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The Dent County Commissioners held their meeting Thursday morning at the Dent County Courthouse. In road reports, District One Commissioner Dennis Purcell reported that grading would be done on Dent County Roads 5530 and 6665; brush would be cut on Dent County Road 5600 and crews would continue to haul and stockpile brown rock. District Two Commissioner Gary Larson reported that grading would be done on Dent County Roads 3335, 3337, 4050 and 4280; material would be hauled for repairs on a bus turnaround and grading would be done on county road 2120, and brush would be cut on Dent County Road 4020. Presiding Commissioner Darrell Skiles wanted to let rental property owners know that there are grant funds for repairs and upgrades available from the Federal Home Loan Bank. An application training session will be held on Wednesday, January 11^th at the MRPC office located at #4 Industrial Drive in St. James from 10:00 am until noon. For more information about the application training session they can contact Linda Huffman by calling (573) 265-2993. Dent County Clerk Angie Curley reported that absentee voting continues and the last day to register to vote for the upcoming Presidential Primary is Wednesday, January 11^th. Curley wanted to remind voters that during this Presidential Primary, voters would need to declare a party, whether it is Democrat, Republican, Libertarian or Constitution. Curley said that testing of the voting equipment would take place on Tuesday, January 24^th at 9:00 am, and if anyone has had a name or address change they are encouraged to stop by the clerk’s office or give them a call at 729-4144. The Dent County Commission is seeking bids for grader blades and culverts. Those bids will be opened on Monday, January 23^rd at 10:00 am. At the last meeting, Craig Ruble, Surveyor was in attendance to discuss the re-monumentation corners. The DNR has money available for 2012 and he would like to do 10 corners. The county would pay $2,500 and DNR would pay $2,500. The Commission will consider putting the item in their budget. Sherry Lea and Liz Gruendel with the Council for a Healthy Dent County (CHDC) stopped in with a proposal asking for a donation of $10,000 to support CHDC, including the TCRC and Fitness Center. No decision was made at that time. Deputy Wayne Becker and Sheriff Rick Stallings dropped by to discuss their 2012 budget request. Then Preston Kramer, Area Engineer with MoDOT was in to discuss county road 6180, off of Highway HH. MoDOT made a proposal to take over county road 6180 for a swap of the county taking over the EE Spur. The long-term plans would be widening 6180, and short term would be placing signs and marking the yellow stripe. The Commission continues to discuss the proposal. The Commission also signed a transfer of $9,750 to the Assessment Operating Fund from General Revenue, and this is the quarterly transfer, per budget. The next meeting of the Dent County Commissioners will be Monday, January 9^th at the 9:00 am at the Dent County Courthouse and that meeting is open to the public.

The Dent County Extension is sponsoring the Tuesday, January 10^th Chamber Members luncheon meeting. This meeting will be held at Southwest Baptist University located at 501 South Grand, beginning at noon.  MU Extension is Missouri’s one-stop source for practical education on almost anything, and local faculty and staff will provide an overview of the programs and services available to Dent County residents.  Programs in business development, nutrition, agriculture, community development, youth, and human environmental sciences will be featured. There is no cost for lunch; but members need to RSVP by today to the chamber office at 200 South Main Street, e-mail them at chamber@salemmo.com or call 729-6900.  

The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) has examined and released a male mountain lion trapped by a private citizen in Reynolds County. Reynolds County Commissioner Wayne Henson called Conservation Agent Eric Long this morning and reported catching the 122-pound mountain lion on Wednesday. Henson said the cat entered a large, cage-type live trap that he set on Mark Twain National Forest land to catch bobcats, coyotes, raccoons and other mammals. Henson brought the mountain lion, still alive and in the cage trap, to Centerville Thursday morning. Agent Long and MDC Resource Scientist Jeff Beringer took possession of the animal and transported it to Current River Conservation Area, where Beringer could examine the animal without disturbance. After weighing and measuring the cat and collecting DNA, Beringer released it to the wild, in keeping with MDC’s established policy for such cases. Beringer estimated the cat’s age at 2 years. He said it was in excellent physical condition and showed no signs of having been held in captivity. All wildlife is protected under the provisions of the Wildlife Code of Missouri. However, the Code provides for the taking of wildlife during prescribed hunting and trapping seasons and under other circumstances, such as when mountain lions are attacking or killing livestock or domestic animals or threatening human safety. MDC has not stocked mountain lions in Missouri and has no plans to do so. MDC wants to learn more about mountain lions in the Show-Me State and encourages Missourians to report sightings to the Mountain Lion Response Team at mountain.lion@mdc.mo.gov. 

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