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The Dent County Commissioners held their regular meeting Thursday morning at the Dent County Courthouse. In the road report, Dent County Commissioner Bobby Simpson said that grading would be done on Dent County Roads 517, 546, 628A and 673 if it is not too wet. He said that grading would also be done around the Montauk area and brush would be cut on Dent County Road 542. Simpson stated that the small gravel dump truck has a transmission problem and he would try to get that repaired as soon as possible. This dump truck is also used as a spreader truck. In District 2, Commissioner J.J. Tune reported that gravel is going to be hauled to the extremely muddy areas on numerous gravel roads and gravel will also be taken to the Cemetery Hill in Boss. Dent County Presiding Commissioner Darrell Skiles reported that he and Commissioner Simpson attended the ribbon cutting ceremony last Friday at the Rightway Re-Manufacturing LLC building in the Master’s Industrial Park. The commission then voted to re-appoint Leon Kreisler to the Top of the Ozarks RC&D as the Dent County Representative. Skiles also stated that RC&D dues of $100 were due and that bill was approved by the commission to be paid. Dent County Clerk Angie Curley wants to remind the public that absentee voting for the February Presidential Primary is currently going on and will continue until 5:00 on February 4^th.  The last day to register to vote in the primary would be January 9^th. She also presented the letter to Commissioner Skiles to sign that would obligate Dent County to their portion of the CDBG grant for the Bunker Firehouse and Community Center. Curley, who is also the budget officer for Dent County, has posted a legal notice that the budget preparation has begun as required by Missouri state statutes. The next meeting of the Dent County Commissioners will be held Monday morning at 9:00 and the meeting is open to the public.

The New Year’s holiday is a time to celebrate 2007 and welcome 2008. The Missouri State Highway Patrol encourages everyone to include safety in all your holiday preparations. If the weather is bad, allow extra time for traveling or be flexible with your plans. Staying home might be safer. If you do plan to drive to a New Year’s gathering, remember to buckle up and obey all traffic laws. Also, if your plans include alcohol, choose a designated driver. During the New Year’s traffic crash counting period, which begins at 6:00 p.m. tonight and runs to 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, January 2, 2008, all available officers will be on the roadways. Last year, 1,119 traffic crashes occurred in Missouri over the New Year’s holiday weekend. In those crashes eight people were killed and 454 were injured. That is one person killed or injured  every 10.1 minutes. The Missouri State Highway Patrol has a goal of less than 1,000 traffic fatalities in 2008. Motorists can expect to see more marked patrol vehicles on the roadways. More than 100 previously unmarked vehicles now have decals on the side to help increase visibility and further reduce traffic violations.

A ribbon cutting ceremony was held Friday, December 21^st at the new Rightway Remanufacturing, LLC building with about 40 people in attendance including State Senator Frank Barnitz and State Representative Jason Smith. The project was partially funded by the US Department of Commerce, the Economic Development Administration, and also by local efforts with the City of Salem and the County of Dent. The grant for the building was awarded in November of 2004 and the engineer contract with Integrity Engineering was signed on July 25, 2005. Integrity then designed the building for Rightway to remanufacture old mobile homes which took some time before the designs were approved by the EDA. Bids were taken on January 11^th for construction and the low bid came from Alexander Construction. The contract was awarded in February and the notice to proceed was issued in April of 2007. Rightway began installing equipment in the building on November 1^st of this year. The plant will employ 15 to 18 people who will remanufacture the mobile homes for the ever-growing housing market.

As reported in YWT on Wednesday, last Thursday a Dent County man was charged with one felony count of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, one felony count of keeping or maintaining a public nuisance and one felony count of possession of a controlled substance after a search of a residence off of Highway 19 North by the Dent County Sheriff’s Department assisted by the Missouri State Highway Patrol. That person has been identified as 43-year old Darwin H. Hayes of Salem was taken into custody. Hayes was incarcerated with a bond set at $30,000.

Sports [TOP]

The Salem Lady Basketball Tigers improved to 8-1 with a 57-40 win over Crocker yesterday at the Lebanon Central Bank Tournament. Natalie Howard scored 27 points followed by Allison Jones with 14. Salem will face Buffalo today at 2:30 in the semi-final in the Boswell Gym.

The Salem Lady JV won their game yesterday at Lebanon and will play for the championship today against Lebanon at 2:30 in the Carr Gym.

C.J. Smith and Taylor Sirois scored 14 points as the Salem Tigers edged Springdale Har-Ber from Arkansas, 55-52. Zach Pitchford added 10 points as Salem is now 7-2 on the year and will face Waynesville in the US Bank Holiday Tournament tonight at 7:00. You can hear the game on KSMO and online at www.ksmoradio.com starting at 6:50 with Tiger talk and Coach Travis Wrightsman. The winner plays in the championship game Saturday at 7:30 and the loser of the game will play for third place at 6:00 at the Rolla High School Gym.

The St. Louis Blues will host the San Jose Sharks tonight at 7:30. They will be without the service out Barrett Jackman who suffered a concussion against Detroit on Wednesday night. The Blues have recalled defenseman Steve Wagner from Peoria to replace Jackman. You can hear that game right after Salem Basketball tonight. The Blues will also be in action tomorrow night as they will be in Dallas at 8:00.

Demarre Carroll scored 19 points as Missouri pounded Coppin State, 72-38 to go to 9-4 on the year. Leo Lyons added 11 for Missouri who will face Mississippi State on Sunday afternoon at 3:30. You can hear that game on KSMO Radio.

Obituaries   [TOP]

Funeral services for Gordon Hagen of Salem, age 90, will be held Tuesday, January 1st at 2:00 at the James & Gahr Mortuary in Salem. Visitation will be from 11:00 until service time. Interment will be in the Empire Cemetery in Gladden.

Funeral services for Private Jeremy Michael Black of Salem, age 18, will be held Thursday, January 3rd at 11:00 at the Wilson Mortuary Salem Chapel. Visitation will be held Wednesday, January 2nd, from 5:00 to 8:00. Interment will be in the Boss Cemetery with Full Military Honors.

Weather [TOP]