News

Sometime Thursday night into Friday morning, 36-year old Joseph Jesse Aldridge of Tyrone, went on a shooting spree in the small town leaving six people dead and one injured. Investigators found Joseph Aldridge’s 74-year old mother, Alice Aldridge, had died of natural causes either late Thursday night or early Friday morning. She had been in a doctor’s care for an undisclosed illness. Authorities could not say if Alice Aldridge died before her son went on his rampage. Those who were killed included Aldridge's cousins, 52-year old Garold and his 47-year old wife Julie; and 50-year old Wes Aldridge and his 48-year old wife, Janell; as well as 68-year old Darrell Shriver, 46-year old Carey Shriver and his 44-year old wife Valerie. Joseph Alridge was found dead of an apparent self inflicted gunshot wound in Shannon County Friday morning. According to the Texas County Sheriff, his car was in the middle of Highway WW. The motive for the killings has not yet been determined. The Texas County Sheriff’s Office and the Missouri State Highway Patrol are working together on the investigation.

Heavy snowfall, inaccessible roads and cold temperatures led to a cold start to the opening of trout season at Montauk State Park Sunday. They only sold 126 youth tags and 1242 adult tags for the day totaling 1,368 total trout tags sold. Over 9,000 fish were stocked for the opening day activities. The largest fish caught opening day was a rainbow trout by Kaleb Manley of Salem coming in a 5 pounds, 12 ounces. Three more rainbow trout were caught weighing in at 5 pounds, four ounces and they were netted by Brook Summers of Rolla, Jerry Stagner of Batesville, Arkansas, and Jason Graham of O’Fallon, Missouri. The catch and keep season will continue at Montauk until October 31^st.

The City of Salem Board of Alderman will conduct their regular meeting tonight at the City Hall Council Chambers located at 202 North Washington beginning at 7:00 pm. After approval of the agenda and during bids, the city had requested bids for 4,000 gallons of LL100 aviation fuel, to be delivered to the City of Salem Municipal Airport. The price of the fuel is to include all taxes, delivery, inspection and certification cost. City Administrator Ray Walden will present the bids to the Board. Walden will then report on items concerning the city along with an annual report and financial report for Healthy Dent County that he will present to the Board. Mayor J.J. Tune will then give his report. The Board will then address any old or new business as well as closed session contracts. The regular meeting of the City of Salem Board of Alderman is open to the public.

The Dent County Fire Protection District released reports for the third week of February. On Sunday, February 15th at 9:38 at night, a total of 12 firefighters responded to Dent County Road 3260 for a building fire. All units were back in service at 11:05 that night. An alarm sounded at 9:45 in the morning on Monday, February 16th at the Dent Medical Clinic. A total of eight fire fighters responded and it was determined to be unintentional detector activation. All units were back in service at 10:05 that same morning. On Tuesday, February 17^th at 4:50 in the afternoon, eight firefighters responded to a call on east 4^th Street for chimney/flu fire. The fire was extinguished and units were back in service at 5:41 pm. Then on Wednesday, February 18^th at 10:36 in the morning, fivefire fighters responded to Highway 32 West for a vehicle accident and general cleanup. Later that night at 8:24, a total of six fire fighters responded to the fire station to setup a landing zone. All units were back in service at 9:04 pm. On Thursday, February 19^th at 2:37 in the afternoon, a total of four firefighters responded to Dent County Road 2540 for a chimney/flu fire. The fire was extinguished and units were back in service at 3:27. That night at 7:00, a total of 12 fire fighters gathered for the 2^nd training in the month of February. Activities included prepping for the Road Rally and the members also completed an equipment knowledge exam. The training concluded at 10:00 pm. Then on Friday, February 20^th at 4:17 in the afternoon, a total of seven fire fighters responded to Highway 19 South to a motor vehicle accident with unknown injuries. A deputy that was on-scene stated that all responding units could disregard and that it is a non-injury accident. All units were cancelled and returned to quarters. Later that night at 11:28, a total of 11 fire fighters responded to South Carty Street for a building fire. Upon arrival, fire was coming out of the attic on the south side of the residence. After the fire was extinguished, and the investigation was complete, the fire was believed to have started from a flue pipe off a wood stove that came apart. All units were back in service at 2:00 on Saturday, February 21^st.

Sports [TOP]

The Salem Boys Basketball Tigers dominated the Eldon Mustangs in the 1st and 4^th quarters and had a lead of 21 late in the game cruising to a 74-62 win in the first round of district play. Kobe Mead scored 24 points to lead the Tigers followed by Logan Pogue with 13 points and ten rebounds, while Logan Woolf and Zayne Kyser each added 12 points. Salem has won their last five straight games and are 14-10 on the year and they will face the Rolla Bulldogs now on Thursday at 7:00 in the district semi-final at School of the Osage.

The Salem Lady Tigers played Marshfield close throughout the entire game, but just could not stop Marshfield’s Peyton Greenlee who racked up 25 points in the game en route to a 71-63 Lady Jay win. The Lady Tigers were led in scoring by Savannah Hanning who netted 22 followed by Peyton Curley with 20. The Salem Lady Tigers are now 17-7 and they will face the Thayer Lady Bobcats in a key SCA Conference makeup game Tuesday night at Thayer. The JV will play at 5:30 followed by the varsity game. With a win, the Lady Tigers would guarantee themselves to be the undisputed SCA Champs!

Nemanja Djurisic led all scorers with 14 points, and the Georgia Bulldogs cruised past Missouri, 68-44, in an SEC game at Stegeman Coliseum. Johnathan Williams III and Namon Wright each scored 10 points to pace the Tigers (8-21, 2-14), who are 8-21 overall and 2-14 in the SEC. They will host Auburn Tuesday night at 7:30.

Chris Higgins netted the deciding shot in the third round of the shootout, rescuing Vancouver from a worse fate and producing a 6-5 victory over St. Louis from Rogers Arena. Ryan Reaves, Alex Pietrangelo, Dmitrij Jaskin, Petteri Lindbohm and David Backes lit the lamp for the Blues, who have gone 2-0-1 on their current six-game road trip. Jake Allen surrendered four goals on 25 shots through most of regulation, but was beaten three times in the contest's final segment in defeat. The Blues will be in Philadelphia on Thursday night.

Obituaries   [TOP]