Local News – Tuesday, May 12th, 2020

The Dent County Commissioners met Monday morning at the Dent County Courthouse. Dent County Treasurer Denita Williams presented the sales tax monies received by the county in May. Her report showed that in May of 2019, the General Revenue sales tax and Law Enforcement Sales Tax was $64,433.28 while this year the county received $67,856.66. That is a $3,423.88 increase comparing May of 2020 and May of 2019. Year-to-date, the county has received $19,503.81 less than for this time last year in General Revenue and in the LEST fund. The Road and Bridge Department received $31,197.82 this May while last year during May the county received $28,523.33. That is an increase of $2,674.49 for the month and that fund is down year-to-date $6,565.79 which is a 3.56% reduction. Each jail fund received $62,366.48 from the collections in May, but that month-to-date total for each fund is up from last May which was $59,665.68 and year-to-date, each fund is $14,916.37 down from last year. Dent County Collector Shannon VanKirk came in to report that she had two abatements for the commissioners to sign and also reported the collections for the county are up in 2020 over 2019. For April, she said the county collected $78,986.64 in personal property and real estate taxes. She said three or four of the clients came in and paid their back three years of taxes they owed with their stimulus money sent to them by the federal government. In the road report, District 1 Commissioner Dennis Purcell said materials would be added and grading done on Dent County Roads 4220 and 6570. He went on to say brush would be cut on county roads 6170 and 6320 and a crew would be replacing downed or missing county road signs on county roads 5600 and 5380. District 2 commissioner Gary Larson reported grading would be done on Dent County Roads 3240, 3250, 3270, 3273 and 3275, while materials would be added and grading done on county road 2530. Larson said brush would be cut on county roads 2110 and 2115. Presiding Commissioner Darrel Skiles said he would be attending an Ozark Solid waste Management District Executive Board meeting Tuesday and Thursday he would be attending MRPC Committee meetings as well as the MRPC regular meeting that evening. Dent County Clerk Angie Curley was doing poll worker training, but left her report that said July 8th would be the last day to register to vote for the August Primary. Absentee voting for the June 2nd Municipal Election continues and that she balanced with the collector and assessor on all collections, abatements and add-ons for the month of April. Also at the meeting, Tyler Stewart with the State Highway Patrol was in and discussed with the commission that tractor trailer trucks are being routed by GPS down a county road off Highway 68 to the Charcoal Plant. He says there is a low water bridge that will not hold up much longer. Commissioner Larson will check it out. Mike Elliott from Town and Country Insurance came in to discuss replacement insurance on the buildings. The commission agreed to raise the replacement on the buildings. The Courthouse was raised by an an additional $350,000 and the Judicial Building was raised an additional $250,000. The Commission approved and signed the 2020 Division of Social Services agreement and also agreed to sign a lease agreement between the County and Russell House for office space in the Judicial Building Annex for $220 per month. The next meeting of the Dent County Commission will be Monday, May 18th at 9:00 at the courthouse and the meeting is open to the public.

The Salem Senior Class of 2020 will be having a parade this Friday night, May 15th starting at 7:00 which was to be their graduating exercise. The parade route will begin at Center Street & Iron Mountain Road where the graduating seniors will travel to East Fourth Street and travel west to MacArthur, shifting to West Third Street and concluding at the High School on Tiger Pride Drive. Everyone in the community is encouraged to show your support of the 2020 Senior Class by decorating your homes & businesses on the parade route to show your support of these young people. Plus feel free to set up your chairs on the sidewalks or celebrate these young people’s achievement from your vehicles while maintaining social distancing measures. The Salem R-80 Board of Education did approve to hold the 2020 graduation exercises at the Salem High School Football Field on Friday, June 5th at 7:00. A limit of five tickets per graduating senior was also set by the board for the event with alternative date of June 6th should there be inclement weather.

The Salem Airport Board of the City of Salem will hold a meeting tonight at 6:00 at the Salem Community Center@the Armory. At the meeting, the board will be updated on the airport lights, new hangar project, proposed hangar lease rates including the former Domeyer hanger, get updated on the gate opener, be updated on the contracting out the fuel service, receive an update on the airport courtesy car and also discuss the 2019-2020 airport financial report and discuss some 2020-2021 budget considerations. Any new business will be addressed before the meeting is adjourned. The meeting is open to the public. Adherence to the social distancing requirement will be enforced.

Preliminary data from the Missouri Department of Conservation shows that turkey hunters checked 38,730 birds during Missouri’s 2020 regular spring turkey season from April 20th through May 10th. Top harvest counties were Franklin with 899 birds harvested, Callaway with 699, and Texas with 660. Young turkey hunters also harvested 2,724 birds during the 2020 spring youth season that was held April 4th and 5th, bringing the overall 2020 spring turkey harvest to 41,454. Last year, young turkey hunters harvested 2,546 birds during the spring youth season and hunters harvested 36,249 during the regular spring season for a 2019 spring season total harvest of 38,795 birds. Harvests in the counties in our area included Phelps with 628 birds checked, Dent with 488 birds taken, Crawford with 458 birds harvested, Shannon with 331 birds checked, Reynolds with 245 turkeys taken and Iron with 208 birds harvested. There was one report of a non-fatal hunting incident during the 2020 spring turkey season. It involved one hunter mistakenly shooting another hunter.

The Salem R-80 Board of Education will hold a Special Meeting this evening at 6:00 at the district administrative offices. After approval of the agenda, the Board will move in to closed session to discuss personnel.