNTY COURT
Presiding Judge
I David Kerridge( R) 9,076
Norma Robb ( D) 19,388
COUNTY COURT
Southern District
Kay Roberts ( R-- l) 1 0,301
Don Griffin ( D) 5,552
Louis Thieman ( Ind ) 883
COUNTY COURT
Northorn District
Virgil Lindner ( R) 4,184
W. A ( Alex) Gates ( D) 7,161
COUNTY AUDITOR
Deborah Robison ( R I) . .. 17,527
James Vavaro( D) .... 10,205
CIRCUIT JUDGE
Milt Harper ( R) 1 4,862
( Gene Hamilton ( D) 23,181
ASSOCIATE CIRCUIT JUDGE
Mary Joe Smith ( R) 11,015
Stan Clay ( D) 17,008
COUNTY QUESTION NO. 1
Merriaga License Fees
Yea .. 17,917
No 10,059
COUNTY QUESTION NO. 2
Building Codas Ffres
Yes 11,884
No 15.053
CITY BOND ELECTION
Strast Bond Issue
Yea 12,075
No 4.391
DEPOSITLAW REPEAL
Yes - -- 8,016
No 9,147
NUCLEAR WEAPONS FREEZE
Yes -- 9,718
No - -- 6.683
( R) Republican .
( D) Democrat
( I) Incumbent
( Ind) Independent
r
i
Kwrinyireba Adam
Newly elected Presiding Judge Norma Robb is congratulated by her son- in- la- w, Mike Coates.
Upset puts
3 Demos
in House
By Silvia Ascarelli
Missounan stall writer
Democrat Jim Pauley surprised
almost everybody with his upset vic-tory
in the 24th District race Tues-day.
And with that wm, Democrats
took all three Boone County seats in
the state House of Representatives
When Pauley, Ken Jacob and
Chris Kelly take office in January , it
will be the first time Democrats
have held all Boone County seats
since 1966.
Pauley defeated Republican Bill
Freeh 4,461 to 4,385
Jacob was a surprisingly easy win-ner
over Republican Cathy Fitzsim- mon- s,
taking the 25th Distnct seat
with a vote of 3,513 to 2,694 Kelly
handily defeated Repubhcan Del
Gebhardt by a vote of 7,684 to 3,552 in
the race for the 26th Distnct seat
Pauley, who had been trailing in
the " doughnut distnct" all evening,
took the lead for good as a result of
overwhelming support from Ash-land,
his hometown.
A surprised Freeh, who leaves his
position as Boone County Court pre-siding
judge in January , said his de-feat
was due in part to the Demo-cratic
nature of the county Another
factor, he said, was his failure to
spend adequate time on the cam-paign
trad
" My decision not to slight county
government to go knocking on doors
campaigning had an effect, I think,"
he said " But it was a decision I
made and a decision I'm willing to
take the consequences for I'm the
kind of person who tnes to do one job
at a tune" "- - Pauley ran a low- budg- et cam-paign,
spending slightly more than
$ 1,000. He relied on campaigning
door- to- do- or and meeting voters at
community suppers
A happy but tired Jacob attnbuted
his victory in eastern Columbia to
voters' knowledge of his public serv-ice
record, not just his name. He also
ated voter dissatisfaction with Re-pubhcan
policies
" I feel like the Democrats have a
plan of action reform taxes, be
See FRONTRUNNER, Page 20A
Suburban St. Louis gives Danforth
margin needed to squeak by Woods
United Press International
ST. LOUIS Sen. John Danforth
survived the scare of his life to nar-rowly
defeat challenger Harriet
Woods and return to the U. S. Senate.
The lead changed hands through-out
the evening with the two candi-dates
often separated by less than
500 ballots. But Danforth surged
ahead as returns from the final pre-cincts
trickled in, and led by 747,531
to 723,794 with 86 percent of the vote
tallied.
" Oh, man, was that ever tough," a
jubilent Danforth screamed to his
supporters at a downtown St Louis
party.
" There were many, many nice
things that have been done for me
during the campaign, but nothing
beats the man sitting in front of a
polling place in south St Louis today
who reached in his pocket and hand-ed
me a Rolaids."
Mrs. Woods conceded after mid-night,
saying " the numbers are very
clear and I see no way for us to close
the gap. He has the endorsement of
the people of Missouri, but he also
knows our campaign made clear to
him some very special needs and
very special concerns of the people
of Missouri."
" We have run a magnificent
race," she said.
The margin of victory was pro-vided
in St Louis County, which sur-rounds
the aty of St. Louis. The
county, which gave Danforth a
65,000- vo- te plurality, is one of the
most well- to- d- o in the state and
heavily Republican.
Danforth, one of the Senate's
wealthiest members as heir to the
Ralston Purina Co. fortune, was a
supporter of President Reagan's
economic programs and the race
was billed as a test of Reaganomics
hi the nation's heartlands.
It was not atest DanfortFreushedT
His campaign ads told voters to
" vote the man, not the party." And
Danforth never called on President
Reagan to help him in the campaign.
f
Danforth held a lead of 17 percent-age
points over Mrs. Woods follow-ing
the August primary, but she was
able to cut into that advantage and
was said to hold a sum lead the week
before the election.
Just before she appeared before
her supporters, Mrs. Woods said she
was watching " Mission Impossible"
on television. When she started her
campaign, mat would have been a
good title.
But she hammered away on Dan- fort- h's
votes on Social Security. " We
created a new politic! force in the
state," she said, " It was for all the
people wanting something to believe
in. We cme so far; we just fell a little
bit short."
Going into'the last week, both can-didates
believed they were in a dead
heat In fact, the vote totals thoug- ho- ut
the evening were even until al-most
midnight when Danforth
started pulling away.
Boone County voters backed Dan-forth
15,504- 13,98- 2.
Election News
Inside
Missouri Congress races .. Page 3A
Missouri auditor . ... Page 3A
State fuel tax hike Page 3A
State sales tax hike Page 3A
Constitutional changes Page 3A
US. Senate wrapup . . Page5A
Congressional wrapup . PageSA
Governor results . . Page5A
National summary Page 5A
Nuclear freeze issues Page5A
Nationwide referenda Page 5A
Local voting heavy .. Page 20A
Circuit Court races . ... Page 20A
Container deposit . . Page20A
City parks fees .. . Page20A
City nuclear freeze Page 20A
i
6 pm High school soccer dis
tnct playoffs. Rock Bridge vs Sto-ver
Albert Oakland Park
8 p. m. High school soccer dis-trict
playoffs, Hickman vs Kemper
Military Albert Oakland Park
7: 30 p m Joseph & the Amaz
ing Technicolor Dreamcoat,"
Warehouse Theater, Stephens Col
lege, $ 6 public, $ 4 students
Inside
Business . .19A
Classified .. 6- 8- C
Comics 18A
Food .. ..... l- S- B
Opinion , eA
Record 19A
Sports 15- 16- A j