Local News – Tuesday, June 4th, 2024

The Dent County Commission met Monday morning at the Dent County Courthouse. At the meeting, District 1 Commissioner Wes Mobray was not in attendance due to a previous commitment. District 2 Commissioner Gary Polk gave the report for District 1 and said grading was going to be done on Dent County Roads 6190, 6230 and 6280. He also said brush would be cut on county road 5015 and a truck was going to Springfield to get oil for chip and seal repair. Polk then gave the report for District 2 and stated grading would be done on Dent County Road 4437 while brush was going to be cut on county roads 2300, 2620, 2630, 2640, 5280 and 5290. Presiding Commissioner Gary Larson indicated that Sheriff Bob Wells met with the transportation director of Royal Oak last Thursday afternoon after the commission meeting to help develop a plan for the larger truck traffic. The meeting was held to hopefully eliminate 90% or more of the large truck traffic from using the county roads. It was also hoped when the county receives and installs their new “no large truck traffic” international signs that will eliminate even more. Larson stated he would be attending a Meramec Community Enhancement Coproration meeting this afternoon in St. James. He also reported he continues to work with the insurance adjuster on the insurance claim on the courthouse from the hail storm. Dent County Clerk Angie Curley said the special election for the Bunker R-3 School Board will be held today from 6:00 AM until 7:00 PM. Voters from Reynolds, Shannon and Dent County will all be voting at the Bunker Firehouse. Voters will need to bring an photo ID with them when they vote. The next meeting of the Dent County Commission will be Thursday at 9:00 and it is open to the public.

A special waste collection for residential electronics, appliances, tires and media storage will be held from 8 a.m. until noon on June 8th at Brewer Science, 2401 Brewer Drive in Rolla. Brewer Science, the City of Rolla and Meramec Regional Planning Commission, with funding through the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and Ozark Rivers Solid Waste Management District, are partnering on the June 8th collection. The collection is for residential items only – no materials from businesses will be accepted and is open to residents from Crawford, Dent, Gasconade, Maries, Phelps, Pulaski and Washington counties. For the first time, media storage is also being accepted at the collection. Media storage includes records, 8-track tapes, VHS tapes, cassette tapes, CDs, DVDs, floppy discs, external hard drives and flash drives. Stoves, washers, dryers, hot water heaters, and other appliances will be collected free of charge. Free electronics also include computer components, laptop computers, keyboards, hair dryers, VCR/DVD players, cell phones or anything that runs on a cord or battery. Oil and gas must be removed from tanks of any items such as push mowers, weed eaters, etc. All items must be free of debris. Tires on rims will not be accepted. Please note the following items will NOT be accepted: transformers, capacitors or ballasts not clearly marked “No PCBs”; smoke detectors; thermostats; medical waste; gas containers such as propane, oxygen, nitrous oxide; anything leaking oil or acid, such as batteries; broken ink or toner cartridges; alkaline batteries; light bulbs and fluorescent tubes; broken CRTs, TVs or monitors. Fees on certain items will be collected as follows: $25 for CRT TVs over 27 inches, projection screens and wood console TVs, $20 for CRT TVs under 26 inches, $15 for flat screen TVs, $10 for all computer monitors and refrigerated appliances with Freon and $5 for printers, scanners or copiers. Fees for tires are as follows: $2 each for passenger tires, $7.50 each for semi-truck tires and $35 each for tractor tires. Electronics,media storage and appliances are recycled by Midwest Recycling Center and tires are recycled through Champlin Tires. For more information on items accepted or the fee structure, please contact Kathryn Hawes at MRPC at 573-265-2993 Ext. 110. For those unable to participate in the Rolla collection, mark your calendars for collections on September 28th in Vienna and October 26th in St. Robert.

The Salem R-80 Board of Education held a special meeting Monday morning at the district administrative offices. The board heard from Matt Patterson from HTK Architects who was in attendance to offer information on the bids and bidding process for the FEMA storm shelter while Billy Cobb representating Cahill’s Construction was in attendance to answer any questions. After some discussion, the board made the motion to approve the bid from Cahill Contruction for the FEMA storm shelter to be built at the Upper Elementary School. In closed session, the board accepted the resignation of Bekah Hayes as a high school physical education instructor and head girls softball coach, Amanda Hanger as the assistant softball coach, Makayla Schafer as a middle school art instructor and Kaylee Jay as the speech and language pathologist. The board then employed Lexi Wills as the speech-language pathologist and amended Rich Parks contract to 220 days before going back into open session and adjourning.

An accident occurred Monday morning at 10:10 in Crawford County off of Highway YY on private property. According to the highway patrol report, a 2004 Honda 450 being operated by 20-year-old Dawson Hajek of Steelville, was travelling up a steep incline causing the Honda to rollover. Hajek suffered serious injuries and was flown to Mercy St. Louis. Hajek was not wearing any safety equipment at the time of the accident. The Honda was left at the scene.