Archive for 2025

An accident occurred early Sunday morning around 2:37 in Dent County on Hwy U at county Road 3180. According to the highway patrol report a 2009 Chevrolet Silverado driven by an 18-year-old male from Salem was travelling westbound and failed to slow at an intersection. The Chevrolet travelled across County Road 3180 from Hwy U and struck a tree. The driver suffered serious injuries and was flown by Air Evac to Mercy Springfield. The occupant a 16-year-old male juvenile from Salem suffered minor injuries and was checked on the scene by Salem Ambulance and he will seek own treatment later. The report goes on to say that neither party was wearing a safety restraint at the time of the accident. The Chevrolet was totaled and removed from the scene by Whitaker’s Towing. The Highway Patrol was assisted by the Dent County Sherriff’s Office and the Salem Police Department.

Dent County Prosecutor Andrew Curley has released the results of court cases Wednesday in Dent County in the 42nd Judicial Court in front of Judge Michael Randazzo. Curley reports that in the first case, Clayton Korman of Rolla was on probation for resisting arrest and for a felony charge of driving while having his license revoked. Korman had previously pled guilty to 10-years under the Missouri Revised State Statutes Section 559.115 as a persistent felony offender. Korman had previously admitted to violating the terms of his probation by using methamphetamine. At the sentencing hearing, the defendant requested the continuation of his probation with treatment, while Prosecutor Curley requested the probation be revoked and the sentence executed. Judge Randazzo agreed with Curley and sentenced Korman to the Department of Corrections. In the case of Britta Terrill-Botkin of Salem, she pled guilty to the felony possession of fentanyl in the amount .05 grams which is in an amount sufficient for charges of trafficking in the 2nd degree. Terrill-Botkin was sentenced to serve seven-years in the Missouri Department of Corrections by Judge Randazzo as requested by the prosecutor. In the next case heard in court, Grace Landers of Salem was on probation for the felony possession of a controlled substance and tampering with evidence. Landers admitted to violating her probation by failing to report to her probation officer. She was sentenced to serve four years in the Missouri Department of Corrections as requested by the state as well as the defendant. In the Michael S. Smith of Salem case Wednesday, he pled guilty to failing to register as a sex offender He was sentenced to serve four years in the Missouri Department of Corrections at the request of the prosecutor. Another case heard in Dent County Wednesday was that of Dustin Benson of Niangua who was on probation for the felony Possession of a Controlled Substance. His probation was revoked and Judge Randazzo sentenced him to serve seven years in the Missouri Department of Corrections. Also heard Wednesday in the 42nd Judicial Court was the probation hearing for Sara Lynn Cunningham of Salem. Judge Randazzo revoked her probation and sentenced to serve 10-years in the Missouri Department of Corrections.

The Dent County Health Center is excited to invite the community to the Fall 2025 Flu Vaccine Drive-Through Clinic on October 2nd, from 1:00 in the afternoon until 6:00 in the evening at the Dent County Fire Protection District Fire Department at 2 North Main St. This is a free event dedicated to promoting health, wellness, and preventive care for all residents of Dent County. The event is open to all ages, and no appointment is required. Residents are encouraged to bring their friends, family, and neighbors to take part in this community-wide celebration of health. For more information, visit www.dentcohealth.org.

The Dent County Commission met Thursday morning at the courthouse. Dent County Treasurer Denita Williams presented the CART tax money received in September. She said the county received $97,487.00 which is up from September of 2024 by $7,020.54. Year-to-date, the CART tax is up $57,568.23 over 2024. In the road report, District 1 Commissioner Keith Green stated crews will be working on a loader and doing maintenance on the Mannis brush cutter. Other crew members would be out checking chip and seal roads for asphalt repair, and if time allows, grading would be done on Dent County Road 5220. Green said next week the crew looks to pull ditches and grade a number of roads if the weather holds. District 2 Commissioner Jimmy Williams said workers would be grading Dent County Roads 4060, 5225 and 5240, while brush will be cut on county roads 2315 and 2390. His crew will also be patching chip and seal road 2240 with the Durapatcher. Presiding Commissioner Gary Larson stated he attended the Tourism Tax Committee meeting last week where they approved a request for $500, down from the $1,000 originally asked for before approving two reimbursements. On Wednesday, he participated in a Zoom meeting with the Meramec Community Enhancement Corporation where they reviewed the financial statements. Dent County Clerk Angie Curley reported she received notification from the state auditor that the county is due for an audit for the year 2025. She said she would be holding a voter registration on October 21st at the Salem High School even though there will be no November elections this year in Dent County. The commission then approved renewing their annual membership with the Meramec Regional Planning Commission for $6,063 which is up from the $5,000 they paid last year. The next meeting of the Dent County Commissioners will be Monday morning at the courthouse at 9:00 and the meeting is open to the public. 

The Salem Community Center at the Armory will be the setting for the Meramec Regional Planning Commission’s (MRPC) Annual Dinner and Awards Program on Thursday Oct. 23rd. The city of Salem and Dent County will serve as hosts. Each year, MRPC requests proposals from cities and counties in the Meramec Region to host the annual dinner event, where volunteers from across the region are honored for their contributions to their communities and the region. The MRPC board evaluates proposals and selects the location based on various criteria.  Residents may purchase tickets at a cost of $40 to attend the dinner and awards ceremony. Vintage Apron will be catering, and dinner will include creamy Italian chicken breast and roast beef as the entrees. A reception starting at 5:30 will be sponsored by Archer-Elgin Engineering, Surveying and Architecture and will include a silent auction and live music performed by Lake of the Ozarks Council of Government Executive Director Mitch Shields. To keep up with the latest MRPC news and events, visit the MRPC website at meramecregion.org

The City of Salem Board of Aldermen held its regular meeting Tuesday evening in the Auditorium at 202 N. Washington Street. Following approval of the agenda and consent agenda, the board appointed S. N. Ball IV to the Library Board of Trustees. Under new business, the board approved $5,000 allocations to four organizations: Sleep in Heavenly Peace, for its continued efforts to provide beds, mattresses, and bedding to children in the community; the Fireworks Committee, for the Independence Day celebration on July 4; the University of Missouri Dent County Extension, for youth programs including 4-H; and SACBA, for their continued efforts of city beautification. These appropriations will be funded from the Non-Departmental Community Support line item, which currently has a balance of $20,000. The board also approved the purchase of eight new HP Mini 800 desktop computers for the police department at a cost of $7,744, along with eight refurbished laptops totaling $8,795. These expenditures will be funded through the Capital Improvement Projects budget, which currently has a balance of $21,725. In addition, the annual Laserfiche Cloud software contract with SumnerOne was approved at a cost of $6,077, to be paid from the Computer Software budget line, though the current balance of that fund was not specified. The annual contract with Trumpia for the city’s text-blast service was also renewed at a cost of $6,000, with funding distributed as follows: $500 from Parks and Recreation, $1,500 each from the water, electric, and sewer funds, and $1,000 from the General Non-Departmental fund. The board heard first readings of three bills: Bill No. 3689, an ordinance establishing fees for dusk-to-dawn lighting services provided by the City of Salem; Bill No. 3690, an ordinance setting criteria for utility service disconnections during extreme weather conditions; and Bill No. 3691, an ordinance amending utility deposit requirements. During reports from city officials, Public Works Director Steve Paine discussed last Saturday’s scheduled outage and the outage that occurred yesterday at approximately 5:00, noting the latter was caused by a fault in a line operated by Show Me Electric that supplies power to the city’s substation. He added that further investigation will be conducted to determine the exact cause. Finance Director Stacy Houston presented the financial report, while Parks and Recreation Director Melissa DuBois provided updates on the flag football program and the upcoming hot air balloon festival. Mayor Greg Parker reminded citizens of the community yard sale scheduled for October 4 and the citywide cleanup taking place October 6–10. The meeting adjourned into executive session to discuss personnel matters. The next regular meeting of the City of Salem Board of Aldermen is scheduled for Tuesday, October 14, at 6:00 in the Auditorium, and is open to the public.

Dent County Prosecutor Andrew Curley has charged Salem residents Michael Sean Moore and his wife Brittany Kiona Moore with a felony charge of Arson in the 2nd degree for a house fire that occurred on July 6th at their property at 712 North Hickory Street. According to the probable cause statement, the investigation into the fire by the State Fire Marshall’s office revealed the only reasonable cause of the fire was the application of an open flame or heat source to available combustible material on or near the southwest corner of the bed by a human hand. With this discovery, the fire was classified as incendiary. Other alleged discoveries that led to this charge included a 2:28 minute phone call when Brittany Moore contacted Michael Moore at 8:24 in the evening after which Michael Moore did not call the fire department but contacted an on-duty law enforcement supervisor. Thus, the fire department was not summoned until 8:31 that evening, arriving at the scene at 8:44 PM. The state investigator also was able to retrieve a number of photographs taken documenting the stages of the fire. One of the body cam videos supposedly shows Michael Moore purposefully throwing an object through a second-floor window introducing oxygen to the fire at 8:28 PM. According to the investigator, the introduction of oxygen changed the situation from a fire in a room to a room on fire, causing greater damage to the home, destroying evidence of the fire’s origin and the increased danger to responding fire personnel. The Moore’s will appear in the Dent County Courthouse on October 6th at 9:00 in front of Judge Patrick J. Horsefield. Charges set forth in an indictment are mere accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt.