Local News – Friday, April 12th, 2024

The Dent County Commission met for their regular meeting at the courthouse Thursday. Attending the meeting was Grant Wilson from 8th District Representative Jason Smith’s office who wanted to let people know Smith would be at the Dent County Republican Lincoln Days on Thursday, April 18th. Also in attendance was Mike Swyers who was asking as a concerned citizen what the status was of the broadband situation in Dent County. He is seeing all the surrounding counties receiving funding from the state for improved broadband but is not seeing anything for Dent County. The commission told Swyers they have been to numerous meetings on this and Presiding Commission Gary Larson said it is brought up at every MRPC meeting. Currently, the Missouri Department of Economic Development has a window open where citizens can challenge what the Missouri Broadband Map shows as having adequate, little or no service. Challengers will be able to provide information that would indicate the locations that should or should not be available for funding. Time is running out as the window for filing challenges will close on Tuesday, April 23rd. If you currently do NOT have broadband, you will need to go to a location that offers public access to a computer or to a location that has Internet service with your phone and go to this website: ded.mo.gov/office-broadband-development and click on the Broadband Availability Challenge and enter the requested information. Candidate for 120th State Representative Lancer Blair was also in attendance at the commission meeting and said he attended the Crawford County Lincoln Days and a meeting of “We the People” in Crawford County. Dent County Treasurer Denita Williams gave the sales tax figures the county received from the state this month. In the General Revenue Fund and the Law Enforcement Sales Tax Fund, the county received $98,610.46 which is up from April 2023 receipts by $19,157.38. Year-to-date, those funds are up $3,610.28. For the Road and Bridge Fund, the county received $43,386.02 and that is up $8,857.85 from April of 2023. Year-to-date, that fund is down $1,173.18. The Jail Operating and Trust Funds each received $87,193.68 in April and that was up $17,770.96 over last April. Year-to-date, those funds are each down $1,155.95. In the road report, District 1 Commissioner Wes Mobray said the work crews would be digging up a soft spot on the chip and seal county road 4185. They will be solidifying the base and rebuilding the road at that location. Once done, the county will rechip and seal that part of the road and finish chip and sealing the rest of the roadway. Mobray also said brush was cut on county road 6470. District 2 Commissioner Gary Polk said workers were stockpiling gravel at the road and bridge department, plus maintenance was being done on grader #40, a new fuel tank was being put on truck #82 and work was being done on the exhaust of truck #122. Commissioner Larson said he and the commissioners attended the MAC Legislative Day and heard from Governor Mike Parsons. He also attended the TAC, HUD and MRPC regular meeting Thursday night. Dent County Clerk Angie Curley said she attended the MAC Board Meeting on Monday where they discussed numerous issues. She went on to say that she balanced with the collector and assessor on monthly collections, add-ons, and abatements. She said she is also getting preliminary work done for the August Primary election. The next meeting of the commission will be Monday at 9:00 at the courthouse and the meeting is open to the public.

The Salem Police department has released their report for the month of March. The department responded to 13 accidents during the month. Officers also responded to six alarms sounding and addressed 35 animal calls. Officers investigated eight assaults or fights, one burglary, performed nine well being checks and ten area checks during the month. The department investigated six domestic disputes, five verbal disturbances, conducted 59 follow-up investigations and provided 16 escorts. They investigated five nuisance violations, four reports of fraud, and offered assistance to seven motorists. The Salem Police wrote six property damage reports during March, plus made seven stealing reports and responded to three traffic complaints. Officers investigated 20 suspicious circumstance calls, seven suspicious person calls and eight suspicious vehicle calls. Officers responded to a trespassing call and attempted to serve seven warrants in March. Officers conducted 50 traffic stops during the month. The police responded to a total of 452 incidents in March with the average response time to calls being 2:12. The average time spent on the scene was 15:57.

The Doe Run Company and Missouri Department of Natural Resources will be hosting a free, family fun event at the Missouri Mines State Historic Site in Park Hills on Saturday from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM. The event is called “Spring Rocks ’N Roll” and celebrates minerals, music and memories. The event is an expanded and reimagined version of a former event, “Fall Rocks,” previously held annually in October. Doe Run and its employees will provide indoor and outdoor activities, including a children’s battery-operated, ride and drive mine equipment obstacle course, a drone flying station for adults, “gold” panning, a mineral trivia game, cookie mining, and more. . Doe Run will also host a job recruitment booth for those looking to learn more about working in the mining and metals industry. Visitors are encouraged to register to win one of four free bicycles that will be given away toward the end of the event. This year marks Doe Run’s 160th anniversary and the company has much to celebrate. It recently announced it won a $7 million grant from the Department of Defense to build a demonstration plant that will extract cobalt and nickel from Missouri resources.

The Salem Memorial Hospital will hold a special board meeting Sunday at 2:00 in the hospital library to swear in newly elected board members and discuss a proposed policy and a pledge of confidentiality. The board may then go into closed session before they adjourn. The meeting is open to the public. Any person wanting to attend by phone or electronic means should contact the SMDH administration office by Friday at 573-729-6626, ext 4005 to obtain access information.