News
The Dent County Commissioners regular meeting was held Thursday morning at the Dent County Courthouse. In the road report, District 1 Commissioner Dennis Purcell said that work crews were doing storm cleanup from the storm that came through Tuesday. Crews were hauling rock and doing patch grading in some areas that were washed out, plus brush was being cut on Dent County Road 5600. There were some washouts that made some roads impassible in District 1 where they received over three inches of rain. District 2 Commissioner Gary Larson echoed the work of District 1, as they will also be fixing washouts, adding materials to roads and doing patch grading. Larson stated that he was going to meet Thursday with Prosecuting Attorney Andrew Curley about Dent County Road 2230 and what the next steps will be from the county commission on that issue. Larson went on to say that he spoke with James Murphy from Great Plains Engineering about sending the commission an invoice for the $100 fee for preparing the paperwork and submitting it to MoDOT to use the county’s BRO funds. The commission approved paying the fee. Presiding Commissioner Darrell Skiles said that he and other representatives from the MRPC had lunch with State Senators and Representatives that represent citizens in the Meramec Regional Planning Commission Area. They talked about the legislation to eliminate the Solid Waste Management Districts as well as the assessment funding. He also attended the Roadway Coalition for Roadway Safety Wednesday at MRPC and their plans to reduce traffic fatalities in the MRPC region. They stated they would like to reduce the number of traffic fatalities to below 700 by 2016. They said that that some measures taken have worked very well such as the median cables on Interstate 44. Before the cables were installed, there were 49 traffic fatalities from crossover deaths, and after the cables were installed, the deaths went down to three. They would also like to see seat belt usage increase among young people and are developing more programs to make them more aware of what can happen without a seat belt. Skiles also said that he would be attending a Region I Homeland Security Committee meeting Thursday. At the last meeting, Tom Haines from the National Forest Service came in to visit about the recent tragedy on the trail in Reynolds County that took the lives of a father and two sons. He said that he had also visited with Emergency Personnel regarding early notification if someone would get lost on a trail. The next meeting of the Commissioners will be Monday morning at 9:00 at the courthouse and that meeting is open to the public.
Captain Lee Ann H. Kenley, commanding officer, Troop I, announces Troop I officers will again team up with law enforcement agencies in other states in the “Get Your ‘Clicks’ On Route 66” seat belt crackdown today. States taking part in the crackdown along the historic Route 66” corridor include Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. The wearing of seat belts by drivers and passengers in vehicles is one of the best ways to prevent death and personal injury when involved in a traffic crash. In recent years, the state of Missouri has recognized the affect seat belt usage has on reducing traffic crash deaths and injuries through the passage of infant restraint and adult seat belt laws. The effectiveness of using seat belts becomes apparent when considering the following statistics. A driver in a 2011 Missouri traffic crash had a one in two chance of being injured if they were not wearing a seat belt. However, if they were wearing a seat belt their chances of being injured in the crash were one in eight. When examining driver deaths, the differences are much more dramatic. A driver in a 2011 Missouri traffic crash had a one in 30 chance of being killed if they were not wearing a seat belt. In those cases where a driver wore a seat belt, their chance of being killed was 1 in 1,424.
Sports [TOP]
The Salem Lady Tigers lost a tightly contested game to the Willow Springs Lady Bears on Thursday, 43-40. Savannah Hanning scored 12 points in the loss for the Lady Tigers, who now fall to 8-11 on the year and 2-3 in the SCA. Kristin Hemken and Emily Moser each added nine points for Salem, who will be playing in the Newburg Tournament starting on Monday.
The Salem Tiger Boys basketball team will be hosting the Houston Tigers tonight at the SHS gym. JV will start out at 6:00 with the varsity to follow. Salem is 7-12 on the year and 1-1 in SCA. You’ll be able to hear the varsity game on KSMO Radio and online at ksmoradio.com. You can also watch the game on fidelitylocal6.com.
David Backes led a balanced offensive attack with a goal and an assist as the St. Louis Blues handled the Columbus Blue Jackets, 4-1, on Thursday. Barret Jackman, Patrik Berglund and Vladimir Tarasenko also scored for the Blues, who have won four in a row to improve to 6-1-0. Brian Elliott made 24 saves in the victory. The Blues will be in Detroit tonight to play the Red Wings at 6:00 and you can hear it on KSMO.
The Missouri Tiger basketball team will be hosting Auburn Saturday afternoon at Mizzou Arena. Missouri is 15-5 on the year and 4-3 in the SEC. You can hear the game on KSMO, starting with the pre-game show at noon.
Obituaries [TOP]
Funeral services for Neal J. Schwarzhuber of Rolla, age 84, will be held today at 3:00 at the James and Gahr Mortuary in Rolla. Visitation will be from 1:00 until service time. Interment will be in the North Lawn Cemetery.
Graveside service for Audrey Lois Jorgenson of Rolla, age 80, will be Monday at 11:00 at the North Lawn Cemetery in Salem.
Celebration of Life for William E. Seay of Salem, age 91, will be held Saturday, February 16th at 1:00 at the Wilson Mortuary in Salem. Memorials may be made to the Salem Public Library Building Fund.
Weather [TOP]
