Local News – Wednesday, May 17th, 2023
The Salem Police department has released their report for the month of April. The department responded to 12 accidents during the month. Officers also responded to 10 commercial and two residential alarms along with fifty animal calls. The department investigated two assaults or fights in progress, and one assault or fight afterwards, two burglaries and performed 21 well being checks during the month. The department also investigated 17 domestic disputes, conducted 60 follow-up investigations and provided 13 escorts. They investigated two incidents of fraud, took one missing person report, and offered assistance to four motorists. Salem police wrote six property damage reports during April, plus took 16 stealing and two shoplifting reports. Officers also conducted 85 traffic stops during the month. The average response time to calls during April was one minute and forty five seconds and the average time spent on the scene was eighteen minutes and thirty one seconds.
Andrew Wynn has taken over as Chairman of the Healthy Dent County Board of directors at the non-profits May meeting. Wynn works as Vice-President/Lending Officer of Town and Country Bank and has served as the non-profit’s Vice-Chairman since 2014. He succeeds long-time Chairman Liz Gruendel who served 12 years in this leadership position. Gruendel will continue on as Vice-Chairman of the Board. Current Board officers are Chairman Andrew Wynn, Vice-Chairman Liz Gruendel, Treasurer Jason Jones and Secretary Tammy Sellers. When Gruendel first took over as Chairman, Healthy Dent County was a new non-profit working to establish programs and procedures. Under her leadership, the first-ever community center was established in Salem. The Salem Community Center @ the Armory has now become a place where health, education, and community meet. For additional information about Healthy Dent County and Salem Community Center @ the Armory please stop by their offices at 1200 W. Rolla Road, visit our website at www.salemcommunitycenter.org, find them on FaceBook, or give them a call at 729-8163.
The Salem R-80 Board of Education will be meeting Thursday evening at 6:00 for their regular monthly meeting. After the call to order and approval of the agenda, the Board will move into Executive Session to address student issues. In open session, the board will hear the Superintendent’s reports by Dr. Lynne Reed and Dr. Nate Wills, followed by the administration reports from the school principals as well as a reports on athletics and activities, special education and the instructional coaches. In new business, the board will consider the extra duty stipend schedule, approve a contract with Shield Solutions, approve CSIP, approve the Career Ladder Plan, consider the Healthy Dent County Partnership, and consider an agreement with BSN for Under Armour athletic uniforms and apparel. Other new business to be considered will include RFP’s for bus maintenance and depository agreement, approve a contract with Show-Me Therapy Services, approve a contract with First Student for ECSE, Construction Trades Building bid opening, approve an MOU with a University of Missouri College Advisor, accept a bid on the baseball field renovation, declare busses as surplus property and request bids for purchase, and adopt a Chaperone Code of Conduct. The Board will consider resignations before adjourning and moving into executive session. The regular meeting Thursday evening is open to the public.
This Friday, Marty Coulter of Washington, Missouri, will hold a one-day oil painting workshop from 9:00 in the morning until 4:00 in the afternoon with a one hour lunch break. He will be teaching how to paint nature’s beauty onsite with tips on how to quickly and loosely to capture the spontaneity, beauty and feeling of the moment. The cost is $150 which includes easels, canvass and basic oil painting supplies.
This Saturday at the Ozark Natural and Cultural Resource Center at 10:00, Marideth Sisco will speak on the history of how to survive in the hardscrabble Ozarks: use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without. This will also be the last day of the Dent County History exhibit at the ONCRC. The exhibit will be open Saturday from 9:00 in the morning until 2;00 in the afternoon. The Ozark Natural and Cultural Resource Center is at 202 South Main. The exhibit and speaker are both free and open to the public.