BENTON -- Eleven people, including six incumbents, filed for office in Scott County Tuesday, the first day candidates could file for the 1992 election.

The filings have already set up a number of contests for the August primary election.

In heavily Democratic Scott County, Republican candidates are rare at the county level and most contests are decided in the primary rather than the general election.

All of the candidates who filed Tuesday are Democrats.

Sheriff Bill Ferrell, who has served as sheriff for the past 16 years, filed for re-election to a fifth term.

He is being challenged by A.E. "Bud" Mills of Sikeston, a retired state trooper.

Coroner Scott Amick is being opposed in his re-election bid by Lonnie Ponder, 34, who owns a Sikeston funeral home.

Scott County Prosecuting Attorney David Dolan of Sikeston, who is in the middle of his first term as prosecutor, is challenging Fielding Potashnick of Sikeston for the position of Division IV associate circuit judge.

Lynn Ingram has filed for re-election to a second two-year term as First District county commissioner.

Ingram, who served for 24 years as circuit clerk before being elected commissioner, is opposed by Walter E. Bizzell of Sikeston.

Oran Mayor Bob Dennis filed Tuesday as a candidate for Second District commissioner, apparently setting up a contest with incumbent Joe Spalding of Benton.

Spalding has said he intends to seek a third two-year term.

Also filing Tuesday for re-election were Gerald Inman, who has served as county assessor since 1976; and Public Administrator Sonny Alcorn.

Ferrell said last week that he had faced opposition in political races in the past. "When I ran for sheriff the first time, there were nine people in the race."

Prior to being elected sheriff, Ferrell served as county assessor.

Mills, 58, of Sikeston served with the Missouri Highway Patrol for 30 years, retiring in 1988.

Prior to that, he served for 3 years on the Sikeston police force. In 1958, he ran for the job of Sikeston police chief, but was defeated.

As to running for sheriff, Mills said, "I've been planning on it since I retired."

If elected sheriff, he said, he would make a number of changes, particularly in terms of enforcement as opposed to serving court papers.

"There needs to be more enforcement than there is because of the drug and the criminal problem," he said.

Mills said that if elected sheriff, he would bring "an abundance of experience" to the job.

Bizzell, 59, touts his business background in his candidacy for county commissioner.

"County business should be run like a business," he said. "It is the only way you can benefit the citizens."

Bizzell was employed with the U.S. Postal Service for 31 years. He retired about nine years ago.

For the past 34 years, he has been involved in running a family business, Bizzell Lawn Care & Nursery in Sikeston.

Ingram, Bizzell's opponent, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Dennis, 50, said he believes his administrative skills as mayor of Oran would serve him well as a county commissioner.

"I've been the mayor of Oran for six years and it's interesting. I thought the county would be more interesting," he said.

"I just like to work with people," said Dennis, who operates a barbershop in Chaffee.

As to the position of associate circuit judge, Potashnick currently holds the office, having been appointed last month to fill the unexpired term of Lewis Blanton. Blanton left the post to take the job of federal magistrate in Cape Girardeau.

The election later this year will decide who will fill the remaining two years of the unexpired term.

Potashnick began practicing law in Sikeston in 1959. He served two terms as prosecuting attorney from 1965-1969.

He said Tuesday that he doesn't want to be just an interim judge. "I certainly intend to make it my career."

Dolan, who was elected prosecuting attorney in 1990, has been practicing law since 1981.

The job of prosecutor is a part-time one in third class counties such as Scott. As a result, a prosecutor must maintain a private law practice even while handling the county's caseload.

"At this level, hardly anyone would make a career of being a prosecutor," said Dolan.

He said he views the judgeship as "a career opportunity."

"I would basically think I could bring a lot of energy to the office," he said.