Local News – Tuesday, December 20th, 2022

The Dent County Commissioners met Monday morning at the courthouse for their regular meeting. In the road report, District 1 Commissioner Wes Mobray stated grading was going to be attempted on Dent County Roads 4220 and 6600 while materials were going to be added and grading done on county road 5520. He also said brush would be cut on county road 5530. Mobray said the county road crews would be preparing the trucks with spreaders for the winter storm that’s expected to hit on Thursday. District 2 Commissioner Gary Larson reported materials would be added and grading done on Dent County Road 3200 with only grading being done on county road 2510. Larson said brush would be cut on county road 2550. Larson said he would be attending the Tourism Tax Committee meeting Monday and bring back their budget for the 2023 year. Presiding Commissioner Darrell Skiles wanted to remind the public the courthouse will be closed this Friday and on Monday, December 26th for the Christmas holiday. Dent County Clerk Angie Curley said work continues on the county budget for the 2023 year. The commission was visited by Jenna Deason and Liz Condray from the Salem Area Community Betterment Association along with Roger Still from the LAD Foundation and Pioneer Forest. They talked about the success of this years ”Trees and Trains Exhibit,” and how they have 10 volunteers working each normal week, but with “Trees and Trains, they needed to have 20 volunteers each week and SACBA was able to cover it. The purpose of their visit was to ask the commission to consider providing funds for needed repairs to the Ozark Natural and Cultural Resource Center that included brickwork, sealing of the windows, foundation work on the back side and electrical upgrades. They budgeted $30,686 for those repairs form the county ARPA funds. One of the reasons for this needed work was that Salem has been selected as one of six sites in the State of Missouri to host, “Crossroads in Rural Missouri,” a traveling Smithsonian exhibit that offers small towns a chance to look at their own paths and to highlight the changes that affected their fortunes over the past century. The exhibit would be in Salem for four to six weeks. Condray said representatives from the Smithsonian will be in Salem to check out the building for the exhibit. The commissioners said the county right now is getting ready to put together their budget for 2023 and would revisit their request once the budget has been compiled to see how they may be able to help. Deason and Condray also spoke about a meeting they had with their partners about using the outside of the ONCRC as a canvas for mural that would be designed by and painted by David Spear. Roger Still said the LAD Foundation would be interested in making a sizeable donation to that project that would encompass all of what Dent County is and was. The mural cannot be started until all the brick and tuckpointing work has been completed. They said work on the mural could start in Spring of 2023 and last until Spring of 2024. They were not asking the county for any funds for the mural at this time. Laura Parker from Town and Country Bank brought in the lease-purchase agreement for the new John Deere graders for the commission to sign and record. The next meeting of the commission will be Thursday morning at 9:00 at the courthouse and the meeting is open to the public.

The Salem Police Department has released several reports. On Friday afternoon, December 9th at around 1:30, officers were dispatched to Wal Mart for a report of a vehicle collision where one party had left the scene. An investigation concluded that a male subject had backed into another vehicle causing damage that went unreported. After further investigation, it was apparent the driver of the vehicle knew he had hit the other vehicle and still failed to report it. As a result, a 41-year-old Salem man was arrested and issued a summons to appear in court. Around 9:30 the evening of December 10th, officers were dispatched to the 300 block of South Jackson Street for a report of domestic disturbance. During the investigation, a subject was located that had an active capias warrant out of Dent County. As a result, 32-year-old Melissa Lea of Salem, was arrested and incarcerated at the Dent County jail on her “no bond” warrant. On Monday, December 12th at 11:00 in the morning, officers located a man at the Ranch Motel with an active warrant out of the Newton County Sheriff’s Office with the bond of $10,000. Officers arrested and incarcerated 42-year-old Steven Pacheco of Springfield, Missouri, at the Dent County Jail awaiting extradition to Newton County. Finally on December 14th at around 7:00 in the evening, officers located a woman at Dollar General who had an active capias warrant out of Dent County. They arrested 33-year-old Allie Haines of Salem, and she was incarcerated at the Dent County Jail on her “no bond” warrant. Please contact the Salem Police Department at 729-4242 if you have any information regarding any investigation.

A one vehicle accident happened Friday afternoon at 1:00 in Shannon County on Highway 19 about a mile south of Eminence. According to the highway patrol report, a 2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee being driven north by 79-year-old Samuel Crider of Eminence, crossed over the centerline and ran off the left side of the road where the Jeep struck a tree. Samuel Crider and a passenger, 80-year-old Jo Crider, also of Eminence, both suffered serious injuries and were transported by the Mercy EMS to the Ozarks Health Care in West Plains. Both were wearing seat restraints at the time of the accident. The Jeep was totaled and removed from the scene by Bakers Towing of Birch Tree.