Local News – Tuesday, February 11th, 2020

The Dent County Commissioners met Monday morning for their regular meeting. District 1 Commissioner Dennis Purcell said parts of his district received as much as two inches of rain over the weekend to go with very windy conditions Sunday. Because of this, he has crews out checking for washouts as well as downed trees and limbs. He does have a crew on Dent County Road 6050 trimming low limbs back. Purcell indicated he has another crew out replacing missing Dent County Road number signs. District 2 Commissioner Gary Larson said service is being done on County Truck #24. He said that a crew plans on adding materials to Dent County Roads 2050, 3300, 6120 and 6123 provided they are not too soft for the trucks to bring in the gravel. He also said a worker would be cutting brush on county road 2510 if the shoulders are not too soft. Presiding Commissioner Darrell Skiles said he attended a Transportation Advisory Committee meeting Thursday where they discussed the possibility of adding passing lanes to Highway 63 between the Vichy Airport and Westphalia. There is a better chance to get this done over a period of years than making Highway 63 a four lane highway. At the MRPC Board meeting, Skiles said representatives of US Representative Jason Smith and US Senator Roy Blunt were on hand as they talked about finding ways to make broadband more available at an affordable cost. Dent County Clerk Angie Curley reported that Wednesday is the last day to register to vote in the Presidential Preference Primary. The courthouse will be closed that day due to Lincoln’s Birthday so if you want to register in person, that will have to be done today at the courthouse in the county clerk’s office. You can register online on Wednesday. Curley also reported that the courthouse would be closed on Monday, February 17th for President’s Day. She went on to report that she balanced on all monthly accounts with the Dent County Treasurer. Dent County Collector Shannon VanKirk told the commissioners that just over $645,000 in taxes were collected in January and has been properly distributed. She said her office has updated the County Merchants License and they look different than before. It was also brought up in the meeting the feral hog situation is now getting worse in Dent County with property being affected in the eastern and southern parts of the county. The next meeting of the Dent County Commission will be Thursday, February 20th at the courthouse and the meeting is open to the public.

This past Friday, February 7th, Richard Kneib of St. Charles pled guilty in connection with a charge involving the felony possession of a controlled substance, methamphetamine, as a persistent drug offender for charges in connection with his arrest on May 18th, 2018. Kneib was the driver of a vehicle that was searched after the Salem Police Departments canine alerted for the presence of narcotics following a traffic stop. A search was conducted as a result and approximately 90 grams of methamphetamine was located in the rear passenger search behind the driver. This plea occurred on the eve of trial as the case was scheduled for a jury trial in Iron County in March. A sentencing hearing was conducted and the defendant was sentenced to 10 years in the Missouri Department of Corrections as a result of the hearing. This was the sentence that was requested by Dent County Prosecutor Andrew M. Curley. Judge Megan Seay presided over the case.