Local News – Friday, March 10th, 2023

The Dent County Commissioners met Thursday morning at the Dent County Courthouse. Dent County Clerk Angie Curley appointed District 2 Commissioner Gary Larson as the Acting Presiding Commissioner for the meeting. Amanda Sapaugh from the SB 40 Board was in to ask the commissioners to re-appoint Shawn Bolerjack and Grant Hamlett to her board for three-year terms. She said she also had two vacancies on her board she would like to fill. She recommended the commission appoint Becky Steiner to a three-year term and Chelsie Hubbs to a two-year term. The commissioners approved the re-appointments and Sapaugh’s recommendations to fill the vacancies. Dent County Treasurer Denita Williams brought in her report on the sales tax monies received in March from the Department of Revenue. She said the General Revenue Fund and the Dent County LEST Fund each received $94,424.82 this month which is $8,754.64 more than the 2022 figure of $85,670.18 for March. Year-to-date, those funds are each up $26,658.56 which is over a 10% increase. In the Road and Bridge Fund, the county received $43,644.24 while last March the county took in $39,486.61. That difference was $4,157.63 and year-to-date, the Road and Bridge Fund is up $14,816.63 over 2022 which is an increase of over 12.49%. In the two jail funds, the trust fund and operating fund, revenues received from the state this month came in at $87,288.52 and that is $8,367.36 more than March of 2022, and year-to-date each fund is up $29,809.68. That is about a 12.5% increase more than 2022. In the road report, District 1 Commissioner Wes Mobray said brush was being cut in the Bunker area on numerous roads, plus work was being done in the shop changing out tires and general maintenance. Mobray said crews were still checking some roads for damage from recent rains, and the ultimate paving material was being used for patching on various chip and seal roads. Commissioner Larson said rock would be added to Dent County Road 6140 and then spread out with a grader, while brush was going to be cut on county roads 4283, 4285 and 4287. He said a new battery was being installed in brush cutter #6 and a cotter pin had to be replaced on the back hoe. Once that was done, the back hoe was going to be cleaning out debris from under and around bridges. Dent County Clerk Curley said excused absentee voting continues in her office, the last day to mail out a ballot for the April 4th election will be March 22nd, and no-excuse absentee voting will begin March 21st and last through April 3rd. She said sample ballots are available at the courthouse for the Municipal Election and they are free. She also wanted to report that Green Forest R-2 and Dent-Phelps R-3 polling locations will NOT be open for this election as they do not have races for those schools. The next meeting of the Dent County Commission will be Monday morning at 9:00 at the Dent County courthouse and the meeting is open to the public.

An accident happened Wednesday afternoon at 4:45 in Phelps County on Highway 63 and Route M in Edgar Springs. According to the highway patrol report, 37-year-old Austin Baird of Edgar Springs was driving a 2005 GMC Pickup westbound, when he pulled into the path of a 2022 Buick Enclave driven by 75-year old Raymond Lewis of Licking. The Enclave struck the side of the GMC. Suffering moderate injuries were Baird who was taken by a patrol vehicle to Phelps Health in Rolla, and 72-year-old Belinda Lewis of Licking who was a passenger in the Enclave. She was taken by ambulance to Phelps Health. Both Raymond and Belinda Lewis were wearing their seat restraints while Baird was not. The GMC was totaled and removed from the scene by Lucas Towing while the Buick sustained extensive damage and was removed by D&D Towing. Baird was arrested for a DWI for drugs, failure to stop at a stop sign and for not wearing a seat belt. He was released from Phelps Health.

This week is Severe Weather Preparedness Week, and the Missouri Department of Commerce and Insurance, the State Emergency Management Agency, and the U.S. National Weather Service remind Missourians they should prepare in advance for severe weather. Spring brings thunderstorms, heavy winds, hail and tornadoes are all potential weather threats in Missouri and may result in significant damage or destruction to your home. Last year a total of 16 tornadoes occurred statewide; 35 tornadoes are typically the norm in Missouri annually. Severe weather throughout the year makes it critical for homeowners to understand a key component of their policies and that is their roof insurance. Some policies may not cover the replacement cost of your roof or the policy you have may only cover a depreciated cost, or the actual cash value, to repair or replace your property. The Missouri Department of Commerce and Insurance recommends that consumers check their homeowners policy or contact their insurance company or agent to see whether their policy provides replacement cost coverage. DCI’s online roof coverage tool, insurance.mo.gov/roofing, is available to assist Missourians by providing a free analysis of the top twenty homeowners insurance companies in the state. If a company is not listed, this comparison shopping form helps consumers ask the right questions and record information as they research options for new coverage or seek to understand their existing coverage. For questions on roof insurance or any other insurance questions, Missouri consumers can call DCI’s Insurance Consumer Hotline at 800-726-7390 or visit insurance.mo.gov/consumers. You can learn more about Missouri’s annual Severe Weather Preparedness Week and find more weather-related resources at stormaware.mo.gov.