Your World Today

An accident happened Wednesday afternoon at 5;40 in St. Francois County on Highway 67 southbound at Barney’s Crossover. According to the highway patrol report, a 2016 Dodge Ram 1500 driven southbound by 28-year-old Heather Stewart of Bixby, age 28 was traveling south on Highway 67. At that time, a 2010 Dodge Journey driven by 46-year-old David Young of Bonne Terre, attempted to cross southbound Highway 67 and failed to yield to the Dodge Ram. The front right of the Dodge Ram struck the right rear of the Dodge Journey. Suffering minor injuries from the Ram were the driver, Heather Stewart, an adult passenger, 24-year-old Nathaniel Yount of Belleview, two female juveniles ages newborn and two years of age, and a two-year old male juvenile. Everyone from the Dodge Ram was taken by a private conveyance to the Parkland Health Center. A male juvenile pasenger in the Journey suffered minor injuries and was taken by the St. Francois County Ambulance District to the Parkland Health Center in Bonne Terre. Both vehicles sustained moderate damages. The Dodge Ram was removed from the scene by Buckley’s Towing, while the Journey was removed from the scene by Marler’s Towing. Everyone involved in the accident was wearing a seat restraint at the time of the accident.

The City of Salem Utility Committee meeting scheduled for May 8th has been rescheduled for Wednesday, May 15th, at 6:15 in the evening at the Salem Community Center@The Armory at 1200 West Rolla Road. At the meeting, the committee will hear about utility billing and payments as well as changes in the office. The committee will hear about the Service Protection Program and be updated on the MMMPEP who will be holding their next meeting on May 9th. The committee will also hear work reports from city employees before there is a draft budget presentation and rate discussion. The Utility Committee meeting will be open to the public.

The Mudbugs are back! The Mudbugs will spend time outdoors, exploring the grounds and, if we are doing it right, getting a little dirty! The activities last about one hour and will target kids between the ages of 6 and 12 or so, but all ages are welcome. They will try their best to accommodate younger children. On Thursday, May 16th, the Cicadas are coming! Lots and lots of them! How are they different from annual cicadas? The Mudbugs catch some and see. If they find lots of shells, they’ll do some crazy art with them! This Mudbugs event will be followed by a campfire weenie roast. All the events will be held at the Bonebrake Center from 2:00 until 3:30. A donation to the Bonebrake Center of $2.00 per child is appreciated. They ask that a parent or legal guardian accompany your children (in case any emergency medical situations should arise). Assistance with the kids from those who can move about the grounds would be greatly appreciated! For more information, e-mail Janet Price at moonshadowmomentsllc@gmail.com. Don’t forget to check them out on Facebook for the latest!

May is Bicycle Safety Month, and the Missouri State Highway Patrol encourages motorists and bicyclists to stay alert and be courteous. Preliminary statistics for 2023 indicate eight people were killed and 438 injured in 522 traffic crashes involving a bicycle. Please know the law regarding operating a bicycle and be a safe rider. Did you know that a bicyclist is required to ride as near the right side of the roadway as is safe, exercising due care when passing a standing vehicle or one proceeding in the same direction; except when making a left turn, when the lane is too narrow to share with another vehicle, or when on a one-way street. Bicyclists may ride abreast when not impeding other vehicles and they must also obey all traffic signals and signs, the same as required of drivers of other vehicles. Use hand signals to let others know you will turn left, right, or stop. A bicycle must be equipped with a brake or brakes that will enable its driver to stop the bicycle within 25 feet from a speed of 10 miles per hour on dry, level, clean pavement. Bicycle riders, when riding on a street or highway, are granted all the rights and are subject to all the traffic regulations applicable to drivers of motor vehicles, except those that by their very nature do not apply. It is important that bicyclists understand local ordinances regarding riding a bicycle. For instance, in some municipalities, riding a bicycle on the sidewalk in a business district is prohibited. There are also some regulations for riding a bicycle at night. Penalties for violations of this law range from not less than $5 to not more than $25 for people 17 years of age or older. For those under 17, a provision allows an officer witnessing a violation to impound the bicycle for a period not to exceed five days. Riders should check with municipalities for other local rules and regulations.

The City of Salem Utility Committee will be holding a meeting this evening at 6:15 at the Salem community Center@The Armory at 1200 West Rolla. At the meeting, the committee will hear about utility billing and payments as well as changes in the office. The committee will hear about the Servile Protection Program and be updated on the MMMPEP who will be holding their next meeting on May 9th. The committee will also hear work reports from city employees before there is a draft budget presentation and rate discussion. The Utility Committee meeting tonight is open to the public.

The Salem Memorial Hospital Board of Directors will be holding a special closed session meeting tonight at 5:00 at the hospital library.

Join Montauk State Park team members from 9:00 in the morning until 4:00 in the afternoon this Friday and Saturday for Old Mill Days 2024. The day will be spent celebrating early 20th century life in the Ozarks, when the old mill was in its prime. The mill will be open all day with free tours upon request. Guests are invited to see how people lived when the mill was in its prime. Both days will feature historical skills demonstrations, living history performances, live music, crafts, games and food. There will also be an arts and crafts fair with local vendors offering up some of the finest homemade goods and services available. All activities, except for the tours, will take place in the day-use area by the mill. Guests are encouraged to stop by, learn a new skill, immerse themselves in local history and support small businesses. Don’t miss this fun, educational and free event! Montauk State Park is located at 345 State Road 6670 in Salem. For more information about the event, call 573-548-2201. For more information on state parks and historic sites, visit mostateparks.com. Missouri State Parks is a division of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.

Dent County Recorder Cindy Ard wants people to be aware of a new website where you can sign up to find out if someone is recording a document or changing a recorded document with your name on it. The website is www.deedwatch.com and once signed up, you would receive an e-mail letting you know if a document is recorded with your name on it. There is no charge for this service. Just go to the website, and in the drop-down box, select Dent County, Missouri. In the second box, enter your e-mail that you want the notification to come to. From that point, just follow the simple directions to finish signing up. You could include the name that should be on your deed, or any other form of your name the deed may have been recorded. This service is provided by the Dent County Recorders Office to prevent anyone from being scammed out of their property or having someone attached their name to your deed without your knowledge. If you have questions about this service, contact Cindy Ard at the Dent County Recorders Office at 573-729-2198. You can also e-mail her at dcrecorder07@gmail.com.

The United States Forest Service has recently published three blanket purchase agreements (BPAs) on SAM.gov for companies and service providers to bid on. These contracts intend to make it easier for the Forest Service to quickly get work accomplished by establishing agreements with vendors ahead of time. A BPA is a simplified method of filling anticipated, repetitive needs for open market supplies and services. Interested vendors will need to respond by May 17th. These BPAs include a variety of categories for services such as road repair, construction and maintenance, paving, trail construction and maintenance, signage installation, facility repairs, carpentry, painting, roofing, plumbing and electrical work. Companies that submit proposals can select where in the Forest Service Eastern Region, they would like to provide their services. Region 9 stretches from Missouri to Maryland, to Maine, to Minnesota, covering a large portion of the Eastern and Midwestern U.S. If a vendor only wanted to provide services to Missouri locations, that would be completely appropriate and considered in this process. Vendors and companies that bid on these BPAs will need to have a company profile on SAM.gov, which can take a little time, so do not wait until the last minute to decide to enter a bid. To get started with registering and receiving an unique entity ID through SAM.gov, start here: https://sam.gov/content/entity-registration. You can then look for the three bids currently available in the eastern Region for roads, facilities and trails.

The Salem Community Garden will host a work shop a presentation on “The Right Place for the Right Plant” on Thursday night, May 16th at the Salem Community Garden at 801 East Scenic Rivers Blvd behind the Salem Methodist Church. There is no cost to attend and you do not have to have a plot at the community garden to attend. For more information, call Charlie Grimm at 573-368-9902 or the Dent County Extension at 573-729-3196.

The Dent County Commission met Monday morning for their regular meeting. In the road report, District 1 Commissioner Wes Mobray said rock was being added and spread out on Dent County Road 5080 in preparation for chip and seal. He said a crew is adding a speed limit sign on county road 6040 to replace one that is missing. District 2 Commissioner Gary Polk said if it is dry enough, rock was being added and grading done on county road 4060 while only rock was being added to county road 5310. He said brush was being cut on county roads 4030 and 4040. Presiding Commissioner Gary Larson wanted to report that the Department of Natural Resources is offering non-playground Scrap Tire Material Grants for running tracks, walking trails, equine/livestock stalls/riding areas or similar types of surfacing projects or molded products. Approximately $400,000 is available for the cost, delivery and vendor installation of scrap tire surface material. Grant recipients may be eligible to receive up to $50,000. There are also Playground Scrap Tire Surface Material Grants available. There is approximately $600,000 available for the cost, delivery and vendor installation of scrap tire surface material for playgrounds only. Grant recipients that are requesting mats/tiles or pour-in-place surface material will be eligible to receive up to $40,000. To find out more or see if your organization is eligible to apply, go to dnr.mo.gov and type in “Tire Recycling Grant” in the search bar. The commission approved the purchase of a new “Road Groomer” made by Road Groomer for $23,106.00. This machine can be pulled behind a truck or tractor and will repair washboard and other rough roads. It is 11-feet wide and can grind up to 60 miles of road per day. Since the “Road Groomer” is only made by this one manufacturer, no bids were sought. Dent County Clerk Angie Curley said her office balanced with the assessor and collector on all collections, add-ons and abatements for the month of April. She also said the courthouse would be closed Wednesday for Truman’s Birthday and also on Memorial Day. At the last meeting, the commission appointed Derrick Martin as the Dent County representative for the Meramec Regional Local Emergency Management District. The next meeting of the commission will be Thursday at 9:00 at the courthouse and it is open to the public.

Preliminary data from the Missouri Department of Conservation shows turkey hunters checked 43,380 birds during Missouri’s 2024 regular spring turkey season, April 15th through May 5th. Top harvest counties for the regular season were Franklin with 940 birds harvested, Callaway with 822, and Texas with 780. Other top counties in our area include Phelps with 739 turkeys checked, Dent County hunters harvested 597 birds, Shannon County had 364 turkeys harvested, Reynolds had 221 turkeys checked and Iron finished with 190 turkeys checked. Young turkey hunters also harvested 3,739 turkeys over the youth weekend, April 6th and 7th, bringing the overall 2024 spring turkey harvest to 47,119. According to MDC, that is a 6-percent increase in total harvest from 2023 and a 20-percent increase in total harvest compared to the previous five-year average. The ability to hunt all day on private land may have had a role in this increase. Successively better hatches starting in 2021 meant there were also likely more turkeys on the landscape as well. Last year, young turkey hunters harvested 2,566 turkeys over the spring youth season and hunters harvested 41,977 during the regular spring season for a 2023 spring season total harvest of 44,543. For more information about turkey hunting in Missouri, visit MDC online at huntfish.mdc.mo.gov.

Join Danielle Norris Friday evening May 10th from 5:30-7:30 for Mommy & Me “This or That” kids paint party. Bring your little ones and come paint a picture just in time for Mothers Day!! You have a choice of two pics to choose from! When complete, your painting will line up with your kiddos and become one! (painting can also be done as a single ) This activity is also perfect for grandmothers and grand kids! You will be taken step by step through the whole process and all supplies are provided. What a special gift for any mom! Cost is $20 for adults and $5 for kiddos attending with an adult. For kiddos attending alone it’s $10.Children under 5 must have an adult present. There needs to be a Minimum of 6 and a Maximum of 20 attendees. Class registrations are on a first come, first serve basis with online registrations.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol would like to remind the public that driver examination stations throughout the state will be closed on Wednesday, May 8th, in observance of Harry S Truman’s birthday. Normal operations will resume on Thursday, May 9th. They will also be closed on Monday, May 27th, in observance of Memorial Day. Normal operations will then resume on Tuesday, May 28th.