Deloris Gray Wood of the Dent County Historical Society attended the Dent County Commission meeting Monday morning to report regarding the organization’s recent meeting Thursday night at the Salem Community Center @ the Armory. Well over 100 people attended to voice their complaints to Jason Lott, Ozark National Scenic Riverways superintendent, regarding the new trails plan being implemented by the National Park Service along the ONSR, despite adamant local opposition to the plan. The meeting was not originally intended to be a town hall-style public meeting where residents voiced their concerns, but that is what it metamorphosized into.
“Some people kind of felt that the meeting was hijacked, but I don’t really look at it that way,” said Wood. She said that she believes it was an opportunity to facilitate discussion between ONSR and locals, even if that wasn’t the intended purpose of the meeting.
“It brought out a lot people who are passionate about the river,” she said.
“I believe that the Dent County Historical Society can be a buffer between the people and the [Ozark National Scenic Riverways],” said Wood.
Coverage of that meeting will be in a future edition of The Salem News.
Also at Monday’s commission meeting:
At Thursday’s meeting Skiles reported that the MRPC Transportation Advisory Committee, which Skiles sits on, submitted a letter of support to the state for increased funding of Montauk State Park and in support of funding existing parks.
Treasurer Denita Williams reported that the county is up 10.4% on CART (county aid road trust) tax year-to-date at $57,925.88 compared to $53,578.52 for the same period last year.
The commission also voted 2-0 (District Two Commissioner Gary Larson was out of town) Thursday to solicit bids to purchase four sets of vehicle extrication equipment for the fire departments in Dent County in light of the fact that Salem Memorial District Hospital will no longer be doing extrications. Those bids will be due May 5 at 10 a.m.
At Monday’s meeting, Mobray reported that he has a crew out picking up a trash heap next to county road 5390 where someone dumped a couch, other furniture and assorted garbage on the road. Skiles addressed media present, “You can tell people that they can call and let us or the Sheriff’s Office know if they see an unfamiliar truck filled with trash down their road,” said Skiles.
“We can even put cameras out where we know people are dumping trash,” he said.
Mobray reported that he has crews out checking for storm damage and trees that may need to be removed from the roadway. According to Mobray, due to the recent wet weather his crews have only had one day of grading roads this past week and he hopes that there will be a chance to grade roads this week.
District Two Commissioner Gary Larson reported that they will be doing much of the same checking as district one crews, and they will be trying to grade 2183, and the road to the Anutt Community Building where Judy Green’s celebration of life is set to be held.
Larson reported that the Missouri Department of Conservation CART tax for roads that MDC and Dent share will come in at $19,652.
