Local News – Friday, January 6th, 2023

The Dent County Commissioners met for their first meeting of the new year Thursday morning at the Dent County Courthouse. In the road report, District 1 Commissioner Wes Mobray stated materials would be added and grading done on Dent County Road 4245 while only grading was going to take place on county roads 5600 and 6670. Mobray said brush would be cut on county road 5610 and the Cooley Bridge Project on Dent County Road 5610 will begin on January 9th. District 2 Commissioner Gary Larson said materials would be added and grading done on Dent County Roads 5240 and 5250 while only grading was going to be done on county roads 3040, 3050, 3060, 3070 and 5245. Larson said brush would be cut on county roads 2580, 2590 and 2593. Presiding Commissioner Darrell Skiles wanted to remind vendors that the county is now working on the 2023-year budget and no bills will be paid until the budget is approved late in the month. Skiles said the county will need to seek bids for a financial audit and they will be due by 11:00 in the morning on Monday, January 30th at the county clerk’s office. Skiles also presented Dent County Resolution #1-5-23-1 to adopt the Dent County Multijurisdictional Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan to the commissioners for their review. The commissioners adopted the measure unanimously. Dent County Clerk Angie Curley said the final certification from all entities is due in her office by January 24th for the April 4th Municipal Election. Representatives from McCoy Equipment in Cuba came in to discuss a disputed lease agreement on two graders needed by the county when John Deere did not deliver the new graders on time as promised. The county was turning in two Caterpillar graders in August when they purchased the two new John Deere graders. McCoy charged the county a leasing fee of 40% off their book rate and it came to around $31,000 for the leased graders that the commission was less than happy with due to repair problems. The new graders did not arrive until late November and the county would like the bill to cut at least in half as they will be having to purchase two additional graders this year. The offer from McCoy was to reduce the bill to $25,000. The commissioners requested that McCoy reduce that bill to around $15,000 and that offer will be presented to upper management. An updated statement will be expected later this month, but it is unknow what the amount will be. The commission also talked with the representatives about backhoes and the possible price increase on the new graders and when that would take effect. Kirk Faigle from the 100-Acre Wood Rally was in for a preliminary talk with commission about this year’s rally in March. The next meeting of the commissioners will be Monday morning at 9:00 and the meeting is open to the public.

The Dent County Historical Society will be hosting their second “Telling the Story of the Current River from Road” at the James and Gahr Fellowship Saturday morning at 10:00 with the lead topic, “It’s all about the Maps.” Dent County Historical Society President Deloris Gray Wood will share large USGS and Dent County Maps of the area. Some special guests will include Judy Stewart who will be sharing how her husband, John Stewart, took David Lewis all along the Current River for him to map the Current River that Lewis shared in his publications on sale now at the Shannon County Museum in Eminence; and Don Love who will share postal maps that relate to the Old West Plains Road from Salem headed southwest and crossing the Current River at Cedar Grove. The goal of gathering this information is to create road waysides with a main story available for that particular wayside, and also to build a website that connects when a smartphone scans a QR code where there will be more information about that site or the site area on the website. The gathering is open to everyone, and it is a time to share each other’s stories and give people a chance to look at the maps to learn where historic spots were located along the Current River, like Baptist Camp or Duckworth Place, or where your ancestors may have lived on or near the Current River. For more information, call Deloris Gray Wood at 573 729-2545.

Filings for those people interested in running for school boards ended December 27th and here is a list of those running on April 4th in the Municipal Election. All terms will be for three years for each of the school districts. Seven people signed up for the Salem R-80 School Board with only one incumbent running: Andrew Wynn. Others running for that board include Calvin Malone, Bret Bailey, Gregory Moravec. Marjorie Pyatt, Drusilla Howard and Brian Mink. For the Oak Hill R-1 School District Board, running is incumbent Sarah Huffman as well as Rhonda Wolfe-Hutsell, John Hoodenpyle, Jerry Norris, Daniel England and April Greener. For the Green Forest R-2 School District Board, all three positions will be filled by incumbents as Amber Toman, Jason Jones and Kyle Case all filed. For the Dent-Phelps R-3 School District Board, all three positions will be filled by incumbents as Nick Gover, Caleb Gidcumb and Bill Manthey have all filed. For the Northwood R-4 School District, two of the three positions will be filled by incumbents: David Massengale and Aaron Brooks, while Jenna Dunn was the only other person to file for the last remaining opening. The Bunker R-3 School District Board has two incumbents running: Allen Ritter and Jason David, as well as Mark Brickey and C.J. Wisdom for the three positions available. For those school districts who have only three candidates running, no election will have to be held for those school boards in April.