JACKSON -- A crowd of candidates is interested in succeeding Norman Copeland as sheriff of Cape Girardeau County.

But by the time voters have an opportunity to focus on the race, the field will be reduced to two.

Voters on Nov. 8 will decide who will serve the final two years of Copeland's term. But it will be up to the county Democratic and Republican central committees to select their party's nominee.

Copeland, who has been sheriff since March 1986, announced last month that he will resign as of Aug. 1. The county commission appointed Copeland's chief deputy, Leonard Hines, to serve as interim sheriff.

Because of the time remaining in Copeland's four-year term, state statutes require that voters chooce a sheriff for the remainder of the term. The law also provides for the party central committees to choose a nominee.

That means the battle to narrow the field of candidates will be waged before small groups of party committeemen, who will decide on their nominees in early August.

Four Republicans and three Democrats have indicated to committee members and party officials that they are interested. The campaign for the nomination likely will be waged through letters, telephone calls and living-room meetings of committee members.

Cape Girardeau County Republican Chairman Steve Wilson said candidates interested in the GOP nomination are: Steve Wilson (no relation to the party chairman), who works for the Missouri Department of Conservation; Steve Strong, a captain with the Cape Girardeau Police Department; John Jordon, who is employed by the sheriff's department; and Rick Fehr, a former Cape Girardeau police officer now is in charge of security at St. Francis Medical Center.

Interested Democratic candidates, according to Cape Girardeau County Democratic Chairman Rick Althaus, are: Benny Hinton, a sergeant with the Missouri State Highway Patrol serving in the Jackson office; Doug Richards, director of public safety at Southeast Missouri State University; and Mike Hurst, who is employed at the sheriff's department.

Both Wilson and Althaus say they are pleased with the quality of candidates, which means voters will enable voters to consider well-qualified nominees in November.

"We've got a wonderful group of people," said Wilson. "They all have good experience and appear to have good qualifications."

Althaus repeated Wilson's sentiments. He vowed the Democratic ticket would have a "strong nominee."

Confusion about the selection process persists, however, which County Clerk Rodney Miller hope to clarify this week.

Miller cannot officially notify the party chairmen of the vacancy until it occurs. He intends to call both chairmen on Aug. 1 and follow up with written notification.

State law requires the two party heads to call a central committee meeting to choose a candidate within 14 days of being notified of the vacancy.

That means committees must choose their nominees by Aug. 16, which also is the date political party central committees hold organizational meetings to elect committee members.

That opens a question of who actually will pick the sheriff nominee, the old or new committee. Typically, committee positions do not change significantly.

"We are trying to resolve the question on which committee makes the decision," said Miller. "But since the new committee will have been officially elected, I think they will make the choice even though the organizational meeting will not be held until later. I am waiting for a legal response from the secretary of state's office so I can let the party chairmen know."