News – Tuesday, July 29th 2025

The Salem Memorial Hospital Board of Directors will hold their regular meeting tonight at 7:00 in the hospital library. After the call to order, roll call and approval of the agenda, public comments or presentations that are limited to 3 minutes will be heard. No old business is on the agenda, however new business to be conducted includes discussing bank and conflict of interest resolutions, and reviewing policies and procedures. The board will go into executive session to discuss personnel and legal issues. Except for the executive session the meeting of the Salem Hospital Board of Directors is open to the public. Anyone that would like to attend by telephone or electronic means should contact the SMH Administration office at 573-729-6626 Extension 4005.

The Board of Directors of the Dent County Fire Protection District at a regular meeting on May 14, 2025 approved the sale of $3,500,000 General Obligation Bond Issue to its Municipal Bond Underwriter, L.J. Hart & Company of St. Louis. The bonds were finalized on June 23, 2025. These General Obligation Bonds were approved by voters at the April 8, 2025 election, for the purpose of providing funds for acquiring new fire trucks and other fire fighting and medical equipment for the first responders of the District. The bond marketing process provided the first opportunity to invest to local financial institutions, and according to L.J. Hart & Company representatives, the Bank of Salem purchased $120,000, Progressive Ozark Bank acquired $330,000, Town and Country Bank bought $570,000, and $275,000 was made available through Edward Jones. The local support was very helpful to the success of the financing. The information shared by L. J. Hart & Company indicated that the bonds are scheduled to mature on March 1st, 2028 through March 1st, 2045 at a 5.00% interest rate with reoffered yields ranging from 3.35% to 5.05% which produces additional funds in the amount of $92,254.60. The interest income from the bonds is exempt from federal and state of Missouri income taxes and the bonds were available in $5,000 denominations. The bonds do contain optional redemption (call) provisions on March 1st, 2030 at no penalty that will facilitate the reduction of future interest expense in the event of prepayment or a future refunding to lower rates if market conditions make it economically feasible. The financing proceeds became available to the District on July 17, 2025 and will be reinvested by the District to earn additional interest for use in the completion of the projects. 

The Dent County Commission met Monday morning in the courthouse. Dave Thompson from Dent County Road 4020 was in attendance and thanked the commission for the work done on the road, but said the hill was still in need of attention. Second District Commissioner Jimmy Williams said he would look into it. In the road report, 1st District Commissioner Keith Green said a new tire will be put on the Mantis brush cutter before crews continue work on county roads 5080 and 5085. He also said a crew will be changing out grader blades on two graders before moving them to the Bunker area for grading scheduled on today. Second District Commissioner Williams stated new driveway pipes will be installed on county roads 2010, 2050 and 2110. Rock will also be added to those roads were needed He said grading would be done on Dent County Roads 2180, 2183, 2185 and 4290 while a downed limb will be removed on Dent County Road 3233. Presiding Commissioner Gary Larson had nothing to report, and Dent County Clerk Angie Curley said bills and payroll would be approved.  The next meeting of the Commission will be Thursday morning at 9:00 at the Dent County Courthouse and the meeting will be open to the public.

The flood recovery team, consisting of staff from Montauk State Park, Rock Island State Park and members of the statewide construction unit with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources’ Division of State Parks, has been selected as the department’s Team Members of the Month for July 2025. The group was selected for their service to the department and their effort with cleanup after flooding severely damaged portions of Montauk State Park in November 2024. Members of the recovery team include Jeremy  Anthony, Alan Briscoe, David Callahan, Jim Duryee, John Foster, Jeffrey Gibson, Carl Gisselbeck, Chad Kearbey, Curtis Johnson, Brian Meyer, Jessie Nyman, Daryn Ruble, Chad Smith, Kevin Wilkins, and Caleb Wright. In early November 2024, heavy rains led flooding along the Current River. The river rose to an unprecedented 19.58 feet. The floodwaters destroyed two cabins; washed out sections of the road; damaged playgrounds, the shower house and the historic Montauk Mill; and shorted out electrical systems in the campground. In addition, many areas were inundated with debris, sand and gravel once floodwaters receded.  Pete Hovey, the park superintendent, who nominated the team for the award, said that thankfully, no injuries were reported. He went on to say that the goal was to have the park reopen by March 1 for opening day of catch-and-keep trout season. Within days, the team was in the park with excavators and dump trucks removing tons of sand, gravel and woody debris. The team removed an estimated 300 truckloads of sand and gravel, repaired sections of washed-out roads, cleared what was left of the two cabins, and replaced electric infrastructure in the campground. With pure grit and determination, the crew met their goal of getting the park open in time for the trout season opener, an event steeped in tradition for many Missourians. Hovey said that these individuals did a lot of the repetitive heavy lifting in fair and foul weather, and we would not have recovered without them.