Local News – Tuesday, September 24th, 2019
The Dent County Commissioners met Monday morning at the Dent County Courthouse for their regular meeting. In the road report, District 1 Commissioner Dennis Purcell stated grading was going to be done on Dent County Roads 5490 and 5500 while brush was going to be cut on county roads 2400, 6280 and 6283. Purcell said the low water crossing overlay and upgrade on Dent County Road 6580 near Highway 119 has been completed and that crossing is now open to the public. Purcell did say the work crews would be moving south on county road 6580 to the Pigeon Creek crossing where work crews will begin prepping that road for upgrading. This crossing will now be closed to through traffic. This is a major upgrade with the replacement of two pipes and concrete work. The crews plan on pouring concrete on Wednesday, weather permitting, and would hope to have the road back open soon. District 2 Commissioner Gary Larson stated materials would be added and grading done on Dent County Road 2120 while brush was going to be cut on county road 4010. Larson said crews are still working on truck #69 as not all the parts came in, and crews were working on brush cutter #6 before it went out to cut brush. Presiding Commissioner Darrell Skiles said he would be attending a CCAM Committee Board meeting in Jefferson City to interview firms to represent CCAM’s priorities to the state legislature. The commissioners then met with John Garvey Monday morning to get an update on the opiod litigation. At the last meeting, the commission was updated on the work being done on the jail project and reviewed the budget payments that totaled $7,852,159.52. The commissioners discussed some pending items before taking a tour of the jail. The next meeting of the commissioners will be Thursday morning at 9:00 at the courthouse and the meeting is open to the public.
A man from St. Louis lost his life Sunday afternoon in Reynolds County on county road 849 about ten miles east of Bunker after an UTV accident. According to the highway patrol report, a 14-year old juvenile was driving a 2011 Polaris Ranger westbound when he lost control of the UTV and it overturned onto its right side, ejecting a passenger on the UTV who was 66-year old Ura Humes of St. Louis. Humes was pronounced dead at 3:55 Sunday afternoon by Reynolds County Coroner Jeff McSpaddin. Humes body was transported by the coroner to the McSpaddin Funeral Home in Ellington. According to the report, neither the driver nor the passenger was wearing a safety device at the time of the accident. The UTV was removed from the scene by Whitaker’s Towing of Salem.
The Salem R-80 Board of Education met on Thursday, September 19th at the district administrative offices. Superintendent John McColloch gave an update on the lighting project, the CDBG Workforce Grant Application as well as the recent facility planning committee meeting. McColloch introduced Amber Pryor who gave an update on the computer science program. The building principals all gave their reports that showed that William Lynch Elementary School had a current enrollment of 273 students, the Middle School has 248 students and the High School has 574 students. High School Principal Marty Anderson reported that 53 students were earning 344 dual credit hours. In the construction trades report, the Construction 2 class is working on a 20′ x 180’ lumber building for Roberts/Judson while the Construction 1 class is working on the Fleming Building. There are building a new back entrance, new stairs, new bathrooms, tearing out drywall and all the old electric. They are running new electric in the building, and also supporting the existing floor structure. The construction trade Introductory class is working on plans and figuring material for a 8′ x 10′ storage shed, building a 4′ x 4′ dog house for a customer, building an oak podium as well as working on plans and figuring material for 18′ x 8′ shelves for one of our teachers. The bus routes were approved by the board as was the Special Education Compliance Plan. The board set the 2020 graduation date for May 15th at 7:00 at the High School Football Field. The board went on to approved the MSBA 2019B Policy updates before going into closed session where the board approved employing Kristy Bermudez as the assistant varsity volleyball coach and Kristi Steelman as head varsity volleyball coach for the remainder of the year. The board also heard about two personnel issues from Superintendent McColloch before the board came out of closed session and the regular meeting was adjourned.