Your World Today

The Dent County Commission met Thursday morning at the courthouse. During public comments, Lancer Blair said he had been part of discussion in Crawford County where he learned the Central Bank of New York was issuing digital currency starting in December and wondered if the Commissioners had heard anything about the issue. First District Commissioner Wes Mobray stated that according to state stature, it is illegal for the county to deal in digital currency. In the road report, Mobray said grading would be done on Dent County Roads 5460, 6370, and 6570, plus brush would be cut on county roads 6460 and 6470. He also said that steering tires were being replaced on one dump truck, plus a flat tire on it was going to fixed. Mobray also noted that another dump truck is down and being worked on. Second District Commissioner Gary Polk reported that grading would be done and rock would be added to Dent County Road 2540, while only grading would be done on county roads 4403, 4480, and 5260. He also reported that his district was hauling conservation rock and his district also has a truck down. Presiding Commissioner Gary Larson reported that MRPC has asked him to submit names for the Eugene E. Northern Award and Outstanding Youth Award. Deputy Dent County Clerk Melissa Piatt reported that the commissioners were approving bills for payment. Bank bids were opened for the lease/purchase agreement for a new backhoe for three years. The Bank of Salem bid was 6.25%, Progressive Ozark bid was 4.50%, and the bid from Town & Country Bank was 5.15%. The commissioners approved the bid from Progressive Ozark with a 3-0 vote. An Intercounty Electric Cooperative representative was in to share that they have increased their rates by 2%. Corky Stack with AEA Engineering was in and they did a walk around with the commissioners on the Courthouse renovations. They noted that the east door needs painted, the roof was still leaking as of April 11th, and the torn screens need to be replaced. The next meeting of the commission will be Monday morning at the courthouse at 9:00 and the meeting is open to the public.

An accident occurred Wednesday afternoon at 2:07 in Phelps County on I-44 about three miles west of Doolittle. According to the highway patrol report, a westbound 2023 Harley Davidson FLHTP, operated by 54-year-old Patrick Rippy of Owensburg, Indiana, began to reduce speed due to traffic conditions. At that time, a 2019 Ford F-350, driven by 30-year-old Mitchell Lawrence of Salem, struck the rear of the Harley Davidson causing Rippy to be ejected. Rippy suffered serious injuries and was flown to University Hospital in Columbia. According to the report, Rippy was not wearing safety equipment, while Lawrence was wearing a seat restraint. The motorcycle went off the left side of the roadway and struck the cable barrier sustaining moderate damage. The Ford had minor damage and was driven from the scene.

The Salem Memorial Hospital Board of Directors held their regular meeting at the hospital library Tuesday evening. For the month of March, the hospital showed a loss from operations of $239,214. After tax revenues are included, the hospital had an excess of expenses over revenues of $118,129. The SMH Family Clinic also showed a loss during March of $66,079.80 as revenues were over budget, but less than in March of 2023. The hospital had a decrease in cash of $121,258 in March but CFO Doug Hoban said the hospital did receive $428,000 in state funds in April. Another payment from the state is expected of over $288,788. The board discussed a strategic plan meeting to be held May 10th working with the University Extension to pull some numbers together. The board did pass an amendment to the board bylaws for a small group voting resolution. The board elected new officers and they are Mike Swyers as the President with Leigh Ann Price Vice-President and Karen Brown as Secretary. The Finance Committee will be made up of new board members Frank Barnitz, Leigh Ann Price and Karen Brown. Zach Moser will be the alternate to the finance committee. The board then went into closed session.

This Saturday at the Ozark Natural and Cultural Resource Center on Highway 19 at the exhibit called “Crossroads: Change in Rural America,” there will be a discussion of ”One Book” about Edgar Lee Masters’ Spoon Rivers Anthology at 9:00. At 10:30, Becky Imhauser presents “More than Money – Being Rich During the Depression. 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.

The Salem Memorial Hospital Board of Directors held their regular meeting at the hospital library Tuesday evening. The Statistical Summary of Operations showed the hospital inpatient admissions were 79, of which 49 were for Medical and Surgical, 5 for Swingbeds, and 25 for Observation. These admissions totaled 280 inpatient census days. Notably, the average length of stay for both Medical/Surgical, and Swingbeds were up significantly compared to March 2023. There were 1,400 Outpatient Registrations, 1,560 Cardiopulmonary Procedures, 6,731 Lab Tests, 1,301 Radiology Procedures, 680 Rehabilitation Treatments and 39 Surgical Procedures. There were 639 Emergency Room visits with 57 patients being admitted. A total of 226 ambulance runs were made with 166 patients being transported. The Chief Nursing Officer report from Ashley Owens stated that there are openings for five night nursing positions as well as a full time EMT. The Mandatory Annual Nursing Skills Lab is scheduled for May 9th. The recognition for the Nurse of the Year will follow on May 10th. In Human Resources there were three new hires while six employees left. According to the First Quarter Report this totals, 10 new hires, while 29 have left, nearly half of those who left were from the Nursing Department.

An accident occurred in Crawford County Saturday night at 10:20 on I-44 at the 220 mile marker. According to the Highway Patrol report a 2002 Ford Explorer, driven by a 16-year-old female juvenile, ran off the left side of the roadway, struck the cable barrier, and overturned. She suffered moderate injuries and was transported by North Crawford Ambulance District to Missouri Baptist Hospital in Sullivan. The Ford was totaled and removed from the scene by Patriot Towing. The Highway Patrol was assisted by the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office and the Bourbon Fire Department.

A recent investigation of illegal tree harvesting on the Mark Twain National Forest that led to the indictment of a southern Missouri man used an uncommon form of evidence—DNA from an illegally harvested log. This case marks the first time that tree DNA was used to investigate a federal timber poaching case in the eastern United States. Timber theft is a common crime on public lands. Black walnut—the tree in this case—is among the largest and longest-lived hardwood tree species growing on the Mark Twain’s 1.5 million acres. Its wood is sought after for veneers and furniture, which makes it an attractive target for timber poaching on federal and other lands across Missouri and neighboring states. In October 2019, witnesses notified a law enforcement officer of a potential illegal harvest on the forest near Siloam Springs, Mo. After identifying eight freshly cut walnut stumps at the site, a Forest Service special agent was assigned the case. He investigated a nearby hardwood lumber mill, where he found one log with dimensions matching one of the stumps. An off-cut from the end of the suspect log showed a near-perfect fit to one of the freshly cut stumps at the theft site. To convincingly prove that this stump and log represented the same tree, the special agent contacted Richard Cronn, a USDA Forest Service research geneticist based in Oregon, who studies forest tree genetics and has pioneered the use of tree DNA in illegal logging investigations. Cronn’s lab evaluated the stump and log samples utilizing the new test, and results showed that the samples were identical across 80 genetic markers. For Missouri black walnut, that DNA database was built by Forest Service law enforcement and timber staff and Adventure Scientists, a citizen-science volunteer organization. The group’s volunteers collected leaf and wood samples across the species’ range, and Forest Service geneticists analyzed the samples to determine the “DNA profile probability’—or the chance that two random walnut trees would share the same DNA fingerprint. Using this database, the research team determined that the DNA profile probability for the illegally cut tree was less than one in a million-trillion-trillion. The combination of physical evidence and DNA testing proved irrefutable. The defendant pled guilty in July 2023 to one felony count of depredation of Government property, and was sentenced to five months of time served, a 3-year supervised release, and restitution for the value of timber and ecological damage to the forest.