Archive for 2023

An accident happened in Dent County Saturday night at 10:04 at the intersection of Dent County Roads 4110 and 4180. According to the highway patrol report, 2000 Toyota Solora driven westbound by 26-year-old Tyler Savorka of Cheyenne, Wyoming, failed to yield at the intersection and traveled off the right side of the roadway where the Toyota struck a tree. Savorka was arrested for driving while being intoxicated – a prior offender; and for not driving on the right half of the roadway resulting in an accident. He suffered moderate injuries and was released for medical treatment and was transported by an ambulance to the Salem Memorial Hospital. Savorka was wearing a seat restraint at the time of the accident. The Toyota sustained extensive damage and was removed from the scene by Whitaker’s Towing.

An accident happened early Saturday morning at 3:20 in Phelps County on Route KK. According to the highway patrol report, a 2000 Ford Taurus driven westbound by 40-year-old Charles Martin of Salem, crossed the center line and traveled off the left side of the roadway where the Ford struck a tree. Martin suffered minor injuries and was transported to Phelps Health. He was wearing a seat restraint at the time of the accident. The Ford sustained moderate damages and was removed from the scene by Spurgeon’s Towing.

The City of Salem’s Parks and Recreation Board will meet Tuesday at 5:30 at the Salem Community Center @ The Armory. After the call to order and roll call, there will be a board appointment followed by approval of the minutes of the May 22nd meeting minutes. The Parks and Recreation Director’s Report will be given, the budget will be reviewed, and there will be a discussion of Salem Walking Trails/ The Board may vote to go into closed session. The meeting of the Parks and Recreation Board was called by Board President Carlos Lopez. The meeting is open to the public.

The Salem Memorial Hospital Board of Directors will hold their regular meeting at 6:00 in the hospital library Tuesday evening. After the minutes are approved, Interim Administrator Jason Edwards will give his report before the board hears the summary of operations for the month of August as well as statistics for the month. They will also hear about the 340B program, hear the Chief Nursing Officer report, be updated on Human Resources, and receive a report on the hospital foundation. The board will discuss marketing and community relations before being updated on the state grant and matching funds for a capital improvement. In old business, the board will discuss a strategic planning update, the operational budget property tax appropriation, a capital budget review and set dates for the finance committee to meet. In new business, the board will receive a revenue cycle update. The board may then vote to go into closed session. The Salem Memorial Hospital Board of Directors meeting is open to the public.

The Missouri Department of Conservation encourages deer hunters to share their harvests to help feed hungry Missourians. Missouri’s deer season opened Friday with archery hunting, and will run through the close of the second archery portion on January 15, 2024 with other hunting portions during this time. MDC also reminds deer hunters to have their deer tested for chronic wasting disease and follow related regulations. MDC encourages deer hunters to share their harvests by donating surplus venison to the Share the Harvest program to help feed hungry Missourians. The donated deer meat goes to local food banks and food pantries to help feed hungry Missourians all around the state. To get Share the Harvest venison, contact local food banks or food pantries. Donating is easy. Simply take harvested deer to an approved meat processor and let the processor know how much venison to donate. Meat-processing fees are covered entirely or in part by numerous local sponsors, along with statewide sponsors. The program is administered by the Conservation Federation of Missouri and MDC, and has provided nearly 5 million pounds of lean, healthy venison to help feed hungry Missourians since it was started in 1992. Children need protein in their diets for proper growth and development, and adults need it to maintain good health. Yet many Missourians can’t afford or can’t get to good sources of protein. Through Share the Harvest, Missouri hunters can help provide those in need with high-quality protein in the form of naturally lean, locally harvested deer meat. For more information on Share the Harvest, visit MDC online at mdc.mo.gov/share.

The Dent County Commission met Thursday morning at the Dent County Courthouse. In the road report, District 1 Commissioner Wes Mobray stated brush would be cut on Dent County Road 6370 while maintenance will be done in the shop. The other crew will continue to put up signs where old signs have either been damaged or stolen. District 2 Commissioner Gary Polk said grading was being done on Dent County Road 2550 while vines were being cut on county road 2570 and low hanging limbs were being removed over county road 2120. Presiding Commissioner Gary Larson received a report from Jill Hollowell from MRPC concerning the special electronics and tire collection held this past Saturday in Salem. Hollowell stated a total of 6.9 tons were collected diverting these products from the landfill. There were 2.2 tons of tires collected and 4.7 tons in electronics brought in. The 6.9 tons of materials collected set a new record for Dent County whose previous record was 6.6 tons collected back in 2017. The commission was also contacted by Town and Country Bank for more information on the two new John Deere graders the county is getting. The bank was awarded the lease/purchase bid at the last meeting. They needed the vehicle identification numbers and other information for the lawyers to prepare the paperwork. Larson also said the county needs to send in a report on the funds received in the opioid settlement by the end of the month. The county has not yet dispersed any of those funds to date so the reports should be fairly simple. Dent County Clerk Angie Curley said she balanced on all collections, abatements and add-ons for the month of August with the collector and assessor. The next meeting of the commission will be Monday morning at 9:00 and the meeting will be open to the public.

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey announced his office has obtained a default judgment against Zechariah Hockersmith, and ProCare Pools, LLC, of Phelps County for falsely promising to provide pool installation and maintenance services to Missouri homeowners. He collected advance payments for work that was never completed. The judgment prohibits Hockersmith and ProCare Pools from advertising or selling pool repair or construction services in Missouri. Further, the judgment orders Hockersmith and his business to pay approximately $99,000 in restitution, $9,900 to the Missouri Merchandising Practices Fund, and $6,000 in civil penalties. Attorney General Bailey encourages Missourians who believe they may have been victims of a construction scam to file a complaint with the Attorney General’s Office by calling the Consumer Protection Hotline at (800) 392-8222 or by submitting a complaint online at ago.mo.gov.

An accident happened in Phelps County Wednesday afternoon at 1:32 on Highway 63 about four miles south of Rolla that left three people with serious injuries. According to the highway patrol report, a 1998 Ford Taurus was traveling southbound and being driven by 83-year old Audrey Pritchett of Rolla, when a 1993 Chrysler Le Baron driven by 25-year-old Lex Kibler of Rolla, failed to yield to the Taurus while making a left hand turn. The Taurus struck the Le Baron in the driver’s side door, causing both vehicles to travel off the left side of the roadway. A passenger in the Le Baron, 34-year-old Brianna Chanineak of Bolivar, was ejected from the vehicle and was flown by Air Evac to the University Hospital in Columbia. Kibler was air lifted by Phelps Air to the University Hospital in Columbia. Pritchett was taken to Phelps Health in Rolla by the Phelps Health Ambulance. Neither Kibler or Chanineak were wearing seat restraints while Pritchett was. Both vehicles were totaled and removed from the scene by D&D Towing. The highway patrol was assisted at the scene by the Phelps County Sheriff’s Department.

An accident occurred Wednesday afternoon around 3:30 in Dent County on Highway 72 at Route C in the eastbound lane. According to the highway patrol report, a 2019 Chevrolet Box-truck driven by 28-year-old Chance Callahan of St. James, was stopped waiting to make a left hand turn. At that time, a 2014 GMC Terrain driven by 80-year-old Sarah Galloway of Salem, struck the back end of the Chevrolet. Galloway and a passenger, 81-year-old Robert Galloway of Salem, suffered minor injuries and were transported to the Salem Memorial Hospital by the Salem Ambulance. Both injured parties were wearing safety restraints at the time of the accident. The GMC was totaled and removed from the scene by American Muffler Towing. The Chevrolet was driven from the scene.

The City of Salem Utility Committee met Wednesday evening for their regular meeting at the Salem Community Center@The Armory. At the meeting, City of Salem Finance Director Stacey Houston went over the two month revenue and expense totals for the utilities that showed the Electric Fund had revenues over expenses of $483,585, the water fund had revenues over expenses of $24,721 and sewer fund had revenues over expenses of $75,666. In her report, Houston showed the utility fund balances since the beginning of the fiscal year as a whole have gained almost $530,000 and total $3,901,238 as of August 31st. City Administrator Sally Burbridge reported the city is working with Exceleron on accepting credit card payments online and on an automated phone system that will accept payments 24/7. The city will be working on the components over the next few weeks before putting this part of the system in operation. There will be a fee for users to charge their bills using either of these two credit card elements. The online and automated phone pay system are two of the three pieces that city wants to make happen with the other part being a pre-pay system which is not ready. She is not sure at this time when that will be ready. The city is also working on e-mailing utility bills. They are working with EnCode on this and they will be loading the program on the back end of the city’s system. Once these are tested, they will be offered to citizens and Administrator Burbridge hopes that will be by the next meeting, but said that is if everything works correctly. Burbridge also said she has signed up to attend the MPUA Annual Conference September 27th through the 29th in Branson. She also said an MMMPEP Committee meeting with the Plum Point participants will be held November 1st with an MMMPEP full committee meeting to be held November 2nd. After a discussion on having the water tested at each of the wells for $3,691 per well as quoted by Pace Laboratories, the committee made no motion to have the water tested. Committee Chair Kyle Williams said the Board of Aldermen would like to have a workshop with the Utility Committee to discuss utilities outside the city limits. Much if not all of the workshop may be in closed session after the next aldermen meeting depending upon the topic discussed. Net metering was discussed where a resident is concerned that he is not getting the credit due since his system was installed. Public Works Director Mark Nash said he believes the gentleman has, but the way the current electric meter is configured, it does not show how the credit is applied. Nash said the meter needs to be reprogrammed to provide a cumulative usage. He said that after the meter is reprogrammed, if it shows the gentleman did not get the proper credit, the utility department will make the appropriate credit. After other questions from the public, the meeting was adjourned.

The Dent County Fire Protection District Board of Directors met Tuesday evening at the fire station. The financial report showed an ending balance as of August 31st of $145,732.25. Bills, payments and statements along with the budget were then reviewed and approved. Treasurer Dave Wells then reminded the board that money will have to be transferred from the general account to the Progressive Ozark Bank account for the upcoming loan payment for the renovation loan. A motion was then made and approved to transfer $41,000 from the Town and County Bank to the Progressive Ozark loan payment account. After the calendar review, the monthly reimbursement report was presented showing a total of 18 calls for the month of August bringing the total calls year to date to 200. The department responded to five building fires, one outside equipment fire, three medical assist or EMS assist calls, two gas leaks, one call to assist police or other governmental agency, one lightning strike, and two other special incident calls. In old business, it was reported the department is still waiting for the motor mounts for Engine 85 to be manufactured. Fire Chief Brad Nash reported that turnout gear has been ordered including rental gear that should be arriving this week. The new replacement gear is still about six months out. Before adjourning, the date was then set for the next meeting which will be held Tuesday evening, October 12th, at 6:00 at the fire station located at #2 South Main Street. The meeting will be open to the public.

With the fall season right around the corner, if you are looking for breathtaking views, trails, or adventure, check out the Missouri State Parks website at missouristateparks.com. Check out the “Know Before You Go” list of all the state parks in the state of Missouri, park hours, any park advisories that may affect trails, access, camping or even warnings like tick advisories. The site is a virtual treasure trove of information on parks you may have never heard of that are virtually in your back yard. Many have guided hikes on the numerous trails you will find. At the site, you can find the website for each and every state park, the things you can do at each park and more.