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Salem R-80 Superintendent Steve Carvajal accepted the Superintendent’s job at the Clever R-5 School District after being unanimously selected by their board for the job. Carvajal will replace the retiring Superintendent, Dr. Richard Henson on July 1, 2015, after Henson served the district for 26 years. Carvajal, who was the superintendent at the La Plata R-11 School for five years, leaves Salem after serving as the Salem R-80 Schools Superintendent for only two years. During his term, the district did pass a bond issue to make additions and huge improvements to the high school and junior high, plus replace the high school track. In his career in education, Carvajal served as a teacher, coach, athletic director, principal and superintendent.

The Salem Park Board held a meeting Wednesday night at the Salem Community Center @ the Armory. Salem High School Football Coach Brian McNamee spoke to the board about starting a “mighty mites” city football program. He said in the SCA, only two teams do not have a mighty mites program and those teams are Salem and Houston. He said the success of the Mountain View-Liberty and Mountain Grove programs are proof that kids getting an earlier start in contact football helps them before getting into middle school. He says some cities have programs starting as early as the 1^st and 2^nd graders. He said the coaches have to be certified and take classes in the proper way to hit and also concussion symptoms. He said the start up costs per child should come to about $150 per child that would include league costs, insurance and equipment rental. He said he would be willing to go out and attain sponsors for the program. McNamee also indicated interested children would have to take a physical, and the parents would have to sign a consent form and a waiver of liability form. He said this has to be a city program and the program would have to use the field at Al Brown as well as the high school field and he would like to start this program next fall. The board will look into the program further. City Administrator Ray Walden said the city would be looking into developing a five-year planning document utilizing public input on programs and facilities that would be in place even if the sales tax proposal does not pass. Parks and Recreation Director Greg Nash reported there were about 120 children in the flag football program this fall, but the number of kids in the soccer program has decreased again. Nash said there would not be soccer in the spring as that pushed back the baseball, softball and T-Ball programs into late July. He said signups for the city league basketball program would be held in January. The 1^st and 2^nd graders will attend camps for five weeks while the 3^rd through 6^th graders will play games. That will be held at the high school gym. Nash reported the tennis courts have been resurfaced and the art club will be repainting the bounce-back board. He also indicated the pool leaked very little this past summer and he feels little work will be needed in getting it ready for the 2015 season. Park Board President S.N. Ball said a task force meeting would be held in January and campaign strategies will be formulated from the meetings for the April Sales Tax issue to support the Parks and Recreation Department. The meeting was then adjourned.

Hunters checked 9,107 deer during the antlerless portion of Missouri’s firearms deer season, bringing this year’s tally to 194,997. Top harvest counties for the antlerless portion were Pike with 287 deer checked, Callaway with 283 and Macon with 257. Hunters checked 1,474 fewer deer during the antlerless portion this year than they did in 2013. However, when combined with preceding early youth, urban, and November portions, this year’s total stands 4 percent above the harvest at this time last year. Two portions of firearms deer season remain. The alternative methods portion runs from December 20^th through 30^th, and the late youth portion is January 3^rd and 4^th.

The 2014 Christmas Trees and Trains Exhibit will be held now through December 24th at the Ozark Natural and Cultural Resource Center located at 202 South Highway 19 in Salem. The exhibit will be open from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm Monday thru Saturday. The exhibit will also be open on Sunday, December 21st from 1:00 to 5:00 and will be open on Wednesday, December 24th from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm. Be sure and stop by on Saturday, December 13th or December 20th and visit with Santa in his workshop. Santa will be there from 1:00 to 5:00 each day. For more information regarding the 2014 Christmas Trees and Trains Exhibit call 729-0029.

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