Archive for 2023

The 138th Graduation Ceremonies of the Salem R-80 High School will be held Sunday afternoon at 2:00 at the Salem High School Football Field. After the procession of 122 graduating students, the National Anthem will be performed by the Salem High School Chamber Choir. Assistant Principal Brandon Piatt will then present the Senior Class Citizenship Awards, the Best Female and Male Leader Awards, and salute students who earned the Missouri Seal of Biliteracy. Principal Dr. Tori Snitker will introduce the A Plus students, students who are entering the military, as well as the career and technical certified students. Senior Class President Cole Coursen will then give his speech before Senior Class-Vice President, Tyler Schellhammer, gives his speech. Diplomas will then be awarded to the Class of 2023 students by Superintendent Lynne Reed and President of the R-80 Board of Education, Steven Patterson, followed by the recessional. The graduation exercises will be streamed live on KSMO Media. Those wanting to stream the graduation exercises can go to the Salem R-80 website which is www.salemr80.org and find the link to ksmoradio.com. People can also go directly to the KSMO Radio website at www.ksmoradio.com and from the homepage, they can click on the stream of their choice including the KSMO Stream Facebook page, KSMO Twitch page and on KSMO’s YouTube page. There is NO charge to stream the services.

The Dent County Commission met Thursday morning in the courthouse. Deloris Gray Wood was in to correct an error from Monday when she stated the tubing for the proposed signs would be 4” by 66”, however they will be 3” by 66”. Commissioner Mobray asked about the wall thickness of the tubing but the information was not available in the paperwork that Wood provided. Junior Livestock Committee member Bob Parsons asked if needed would the county trucks haul chips to The Commons for the Expo in July. The Commissioners indicated they would again assist with the hauling. In the road report District One Commissioner Wes Mobray said that one man would be grading on Dent County Roads 6245 and 6670, while another was patch grading in the Bunker area where upwards of 4.5 inches of rain fell. He also reported he had three trucks assisting District Two in hauling Conservation Rock. Commissioner Gary Larson reported for District Two and said grading would be done on Dent County Roads 2510, 2570, 4050 and 4060. He went on to report that materials would be added and grading done on county roads 2540 and 2550, while brush would be cut on county road 2050. Larson noted that the deadline for the spreading of the Conservation Rock is the end of May and that deadline will be met, then he will submit the necessary paperwork for reimbursement. In the Presiding Commissioner’s report Larson said he attended a Tourism Committee meeting Monday night where 3 reimbursement requests were approved. He said that the committee had 3 applications for tourism tax dollars and all where approved for a portion of the dollars requested due to size of the requests and dollars available. One of the requests was for over $25,000. Larson presented two requests for use of the courthouse lawn. The first was from David Lytle for the Summer Fest on June 17th and the second was from Catherine Dent for the Community Choir performances on July 9th and August 15th. Both were approved by the commissioners. Larson also reported on the Missouri Legislative Session that ended last week where only 58 of over 2,300 bills were approved. Larson reviewed the major expenditures approved in the state budget which were Interstate 70 widening, Interstate 44 impact study, and broadband expansion. Deputy Dent County Clerk Melissa Piatt reported that bills were being approved by the commissioners for payment and their office continues to work on address corrections on voter registration cards coming back in the mail. Commissioner Mobray noted that the commission would be calling to solicit bids for chip and seal work for the summer. Coroner Ben Pursifil was in to update the commission. The next meeting of the commission will be Monday morning at 9:00 in the courthouse and the meeting is open to the public.

The Run Salem 5K/10K and Healthy Dent County Color Run is this Saturday with over 100 participants to help raise funds for a future trail system in our community, and to have a family fun event in Salem. The 5K and 10K runs will start at 8:00 in the morning while the Color Run starts at 10:00 in the morning jn front of VIP Properties. For those driving through Salem on Saturday, expect delays at some points along the 5K/10K route on Highway 19 and Highway 32-72 as well as Routes HH and J to allow runners to safely cross those highways. Please be aware of street closures in downtown. These streets will be closed from 6:30 in the morning until 12:00 noon on race day: West 4th Street from Washington Street to Highway 19, East 4th Street from Highway 19 to Iron Street and the eastbound lane of East 4th Street will be closed from Iron to Pershing. KSMO Media will livestream the event on the KSMO Stream Facebook page, the KSMO YouTube page and at www.ksmoradio.com. The stream will feature live coverage of the race as well as local interviews with race organizers, runners and community leaders. You can still participate in the 5K, 10K and Color Run! You can register at runsalemmo.com today or you can register in person outside the Bank of Salem Courtesy Room located at 100 W. Fourth Street on Saturday morning from 7:00 to 7:45.For more information on this event or to sign up, please visit runsalemmo.com.