Around Southeast Missouri 3/27/07

DNR may approve Lemons landfill soon

DEXTER, Mo. -- The February decision by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources not to allow Lemons Sanitary Landfill in Dexter to open its newest cell for operation has crossed the 30-day mark, but is the end in sight? The dispute over possible slope failure at the landfill has effectively halted its operations since Feb. 16, putting a cramp on area communities who are now trucking their garbage to Butler County. Landfill officials were asked to remove a section from the middle of the cell so state inspectors can come to check for potential weaknesses in its structure. The inspection was completed on Feb. 21. Both Allied Waste and DNR officials said they were satisfied with what they saw. The company submitted to a seismic analysis and groundwater elevation tests that have also been completed to DNR's satisfaction. Jim Bell, chief of engineering for the DNR Solid Waste Management Program, said DNR planned to meet with Allied Waste again Monday morning and, if all of their questions are answered, they could issue approval for the cell to begin operations as early as the end of next week.

-- Dexter Daily Statesman

Grants for solid waste programs detailed

Solid Waste Management District "S" board secretary Willard Adams has announced the approval of 11 Solid Waste Management Program grants, including a $63,323 grant to the Stoddard County Sheltered Workshop. "Most of these grants are recycling grants," Adams said March 20, "but legislators and the Solid Waste Management program tend to like sheltered workshops even more than recycling programs." Adams added that historically, 80 percent to 90 percent of recycling work goes to sheltered workshops anyway. "And it provides jobs to people that wouldn't otherwise have a job," he said. The grant would help the Stoddard County Sheltered Workshop buy a shredder and assist financially in other ways, he said. The Stoddard County Sheltered Workshop grant was the largest, but not the only, grant. Other grants included $43,305 to the Cotton Boll Sheltered Workshop in Kennett, Mo., for a recycling baler and a truck. Three grants of $7,735 went for recycling trailers in three cities in the six-county district.

-- Dexter Daily Statesman

Graders out in force, asphalt roads discussed

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- Mississippi County's road and bridge department is up to operating four motor graders from three, and may be up to five once a new employee is done with some mowing, according to Jim Blumenberg, presiding county commissioner. One of the graders will soon be pulled from road work to mix asphalt, he said. Blumenberg said unless roads are a mail route, a bus route, are heavily traveled or lead to a residence, county crews need to stay off of them with the graders. "We don't have the money or the time to address those roads," he said. County officials also need to come up with a priority list for blacktopping based on use, Blumenberg said, as "we don't have near enough money."

-- Sikeston Standard Democrat