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The Dent County Commissioners held their regular meeting at the Dent County Courthouse Thursday morning.  In the road report, District 1 Commissioner Dennis Purcell reported that the southern portion of District 1 received an additional 3 inches of rain over the past couple of days causing more washouts in the Jadwin, Gladden and Bunker areas.  He said patch grading would be done on Dent County Roads 5520, 6280 and 6500 and rock would be hauled to Dent County Roads 5440.  Purcell also said that a crew would be cleaning out culverts on Dent County Road 5150 and installing driveway pipes on Dent County Roads 4243 and 6240.  District 2 Commissioner Gary Larson was out of town for the meeting, so District 2 Road Supervisor Charlie Malone reported that grading would be done on Dent County Road 2330 and a crew would be cleaning up trees and debris from Dent County Roads 5225 and 5240.  Presiding Commissioner Darrell Skiles reported that he spoke with Dent County Emergency Management Director Brad Nash about receiving federal assistance for storm clean up.  Nash said the paperwork has been sent to President Obama and the state is waiting on him to sign the paper declaring Dent County a disaster area.  He also reported on this years circuit clerk fees: for January through May the circuit clerk’s office has only received $8,500 and that is down $18,400 from the same time last year. The circuit clerk collects those fees through court costs and that money is used to pay bills and buy supplies.  Skiles also attended a series of MRPC meetings yesterday in St. James.  The next meeting of the Commissioners will be Monday morning at 9:00 and the meeting is open to the public.

Dent County Sheriff Rick Stallings and Lieutenant Joe Larime, Director, Missouri Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, are pleased to announce the award of a grant from the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force of Missouri to Dent County.  This grant is funded by the Recovery Act Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and the Office of Justice Programs of the United States Department of Justice. This grant will fund a full-time Computer Investigative Specialist for two years and was effective June 1, 2009.  This grant will allow ICAC to continue, and expand the operation of the South Central Missouri Computer Crime Task Force established last year, and the computer forensic lab located in Salem. The grant is approximately $78,000 across two years and there is no local match requirement for this award. In May of 2008, the Dent County Sheriff’s Department was awarded an Internet Cyber Crime Grant to fund the creation of a computer forensic lab in South Central Missouri to fund one-half of an investigators time, to provide training in forensics and to do pro-active investigations of the online exploitation of children. As part of our grant proposal, Dent County committed to providing computer forensic services to South Central Missouri, specifically Dent and its’ surrounding counties, ultimately establishing the South Central Missouri Computer Crime Task Force in the region. Since August of 2008 when funds became available, the Dent County Sheriff’s Department has established a computer forensic lab in a Dent County building with the capability to examine cell phones. The have completed over 200 hours of computer forensic and investigative training, and have proactively developed seven child pornography cases in the region. Since April 2008, they have completed 38 forensic examinations, and through March of 2009 they have made seven school Internet safety presentations to over 400 students. They have also investigated four Cyber Tips in the region. As investigations targeted suspects in other South Central Missouri jurisdictions, the ICAC executed agreements establishing the South Central Missouri Computer Crime Task Force. The task force today includes Dent County Sheriff’s Department, Salem Police Department, Rolla Police Department, Phelps County Sheriff’s Department, St. James Police Department, and Fort Leonard Wood Police Department. For further information, contact Deputy Wayne Becker at the Dent County Sheriff’s Department, (573) 729-3241.

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Graveside services for George Franklin Blair of Cuba, formerly of Steelville, age 85, will be held today at 11:00 at the Steelville Cemetery. Arrangements are under the Britton-Bennett Funeral Home in Steelville.

Funeral services for Donald Burton Gamblin of Salem, formerly of Florida, age 81, will be held today at 11:00 at the Dent County Memorial Chapel. Interment will be in the Union Cemetery with Full Military Honors. Memorials are suggested to the Union Cemetery.

Funeral services for Estle Radford of Centerville, age 88, will be today at 1:00 at McSpadden Funeral Home in Bunker. Visitation will be today from 10:00 until service time. Interment will be in the Polk Memorial Cemetery.

Graveside services for J. Richene Emory Laubach of Willow Springs, age 74, will be held Saturday at 4:00 at the North Lawn Cemetery. All arrangements are under the direction of the Dent County Memorial Chapel.

Fuenral services for Dessie Gordon of Bunker will be held Sunday morning at 10:00 at McSpadden Funeral Home. Visitation will be Saturday at 5:00.

Graveside services for James “Jim” Carl Thomas of Salem, formerly of Westland, Michigan, age 55, will be held Monday, June 15^th at 11:00 at the Cedar Grove Cemetery. Graveside visitation will be held from 10:00 until service time. All the arrangements are under the direction of the Wilson Mortuary in Salem. Memorials may be made to the family for funeral expenses.

Funeral services for Daphna Biggs of Salem are incomplete at this time and are under the direction of the Dent County Memorial Chapel.

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