Local News – Thursday, March 3rd, 2022
KSMO'S FFA Day will be held this Friday with students from the Salem FFA Chapter being interviewed on KSMO Radio and video streamed LIVE on ksmoradio.com and KSMO Media Facebook Page and YouTube. Former FFA Advisor Bob Parsons will be interviewing students starting around 8:10 in the morning and lasting until just before 3:00 in the afternoon. Parsons will interview approximately 30 students from freshman to seniors and discuss with them their FFA experiences including SAE projects, officer training, activities, and more. Parents can listen to KSMO Radio or watch the video streams starting Friday just after 8:00 AM and lasting until just before 3:00.
The Dent County Fire Protection District board of directors met Tuesday evening. After the roll call and approval of the consent agenda, the board approved the minutes of the January meeting as presented. The financial report showed an ending balance of $273,304.28 as of February 28th. Bills were then reviewed, along with payments and statements. During discussion of the budget, it was decided by the board to contact the auditor for further information on the best way to set up the budget to better show the information that the board wants to see. The calendar was then reviewed, and it was announced that on March 17th, the station will be used during the road rally. The monthly reimbursement report was presented with a total of 15 calls for the month of February that included two building fires, a chimney or flue fire, one brush fire, a car fire, one motor vehicle accident, two medical assist calls, three calls that were cancelled en route or where no incident was found at the address, two unintentional alarms calls where there was no fire, one alarm sounded due to a malfunction and one special type of incident call. The total amount of calls for the year stands at 64. In old business, it was decided that the Policy and Procedures Manual would be sent to board members to review and that it would be voted on during the April meeting. Fire Chief Brad Nash reported new handrails and stairs are needed for the loft area to comply with safety regulations. The department received a bid from Quality Machine for $4,300.00. After discussion, a motion was made and carried to accept that bid for the construction of the stairs. Chief Nash also asked to board to upgrade his computer and monitors to keep up with the new requirements of software which was approved by the board. The meeting date for the April meeting will be Tuesday, April 5th at the fire station. The regular meeting was adjourned, and the board moved into closed session to discuss personnel.
Healthy Dent County has partnered with the University of Missouri Extension to create a monthly ECHO/webinar that will be beneficial to many different organizations and individuals that work to build healthy communities. These sessions will be held the second Wednesday of each month beginning Wednesday, April 13th from 10:00 to 11:00 in the morning. A team of experts in social determinants of health, health equity, community outreach, health policy and community development will offer the online sessions. If you would like to join, visit showmeecho.org.
Snow and ice brought their own unique challenges to driving during the month of February. As temperatures warm this week, the Missouri Department of Transportation is focusing on the potholes left in the road with all the fluctuating temperatures and precipitation. Crews have already started working on patching potholes and will continue as the weather allows. When you see a MoDOT crew making repairs, please slow down and move over a lane to give them room to work. In 2021, MoDOT patched approximately 530,000 potholes spending $18 million on pothole patching. The majority of pothole patching repairs are done now through the end of April. Short-term repairs are made using a cold asphalt mix with a priority to fill the deepest potholes first. The long-term fix, a hot asphalt mix, isn’t effective until temperatures remain warm for a prolonged period. MoDOT maintains 34,000 miles of road, including interstates, U.S. and Missouri highways and lettered routes. Motorists can report the location of potholes on state-maintained roads by calling the 24/7 Customer Service Center at 1-888-ASK-MODOT (888-275-6636), or use the "Report a Road Concern" form on the web at modot.org.
The Salem Park and Recreation Board met Wednesday, February 16th at the Salem Community Center@the Armory. The minutes of the previous meeting were read and approved by all members. Director Melissa DuBois gave her report to the board including information on the civic theater, soccer complex, and noted that the poles for the lights at Al Brown fields are on backorder. A representative from People Centric then gave a presentation and held a discussion on what the coming goals are that the park board would like to achieve. Dubois also discussed bids on recreating the current frisbee golf course as 2 holes are missing and the course plays through obstacles as it stands. Further discussion on the course will continue at the next board meeting. Draft style baseball teams were also discussed to give each team a fair chance at all players. With no further discussions, the meeting was then adjourned.