News – Friday, December 6th 2024

The Salem Area Chamber of Commerce and the City of Salem will be holding their “Parade of Lights” Saturday night starting at 5:30 from the SBU Salem Campus at Grand and Franklin. Over 50 entries are participating this year with the theme “Have Your Elf a Merry Little Christmas” with the Grand Marshall this year being Mike and Diane Godi. The parade will move east on Franklin to MacArthur where the parade will travel north to 4th Street and then head east to the courthouse square. The City of Salem is asking everyone to use caution if you will be downtown as there is sidewalk construction work going on. Everyone is invited to come out and enjoy the parade, but if you are unable to make it this year, KSMO Media will be streaming the parade LIVE from their post near the Salem Public Library at 4th and Jackson Streets. The broadcast should get underway close to 6:00 and can be seen on the KSMO Facebook Stream page, ksmoradio.com and the KSMO YouTube page. There is no charge to watch the parade and if you miss it, the parade will be available for playback at a later time. If you have any questions about the parade, please call the Salem Area Chamber of Commerce Office at 573-729-6900.

Representatives from the Missouri State Parks invite the public to attend a conceptual development planning meeting for both Taum Sauk Mountain State Park and Jay Nixon Backcountry this Saturday at Taum Sauk Mountain State Park. The meeting will be held in an open house format starting at 9:00 in the morning. At 10:30, a guided hike to Taum Sauk Mountain State Park’s Mina Sauk Falls will be available for those attending the meeting. This is a strenuous 3.5-mile hike. As the long-range plans for the facilities are updated, the public is encouraged to come learn more about the planning process, ask questions and provide input regarding the future facility use and development. A 30-day comment period begins December 7th with a survey available online at mostateparks.com/page/90071/conceptual-development-plans. For those who are interested in seeing the Jay Nixon Backcountry, a guided overnight hike and camping trip will be offered in the spring of 2025 in conjunction with the second conceptual development planning meeting. Taum Sauk Mountain State Park is located off Highway CC in Ironton.
Highway 72 in Reynolds and Dent Counties will be reduced to one lane as Missouri Department of Transportation crews perform pavement repairs. This section of roadway is located from Highway 32 to Highway 21. Weather permitting, the work will take place Monday, December 9th and Tuesday, December 10th from 8:00 in the morning to 2:00 in the afternoon each day. The work zone will be marked with signs. Motorists are urged to use extreme caution while traveling near the area. For additional information, contact MoDOT’s Customer Service Center toll-free at 1-888-ASK-MODOT (1-888-275-6636) or visit www.modot.org/southeast.

Preliminary data from the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) shows that hunters harvested 11,424 deer during the state’s chronic wasting disease (CWD) portion of the firearms deer-hunting season, November 27th through December 1st, in CWD Management Zone counties. Of the 11,424 deer harvested, 3,917 were antlered bucks, 1,052 were button bucks,and 6,455 were does. MDC initiated the CWD portion last year to increase deer harvest in the CWD Management Zone to help slow the spread of the disease. For a list of CWD Management Zone counties, visit the MDC website at mdc.mo.gov. Hunters were allowed to use any unfilled firearms deer hunting permits during the CWD portion and had to abide by the statewide limit of one antlered deer during the firearms deer season, all portions combined. Hunters also had to abide by county-specific firearms antlerless permit numbers. Top counties for the CWD portion were Franklin with 413 deer harvested, Jefferson with 301, and Howell with 279. Totals harvest by county in our area included Crawford with 170, Dent with 105, Phelps CWD harvest was 128 and Shannon with 122. For more information on this season’s harvest totals, visit the MDC website at extra.mdc.mo.gov. Last year’s harvest total for the CWD portion was 11,707 deer. Get more information on Missouri deer hunting from MDC’s 2024 Fall Deer and Turkey Hunting Regulations and Information booklet, available where hunting permits are sold and online at mdc.mo.gov.