News – Thursday, October 15th, 2026
The City of Salem City Clerk Tammy Koller has reported the Utility Committee meeting scheduled for Wednesday night at the City Hall Auditorium has been cancelled. No makeup date has yet been announced.
The Dent County Fire Protection District Board of Directors met Tuesday, Oct. 13th at the firehouse for their regular monthly meeting. After previous board meeting minutes were approved, the financial reports as well as the bills, payments and statements were also reviewed. They were all approved. Chief Derek Thomas reported the AFG grant was not awarded to the department. The grant will be resubmitted by the Firehouse Grants again for next year. Chief Thomas also reported the department needs radios. After the board discussed the request, it was agreed to purchase the needed radios up to a total of $20,000. The monthly reimbursement report was reviewed. It showed the fire district responded to 19 calls in September for a total of 178 calls for the year. There were three fire calls comprised of grass fires, two structural fires, one rubbish fire, and one other outside fire. Other calls responded to were for an unconscious victim, two lift assist calls, three motor vehicle collision calls, one motor vehicle entrapped extraction call, an alarm, one unknown call, one false call and two move up calls. The board then went into closed session and voted to approve Daviv Lo to attend the Junior Firefighter Program. The meeting then adjourned. The next board meeting will be Nov. 10th at 6:00 at the Dent County Fire Protection District Firehouse.
Scenic River Industries (SRI) will be resuming its recycling services after officially moving into its forever home at 1030 West Highway 68 in Salem. The hours of its new building are Monday through Thursday from 8:00 in the morning to 4:00 in the afternoon. The building accepts cardboard and aluminum cans for recycling; it does not accept paper or magazines. The showroom offering wooden goods for public purchase is open as of Wednesday. Visitors are asked to use the south door of the back building for access. An open house of the new facility will be scheduled for some time in the future. For more information, contact SRI at 573-729-6264 or visit its website at scenicriversind.org.
The Healthy Dent County Prevention Coalition, along with local law enforcement, will collect unused, unwanted or expired medications at Walmart on Saturday, Oct. 24th from 10:00 to noon. Residents are encouraged to clean out their medicine cabinets and stop by for free, safe medication disposal. The local collection is part of National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, a campaign led by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) each April and October to help prevent prescription drug misuse. Leftover medication from a surgery, an unfinished prescription or an expired bottle can easily be forgotten. Keeping these medications in the home can allow them to fall into the wrong hands. Safe disposal helps protect families and reduces opportunities for prescription drug misuse. Residents are invited to the Drug Take Back event but are also reminded that there are two permanent medication drop boxes located at the Dent County Sheriff’s Office and the Salem Police Department. These free disposal options provide a safe, convenient way to turn in unused or unwanted medications. Collected medications are handled by local law enforcement for proper disposal through incineration.