Local News – Friday, April 5th, 2024

The Dent County Commissioners met Thursday morning at the Dent County Courthouse. In attendance was Lancer Blair who is running for the 120th District seat on the Republican ticket and was going to speak at the Lincoln Days in Crawford and Dent Counties. In the road report, District 1 Commissioner Wes Mobray said rock would be added and grading done on Dent County Roads 5110, 5600 and 6580. He also said brush would be cut on county roads 6010 and 6585 while some miscellaneous signs will be put up on a couple roads. District 2 Commissioner Gary Polk stated rock would be added and grading done on Dent County Roads 3020 and 4330 while only grading was going to be done on county roads 3030 and 3050. He also said rock would be added to county roads 4340 and 4040. Polk indicated brush was going to be cut on county road 4030. Presiding Commissioner Gary Larson said the county has formed an opioid committee to review funding requests. The committee will recommend to the MRPC the organizations who should receive the funds and the MRPC will then send those requests to the county commission for their approval. The committee is made up of Rick Letchworth, Leigh Ann Price, James Weber, Jeff Dotson and a representative from Compass Health with Larson being an ex-officio non-voting member. The commission appointed Blythe Kelly and Sean Oliver to the Tourism Committee. Larson received the contract for the additional bathroom in the courthouse and he signed the contract. The project was not bid out since it was under the bid threshold requirement. Thomas Excavating will be starting on the project in 2 weeks. County Clerk Angie Curley reported 23.74% of the registered voters voted in the April election. She indicated she would be attending the MAC Legislative Day and MAC Board meeting next Monday and Tuesday. Curley presented an update on the Standing Rock Bridge received from MoDOT Engineer Preston Kramer. MoDOT has shifted the location of where they were going to place the bridge, and after acquiring additional right-of-way, have decided to leave the current Highway 19 bridge open to traffic while the contractor builds half of the new bridge off to the side of the old bridge. Once half of the new bridge is constructed and the roadway tie-ins are in place, they will transfer traffic to the new bridge. As this will only be half of a bridge, they will install traffic signals to direct one direction of traffic over the bridge at a time. During this phase, MoDOT will demolish the existing bridge and build the second half of the new bridge. This way, traffic on Highway 19 will be open through the duration of the construction. Corky Stack with AEA Engineering was in and brought in an invoice for Alexander Construction, LLC for $18,000. To date the exterior courthouse project totals $1,716,128.51, with the balance to finish, including retainage being $10,005.19. Gary Polk moved to buy a 2014 Ram 2500 4WD Crew Cab for $14,950 for the Road and Bridge Department and it was approved 3-0. There will be no commission meeting Monday so the next meeting will be Thursday at 9:00 and the meeting is open to the public.

An accident occurred in Phelps County Wednesday night at 8:45 on Highway 63 at Phelps County Road 7160. According to the highway patrol report, a southbound 2010 Subaru Impreza, operated by 64-year-old Kathy Dabbs of Lenox, struck a cow in the roadway. A southbound 2003 Toyota Carolla, operated by 64-year-old Paul Foster of Houston, failed to avoid the cow, striking it and the Subaru. A passenger in the Toyota, 52-year-old Angela Stewart of O’Fallon, suffered serious injuries and was transported by Phelps Health Ambulance to Phelps Health in Rolla. Dabbs suffered moderate injuries and was taken to Phelps Health Hospital by Phelps Health Ambulance. According to the report Stewart was not wearing a safety restraint, while Dabbs and Foster were. Both vehicles were totaled and removed from the scene by D & D Towing.

The Salem Community Garden behind the Salem United Methodist Church will open this Saturday at 9:00. This will mark the beginning of gardening at the garden. If you are interested in a plot, contact Master Gardener Charlie Grimm at 573-368-9902 and he will assign you one. You can get more than one plot, but there will be a slight charge for each additional plot. Water and tools are provided. Beginning April 11th, there will be special presentations at the Community Garden and the first presentation will be on Companion Gardening. Those presentations are open to the public, regardless if you have a plot or not. For more information about the garden or the presentations, call Master Gardener Charlie Grimm or the Dent County Extension at 729-3196.