Pulaski County Mo. Missouri

March Collector’s Report

Today at 12:04:04 PM by darrellmaurina

County Collector Terri Mitchell

March Collector’s Report
The 2009 tax collection season was the smoothest yet with the collection percentage again reaching an excellent rate of 92 percent. The Pulaski County Collector’s Office web site was used more frequently for electronic payments, and we opened the last Saturday of December again, which was a tremendous help to taxpayers and this office in staying current on receipting mail and making daily deposits. New this year is an installment plan for the 2010 real estate taxes; 113 taxpayers with approximately 150 accounts are taking advantage of this opportunity to pay their taxes in equal increments throughout the year. With the program, installments will be automatically withdrawn every month with the final payment in November 2010. On the other hand, if you received a delinquent statement but have an escrow account with your mortgage company, you need to call their customer service number on the mortgage statement and let them know the taxes are unpaid. Although our returned mail decreased considerably each year, we still have some returned mail with no known address. Address changes/corrections are extremely important to us, and we offer different notification options when changes need to be made. Click here to read more on Pulaski County Daily News ...

By County Collector Terri Mitchell

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Firefighters at I-44 hazmat case say they learned from recent exercise

Yesterday at 05:16:02 AM by darrellmaurina

PULASKI COUNTY, Mo. (March 9, 2010) — Less than a week after a misstep in a training exercise “killed” an entire duty shift of Waynesville firefighters, members of that same shift responded with extra caution Tuesday evening to a report of a 20-pound bag of suspicious powder found by state troopers on Interstate 44. Waynesville Rural Fire Chief Doug Yurecko received a call to respond and immediately called for backup. “My initial thought was whatever this was, the trooper on the scene had been exposed to it because he tested it to see if it was a drug or not. The second thought was, jeez, this is on the side of the interstate, this is going to be fun,” Yurecko said. After testing, the suspicious substance turned out to be a beeswax and low-density polyethylene compound that is used in detergents and a number of other products, Yurecko said, and most likely fell off a passing truck. “It happened to be the same crew that was involved in the exercise last week. They didn’t park quite as close this time,” Yurecko said. “They all claim to be walking dead bodies now.” Click here to read more on Pulaski County Daily News ...

By Darrell Todd Maurina

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Teen driver careens hundred yards into ravine beside Interstate 44 Monday

March 09, 2010, 08:50:09 PM by darrellmaurina

Emergency personnel respond to a wreck on I-44.

Teen driver careens hundred yards into ravine beside Interstate 44 Monday
PULASKI COUNTY, Mo. (March 8, 2010) — A teenage driver managed to avoid rolling her car Monday night despite skidding more than a hundred yards down into a ravine on the side of Interstate 44 near mile marker 165. Emergency personnel responded to a report of a two-vehicle crash involving a semi truck and a passenger vehicle in the eastbound lane at 9:10 p.m., and found a silver 2004 Ford Taurus SE station wagon driven by Ariel N. Johnson, 18, of St. James, had been eastbound when she attempted to pass a 2009 Peterbilt conventional tractor-trailer unit owned by Balbach Transport of Rancho Cordova, Calif., and driven by Alfredo Cortes, 55, of Compton, Calif., but struck the semi while trying to pass. Ariel Johnson suffered minor injuries; her passenger, James A. Johnson, 18, also of St. James, suffered moderate injuries. The semi driver was not hurt. In unrelated incidents, state troopers arrested Joshua A. Williams, 28, of Crocker, Alvin D. Crain, 30, of Vegas, Nev., and Denny W. York, 41, of Dixon, on various charges. Click here to read more on Pulaski County Daily News ...

By Darrell Todd Maurina

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Skelton files Friday for re-election; faces serious Republican challenge

March 06, 2010, 11:54:31 PM by darrellmaurina

Congressman Ike Skelton

Skelton files Friday for re-election; faces serious Republican challenge
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (March 6, 2010) — U.S. Congressman Ike Skelton, the longest-serving member of the state’s congressional delegation, filed Friday morning for re-election to the seat he’s held since 1977. Some in the Washington media had speculated that Skelton, whose heavily rural district contains both Fort Leonard Wood and Whiteman Air Force Base and has trended increasingly Republican in recent years, might join an increasing number of Democrats in deciding 2010 will be their retirement year. Skelton quickly rebutted such claims when they appeared in the press. Skelton chairs the House Armed Services Committee and is considered among the most powerful conservatives in the Democratic Party’s congressional leadership. He faces only nominal Democratic opposition from Leonard Steinman of Jefferson City, who filed Monday, but a crowded Republican field is seeking to replace him including State Sen. Bill Stouffer of Napton in north-central Missouri near Marshall, former State Rep. Vicky Hartzler of Harrisonville, former Jefferson City Councilman Roy Viessman, James Scholz of Warrensburg, Arthur John Madden of Malta Bend, and Brian Riley of Marshall. Click here to read more on Pulaski County Daily News ...

By Darrell Todd Maurina

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Mayhew files Monday for Pulaski County Presiding Commissioner post

March 03, 2010, 03:18:33 PM by darrellmaurina

Don Mayhew filed Monday for the Republican nomination for Pulaski County Presiding Commissioner.

Mayhew files Monday for Pulaski County Presiding Commissioner post
PULASKI COUNTY, Mo. (March 3, 2010) — Another candidate filed Monday for the Pulaski County Presiding Commissioner seat currently filled by Don McCulloch: Crocker resident Don Mayhew, who currently serves as president of the Crocker R-II School Board and was formerly the Pulaski County Surveyor. Mayhew is running in the August Republican primary against Gene Newkirk who filed last week Tuesday, the first day candidates could turn in their nomination papers. So far, McCulloch is unopposed in the Democratic primary for his seat. Mayhew also filed for re-election as Republican Central Committeeman for Tavern Township, which covers Crocker and the northwest part of Pulaski County, along with Dorothy Gilstrap who is running for Republican Central Committeewoman in the same township. So far Mayhew and Gilstrap are the only candidates to have filed for the central committees of either party. Click here to read more on Pulaski County Daily News ...

By Darrell Todd Maurina

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Two Tuesday morning rollovers total vehicles, badly hurt drivers

March 02, 2010, 11:51:48 AM by darrellmaurina

Emergency personnel respond to a rollover wreck on I-44.

Two Tuesday morning rollovers total vehicles, badly hurt drivers
SAINT ROBERT/RICHLAND, Mo. (March 2, 2010) — Two separate one-vehicle rollovers injured drivers early Tuesday morning. The worst of the two wrecks happened about four miles away from Richland on Route A in Camden County, about a tenth of a mile west of Fairview Road where William S. McDonald, 19, of Richland, had been westbound on Route A about 1:10 a.m. driving a 1996 Nissan when he ran off the right side of the roadway, overcorrected, crossed the center line, and ran off the left side of the roadway. He then struck a tree and overturned multiple times, went through a fence, and came to rest in a field. McDonald suffered serious injuries. A second wreck at 5 a.m. totaled a red 1991 Chevrolet pickup driven by Carrie D. Burdette, 33, of Rolla, who rolled her vehicle at mile marker 165.4 of Interstate 44 just west of the Big Piney River Bridge, causing her pickup to land on its top and block the right-hand eastbound lane of the interstate. Waynesville firefighters had to extricate Burdette from her pickup; she suffered moderate injuries. In unrelated incidents, state troopers arrested Tonia D. Franks, 25, of Dixon, Howard T. Bascher, 58, of Waynesville, Levi S. Baker, 38, of Hesperia, Calif., Anthony A. Ham, 41, and Kira L. Ham, 25, both of Waynesville, and Albert A. Stiga, 62, of Richland, on various charges. Click here to read more on Pulaski County Daily News ...

By Darrell Todd Maurina

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