Archive for 2020

The Dent County Commissioners met Monday morning at the courthouse for their regular meeting. District 1 Commissioner Dennis Purcell was not in attendance due to a previous commitment. Sherry Lea, the executive Director of Healthy Dent County, was in to discuss the renewal of the rural addressing services they have been performing since 2008. The contract is for $12,000 annually to be paid in two semi-annual payments. The commission would also be responsible for the $995 maintenance fee. The commissioners voted to approve renewing the contract for another year. Dent County Treasurer Denita Williams presented the sales tax received by the county from the state in December and it was down from last December in all funds. In the General Revenue Fund and LEST Fund, they each received $84,644.84 this month and that is down $13,020.07 from last December, but year-to-date, the funds finished the 2020 year up $55,886.21 which is about a 5.7% increase. The Road and Bridge Fund received $39,771.38 and that was down from last year by $5,877.78, but year to date, the fund finished up $34,121.26 which is about 7.5%. The two jail funds, the Operating Fund and the Trust Fund, each received $79,550.59 and that is down $11,745.39 for December, but year to date, those funds are each up $67,796.97 which is about a 7.45% increase. Matt Presti was in to report on the Patriotic Rally held Saturday on the courthouse lawn and said 100 plus people attended with no altercations of any kind. He wanted to thank the commission for allowing them to use the lawn for the rally. In the road report, District 1 Road Supervisor Rodney Atkinson stated grading would be done on Dent County Roads 4210, 4215, 5610 and 5615, while materials would be added and grading done on county roads 6630 and 6633. He also said brush would be cut on county road 5620. District 2 Commissioner Gary Larson reported grading would be done on Dent County Road 3350 while materials would be added and grading done on county road 3330. He went on to say brush would be cut on county roads 4030 and 4330 while grader #31 would receive its 500 hour service. Presiding Commissioner Darrell Skiles said he attended the Ozark Rivers Solid waste Management District Full Council meeting last week where they received updates on grants and approved extensions on some awards. He said he attended by Zoom a Transportation Advisory Committee meeting at the Salem Community Center @ The Armory on Thursday with Ray Walden and Gary Brown attending. This meeting sets the region’s priorities they would like MoDOT to address in the coming year. Skiles said the first priority was putting in a bridge at the low water crossing on Route TT at Sligo over Crooked Creek, and the third priority was the replacement of the Highway 19 South Bridge over Gladden Creek, better known as the Standing Rock Bridge. Skiles said at the MRPC meeting later that night, the commission heard from Jason Jeffries from the Missouri Department of Conservation about feral hogs and other items of interest to the department. Skiles said he would be attending a CCAM meeting Wednesday in Jefferson City to get the latest information about the upcoming commissioner training and the legislative priorities of the counties. Skiles also reported at the FCC auction last week to provide broadband services to rural Missouri, Aptitude Internet out of Farmington received a large portion of the 7.4 million dollars that went to Dent County. Rural Electric Consortium will receive funds as well as CenturyLink to provide broadband in Dent County. Dent County Clerk Angie Curley said she is still working on the 2021 county budget, and Tuesday is the first day for candidates for the Municipal Election in April to file at the location of the entity they are running for except for those running for the Dent County Health Center Board of Directors and they need to file at the Dent County Clerks office. She also said she balanced with the collector and assessor on all collections, abatements and add-ons for the month of November. The commissioners approved a contract with the MRPC to continue to represent Dent County on the CARES Act distributions and the issuing of the upcoming tax form requirements as well as answering any auditing questions that may arise. Kurt Faigle of the 100 Wood Acre Rally was on a conference call with the commissioners and the rally will be held on March 19th and 20th, but there will be no Park Expose in downtown Salem that Saturday and no spectators will be allowed as of now at the normal spectator locations due to the pandemic. He still feels there will be a large contingent of vehicles that will register in 2021 as this has been one of the most popular races over the last two years with over 80 entries each year. The next meeting of the Dent County Commissioners will be Monday morning at 9:00 at the courthouse and the meeting is open to the public.

The University Extension of Missouri will be holding a Goat and Sheep Production Workshop this evening at 6:00 via Zoom. This is an online only workshop. Please call 1-816-324-3147 to receive a Zoom link.

The Dent County Service Unit of the Salvation Army wants to let everyone know that ALL the angels from this year’s “Angel Tree” at Wal-Mart have been selected. The local service unit wants to thank all those who helped out by taking care of one or more angels in this unusual year of 2020. Your support of the “Angel Tree” as well as the youth of Dent County is greatly appreciated.

A fatal accident occurred Friday afternoon at 4:41 in Crawford County on Highway 19 about four miles south of Cuba. According to the highway patrol report, a 2004 Nissan Quest driven by 42-year old Michael Rayoum of Rolla, was traveling northbound when he traveled off the right side of the roadway, overcorrected and came back on the roadway and struck head-on a 2018 Kia Optima driven by 31-year old Adam Crocker of Cuba who was traveling southbound. Crocker was transported to the Missouri Baptist Hospital in Sullivan by the North Crawford Ambulance. He was pronounced dead at 5:45 by Dr. Melissa Bradley at the hospital. Rayoum was arrested for a DWI resulting in the death of another person. He was also charged with the possession of less than 10 grams of marijuana, failure to drive on the right side of the roadway and for not wearing a seat belt. He was released for the treatment of moderate injuries suffered in the accident and was transported by the North Crawford Ambulance to Missouri Baptist in Sullivan. Crocker was not wearing a seat restraint at the time of the accident. Both vehicles were removed from the scene by Miles and Sons’ Towing. The highway patrol was assisted by the Cuba Police Department and the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office. This was the 1st fatality in Troop I for the month of December.

An accident occurred Saturday morning at 2:45 in Dent County on Route H at Route CC. According to the highway patrol report, a 1992 Dodge Power Ram driven by 23-year old Hank Martin of Beulah, was traveling westbound and failed to stop at a stop sign, traveled through the intersection and struck a tree. Martin suffered serious injuries and was flown by Air Evac to Springfield Mercy. The Dodge was totaled and removed from the scene by American Muffler. Martin was not wearing a seat restraint at the time of the accident.

The Salem Memorial District Hospital Board of Directors will conduct their December meeting Tuesday, December 15th, in the hospital library beginning at 12:00 noon. After the call to order, roll call, and approval of the minutes of the November 17th meeting, Hospital Administrator Kasey Lucas will report on the summary of the operations for the month of November, followed by the Chief of Nursing Report by Debbie Hines. A report on the hospital foundation, plus the marketing and community perception report will be given by Chief Operating Officer Jason Edwards. Lucas will then go over the COVID-19 update and an update on Hospital expansion and renovation, plus election filing. New business will include purchases since the last meeting. The board may vote to go into closed session. Due to COVID-19 social distancing guidelines, the December meeting of the Salem Memorial District Hospital Board of Directors will be conducted by zoom. The meeting is open to anyone to join. For information on how to access the meeting via zoom, please email kbrown@smdh.net or call (573) 729-5917, extension 4005.

An accident happened Saturday evening at 8:58 in Shannon County on Route D about one half mile west of Flatwood. According to the highway patrol report, a 1996 Ford Ranger driven eastbound by 26-year old Michael Treadway of Salem, traveled off the right side of the roadway and struck a tree. Treadway suffered minor injuries and as transported by the Mercy Ambulance to the Salem Memorial District Hospital. Treadway was wearing a seat restraint at the time of the accident. The Ford Ranger was totaled and removed from the scene by Sartin’s Towing.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol would like to remind the public that driver examination stations throughout the state will be closed on Thursday, December 24th in observance of Christmas Eve, and Friday, December 25th, in observance of Christmas Day. Normal operations will resume Monday, December 28, 2020. The driver examination stations will also be closed on Friday, January 1st for New Year’s Day. Normal operations will resume on Monday, January 4th.

The Salem Christmas Committee’s “Holidays at Home” continues this Saturday with the 29th Annual Cookie Walk from 10:00 in the morning until 1:00 in the afternoon at the Bonebrake Center. Please remember to wear a mask and practice social distancing. Then at 7:00 at the Salem Civic Theatre, better know as the City Hall Auditorium, it will “Christmas with Cash and the King” with Roger Robinson as Johnny Cash and Sean Michael as Elvis Presley. Tickets for the show will be $10 and only available at the door. For more information, call 806-598-2310. Don’t forget the “Light Up the Park” light display at the Salem City Park will continue through January 1st and that is absolutely free. In case you didn’t know, there are two parts to the “Light up the Park” as the first part is main entrance to the Salem City Park and that will exit out on to Park Street, but the display continues off of Park Place Drive to the west of the Salem Community Center @The Armory where you can drive down into the parking area for additional displays. Don’t forget to tune into 97.5 while at the park to enjoy Christmas music during your drive.

As part of the Environmental Assessment, the Missouri Department of Transportation is currently accepting public input on a proposed project to improve the Highway 19 Round Spring Bridges over the Current River and Spring Valley in Shannon County. The goal of the project is to improve the condition and functionality of these aging structures. Although funding is not yet secured for the project, MoDOT is exploring alternatives for replacing or rehabilitating each structure through the study. The Environmental Assessment will include a detailed overview of alternatives for each structure and will ultimately result in a recommendation for a preferred alternative at each bridge location. In addition, as part of the Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act review process, the public is encouraged to provide input regarding the historical significance of these bridges or the potential impacts of the proposed project. Interested persons may review the project in more detail and share their thoughts at www.modot.org/roundspringbridges. Comments may also be shared with MoDOT Project Manager Pete Berry at (417) 469-6242 or Consultant Project Manager David Kocour at (816) 256-8584.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol invites the public to visit their updated website at statepatrol.dps.mo.gov. The improved Missouri State Highway Patrol design works best with Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox browser. The home page has been advanced and modernized to make finding information easier and to improve the user’s experience. The Patrol’s new Show-Me Integrity Accountability Portal is featured prominently to provide an in-depth look into the Patrol’s organization, training, career opportunities, and key statistics. The Patrol added a “What’s Trending” window at the bottom of the homepage, showing the agency’s Twitter posts so those who do not use social media will still be able to follow the most recent agency news. They want their website to be a service to the public and feel it’s important that visitors can easily find the information they need. When you visit our homepage, statistics, driver examination locations, career opportunities, and troop headquarters’ locations are only a few clicks away.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol has released an arrest report from Thursday morning at 9:46 in Phelps County. According to the report, 31-year old Derick Place of Salem was charged displaying the plates of another person on his vehicle and not wearing a seat belt. Place was also charged with a Texas County Warrant for driving while having his license suspended, a Phelps County warrant for driving while having his license suspended, a second offense plus a charge for displaying excessive vision reducing material. Price is currently in the Texas County Jail and is bondable.