News

This Saturday, April 28th, numerous agencies, businesses and churches in Dent County will be participating in a community wide exercise (drill). The scenario will be that of a tornado that hits Salem. The objectives for this exercise are to test community response and sheltering displaced citizens. Communications between each department involved will also be tested.  Organizations involved in this drill will be Dent County Sheriff’s Department, Salem Police Department, Dent County Fire Protection District, Salem Memorial District Hospital, Dent County Health Center, Division of Health and Senior Services, the Oak Grove Baptist Church, the First Baptist Church, and the City of Salem.

The Dent County Commissioners regular meeting was held Thursday morning at the courthouse. In the road report, District One Commissioner Dennis Purcell reported that Dent County Road 4180 was chip and sealed on Wednesday. He went on to say that materials would be added, ditch work would be performed and grading would be done on Dent County Road 5630. Purcell indicated that grading would also be done on Dent County Road 5170, that repair work was going to be done on the cul-de-sac on Dent County Road 4170 and that brush was going to be cut on Dent County Road 6305. District Two Commissioner Gary Larson said that grading was going to be done on Dent County Road 4437, and that all the other workers would be on Dent County Road 2250 as it was being chipped and sealed. Presiding Commissioner Darrell Skiles said that State Route NN is now closed for a bridge replacement; and according to MoDOT Engineer Preston Kramer, traffic will be diverted to the bypass on Highway 32-72 East over Spring Creek starting on Monday, April 30^th. He went on to report that State Route H west of Salem would be closed starting May 14^th for a bridge replacement. At the last meeting, Sheriff Rick Stallings came in to discuss the Interop-Solutions situation with the commission and said that he would be calling them to set up a time to meet in Salem. The Amended Budget hearing was held on the Senior Citizens Service Fund. The Division of the Agency on Aging money increased to $5,000 and the SMTS Grant decreased to $2,800 with an estimated balance at the end of 2012 of $22,638.33. The commission approved the budget amendment. The Commissioners also went into closed session pursuant to the Missouri Sunshine Law 610.021 Section 2 regarding real estate. The next meeting of the commissioners will be held Monday at 9:00 at the courthouse and the meeting is open to the public.

The Southeast Missouri State University Department of Mathematics announces winners of the 34th annual Math Field Day held on Tuesday, April 17. Students from 24 area high schools competed in Math Field Day. The event began at 9 a.m. and concluded with an awards ceremony at 1 p.m. The day included both team and individual events. At noon, students engaged in a problem-solving event, Mathletics. All events took place in the Show Me Center. One of the small schools participating was Viburnum C-4 and the school produced a number of stuents who did very well in the small school catagory. They include Jorge Sulca who took 1^st place in 10^th Grade Algebra 1, Devin Medlock who captured 2^nd place in 10^th grade geometry, Leah Gibbs who placed 3^rd in 11^th grade Exponential & Logarithmic, Lindsey Major who came in second place in 12^th grade Matrices & Determinants, and Olivia Morton who came in third place in 12^th grade Analytic Geometry. In the Open Events, Julia Harmon took 1^st place in Sets & Logic, Jerrica Givens came in third place with Hand Calculators, Jordan Conaway took third place in the Geometry Open, Devin Medlock captured third place in Mental Arithmetic, Dustin Rimes won first place in the Algebra Open, and Lindsey Major was awarded third place in the Trigonometry Open. In the team events, Viburnum won the Math Medley with the team made up of students Morgan Johnson, Courtney Kramer, Kelci Mounce and Dustin Rimes. The Blues Jays also took 2nd place in Algebra 1 with the team comprised of April Gillam, Sophia Morton, Hailee Richardson and Jorge Sulca; and they also took 2^nd place in Geometry and that team included Rachel Bruner, Michaela Carl, Jordan Conaway and Devin Medlock. Congratulations on these students for their fine achievements.

An accident occurred at 11:50 Thursday morning in Phelps County that took the life of a Rolla man. According to the highway patrol report, a 1995 Isuzu Trooper driven by 51-year old Kevin C. Kordes of Rolla was traveling southbound on Route E about eight miles North of Rolla. The Isuzu Trooper traveled off the right side of the roadway. Kordes then overcorrected, returned to the roadway and overturned causing Kordes to be ejected. He was not wearing a seat restraint at the time of the accident and the Deputy Coroner took the body to the Phelps County Morgue. The Isuzu Trooper was totaled a removed from the scene by C&C Towing.

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