The race for U.S. Senate will make a stop in Dexter this week when Sarah Steelman brings her campaign to town for an early-morning gathering.
Steelman will meet with supporters at 7 a.m., Wednesday, Oct. 26 at Airport Cafe.
Steelman, of Rolla, is in a three-way race for the Republican nomination to challenge incumbent U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill in the 2012 general election. Her Republican opponents are U.S. Rep. Todd Akin and Germ-X manufacturer chairman John Brunner, both from St. Louis.
Businessman Brunner entered the U.S. Senate race earlier this month and is still acquiring his political legs. Akin was the guest speaker at the Stoddard County Republican Club meeting in Dexter last month, and has been busy travelling to festivals and events throughout the state.
After Brunner’s entry into the senate race, Steelman challenged both opponents to debate throughout the state. To date, neither opponent has accepted Steelman’s challenge.
Steelman is a lifelong Missourian and lives in Rolla with her husband David and their youngest son, Michael, a high school sophomore. Their oldest son, Sam, is a recent graduate from Drury University and is currently living and working in Springfield.
Steelman grew up in Jefferson City and is a graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia with a Masters in Economics and a bachelor’s degree in History.
Steelman served as Missouri State Treasurer from 2004 until 2008. Prior to her serving as treasurer, she was elected to the state senate from the 16 District.
Photo Above: U.S. Senate candidate Sarah Steelman at the 2011 Stoddard County Lincoln Day banquet in Dexter. (SMT file photo by Annabeth Miller)
Deer are on the move as autumn progresses, and that includes crossing highways. Drivers can take steps to reduce the chances of deer-vehicle accidents.
Deer encounters near roads increase in late October because the cooler weather makes them more active and there is disturbance in their regular haunts as farmers harvest crops, said Joe DeBold, urban wildlife biologist for the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC). He added that as autumn foliage falls to the ground, deer are prompted to look for new hiding places.
“Then the peak season for deer movement usually occurs around the first three weeks of November during the rut, or breeding season,” DeBold said. “These changes increase the chances that deer may dart in front of moving vehicles.”
He noted that deer are most active during evening, dusk and dawn hours.
“Drivers should be alert, slow down and drive cautiously,” DeBold said, “especially when driving through wooded or rural areas. Keep an eye on the shoulders, ditches and field edges. Often deer can be seen feeding or waiting to cross a road. Sometimes they try to dart across a road as a vehicle approaches. Be especially alert on roadways posted with deer crossing signs.”
Motorists should use high-beam headlights at night when possible for a wider field of vision. “Watch for deer silhouettes or eyes glowing in the headlights,” he advised. “When one deer is spotted, more are often close behind.”
Slowing down is the best defense. If a deer does dart into the road, avoid panic braking or swerving, which can cause accidents.
Rural areas are not the only place where deer-vehicle strikes occur. According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, in 2010, almost one-third of the traffic crashes involving deer happened in urban areas.
“If a vehicle does strike a deer, the motorist should immediately call 911 and report any injuries and the location of the accident,” DeBold said. “If the deer is still alive, the driver should wait for law enforcement personnel to arrive at the scene.”
He added that any motorist wanting to keep the meat, hide or antlers from a deer killed on the highway must contact a conservation agent in the county where the accident occurred and request a disposition form before taking the deer into possession.
By Annabeth Miller, SMT Edtior
Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon on Friday signed into a law a bill that repeals a controversial one passed earlier this year that dealt with teachers, students and online social media sites such as Facebook.
Nixon's action wipes away a law enacted earlier this year that barred teachers from using websites that allow "exclusive access" with students or former pupils age 18 or younger. The law generated an unexpected backlash, with teachers raising concerns they would be barred from using popular social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter that allow private messages.
A judge temporarily blocked the law shortly before it was to take effect in August, declaring that it "would have a chilling effect" on free-speech rights guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution. Nixon then added the law's repeal to the agenda for the special session that began in September.
Legislators, who had voted for the law this spring as part of a broader legislation on teacher abuse of students, voted overwhelmingly this fall to repeal the restrictions. But the most recent bill sent to the governor also requires school districts to develop their own policies by March 1 on the use of electronic media between employees and students in order to prevent improper communications.
Nixon signed the legislation with some hesitancy. He said school districts could find it challenging to develop policies that prevent improper communications without also preventing appropriate on-line conversations.
"This bill is not as good as it should be, but to veto it would return us to a bill that would be far worse," Nixon said in a written statement announcing his decision.
The Missouri State Teachers Association earlier this year filed suit against the law. On Friday the state educators group, said that it would decide within the coming weeks whether to drop the case. The judge's preliminary injunction against the original law was to remain in effect until Feb. 20 so that a hearing could be held on a permanent injunction.
MEMPHIS – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced today it will make repairs at the Birds Point-New Madrid Floodway levees’ upper and middle crevasses to a protection level of 55 feet on the Cairo, Ill., river gage as funding is provided.
“Our engineers have determined that we can go to this higher level of protection and not increase the risk to the flood risk management system in the area of the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers,” Maj. Gen. Michael J. Walsh, Commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Mississippi Valley Division and President of the Mississippi River Commission said. “This will reduce the risk of overtopping the levee to six percent in any given year.”
Walsh added that the Corps remains committed to fully restoring the system to a protection level of 62.5’ on the Cairo gage.
Plans call for the levee to be rebuilt using clay construction, but will also include a contingency plan to install HESCO bastions in an emergency flood fight effort to reach the 55’ level of protection in the event field conditions prevent workers from constructing a clay embankment in time for high water threatening the 55 foot elevation.
HESCO bastions are wire baskets lined with a fabric and filled with sand. They were developed as a quick way to erect low height levees.
Maj. Gen. Walsh and members of the Mississippi River Commission will visit the floodway on Friday, Oct. 21.
Photo Above: Maj. Gen. Michael J. Walsh, Commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Mississippi Valley Division and President of the Mississippi River Commission, in May at Bird’s Point. (SMT File Photo by Annabeth Miller)
The timing of the first class at Dexter High School to graduate with the A+ program and the opening of Three Rivers College’s Dexter center couldn’t have been better for local students.
DHS A+ Coordinator Ann Polsgrove gave her report on the program at Tuesday’s meeting of the Dexter Board of Education. She said the coincidental timing of the two has been boost for the A+ program locally.
Polsgrove said more than 60 graduates of the DHS Class of 2011 are utilizing the A+ program with Three Rivers, both at the Dexter location and the main campus in Poplar Bluff.
“The opening of the Three Rivers Center here just couldn’t be better,” she said.
The Missouri A+ program provides scholarship program provides scholarship funds for students who participate in the program during their high school career. The scholarships may be used for full tuition at any of Missouri’s community colleges.
The Class of 2011 was the first class at DHS to complete and able to take advantage of the program. Out of 119 graduates at DHS this May, 64 were eligible for the A+ Scholarship. Polsgrove said at least 20 graduates are using the state-funded A+ scholarship at Three Rivers, and six are enrolled at Southeast Missouri State and utilizing an institution scholarship for A+ recipients. In addition, the four students from Dexter attending Truman University received a $500 scholarship from the university for being A+ students.
As of this semester, class participation in the program at DHS includes:
- 10th grade: 109 of 165, or 66.1%
- 11th grade: 73 of 128, or 57.0%
- 12th grade: 93 of 138, or 67.4%
Polsgrove said she is working on signing the 9th grade students for the program, and they will be required to sign the new Agreement and Guidelines before being accepted into the program.
Polsgrove said the state has revised some of the requirements of the program, including that students must now score at the Proficient or Advanced levels on the Algebra I end-of-course exam.
“Algebra I is our lowest math class that we offer,” she said. Said some of the students will now take the end-of-course exam as eighth grade if they take Algebra I in middle school, and if take the course at high school, the end-of-course exam would be taken after the freshman year.
The district will participate in a Veterans Day observance on Nov. 11 The Daughters of the American Revolution are hosting the program, and all students will attend the program, along with the community. The Nov. 11 program will begin at 9:30 a.m. at the Bearcat Event Center.
Dr. Roger Alsup presented the nursing report on behalf of High School Nurse Candy Miller. All four health offices in the district are reviewing the school health forms and immunizations for compliancy. The nurses are seeing in excess of 200 students at each building each month, for a wide variety of cases.
“As ways it always busy,” Supt. Dr. Thomas Sharp said of the work of the district’s nurses.
In other business, the board -
- Appointed Dr. Roger Alsup as the district’s English Language Learned (ELL) coordinator;
- Learned the district Technology Committee will meet on Nov. 1;
- Received reports of the Missouri School Boards Association conference; five from the district attended the state conference;
- Welcomed Steve Wisdom to the meeting; Wisdom is with at the Holcomb R-3 district and was observing the meeting as part of his coursework for the Education Specialist degree at Southeast Missouri State University;
In closed Executive Session the board approved the addition of two to the district substitute teacher list, Courtney Copeland and Tamra Chancellor.
