Thursday, June 27, 2024
Volume 152, No. 26 - Princeton, MO 64673
FIND THIS INFORMATION AND MORE IN THIS WEEK’S PRINCETON POST-TELEGRAPH
4-Day Weather -- 1 Bordertown Day 2 Commission ----- 6 News ----------- 2-7 MCAD Update --- 5 Cainsville -------- 7
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INDEPENDENCR DAY MESSAGE, GREETINGS FROM BUSINESSES & PROFESSIONAL PEOPLE - 8
R-3 SB sets budgets, gets trapshooting update Budgets for 2023-24, 2024-25 school year look to run at small deficits. Ten kids are signed up for new trapshooting team, fundraising efforts continuing, says FFA advisor PRESTON COLE Princeton Post-Telegraph
MERCER, Mo. The 2023-24 budget was finalized and a preliminary 2024-25 budget was approved when the North Mercer County R-3 Board of Education held its June meeting the evening of June 10. First, the board approved amendments to the 2023-24 budget, which showed a slight deficit. Revenues were $61,512 higher than anticipated in June 2023, and expenditures were up by $63,900. That left total revenues of $3,352,773 and expenses of $3,384,557, for an overall loss of
$31,784. Superintendent Wade Hall told the board there is about $60,000 in the capital projects fund, and recommended moving $50,000 from Fund 1 to Fund 4 to pay for the new boiler and possible transportation needs. The board approved the request, and authorized Hall to finalize any end-of-year expenditures on June 30. Next, Hall presented the preliminary budget for the 2024-25 school year, which begins July 1. It anticipates deficit spending of $72,997 at the end of that school year on June 30, 2025, with revenues estimated at $3,038,197 against expenses of $3,111,194. He noted the budget doesn’t include a preschool grant the district expects to receive, nor does it include extra Small Schools Grant funds the district expects
to receive from the passage of Senate Bill 727. Trapshooting update FFA advisor Jeff Wyatt, who will supervise the district’s new trapshooting team, gave an update on the program. He said 10 students have signed up to participate on the team. A pallet of shotgun shells is on order, and a pallet of targets was donated. Wyatt said the program has received $5,510 in donations from business and fees from students. Businesses that donate to the program will get their names on a t-shirt the students will wear to their shoots. Finally, he said that while guns can be transported to meets on district buses, they can’t be on school grounds. The current plan is to have the team meet on the Mercer square when traveling to
WHERE TO EAT IN MERCER COUNTY ON JULY 4
• 7–10 a.m.: Ragan-Hickman American Legion Post 477 Auxiliary breakfast. Homemade traditional breakfast - biscuits & gravy, scrambled eggs, pancakes, meat, coffee or tea; bake sale TBD. Location: Mercer Community Center/ Legion Hall. • 11 a.m. until sold out: Princeton Volunteer Firemen’s Association BBQ dinner. One-half BBQ chicken or BBQ pork loin, baked beans, potato salad, tea or lemonade. Location: Mercer County Fire Protection District station on Fullerton Street in Princeton.
Princeton football cheer squad holds summer camp
their meets. Other actions • The consent agenda was approved. Besides the usual items, the agenda included evaluations of the curriculum, A+, early childhood, Parents as Teachers, and technology programs. • Other area schools’ tuition rates were reviewed, and the board set Mercer’s 2024-25 tuition at $6,760 • The multi-school technology consortium has been dissolved, since tech coordinator Dustin Koon has taken other employment. There’s a shortage of technology people, but a Chillicothe-based company called Quality Network Services (QNS) provides such services and comes highly recommended. Representatives of QNS visited the See Mercer school board, Page 3
Plans nearly complete for the 4th in Princeton Evening events to be held on Princeton R-5 campus. Candidates for Mercer County Commission, 3rd Judicial Circuit judge are expected to speak PRESTON COLE Princeton Post-Telegraph
PRINCETON, Mo. A variety of entertainment, food, music, (hopefully) brief speeches by local political candidates and, of course, fireworks will be featured during Princeton’s annual Independence Day celebration on Thursday evening, July 4. This year’s event will be held on the Princeton R-5 school campus, starting at 6:30 p.m., after the old ballfields area was deeded over to the Princeton Arena Association for the development of an RV park/ campground. The Rev. Gary Watkins, pastor of Princeton First Christian
Church, will bring an opening prayer, and the national anthem will be sung. Live, local entertainment will be presented. The six candidates for two spots on the Mercer County Commission - Denny Power, Lance Stiles and Amy Cool in the 1st District; Michael Ralston, Jerod VanGenderen and Gary N. Porter in the 2nd District - are expected to speak. Also, the candidates for 3rd Judicial Circuit judge - current Judge Steven Hudson and Mercer County Associate Circuit Judge Matt Krohn - are scheduled to speak. You want food? The chamber is serving slushies, funnel cakes and, of course, the traditional free watermelon. At dark, the fireworks show begins under the watchful eyes See Princeton 4th, Page 2
MERCER COUNTY 4-DAY WEATHER
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Princeton High School’s football cheer squad held a summer camp late last week, and posed for a photo Saturday afternoon. From left: FRONT - Mia Covey, Macey Lewis, Hanna Allnutt and Randa Shahan; BACK - Ellie Guilkey, Shannon Devine, Emily Oswalt, Celia Stiles, Kassidi Alderson, Macey Johnson, Lauren Cunningham and Audrey Kelly.
National Weather Service - Pleasant Hill/Kansas City, Mo. Time of forecast: 10 a.m., Monday, June 24 Thursday, June 27: Partly sunny, cooler; 80/68 Friday, June 28: Partly sunny, 50% chance of rain; 89/69 Saturday, June 29: Mostly sunny, 30% chance; 82/60 Sunday, June 30: Sunny; 81 Forecasts reflect daytime high and overnight low temperatures. Weather forecasts change often. Check local radio, weather radio, or the NWS website (www.weather.gov) for the most recent updates.
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