Archive for 2022

An accident happened Wednesday morning just after 9:20 in Dent County on Route JJ about a mile north of Highway 19. The report from the highway patrol states that a 2020 Chevrolet Malibu being driven north by 41-year-old Brooke Bettigrew of Salem, swerved to miss a deer in the roadway. This caused the vehicle to travel off the right side of the road and strike a tree. Bettigrew suffered minor injuries and was taken by Salem ambulance to the Salem Memorial District Hospital for treatment. The Chevrolet sustained extensive damage and was removed from the scene by American Automotive and Towing. The highway patrol was assisted at the scene by the Dent County Sheriff’s Department and the Dent County Fire Department.

The Salem R-80 High School will be holding a special assembly on Veteran’s Day to honor our local veterans. The school will serve the veterans breakfast in the high school cafeteria starting at 8:15. The students will begin assembling in the gym at 8:30, and then the school plans to have the veterans enter the gym around 8:45 and take their place in special seats. High School Principal Dr. Tori Snitker will welcome them. Everyone will say the “Pledge of Allegiance” before the Salem High School Chamber Singers sing the National Anthem. The high school will have a former veteran who will be their guest speaker give a short 10 to 15-minute speech. The high school band will play a patriotic number followed by a slide show prepared by the yearbook staff. The assembly will close with one of Salem’s own teachers playing Jimmy Hendrix’s National Anthem on his electric guitar at which time our Student Council members will pass out some cards and thank you notes to the veterans in attendance. The whole assembly is expected to last 50-60 minutes. Veterans can park on the top of the circle drive in the bus lanes and enter in the front doors to the lobby in front of the gym or they can enter the main office doors to the high school which have a ramp if they are handicapped. If anyone has any questions, please call the Salem high School at 729-6641.

The City of Salem Utility Committee met Wednesday evening at the Salem Community Center@The Armory. At the meeting, Mayor Greg Parker wanted to clarify the issue brought up at a previous meeting that the city is not really recycling and is just disposing of the items collected for recycling in landfills. Parker said drivers will not pickup someone’s recycling from their bin if they have items that Waste Corporation of America says they can’t recycle such as Styrofoam, plastic wrap, glass bottles, etc. You have to collect the items they can accept in your recycling bin and that list is on the city of Salem website at salemmo.com, go to utilities and click on the recycling schedule. If you are putting in items that are acceptable and the recycling bin is not being picked up. contact WCA at 1-417-741-7714 or leave a message for Mayor Parker at city hall and he will get back with you. He also said WCA is one of the few companies which has cameras that shows every stop they make for trash and recycling, and they can see if your trash or recycling was missed if you call. Public Works Director Mark Nash reported main water breaks have slowed down and small water leaks are being addressed when possible. He said there are some electrical connections that need to be rewired and not much work was done on the roads this year due to the high price of oil and the lack of companies doing asphalting or chip and seal work this summer. Nash said workers are still putting in setters for the new water meters, but not many have been done due to the numerous leaks in the water system. Committee John Hambacker proposed the committee look at restructuring the service availability charge rates for water by the size of the meter and feed line to adequately charge at the next meeting and not just have a one fee fits all size meters. The rest of the committee approved the request. The next meeting will be December 14th at 6:15. The meeting was then adjourned.

The City of Salem Community Service Committee will hold a meeting today at 5:30 at the Salem Community Center@The Armory at 1200 West Rolla Road. At the meeting, the committee will be discussing the 2022 fireworks display and discussing ideas for different projects. The meeting is open to the public.

The Salem Board of Aldermen met Tuesday evening at the Salem Community Center@the Armory. At the meeting, the board approved paying the invoice from the Dent County Extension for $5,800 to support 4-H and youth programs for the 2023 year. The board approved Mayor Greg Parker’s committee appointments of Bernie Sirois and David Weiss for the Finance Committee and Kristi Bermudez for the Park and Recreation Board. After the consent agenda was approved, the Board approved Bill #$3529 to accept the Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission Amendment #3 to the state block grant agreement that allowed the city to be reimbursed an additional $3,038.82 for work on the taxi-lanes at the Salem Airport. The board tabled Resolutions #37-2022 and 38-2022 regarding change orders on the “Welcome Home” Grant Program due to Alderman Kyle Williams not being in attendance and Alderwoman Kala Sisco abstained from voting as she works at Riverways Federal Credit Union. The board approved Resolution 39-2022 to continue to take samples for the purpose of sewer shed disease trend monitoring until June 27, 2023 and being reimbursed $100 per sample. This mayor will sign this agreement between the city and the Department of Health and Senior Services. The board also approved Resolution 40-2022 that allows the mayor to sign an application with the Missouri Department of Transportation to construct six T-hangers at the Salem Airport. Temporary City Administrator Sally Burbridge talked about the airport and representatives from Lochner Engineering were in attendance to explain the work to be done on the hangers. Also discussed from Mayor Greg Parker was a number of events saluting Veteran’s Day including events from SBU, the Salem High School and Town Screen. Public Works Director Mark Nash said the city is waiting on road salt but the shed and the new roof are ready. Work crews are working on equipment getting it ready for winter while other crews are repairing potholes. Nash said the fuel tank cleaning at the airport is expected to be done today and once completed, the city can look to get fuel and then the new card reader can be installed. Salem Park and Recreation Director Melissa Dubois said signups for the Youth Basketball and Cheerleading program continue to November 16th and 70 children have already signed up. The “Light Up The Park” event will be held again this year at the Salem City Park and if a group, business or organization would like to have a display, contact Dubois at salemparks@salemmo.com. She also said the bathrooms at Al Brown and the Salem City Park will be closing for the season Thursday afternoon and will remain closed until spring. Aldermen Shawn Bolerjack mentioned the city offices would be closed on Friday for Veteran’s Day. The board then went into closed session.

A General Election was held Tuesday nationally to determine a number of state and national offices as well as number of county offices. In Dent County, 5,083 ballots were cast which comes to 52.89% of registered voters cast their ballot. There were no locally contested races for Dent County as all races were decided in the Primary Election in August. Re-elected to their offices were Darrell Skiles as Dent County Presiding Commissioner, Angie Curley as Dent County Clerk, Cindy Edwards Ard as the Dent County Recorder of Deeds, Denita Williams as the Dent County Treasurer, Andrew M. Curley as the Dent County Prosecuting Attorney and Shannon VanKirk as the Dent County Collector. Also elected for the first time was Kristi (Morton) Craig as the Dent County Circuit Clerk taking over for Becky Swiney who retired. There were some races classified as state offices that were also uncontested and they were Ron Copeland as the State Representative for the 120th District and Associate Circuit Judge Nathan T. Kelsaw.

All results are unofficial. * Denotes winner

US Representative District 8
(All precincts reported)

Jason Smith* (Rep) 186,259 votes
Randi McCallian (Dem) 53,661 votes
Jim Higgins (Lib) 5,175 votes

State Senator District 16
(All precincts reported)

Justin Dan Brown* (Rep) 39,047 votes
Tara Anura (Dem) 9,341 votes