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BRIEFS Bicentennial Ice Cream Social
The Trenton Area Chamber of Commerce and Main Street Trenton will host a community ice cream social to celebrate the Missouri Bicentennial. The event will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 10 at the Rock Barn. Free ice cream and cupcakes will be served, with donations accepted to benefit the Trenton Police Department’s “Shop With a Cop” program. The ice cream social is being sponsored by Allen and Linda Berry, Kendall Foster Crop Insurance, State Farm Insurance - Dillon Harp Agency and Tolson Grain and Livestock.
Library Plans Special Events
The Grundy County-Jewett Norris Library will celebrate the end of the Summer Reading Program Story Hour on Tuesday, July 27 by hosting a fun evening for participants, their families and all other community members. The Powerhouse Food Truck will be located in the parking lot behind the library off West Crowder Road beginning at 11 a.m. The food truck will provide a free hot dog or hamburger to children after 5 p.m. Adults may purchase food from the truck as well during that time. Teenage magician Max Meystrik will provide entertainment, beginning at 6 p.m. and snow cones and popcorn will also be provided. The event will take place in the parking lot behind the library and West Crowder Road near the library, with patrons encouraged to bring blankets and chairs for seating during the program. Parking will be in Cross Hall parking lot. The Summer Reading Program will continue through Sept. 1 and the school year Children’s Story Hour begins on Wednesday, Aug. 18.
Road Conditions Discussed
Several residents of Myers Township, located in the northeast part of the county, met with the Grundy County Commission on Monday, discussing the condition of township roads. Grundy County Clerk Betty Spickard said several residents met with the commission, categorizing and prioritizing the roads that need the most work. It was agreed that roads utilized by school buses will have the highest priority. In other business, the commission opened the 2021 Board of Equalization, which was closed immediately due to no appointments having been made. The commission will meet again Tuesday, July 28.
NCMC Board Meeting
The North Central Missouri College Board of Trustees will meet in regular session at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 27 in the Frey Administrative Center. The board plans to tour the new residence halls at 5 p.m. Items on the tentative agenda include new employee introductions, campus activities, Year in Review and reports from the Head Start directors, vice president for academic affairs, chief information officer and president. Under new business, the board plans to set the tax levy hearing, re-adopt the code of ethics/conflict of interest, consider bids and purchases and discuss personnel matters, including a retirement, a resignation, an employee transfer, employments and job descriptions. A closed session is planned to discuss personnel, legal matters and real estate.
Delta Variant Playing Role In COVID Uptick In Grundy County Health Department Urging Residents To Get Vaccinated COVID-19 cases in Grundy County are seeing an increase, with the Delta variant playing a role in that development. Elizabeth Gibson, administrator of the Grundy County Health Department, said Thursday morning there are 30 active cases in the county, with a total of 1,299 cases recorded since the pandemic began in March 2020. The Delta variant, she said, is very contagious and is playing a role in the transmission of the virus. “The Delta variant is so much more contagious,” she said. “In the past, a person might get it and their family might not. With the Delta variant, that’s not as likely to be the case.” Ms. Gibson said people need to take quarantines seriously and encourages residents to get a vaccine. ‘We’re not really seeing an uptick in the number of people getting the vaccine as our numbers increase, but we are still doing a few every week. It’s a continual process and every time we have a clinic we have people
$10,000 Incentive! JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri’s Republican Gov. Mike Parson on Wednesday rolled out a vaccine incentive program that includes $10,000 prizes for 900 lottery winners. Winners will be drawn every two weeks beginning Aug. 13 and ending Oct. 8. Previously vaccinated and newly vaccinated adults and children are eligible. Teenagers ages 12 to 17 will win $10,000 scholarships. Missouri lags about 10 percentage points behind the national average for people who have initiated shots. The goal of the incentive program is to ramp up Missouri’s current 40% vaccination rate, Parson said during a news conference outside his Capitol office. “I’m depending on you and your families to make the right choices,” Parson said. To enter, go to MoStopsCovid.com/win
there. So, we’re making steady progress.” If avoiding a serious illness isn’t enough reason to get a vaccine, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson announced a vaccine incentive program Wednesday afternoon to encourage Missouri residents to get a vaccine (see sidebar). As numbers have increased in the area, the Region H public health departments, of which the Grundy County Health Department is a part, has issued a Public Health Advisory in response to rapidly increasing COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations
across northwest Missouri related to the emergence of the Delta variant. At this time, unvaccinated residents of all ages who have resumed normal activities without adequate protection are most at risk, particularly immune-compromised individuals. Residents are encouraged to get vaccinated, wear a mask if not vaccinated, stay home if they are sick and take extra steps if they have underlying health conditions. For more information on COVID19 and the opportunity to receive a vaccine, contact the health department at 359-4196.
Power Outage Tops Discussion At Trenton Municipal Utilities Meeting Large Bird Shuts Off Power To Entire Town Apparently when the lights go out in Trenton, residents make good use of the emergency number to report the outage. While the city utility department appreciates the reports, things got a little chaotic during last week’s outage. Water Treatment Plant Supervisor Steve Reid said when power went out just before midnight on Thursday, July 15, the emergency number, which rings at the water treatment
plant, had 310 calls in 50 minutes. Reid said not all of the calls were answered because at that time of night, there is one employee at the plant. Reid spoke up at Tuesday’s meeting of the Trenton Utility Committee, saying that the employee, who had to shut down the water treatment plant, answered 64 calls during that time, with 25 going to voicemail. Reid said some of the calls “got nasty” and some callers questioned why there is an emergency number “if no one is going to answer it.” Reid said he wants residents to know that the em-
ployees do what they can during such a time, but every customer is not going to be satisfied. “We do what we can,” he said. “But we’re not going to be able to answer every call when something like that happens and nine times out of 10, we’re not going to call you back in a major outage. If you’re calling and not getting an answer then we probably know there’s been a problem. It’s a job to shut down the plant and take the calls at the same time.” The outage was caused by a large bird getting into the northwest electric transformer at the electric
plant, which took out the power to the entire town. A breaker was tripped open and once the problem was identified and everything had been checked for damage, the breaker was closed and power was restored. The outage lasted just under an hour. There was not a quorum at the meeting, which had listed on its agenda a discussion of an electric base rate increase. While no action was taken on that matter, Trenton City Administrator/Utility Director Ron Urton explained that the base rate, which is what [See TMU, Page 6]
Art’s Alive Group Moves Forward With August 28 Event Trenton’s newest arts group, Art’s Alive, met Tuesday, moving forward on plans for the “Art on a Line” event and electing officers. “Art on a Line” is being held in conjunction with the Saturday, Aug. 28, “Five Points Festival” in downtown Trenton. Participants will design a t-shirt that supports Missouri’s Bicentennial. Entry forms are available at Dynamic Tax and Accounting (Katie Kin-
ney), the North Central Missouri College Development Office, located in the Frey Administrative Center (Tricia Key) and Trenton Middle School (Dana Creason). The cost is $10 per entry and shirts will be judged by Art’s Alive and displayed during the festival. Monetary prizes will be awarded. It was noted that Amy Guthrie is looking for local talent to perform during the festival and the
Theater Committee is working on a production to possibly be held in December, with more information to follow. Under new business, Mike Baugher, Shani Kinney, Jim Norris, Terry Toms and Dan Wilford were re-elected to the board of directors, with terms to expire on June 30, 2024. Officers were elected and include Dan Maxey, president; Amy Guthrie, vice president; Shani Kinney, secre-
tary; and Katie Kinney, treasurer. The terms are set to expire June 30, 2022. It was announced that Ron Dougan with the Dream Factory has scheduled a concert by Rhonda Vincent to be held Oct. 6 at the Trenton R-9 Performing Arts Center. Advance tickets are $25 or $30 at the door. A meetand-greet at Hy-Vee is being scheduled. Anyone who would like to vol-
Spickard R-2 Approves Budget, Amends Salary Schedule Policy Bids Accepted For Milk, Fuel The Spickard R-2 Board of Education met Monday evening, approving its 2021-22 budget as well as accepting bids, amending the board policy in regard to the employee salary schedule and hiring a nurse
and Parents as Teachers coordinator. According to information provided by Spickard Superintendent Erica Eakes, the board took action to approve the 2021-22 budget, which shows anticipated revenues of $1,033,529. Expected expenditures are listed at $1,006,038, for a surplus of
$27,491. Board members also voted to amend the 2020-21 budget to match actual revenues and expenditures. Board members accepted a milk bid from Anderson Erickson Dairy and diesel, gas and propane bids from MFA Oil. It was agreed that the district will continue the Community
Eligibility Provision, which will allow all students to have free meals, with extra milk set at 35 cents. A policy that involves employees moving on the salary schedule was amended to say “an employee may not advance more than one step verti[See SPICKARD, Page 6]
unteer their time and/or talent in the promotion of the arts in the Grundy County area is encouraged to attend a meeting of the group or contact one of the officers. The next meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 17 in the Sugg Room of the Ketcham Community Center. The room will be reserved beginning at 6 p.m. for committees that would like to meet prior to the regular meeting.
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