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The Dent County Commission met Monday morning at the courthouse for their regular meeting. In the road report, District 1 Commissioner Dennis Purcell reported ditch work would be done and materials added to Dent County Road 2480, while ditch work will also be done on county road 6220. He indicated brush would be cut on Dent County Road 4215 and materials would be added to county roads 6370 and 6400. Purcell said men would be replacing tires on grader #24 and tire maintenance would be done on county truck #115. Purcell went on to say a man would be going to Springfield for a load of oil for the Durapatcher. District 2 Commissioner Gary Larson said grading would be done on and materials would be added to Dent County Road 2020, while only grading would be done on county road 2360 and only materials would be added to Dent County Road 3180. Larson stated two men would be patching a bridge on county road 4290 and a crossover pipe was being installed on Dent County Road 3180. Presiding Commissioner Darrell Skiles reported on the CCAM Board meeting in Cape Girardeau he attended last Tuesday through Thursday. They did planning work on the 2015 Commissioner Training and also discussed in length the vetoed bills by the governor. The board voted unanimously to send a letter to the Senate and House leaders about the concerns the County Commission Association of Missouri Board has about these bills that negatively impact city and county revenues and to let the veto stand. Skiles also said he talked with Dennis Lockwood from the state auditors office about the best way to compensate the County Collector for collecting the City of Salem taxes. If the county receives the whole $15,000 payment from the city and then pays the collector, Lockwood felt the IRS would see this as paying an employee and the county would be held responsible for FICA taxes and the proper withholding of taxes. If the city paid the collector directly, then no payroll taxes would have to be paid by the county, as the collector would be a vendor. The current contract calls for the city of Salem to pay Dent County $15,000 for the collection services, and then the collector would be paid by the county. Skiles said there is no difference to the city as it would cost $15,000 either way, but it would save county taxpayers payroll taxes if the city were to pay the county $12,000 and the collector $3,000. Skiles stated he would talk with City Administrator Ray Walden about changing the wording of the contract. Dent County Clerk Angie Curley reported the Collector and Assessor balanced on all collections, add-ons and abatements for July. Commissioner Gary Larson then reported that he received an e-mail from Lindsey Chaffin with Great Rivers Associates about the bridge on Dent County Road 3210. It said that funding from the BRO funds and from the Stream Stewardship Trust Fund should cover the cost of building the bridge and the soft match money through MoDOT would not be needed. The e-mail said the commission should hear from MoDOT in about a week or two on concurrence and then a pre-construction meeting would be set. The next meeting of the Dent County Commission will be Thursday morning at 9:00 at the courthouse and it is open to the public.

Today in the Primary Election, there are no true local races to be decided. The only challenge within the party is in the Republican Party for the District 16 Senatorial Race where incumbent Dan Brown is being challenged by Bernie Mowinski. However, there are five issues to be decided by voters. Constitutional Amendment #1 deals with ensuring the right of Missourians to engage in agriculture production and ranching practices. Constitutional Amendment #5 is asking to include in the Missouri Constitution a declaration that the right to keep and bears arms be an unalienable right and that the state government is obligated to uphold that right. Constitutional Amendment #7 is concerned with temporarily creating a ¾ cent sales tax to be used solely to fund state and local highways, roads, bridges and other transportation projects for ten years. Constitutional Amendment #8 discussed creating a “Veteran’s Lottery Ticket” where the revenues generated from those sales will be for projects and services related to veterans. The last Constitutional Amendment #9 is concerned with the security of electronic communications and data being protected from unreasonable searches and seizures. The polls will be open from 6:00 AM until 7:00 PM, and you will need to have your voter registration card or other type of identification when you go vote.

An accident occurred at 6:15 Monday evening in Dent County on Highway C about ten miles of northwest of Salem. According to the highway patrol, 26-year old Kyle Good of Rolla was driving a 1993 Lenox Rural Fire Department brush truck west when the front left tire blew out, causing the vehicle to run off the left side of the road, strike an embankment, and overturn. Good wasn't wearing a seat restraint, was ejected from the truck, and suffered serious injuries. He was flown by Air Evac to Mercy in Springfield. The truck was totaled and removed from the scene by Whitaker's Towing of Salem. 

State Treasurer Clint Zweifel is warning Missourians to be cautious of third party websites offering to help them find Unclaimed Property. Missourians recently saw thousands of names in newspapers across the state of individuals, businesses and nonprofits with Unclaimed Property. These entities should go to Zweifel’s website at ShowMeMoney.com to begin the claims process completely free of charge. Other websites often charge fees and can put your personal information at risk. Treasurer Zweifel protects more than $822 million in Unclaimed Property for more than 4.8 million account owners. In 2014, he returned a record $40 million to more than 170,000 Unclaimed Property accounts, all free of charge.

Registration for all middle school and high school students will be held this week. On Tuesday, August 5^th, seniors and eight graders will be able to register as well as any new student that is new to the district. On Wednesday, August 6^th, registration will be for juniors and seventh graders. On Thursday, August 7^th, sophomores and sixth graders can register. Then on Friday, August 8^th, freshman and anyone who has failed to register may come in and register. Students will need to register at the Salem Community Center @ the Armory, located at 1201 West Rolla Road, from 8:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M.  There will be no registration held at the Highs School or the Middle School.

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