Local News – Friday, April 14th, 2023

The Dent County Commission met Thursday morning at the Dent County Courthouse. Gary Larson was again appointed acting presiding commissioner for the meeting. Dent County Treasurer Denita Williams brought in her report on the sales tax monies received in April from the Department of Revenue. She said the General Revenue Fund and the Dent County LEST Fund each received $79,453.80 this month which is down over $21,000 from April of 2022, but year-to-date the fund is ahead of last year by $5,522.53 which comes to about a 1.52% increase. In the Road and Bridge Fund, the county received $34,528.19 which is $11,195.61 less than April of 2022. Year-to-date, the Road and Bridge Fund is up $3,621.02 over 2022 which is an increase near 2.21%. In the two jail funds, the trust fund and operating fund, revenues received from the state this month came in at $69,422.72 and that is down $21,468.78 from April of 2022, and year-to-date each fund is up $8,340.90. That is about a 2.55% over 2022. She also said she received the itemized report from the Department of Revenue for the deduction from each fund from the agreement concerning the paying back of the sales taxes erroneously given to the county. In the road report, District 1 Commissioner Wes Mobray said workers were stockpiling rock at the county shed, others were patching Dent County Road 4220 with the ultimate paving material. Some chip and seal repair was also occurring. Mobray said some road signs were being straightened and/or repaired. He did report that he, Commissioner Gary Larson, County Clerk Angie Curley, County Assessor Jamie Homeyer and Treasurer Denita Williams attended the MAC Legislative Day at Jefferson City Tuesday night and Wednesday. District 2 Commissioner Larson said materials were added and grading done on Dent County Road 2120 while just materials were being added to county road 2200. He did say patch and seal repairs were being made to the county road 2550. Mobray said the renovation work on the courthouse is progressing as the workers did the tuckpointing work on the courthouse and sealed the grout work on Wednesday. Dent County Collector Shannon VanKirk wanted to remind those businesses affected that tourism tax forms are due in at the courthouse by the 20th and if you need more forms, they are available at the courthouse. You can also call the collector at 729-3911 and they can send you forms. Also, if you are a new business doing an Airbnb, you will need to come to the collector’s office and set your business up. At the last meeting, Bryan Williams from McCoy Construction and Forestry came in to discuss new John Deere graders. The price for the District 2 grader came in at $391,019.11 as it will have the antler rack controls and the grader for District 1 came in at $372,334.04 with the joystick controls. The trade in for both would be $269,296 with the subtotal coming to $485,897.15. McCoy also agreed to extend the current buy back agreement until the time of delivery of the new graders of $141,000 per machine. The commissioners agreed to order the new graders on the state bid and they are expected to be delivered by September of 2023. The next meeting of the commissioners will be Monday morning at 9:00 at the courthouse and the meeting is open to the public.

A three vehicle accident happened Wednesday morning at 8:00 in Washington County on Highway 21 just north of Tin Can Road. According to the highway patrol report, a 2003 Chevrolet S-10 being driven by 46-year-old Terry Perry of Cadet, was traveling north when he steered to the left to avoid traffic that was stopped from a previous accident. The Chevrolet then struck the front left side of a 2021 GMC that was traveling southbound and being driven by 42-year-old Kasey Johnston of Boss. After being struck, the GMC traveled off the right side of the road edge and struck two trees before coming to a rest. This caused the Chevrolet to turn causing a unit it was towing to strike the front of a 2013 Volkswagon Passat being driven southbound by 20-year-old Coleman Eye of Potosi. Johnston suffered moderate injuries and was taken by Washington County Ambulance to Washington County Memorial Hospital. Perry was taken by Washington County Ambulance to Mercy Hospital in St. Louis for treatment of serious injuries. The Chevrolet and GMC were totaled, and the Volkswagon sustained extensive damage. All three vehicles were removed by Elliot’s Towing. The report went on to state that all of the drivers, except Perry, were wearing seat restraints at the time of the accident.