Your World Today

During the week of January 28th through February 6th, there was a total of 110 calls to the Salem Police Department for service. Officers conducted 20 traffic stops for various traffic violations with five resulting in a summons or arrest. There were one traffic accident investigation and five informational reports. Of the calls for service and traffic stops, the as number of reports were generated. On Saturday, January 28th at approximately 4:00 in the afternoon, officers made contact with a woman that had a warrant out for her arrest. The officer noticed the woman during a routine patrol and knew that she had a warrant for her arrest. As a result, 35-year-old Tiffany Meder of Salem, was arrested and incarcerated at the Dent County Jail being held on the active warrant out of Crawford County and is awaiting extradition. Later that afternoon around 5:30, officers contacted a man who had a warrant out for his arrest. It was confirmed that the man had an active warrant when he turned himself into the Salem Police Department. As a result, 23-year-old Jon Payne was arrested and incarcerated at the Dent County Jail on his Dent County warrant. Then on Tuesday night, January 31st at approximately 7:30, officers responded to a traffic crash at Acuff and MacArthur Street. It was found that a van had struck a utility pole. During the investigation it was found that the man driving the vehicle was intoxicated. As a result of the investigation, a 56-year-old Salem man was arrested and issued a summons for Driving While being Intoxicated. On Friday, February 3rd at about noon, an officer was dispatched to Wal-Mart for the report of a theft. It was reported that a female subject had been stealing items totaling $128 over the course of the past month. A case was submitted and after a short investigation, an 18-year-old Salem woman was arrested and issued a summons for stealing. Later that evening near 8:30, an officer finished an investigation into shoplifting at Wal-Mart that had occurred on January 30th. The report stated that a male subject had stolen $64 of merchandise. As a result of that investigation, a 36-year-old Salem male was arrested and issued a summons for stealing. Please contact the Salem Police Department at (573) 729-4242 if you have any information regarding any ongoing investigation.

An accident happened Thursday morning shortly after 10:00 in Franklin County on Highway 47 at Clearview Road. According to the highway patrol report a 2004 Toyota 4Runner being driven south by 64-year-old Kathie Hoss of Steelville, was slowing for a red signal and was struck from behind by a 2019 GMC Sierra being driven by 57-year-old Steven Tobben of Washington, Missouri. Hoss was taken by the Union Ambulance to the Mercy Hospital in Washington for the treatment of minor injuries. Both vehicles sustained moderate damage and were removed from the scene by Patriot Towing. The report went on to state that both drivers were wearing seat restraints at the time of the accident.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol would like to remind the public that driver examination stations throughout the state will be closed today in observance of Lincoln’s birthday. Normal operations will resume tomorrow, February 14th. The stations will also be closed on Monday, February 20, in observance of Washington’s birthday. Normal operations will resume on Tuesday, February 21.

Come and share open studio time at the Salem Creative Arta Center with other hand-building Potter’s this Thursday morning from 9:00 until 12:00 noon with Connie Behrick and Susan Parker-England. You can work on your own designs or follow along with an instructor as they make a weekly project. In this class, a hand built Casserole Baking dish will be created. This class is geared towards those who already have taken beginners pottery classes. To sign up, call or text 573-247-0651, or go online at salemcommunitybetterment.com and look under programs for the Salem Creative Arts Center. The cost of the class is $25.00.

The Dent County Commissioners met Thursday morning at the Dent County Courthouse. Presiding Commissioner Darrell Skiles was not able to attend. Dent County Clerk Angie Curley appointed District 2 Commissioner Gary Larson as the temporary Presiding Commissioner. In the road report, both Commissioners Wes Mobray and Larson said crews were out checking for washouts as well as limbs and trees blown down due to the high winds. Mobray said Great Rivers Engineering would be calling the commission to provide an update on the FLAP projects going on in the county. Clerk Angie Curley said absentee voting for the April 4th election will begin February 21st. Dent County Treasurer Denita Williams brought in her report on the sales tax monies received in February from the Department of Revenue. She said the General Revenue Fund and the Dent County LEST Fund each received $91,226.82 this month which is $5,292.57 more than the 2022 figure of $85,934.25 for February. Year-to-date, those funds are each up $17,902.73. In the Road and Bridge Fund, the county received $41,600.72 while last February the county took in $35,271.11. That difference was $6,329.61 and year-to-date, the Road and Bridge Fund is up $10,658.45 over 2022. In the two jail funds, the trust fund and operating fund, revenues received from the state this month came in at cost is $20 for the adult and $5.00 for each $83,201.55 and that is $12,722.03 more than February of 2022, and year-to-date each fund is up $21,441.21. The courthouse will be closed on Monday so the next commissioner meeting will be held on Thursday, February 16th at 9:00 at the courthouse and it will be open to the public.

The Salem Area Arts Council will hold a Snowman Valentine Parent/Child Paint Party this Saturday afternoon from 1:00 to 3:00 at the Creative Arts Center. Patty Burmeister will guide you step-by-step through the creation of the painting. You will have fun learning to paint shades of colors and adding details to your cute snowman. All the supplies are provided and the child. To sign up, call or text 573-247-0651, or go online at salemcommunitybetterment.com and look under programs for the Salem Creative Arts Center.

The Ozark National Scenic Riverways has openings for volunteer Camp Hosts at the scenic Alley Spring campground from mid-July to September 2023 and Round Spring campground for the entire 2023 Summer Season. These volunteer positions are eligible for meal reimbursement of up to $10 per day per person for up to two people per location. Camp Hosts work to assist Rangers with general campground responsibilities as well as assisting campers. Camp Hosts should enjoy being in contact with people and be able to greet the public in a friendly, helpful, and professional manner. A resume is required. For more information on this opportunity, please go to volunteer.gov and type in either Alley Spring or Round Spring.

The Missouri Department of Transportation invites Missouri students in grades K-8 to help fight litter in Missouri by participating in the 2023 “Yes You CAN Make Missouri Litter-Free” trash-can-decorating contest. The contest is part of MoDOT’s annual “No MOre Trash!” statewide litter campaign, which is held in April. The contest encourages school aged kids to join in the fight against litter by decorating a large trash can with the “No MOre Trash!” logo and a litter prevention message using a variety of creative materials. Schools, or home school programs, may submit one trash can entry in each competition category: grades K-2, 3-5 and 6-8. Entries are judged based on creativity, adherence to the contest rules and effective use of the theme and logo. First-place winners from each competition category receive $200 awarded to the sponsoring schools. All first-place winners are then eligible for a grand prize of $600 and a trophy awarded to the sponsoring school. There is no entry fee for the contest. Participating school groups must submit a completed entry form online with up to three photos and a release form by March 17. Contest rules, entry forms, release forms, logos, past winners and educational information can also be found at modot.org/trash-can-contest.

The Missouri Department of Conservation wants to remind fisherman that the last day of the Catch and Release Season at Montauk State Park will be Monday, February 13th. The second Monday of February every year marks the end of the winter Catch-and-Release season. No fishing will be allowed at the park until the opening day of Trout Season which will be on March 1st. For more information on fishing of all types in Missouri as well as fishing licenses, visit the Missouri Department of Conservation website at mdc.mo.gov.

The Phelps County Sheriff’s Department has formally charged 19-year old Samuel Ralph James Karlinski of St. James, with second-degree murder and armed criminal action felonies for the Monday, February 6th shooting death of his father at a residence near St. James. According to the Phelps County Sheriff’s Office, they received a 911 call at Monday morning at 8:51 about a shooting at a residence near St. James. Upon arriving at the scene, deputies found Ralph Leon Karlinski Jr. was dead from apparent gunshot wounds. According to court documents, the person who contacted the police reported that Samuel Karlinski had shot his father three times with a .22-caliber pistol. After a subsequent investigation by the Phelps County Sheriff’s Department, Samuel Karlinski was arrested and taken to the Phelps County Jail and held without bond. Samuel Karlinski in the probable cause statement indicated he shot his father twice in the chest and once in the head in self-defense, but during the investigation, Samuel Karlinski showed no signs of injuries.

The City of Salem Utility Committee met Wednesday night at the Salem Community Center@The Armory. City Administrator Sally Burbridge explained to the committee and crowd about the city budget and the 34 funds the city has. She said many of the funds are encumbered such as the Cemetery Endowment Fund and the Landfill Fund that can only be used for explicit purposes, not general purposes. Funds in those accounts cannot be used by the city for any reason except for the purpose they were initially set up for. So when people see the balance sheet the city has to publish every six-months in the newspaper, people think they have funds available at their disposal which simply is not true. She went on to say each city utility has three funds: one for operations, one for the replacement of vehicles and equipment, and the third for infrastructure upgrades or replacements. From there she discussed why the city is looking to pass a 1% General Revenue Sales tax in April. The General Revenue Fund is responsible for the Salem Police Department with 39% of its funds going there, with 25% allocated for administration and another 24% for public works. Ten percent of the General Revenue Funds are transferred to other funds like Fireworks, Cemetery, Economic Development and more. Currently, the 1% sales tax in the city does not generate enough money to totally provide for those funds, so the General Revenue Fund gets transfers from the Electric, Water and Sewer funds to keep it in the black. Burbridge said the last two years, the city has used their ARPA Funds of $500,000 each year to pay the shortfall in General Revenue, but those monies are now gone. The current fiscal year budget shows the general revenue fund without transfers on June 30th could end up 1.4 million dollars in the red. Even with transfers in from the other departments, the city will still end up about $491,000 short which could mean the trimming back or elimination of some services. Should the public pass the sales tax, revenues would increase by almost $1.25 million dollars that would take the pressure off having to make the transfers and help to stabilize the utility funds by being able to bolster their reserves. She also said there will be a sewer bond question in April on whether the city should issue revenue bonds to finance 4.6 million dollars for federally mandated improvements to the sewer system that would have to paid for directly by sewer system rates. If the measure passes, the city may be able to reduce the amount financed to $1.8 million by using a State Revolving Fund grant and CDBG grant. Either way, sewer rates will go up, but if the issue doesn’t pass, residents may be paying $14 to $15 more per month versus $3 to $6 by passing the bond issue. The election will be on April 4th. After reviewing the city financials, Burbridge talked about the Exceleron Pre-Pay System and it is not working yet. They can’t get the accounts to reconcile correctly. Burbridge talked about payment assistance programs with the use of the pre-pay system as Exceleron says they have a solution, but the city hasn’t seen that yet. The committee opted not to recommend using the Moneygram Service to pay on the pre-pay service as it could end up costing the city money. The committee agreed to keep the Winter Weather Rule in effect where if the temperature falls below 32 degrees as predicted by the National Weather Service in Springfield, disconnects will not be done. This rule would NOT apply to pre-pay customers once it goes on line and there was some discussion on that by the committee with no definitive answer being derived. The committee made no decision on allowing accounts currently on a payback contract with the city to switch to pre-pay when it become available, and the committee would need more clarification on automatically converting accounts to prepay after a specified number of disconnects. They will look for legal guidance on that before making any final decision. Public Works Director Mark Nash gave his report on the electric line loss to the committee but said he didn’t believe the figures were accurate and wanted to check them again before giving actual numbers. He said he would be checking out the numbers on the electric again and then do some hard investigating if the results don’t change much. He did say the water loss figures went from 38% to 8.32% in the city with the new leak detector the city has. Anything under ten percent loss from water lines is excellent. Committee member John Hambacker talked about meter size fees and how, in some cases, multiple units are on the same meter where the city loses out on the meter fees. A motion was made for the staff to report on looking into meter charges based on the size of the meter and any associated fees for discussion at the next meeting. The meeting was then adjourned.