News

The Dent County Commissioners held their regular meeting at the Dent County Courthouse Monday morning. At the meeting, Commissioner Bobby Simpson reported that material would be hauled to and ditch work would be done on Dent County Roads 637 and 640. Simpson also said that grading would be done on Dent County Roads 625 and 627, and brush would be cut on Dent County Road 408. Commissioner J.J. Tune reported that a crew would be working on the rebuilding of Dent County Road 238. Tune also said that grading would be done in the Hobson area, and brush would be cut on Dent County Roads 252 and 253. Dent County Deputy Clerk Cindy Ard reported that the last day to register to vote for the November General Election would be October 11th. Presiding Commissioner Jim Biggs reported that the Commission would be meeting with MRPC officials as well as with the City of Salem aldermen on October 9th at 9:30 in the city hall council chambers. The Commissioners adjourned at 10:00 to attend the Dedication Ceremony for Highway 72 at the Commons. At the ceremony, Tom Stehn, the South Central District Engineer for MoDot, welcomed and thanked everyone for attending. Stehn said that after ten years and $46 million dollars, the completion of the "new" Highway 72 should be done by Thanksgiving. All that is left to complete is the three-lane section from Route J to Highway 32. Representative Jason Smith and Senator Frank Barnitz both spoke and thanked MoDot for all the work and planning they had done for the project. At the previous commissioner's meeting, a representative from Erb Equipment stopped by to have the Commissioners sign the paperwork for the new graders. The County received a bill from Salem Memorial District Hospital on Deputy Marvin Rice. The Commission feels that this is not the counties responsibility and State Farm should settle and pay the bill. Commissioner Tune contaced State Farm and they said they would call the hospital and take care of the bill. Also at the meeting, Sheriff Bob Wofford and Deputy Wayne Becker stopped by to discuss their budget and what is projected for 2007. The next meeting of the Commissioners will be Thursday morning at 9:00 and the meeting is open to the public.

An accident occurred Monday morning at 1:45 in Dent County on Highway 32 about five miles west of Salem, that took the life of a Columbia man. According to the highway patrol report, a 2004 Ford F-150 pickup driven by 32-year old Bradley Calvin of Columbia, was traveling westbound on Highway 32. Calvin lost control of the pickup and it skidded off the left side of the road, struck a ditch and overturned. Dent County Coroner Eddie Wilson pronounced Calvin dead at the scene. He was not wearing a seat restraint at the time of the accident. The pickup was totaled in the accident and towed from the scene by Whitakers Towing of Salem.

There will be an informational meeting tonight from 7:00 to 10:00 at the Salem City Hall Auditorium on the FEMA Hazard Mitigation Plan.Will Roberts will be the featured speaker and he is well versed in FEMA codes. He will explain how implementing this plan could affect you. The meeting tonight is open to everyone.

The Dent County Sheriff's Department released their report for the month of September. For the month there were 65 9-1-1- calls, in which all were responded to with three of the calls being prank calls. The Department served 146 papers consisting of 81 civil papers, 54 criminal papers and eleven notices to vacate, plus they served 19 felony warrants and 25 misdemeanor warrants. During the month, there were 11 drug arrests and 11 domestic disturbance calls were addressed. The Sherriff's Department issued 19 tickets and assisted on 16 traffic accidents. For the month of September, the Sheriff's Department investigated six burglaries, four assaults, eleven thefts, three vandalism reports and six property damage reports. The Department spent 119 hours working in court and 21 hours testifying. The Dent County Sheriff's Department handled a total of 503 calls during the month and made 29 community policing appearances. In the Dent County Jail Report for September, there were 67 prisoners incarcerated for the month with an average daily total of 18. There were fifteen transfers to the Department of Corrections and 15 transfers to or from other departments. There were three transfers to a mental facility. During the month of September, the sheriff's department drove a total of 18,375 miles on criminal investigations, patrolling and prisoner transportation.

Sports   [TOP]

The Salem 7th and 8th grade football team played yesterday at the Salem High School Football field against West Plains. The "B" team won 30-6. Andrew Conaway opened the scoring with a 9-yard run, but the two-point conversion failed. Ben Adams later scored in the second quarter on a busted play as he ran 69 yards and Sammy Ibrahim added the two point conversion. Ibrahim then scored on an 80-yard kick off return in the first half, and in the fourth quarter on a 39-yard run. Conaway added one two-point conversion and Devon Sutterfield added another to extend our record to 2-0 for the B team.

Salem also won the "A" game, 8-6. Salem opened up the scoring with a 67-yard run by Jonnie Boyd in the first half. Jared Shorey added the two-point conversion to put Salem up 8-0. West Plains added a score late in the third quarter, but the Salem defense held denying the two-point conversion. West Plains had two or three chances to score inside the Salem 10, but the defense held strong. Jonathan Hambacker intercepted his second pass of the night to seal the deal with less than a minute to go.

The Salem Lady Softball Tigers finished fourth in the Rolla Tournament Saturday as they beat St. Claire, 6-5, lost to Rolla, 5-0, and then lost to Owensville in extra innings, 7-6. The Lady Tigers finished the regular season with a 12-12 record going into district play starting tomorrow as they will face the the Lady Knights of St. Francis Borgia at Sullivan starting at 4:30.

The Salem Lady Volleyball Tigers will host the Lebanon Lady Yellow Jackets tonight in non-conference play. The JV will start things out at 6:00 with the varsity contest to follow.

The NL Central champion St. Louis Cardinals and Chris Carpenter (15-8) will head west to take on the San Diego Padres, who won the NL West crown. Jake Peavy (11-14), who had a disappointing regular season, will get the call for San Diego. You can hear the game on KSMO starting with the Dugout Show at 2:45.

The Chicago Cubs decided not renew the contract of manager Dusty Baker after four years. Chicago finished last in the National League Central with a record of 66-96.

Monday Night Football Score:
Philadelphia 31, Green Bay 9

Obituary   [TOP]

Funeral services for Alta Marie LeFever of Los Angeles, California, formerly of Edgar Springs, age 74, will be held Friday morning at 10:00 at the James and Gahr Chapel in Rolla. Visitation will be held Thursday evening from 6:00 to 8:00. Interment will be in the Edgar Springs Cemeterty. Memorials are suggested to the Michael J. Fox Parkinson Research Foundation in New York.

Weather

Today..Partly cloudy and warm, high around 90.
Tonight..Partly cloudy, low of 66.
Wednesday..Partly sunny with a 40% chance for showers and thunderstorms, high of 86.
Wednesday night..Cloudy with a 30% chance for showers and thunderstorms, turning cooler, low of 57. [TOP]