Local News – Friday, October 9, 2020
City of Salem Administrator Ray Walden wants to remind citizens that due to the customer service and security enhancements at the City Administrative Offices, the building is temporarily closed and the utility drive-thru is currently closed. Customers do have the option to drop utility payments off at the drop-box near the council chambers entrance door along 3rd Street, to mail payments to 400 N. Iron St., or to pay by phone at 729-4117. Utility staff will be available for in-person meetings today from 8:30 in the morning until 4:30 in the afternoon at the City Hall Council Chambers. Citizens can make an appointment or stop by on a first-come first-served basis. All phone numbers for departments located in the admin office building remain operational with staff working from other locations. The Administration building staff are expected to return work at the admin building by Monday, November 2nd. The remodeling project seeks to improve customer service and security. An open house is planned after the completion and the public’s patience during the project is appreciated.
The Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety wants to remind all drivers that a statewide media campaign will be held October 10th through the 18th with a speed limit enforcement running October 16th through the 18th. During this time law enforcement will be actively enforcing Missouri’s speed limit laws and reminding drivers of the increased risks associated with higher speeds. Despite the decrease in traffic during the national pandemic, speed related crashes are on the rise. To date there has been more than an 11% increase in traffic crash fatalities over this time last year. Crashes on a road with a speed limit of 65 mph or greater is more than twice as likely to result in a fatality than a crash on a road with a speed limit of 45 or 50 mph and nearly five times as likely as a crash on a road with a speed limit of 40 mph or below. In Missouri specifically, speed contributed to nearly 32% of the state’s 881 roadway fatalities in 2019 continuing an alarming trend related to speed over the last five years. The definition of speeding can be driving in excess of the posted speed limit, but also driving too fast for conditions that can also have dangerous consequences including providing drivers less time to react to adverse conditions, reducing a driver’s ability to negotiate curves or maneuver around obstacles in the roadway, extending the distance traveled before a vehicle can stop, increasing the distance a vehicle travels once the driver reacts to a hazard and the increase in the amount of force involved in a collision. Change your speed, change the ending. And, of course, always buckle up and put your phone down.
Dent County Prosecutor Andrew Curley has released reports of two additional cases that were heard in Crawford County Tuesday in front of Judge Megan Seay. Curley said Herman Helms of St. Joseph, Missouri pled guilty to two possessions of a controlled substance charges for methamphetamine. He was sentenced to six years in the Department of Corrections as requested by the state. In the other case, Anthony Justice of Salem pled guilty to burglary in the first degree for stealing merchandise from Wal-Mart after being formally trespassed. He also pled guilty to miscellaneous stealing and trespassing in a separate incident at Wal-Mart. Curley indicated the state sought seven years in the Department of Corrections under RSMO Section 559.115. Probation and Parole recommended probation in this case. The defendant was granted probation over the state’s objection and Justice was placed in the Dent County Alternative Treatment Court. Justice was placed on five years supervision with a suspended imposition of sentence.
The Ozark National Scenic Riverways will be conducting two managed deer hunts in October and November at Big Spring. To ensure public safety, portions of the Big Spring area will be temporarily closed October 16th through the 19th and November 6th through the 9th. These hunting opportunities are being extended to two special groups of the nation’s population, our youth and our military service members with permanent mobility impairments. The youth hunt will be held October 17th and 18th, and the Exceptional Warrior Mobility-Impaired managed hunt will be held November 7th and 8th. A total of 10 randomly selected hunters have been chosen for each hunt. Hunters for the youth hunt can harvest two antlerless deer with a center-fire rifle while hunters of the Exceptional Warrior Mobility-Impaired hunt can take two antlerless deer, or one antlerless and one antlered deer with a center-fire rifle. Because of the special hunt, portions of the Big Spring area will be temporarily closed to the public during both hunts. That includes Friday, October 16th, until the morning of Monday, October 19th; and Friday, November 6, until the morning of Monday, November 9. These closures help ensure public safety during these activities and include Peavine Road, the Big Spring Campground, the Peavine pavilion area, and all hiking trails within the Big Spring area. Big Spring and the boat ramp will remain open during the hunt and can be accessed from Hwy 103. All areas will reopen the Monday following each hunting event.