Local News – Tuesday, June 25th, 2019
The Dent County Commissioners met Monday morning at the Dent County Courthouse. Bennie Cook, a field representative with Representative Jason Smith’s office in Rolla, was in attendance to let the commission know Representative Smith did sign a letter of support for the Delta Regional Authority grant to chip and seal the road from Route YY to Tan Vat to slow road erosion. Cook said that Smith will e-mail the Delta Regional Authority to get updates on the progress of the grant and keep the commission informed. Cook also said Smith’s annual Farm tour will be held again this year, but it has not yet been finalized. He also reported that he was at the meeting last Tuesday in Rolla on the feral hog problem. He said Representative Smith is monitoring the hog situation and reminding people to make their comments to the National Forest Service. People can submit comments via email or through regular mail during the 60-day comment period. The comment period is currently underway and all comments must be received or postmarked no later than July 23rd, for consideration. Send comments via email to SM.FS.MTFeralSwine@usda.gov or to the mailing address is at: Forest Supervisor; ATTN: Feral Swine Comment; Mark Twain National Forest; 401 Fairgrounds Road; Rolla, MO 65401. You can also call Jason Smith’s office in Rolla and let them know your feelings at 573-364-2455. In the road report, District 1 Commissioner Dennis Purcell stated his district received about two inches of rain and received extreme high winds. Work crews will be out checking for any storm damages to roads as well as removing any debris, cleaning out culverts, removing downed or low hanging limbs and clearing trees where needed. Purcell also said brush cutting would be done on Dent County Road 4110. District 2 Commissioner Gary Larson said his crew would be out checking for damages and also be brush cutting on Dent County Road 6130, 6140 and 6150. Larson also said a man was sent to Springfield to get oil for chip and seal repair. Presiding Commissioner Darrell Skiles said he would be attending a Workforce Development Caucus meeting today in Jefferson City. Dent County Clerk Angie Curley wanted to remind those businesses that sell liquor by the glass or package that all county liquor license renewal applications are due this Friday afternoon at 4:30 in her office. The next meeting of the commissioners will be Thursday morning at 9:00 at the courthouse and the meeting is open to the public.
The Salem R-80 Board of Education met Thursday night at the district administrative offices. At the meeting, the board heard from Joel Gundelfinger and Isaac Fones from McKinstry presented the board with the results of the facility assessment audit. Superintendent John McColloch talked about the Summer Schools attendance at all the schools and the success of the program as 101 students were awarded from William Lynch Elementary and another 158 received gift cards from the Upper Elementary school. Board of Education committee assignments were made for the 2019-2020 school year. The CSIP Committee assignment went to Holly Erway, the federal Programs assignment went to Drew Whitaker, the A+ assignment was taken by Larry Maxwell, Dustin Howard took the safety assignment while Chris Heavin got the technology assignment and Carrie Snider was given the Health Services assignment. The Summer School students at the high school completed their work as seven students completed their Personal Finance course and 12 more completed their credit. The board approved the proposed budget for the 2019-2020 school year that shows anticipated revenues of $13,430,262 and anticipated expenses of $13,269,430. They also approved revisions to the current budget, the MSBA 2019A update and they accepted the bids for the surplus property. The board then moved into closed session for a personnel matter before adjourning the meeting.
Dent County Prosecuting Attorney Andrew Curley has released these reports from the Dent County Circuit Court last Tuesday in front of Judge Kelly Parker. In court that day, Curley reported that probation was revoked for James Robson of Salem. He was sentenced to seven years in the Department of Corrections under RSMO Section 559.115. Also last Tuesday, Angel Steelman of Salem pled guilty to possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine. Her sentencing will be held on August 28th. Curley also reported that Monica Eaton of Salem had her probation revoked last Tuesday and was sentenced to five years in the Department of Corrections for failure to complete drug court. Also last Tuesday, Shauna Klieber of Cuba pled guilty to one count of the distribution of heroin. She will be sentenced on August 28th. Curley went on to report that Travis Russell of Salem was sentenced to seven years in the Department of Corrections for his probation case. A new offense of a Class A Felony for trafficking, a Class E Felony for tampering with evidence and a Class E Felony for creating a public nuisance are scheduled for a preliminary hearing that will be held on Thursday at 1:00.
The City of Salem’s Capital Improvement Committee and the Finance Committee will be holding a joint meeting tonight at 6:30 at the Salem Community Center@The Armory located at 1200 West Rolla Road. The meeting is being held to discuss the 2019-2020 City of Salem budget. The meeting is open to the public.