News – Tuesday, October 29th 2024

The Dent County Commissioners met for their regular meeting this morning in the courthouse. Presiding Commissioner Gary Larson was not in attendance due to a prior commitment and County Clerk Angie Curley appointed Wes Mobray as temporary presiding commissioner. Dent County Treasurer Denita Williams gave the updated CART Tax report and said the county received $88,956.90 which is $6,325.44 more than October of 2023. Year-to-date, the county has received over $130,000 more than in 2023 which is a 17% increase. In the District One report, Commissioner Mobray congratulated KSMO General Manager Stan Podorski on receiving the Eugene E. Northern Award and Bryce Mobray on receiving an Outstanding Youth Volunteer Award Thursday night at the MRPC Annual Awards Dinner and Banquet in Linn, Missouri.  In the road report, he said culverts were being installed and rock would be added to Dent County Roads 5600 and 5615. He added that a man would be going to Springfield to get a load of oil for chip and seal repair. District Two Commissioner Gary Polk said work crews would be cleaning up gravel and concrete around the section of the bridge on Dent County Road 4480 that was replaced. He went on to report that bridge repair would be made on Dent County Road 2110 and brush would be cut on county roads 2370 and 5260. Dent County Clerk Angie Curley said “no excuse” absentee voting continues at the courthouse, and as of Friday, over 1,030 people have voted absentee. The last day to absentee vote will be Monday, November 4th from 8:00 in the morning until 5:00 in the afternoon at the courthouse. Curley said her office will be open from 8:00 in the morning until 12:00 noon this Saturday, November 2nd for absentee voting. If you need to make changes to your voter registration such as a name or address change, please do that as soon as possible so that it will be completed before you go to vote. On Tuesday, November 5th, the polls will be open from 6:00 in the morning until 7:00, and you must vote at your polling location. Bring a photo ID with you when you go to vote.  The next meeting of the commission will be Thursday morning at 9:00 at the courthouse and the meeting is open to the public.

The Salem Memorial Hospital Board of Directors will hold their regular meeting this evening at 6:30 in the hospital library. At the meeting, the Board will review and approve minutes from previous meetings, before they hear the report from CEO Brooke Bollman. The Board will then hear the summary of operations and statistics for the month of September, be updated on the 340B program, hear the Chief Nursing Officer report, and be updated on Human Resources before hearing a report on quality information. The Board will address old business followed by new business that includes CD investments and the foundation bylaw review. The board may then vote to go into closed session. The Salem Memorial Hospital Board of Directors meeting tonight at 6:30 at the hospital library is open to the public. To attend the meeting electronically, contact the hospital administration office at 729-6626, extension 4005.

KSMO General Manager Stan Podorski was presented the Eugene E. Northern Award at the Meramec Regional Planning Commission Annual Awards Dinner Thursday night in Linn, Missouri at the Osage View. It is the highest award presented by the MRPC for volunteerism. Podorski came to Salem in 1984 and was a volunteer on the Police Personnel Board, Handicapped Services of Dent County Board and the Salem Area Chamber of Commerce. A few years later, Podorski served on the Salem Park and Recreation Board for eight years, then assisted the Dent County Fall Festival Board with their sound system at the old fairgrounds, then installed the new sound system at the Commons Youth Building, the rodeo arena, the grandstand and livestock arena. Podorski went on to raise over $9,000 in funds for the press box renovations for both the football and baseball press boxes in 2009 and no school funds were used for the improvements. In 2017, Podorski volunteered to help the newly formed Salem Park and Recreation Board and was voted in as president. That board went on to get a TAP grant to create a trail from the park to the high school baseball field, install a splash pad at the city park, renovate the Alice Lou Craig Municipal Pool and pool house, finish the all-inclusive Billy’s Playground, installed concrete at the blue softball field at the concession stand, renovated the pavilions and secured the old fairgrounds property for the purpose of creating soccer fields. Podorski was instrumental in creating Your World Today in 1991 which is a FREE four-page publication, and in 2022, helped create Town Screen in Salem. Podorski is the second consecutive Dent Countian to receive this prestigious award as last year, Deloris Gray Wood was honored with the Eugene E. Northern Award. Also honored from Dent County was Bryce Mobray, the son of Wes and Kendra Mobray, as he received the Youth Volunteer Award for his work with the Spring Creek 4-H and being a youth project leader for beef projects. Mobray offers market steers and breeding stock heifers for local and state youth involved in beef projects at an affordable price, then helps them to succeed with the development of the animal to show and sell. Congratulations to Stan and Bryce!!!

Missouri is home to more than 900 black bears and their numbers are growing. Many Missourians find these furbearers fascinating and have many questions about them. Are all black bears black? Where do bears spend the winter? What can bear scat show about diet and other things? What’s the biggest bear recorded in Missouri? Why is a fed bear a dead bear? How can people and communities Be Bear Aware? Why is fall a prime time for people and bears to encounter each other out in the woods or on the roads? Get answers to these and other questions through the Missouri Department of Conservation’s (MDC) upcoming Wild Webcast on Black Bears in Missouri and How to Be Bear Aware tomorrow from noon to 1:00. MDC Black Bear Biologist Nate Bowersock will present information and facts about black bears in Missouri. Vist mdc.gov to register for free.