Local News – Tuesday, November 3rd, 2020

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Election results in Dent County

A General Election was held Tuesday nationally to determine a number of state and national offices as well as number of county offices. In Dent County, 7,224 ballots were cast which comes to 73.27% of registered voters cast their ballot. Only the contested races directly affecting Dent County are presented here. These results are unofficial.

Dent County Commissioner-District One

Wes Mobray* (Repub) 2,416 votes
Larry Lundy (Dem) 1,056 votes

Dent County Commissioner-District Two

Gary Larson* (Repub) 2,596 votes
Tom Welch (Dem) 740 votes
Kourt Gustav Tiefenthaler (Lib) 140 votes

The Dent County Commissioners met Monday morning at the courthouse for their regular meeting. Salem and Dent County Economic Development Director Sally Burbridge gave her report for the month of October. She said the new website for the city, county and chamber should be launched in two to five weeks. She said when the website launches, it will still have some of the old information on it. The site will then be updated which will show traffic to the site and help it move up quickly on search engines for website visits. She did state that a building in the industrial park may have a buyer, but did not release more information. She reported the Certified Site Application is moving forward as the Board of Aldermen was to approve the subdivision of the Master’s Industrial Park at Monday night’s meeting. She also reported the unemployment rate for Dent County dropped to 4.2% in September and continues to go down. In the road report, District 1 Commissioner Dennis Purcell said grading would be done on Dent County Roads 5600, 6090 and 6380 while brush would be cut on county roads 2460 and 6370. District 2 Commissioner Gary Larson stated materials would be added and grading done on Dent County Roads 3120 and 3180 while only grading would be done on county roads 3270, 3275 and 4290. He also said brush would be cut on county road 5240. Presiding Commissioner Darrell Skiles said he attended a health insurance consortium meeting in Jefferson City last Thursday and said that a renewal of the current policy would see about a 22% increase. He did say that United Health Care was to submit a quote, and it will have to be reviewed to see what the coverage is in that policy. Skiles also reported that a virtual Missouri Association of Counties Annual meeting as well as the MAC Trust meeting and the County Commissioners of Missouri Annual Meeting would all be held virtually on Monday, November 23rd. Skiles also stated there were five CARES Act applications to review. Dent County Clerk Angie Curley said today is Election Day and the polls are open from 6:00 this morning until 7:00 this evening. She wanted to remind everyone to bring an ID or your voter registration card to the polls. She is asking voters to please practice social distancing and to please be patient. Curley said the county set a new cord for absentee voters with over 1,440 as of noon Saturday. She also said the courthouse would be closed on Wednesday, November 11th for Veteran’s Day. Dent County Sheriff Bob Wells recommended to the commission to go with Whitaker’s Auto Body for the oil changes for the sheriff department’s vehicles. In bids opened at 10:00, Schwartz Sales, LLC purchased the 2011 Dodge Charger from the Dent County Sheriff’s Department for $1,375. They were the highest of three bids. Dent County Assessor Jamie Homeyer brought in information about aerial imaging for the county. She said the aerial photography shows all structures on the property clearly in a number of views and provides information that could assist her staff in finding improvements. Commissioner Skiles said they would need another bid as the cost was over $6,000 and he wasn’t sure this type of future expense would qualify for the CARES Act funding. The next meeting of the commission will be Monday morning, November 9th at 9:00 at the courthouse. The meeting is open to the public.

Dent County Prosecutor Andrew Curley reported on two cases heard last Thursday in front of Judge Nathan Kelsaw in Dent County. The first case was Matt Colburn of Salem who pled guilty to a felony DWI. A prior probation for possession of a controlled substance was revoked and Colburn was sentenced to 10 years in the Department of Corrections under RSMO Section 559.115 as requested by Prosecutor Curley. The second case featured Mathew Denney of Salem who was on probation for three counts of the felony possession of a controlled substance and one felony count for resisting arrest. His probation was revoked for new offense of resisting arrest. Denney was sentenced to serve seven years in the Department of Corrections. Judge Kelsaw had intended to recommend Denney be placed in the Institutional Treatment Program under RSMO Section 559.115, but Denney requested his sentence be executed so that he did not have to return on probation, but would be eligible for a parole release.

A two vehicle accident happened Friday, October 9th near 6:00 in the evening inside the Salem City limits. According to the report released by the Salem Police Department, a 2014 Ford Fusion driven by Garrett Fels of Lake Springs and owned by Anna Kaczmarek of Rolla, was stopped at a stop sign facing south on Highway 72 and Scenic Rivers Boulevard. The Ford was struck from behind by a 2008 Chevy Cobalt being driven by Melanie Wilson of Salem and owned by Barbara Trump of Rolla. A passenger in the Ford suffered minor injuries and sought her own medical treatment. Both vehicles sustained moderate damage and had been moved prior to the arrival of officers. There were two witnesses that confirmed the events of the crash.

An accident involving a Salem resident occurred Monday morning at 10:08 in Phelps County on Route F about three miles east of Rolla. According to the highway patrol report, a westbound 1999 Jeep Cherokee, driven by 23- year-old Mariah Collison of Salem, failed to negotiate a curve, and the Jeep went out of control, and overturned before coming to rest. The report stated that Collison was not wearing a safety restraint at the time of the accident and she suffered moderate injuries. She was transported by EMS to Phelps Health in Rolla. The Jeep was totaled and removed from the scene by C & C Towing of Rolla.