Archive for 2024

The Dent County Commissioners met Monday morning at the Dent County Courthouse. Lancer Blair was in attendance and told the commission he plans to run for State Representative of the 120th District that serves Dent and Crawford counties. Blair has been attending quite a few commissioner meetings the last several months and feels he has been educated on a lot of the needs counties have that he would like to bring to the attention of the legislature. In the road report, District 1 Commissioner Wes Mobray said his crew would be out checking roads from the winds and rains and performing shop maintenance. District 2 Commissioner Gary Polk said maintenance was being done on county truck #120 and road signs were being installed on county road 2210. Presiding Commissioner Gary Larson said Mike’s Generator would be in town today to check on the emergency backup generator at the Oak Grove Baptist Church. The generator is tested once a month to make sure the transfer switch is working properly, but Mike’s Generator will check the fuel mixture, change oil if needed, and test other aspects of the generator for proper operation. Dent County Clerk Angie Curley said today is the last day to register to run for a county office for the August 6th primary for anyone interested, and they will have until 5:00 this afternoon in her office to do so. She also said “No-Excuse” absentee voting will continue until Monday, April 1st in her office including this Saturday in her office from 8:00 in the morning until 12:00 noon. She also said the courthouse would be closed for Good Friday this Friday. Dent County Assessor Jamie Homeyer wanted to make sure the public knew that there have been NO re-assessments in Dent County since 2019 unless someone has made additions or improvements to their property, or removed a structure from their property. She said on the interview program Friday morning on KSMO, she felt the discussion on Senate Bill 190 and assessments about other counties and even other states may have been confusing to listeners where they may have thought re-assessments were happening locally in Dent County, but that is not the case. At 10:00, the commission opened bids for a used truck for the Road and Bridge Department and received only one bid from Sapaugh Classic Joyride. The truck bid they received was for a 2015 Ford F-250 Superduty XL Crewcab 4×4 featuring a 6.2 litre gas engine with 162,000 miles on it for $16,000. A decision will be made on Thursday on the vehicle. The commission also approved purchasing a 2024 John Deere 310P Backhoe from McCoy Forestry and Construction for $127,703.78 which is the state bid. The commission approved seeking bank bids on the backhoe from local banks on a lease/purchase agreement for three years with no pre-payment penalty. The bids from the banks will be due by 10:00 Thursday morning, April 18th at the county clerk’s office. The next meeting of the Dent County Commission will be Thursday morning at 9:00 and it is open to the public.

The City of Salem Administrative Office has announced that City Clerk Tammy Koller will be out of the office until May 6th. As a result, this will result in reduced hours for the city clerks office. This will have an impact on getting Business Licenses, UTV permits and Cemetery business. During that time, records requests may be submitted to Assistant Clerk, Wanda Suhr. The Assistant City Clerk office hours will Monday, Tuesday and Friday, from 8:00 in the morning until 4:00 in the afternoon. For more information or any questions, please call 573-729-5211 or you can send an email to administration@salemmo.com. The City of Salem thanks you for your understanding.

Have you got your tickets for the Healthy Dent County fun community event called the “Non-Newlywed Game” Show on April 12th? Tickets and tables are going fast!! This will be the 6th year Healthy Dent County has held this fundraiser where it’s “couple vs. couple” in this hilarious version of the classic game show. You will discover just how much our couples know (or don’t know!) about their spouse! The four local married couples who volunteered to play the game are: Tom and Traci Wulff, Matt and Rachel Moncrief, Jon and Danella Roos and Luke and Hannah Heithold. VIP sponsored tables can still be reserved with a $300 donation. The VI PTables includes reserved seating for eight people as well as numerous table refreshments. A concession stand and cash bar will be open during the evening. A limited number of individual tickets will be sold for $25 per ticket. The individual tickets will not have reserved seating. This fundraising event will be held Friday, April 12th at the Salem Community Center @ the Armory beginning at 6:30 PM. Get your tickets by calling 729-8163 or stopping by the Salem Community Center @ the Armory at 1200 W. Rolla Road in Salem.

This Saturday at the Ozark Natural and Cultural Resource Center on Highway 19 at the exhibit called “Crossroads: Change in Rural America,” historian Harold Hamilton will present a discussion on “Who Lives in Salem? A Look Back and a Look Ahead.” This discussion will begin at 10:00 followed by Antiques “Road-Show and Tell” where the public is encouraged to bring in a family artifact and share memories. The exhibit is open Monday through Saturday and there is no charge to visit the exhibit. The “Crossroads” exhibit is part of the “Museum on Main Street,” a collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution and state humanities councils nationwide. Support for Museum on Main Street has been provided by the United States Congress.

An accident occurred Sunday morning around 2:40 in Texas County on Route N about seven miles northwest of Licking. According to the highway patrol report, a 2013 Chevrolet Sonic driven by 23-year-old Brett Lewis of Licking, was traveling northbound at a high rate of speed, ran off the roadway, and struck a fence and a tree. Lewis suffered minor injuries and his passenger, 22-year-old Shakirah Williams of Licking. suffered serious injuries. They were both transported to the Texas County Memorial Hospital in Houston by the Texas County Memorial Ambulance. The report goes on to say that neither injured party was wearing a safety restraint at the time of the accident. The Chevrolet was totaled and removed from the scene by Jay’s Wrecker in Houston.

An accident occurred Friday evening around 9:30 in Dent County on Highway 19 about six miles south of Salem. According to the highway patrol report, a 2004 Chevrolet Trailblazer driven by a 16-year-old male juvenile from Salem, was traveling southbound and fell asleep at the wheel. The Chevrolet traveled off the right side of the roadway and overturned. The juvenile suffered minor injuries and was transported by a private vehicle to seek medical treatment. The Chevrolet was totaled and was removed from the scene by Whitaker’s Towing.

The City of Salem Board of Aldermen in closed session on Tuesday, March 19th, approved the mayoral appointment of Steve Paine as the new Public Works Director for the City of Salem. The vote was 4-0.

The Salem Police Department has released their report for the month of February. The department responded to 11 accidents during the month. Officers also responded to threealarms sounding and addressed 19 animal calls. Officers investigated five assaults or fights, five burglaries, performed 10 well being checks and nine area checks during the month. The department investigated 14 domestic disputes, seven verbal disturbances, conducted 42 follow-up investigations and provided 19 escorts. They investigated a nuisance violation, four reports of fraud, took a missing persons report, and offered assistance to two motorists. The Salem Police wrote a property damage report during February, plus made ten stealing reports and responded to nine traffic complaints. Officers investigated two sex offense charges, 14 suspicious circumstance calls, 11 suspicious person calls and four suspicious vehicle calls. Officers responded to a trespassing call and attempted to serve 13 warrants in February. Officers conducted 48 traffic stops during the month. The police responded to a total of 403 incidents in February with the average response time to calls being one minute and 37 seconds. The average time spent on the scene was 20 minutes and 34 seconds.

The Missouri Department of Conservation and the Conservation Federation of Missouri (CFM) thank the thousands of Missouri deer hunters who donated 247,575 pounds of venison to the state’s Share the Harvest program this past deer season, including 5,394 whole deer. MDC and CFM also thank the participating meat processors throughout the state who grind the donated deer meat into ready-to-use packages, and the many sponsors who financially support the program. The donated deer meat goes to local food banks and food pantries to help feed hungry Missourians all around the state. Meat-processing fees are covered entirely or in part by numerous local sponsors, along with statewide sponsors that include Shelter Insurance, Bass Pro Shops, Feeding Missouri, and MDC. Share the Harvest is coordinated by MDC and CFM and has been helping feed hungry Missourians for more than 30 years. Since the program was started in 1992, it has provided about 5 million pounds of lean, healthy venison to help feed hungry Missourians. To get Share the Harvest venison, contact local food banks or food pantries. The donated venison stays in the local areas where the deer were harvested so it truly is helping out neighbors in need. The National Institutes of Health state that 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.