Local News – Wednesday, December 27th, 2023
The Dent County Sheriff’s office has released some reports. On Sunday, December 17th, deputies investigated a “road rage” incident involving the discharging of a firearm on Dent County Road 3260. The victims, a 17-year-old Salem juvenile and an 18-year-old Salem man, stated that a subject had fired a weapon after being involved in a road rage incident with them. A further investigation revealed the 17-year-old juvenile had fired a weapon into the air. The case will be forwarded to the Dent County Juvenile Office. The next day, deputies took a report of a firearm being stolen from the 5500 block of Route K. Suspect information was provided and the firearm was recovered. Due to the circumstances of the call, the victim, a 40-year-old Salem man, declined to prosecute. On Tuesday, December 19th, a deputy conducted a traffic stop on Dent County Road 4070. As a result of the stop, a 32-year-old homeless woman was found to have an active warrant for her arrest. She was taken into custody without incident and transported to the Dent County Jail where she was incarcerated on her warrant. And finally, on Friday, December 22nd, a deputy was on North Pershing Street when he observed a 32-year-old Salem man who was known to have an active warrant for his arrest. The suspect was taken into custody and transported to the Dent County Jail where he was incarcerated on the warrant. Please call the Dent County Sheriffs office if you have any information regarding any investigation at 729-3241.
Dent County Prosecutor Andrew Curley reported that on Wednesday, December 13th in Dent County in front of Judge Michael Randazzo, Tabitha Bruder of Springfield pleaded guilty to the possession of methamphetamine. Bruder had prior felony convictions and Judge Randazzo sentenced her to serve five years in the Missouri Department of Corrections as requested by the prosecuting attorney.
Two people died in traffic crashes during the 78-hour Christmas Holiday counting period, which began at 6:00 Friday evening and ended at 11:59 Christmas night. Troopers investigated 124 traffic crashes involving 71 injuries including 2 fatalities. There were also 81 DWI arrests. Last year during the 78-hour Christmas counting period, there were 1,017 traffic crashes statewide. In those crashes, four people were killed and another 318 were injured. Troopers arrested 52 people for driving while impaired in 2022. There were no boating crashes or drownings over the 2023 Christmas holiday counting period.
Healthy Dent County is planning to begin another Project RISE program that will empower individuals and offer support as they strive to lead their families out of poverty. The goal is to have a new cohort of families begin this spring. This program will address issues that keep families in poverty and work toward developing strategies to overcome these challenges and sustain long-term change. Project RISE will help provide the tools to improving financial health and empowerment as well as providing a support system of community connections to help with long term thinking and time management. Families accepted in the program will work on money management including budgeting and improving credit scores, employment and career development, setting goals and relationship building. Only 4-7 families will be selected for this 16 week program, and they must meet these requirements: must have stable housing; they must reside in Dent County; and most importantly, the participants must be ready, willing and open to make changes to find new opportunities. To make this project a success, Healthy Dent County will work with social service agencies, churches, health care and employment specialists and community leaders. The wealth of knowledge from these professionals will be invaluable to improving the lives of these families for generations to come. Participants can earn gift cards and other financial incentives throughout the program. Meals and childcare will be provided during the meetings. If you are interested, pickup and turn in an application at the Salem Community Center@The Armory at the Healthy Dent County office at 1200 West Rolla Road.
Beginning January 1st, the USDA Forest Service will be adjusting fees at Mark Twain National Forest’s developed recreation sites. A vast majority of the forest is free for visitors to access and enjoy, but fees are needed to maintain the sites that offer amenities—things like fire rings, trash service, potable water, electricity, paved parking and more. In 2004, Congress passed the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act which allows the Forest Service to retain 95% of revenue collected at recreation sites and use the funds locally to operate, maintain and improve the sites. Revenue is reinvested into Forest recreation sites in the form of trash pickups, septic and toilet pumping, painting, cleaning, addressing the backlog of deferred maintenance, conducting patrols, and maintaining highly used trails and campsites. Local areas that will be affected by the price changes include the Red Bluff Campground and day use, Council Bluff Campground and day use and Loggers Lake Campground and day use. For a list of the all the different fee increases at each of these campgrounds, go to www.fs.usda.gov.
There will be a Community Blood Center of the Ozarks Blood Drive at the Salem Memorial Hospital Library from 9:00 this morning until 2:00 this afternoon. For the successful donors, they will receive a free cozy blanket while supplies last. Then on Tuesday, January 2nd from 1:00 until 6:00 at the First Baptist Church, the Community Blood Center of the Ozarks will hold another blood drive. This time, successful donors will receive a warm CBCO hoodie while supplies last. To help avoid wait times, donors should call to make an appointment at 417-227-5006 for either location, or you can go online at www.cbco.org/donate-blood.