'Chemical suicide' new worry for responders, Sheldon board votes 2-1 in favor of clerk's raise

SHELDON -- Fire Chief David May says the contemporary phenomenon of "chemical suicide" necessitates caution when one sees a person who appears unconscious or in distress inside a motor vehicle.

The reason is that people who mix easily obtained chemicals to take their own lives may be sitting in an invisible cloud of poisonous gas that can be fatal if inhaled. "One breath can kill," May told the Sheldon Board of Aldermen during a departmental report at their regular monthly meeting last Thursday.

"It only takes a second, so use caution and call 9-1-1."

Alderman Robert Moran explained that a recent such case in south central Missouri involved chemicals obtained at a retail store to make potassium cyanide.

In other business with Tuesday's filing deadline for the April 5 election approaching, the panel recorded split 2-1 votes on giving City Clerk Becky Morgan a 2-percent raise and on advertising for bids for a collection agency to go after a number of former residents who left owing $13,778 in water, sewer and trash collection bills.

Board President Jerod Lamb voted "no" on Morgan's raise to $25,302 per year while Joshua Lamb opposed seeking collection bids because he wanted to accept an offer now from Jason Hughes of Mid-America Collection Specialists of Joplin.

Presiding in the absence of Mayor Robert Sewell, Jerod Lamb explained that he preferred adjusting the benefits of Morgan, who had accrued a large amount of sick leave and vacation time. Alderman Larry Gardner, who last attended a meeting on Sept. 9, was also absent.

One of a half-dozen people attending the 90-minute session at City Hall, Wanda Turner, protested Morgan's raise, saying "it doesn't seem right" because retired people haven't had an increase in Social Security benefits in two years.

"If you want to find that out, Wanda, you need to call your congressman," Lamb said.

With Sewell still not saying if he'll seek a new two-year term, the list of April 5 candidates on Friday included Debbie Huggins and James Quist for mayor and John Cifers and Moran for alderman, Morgan reported.

In other business, the meeting opened with a minute of silence for the victims of a Jan. 8 mass shooting at a Tucson political event.

Kaysinger Basin Regional Planning Commission officials Samantha Dingfelder and Tom Hutchings of Clinton reviewed the Vernon County Hazard Mitigation Plan and said Sheldon might be eligible for grants to prepare for tornadoes and floods. They said that if the town of some 500 people paid 75 percent of a $300,000 matching grant, it could have a building constructed of reinforced concrete to shelter the whole population.

"It's a strong building," said Hutchings. "A tornado can dance around on top of it."

Dingfelder said June 1 is the application deadline, but the board members didn't say if they will seek the grant.

After an executive session, the panelists deferred action on a $1 an hour raise to $11.25 an hour for Maintenance Supervisor Derald Stanley until their Feb. 10 meeting so Stanley can take a Missouri Department of Natural Resources test and so Sewell can take part.

They reviewed a recent transmission malfunction in the town's 1995 Peterbilt trash truck that required paying Shawn's Trash Service of Nevada $326 for a partial pickup and then $996 for the full route. They discussed buying a smaller new truck but took no action.

Police Chief Michael Bullinger, a 3M employee hired to work in Sheldon part-time in October, said the Western Missouri 9-1-1 Dispatch Center in Nevada hopes to expand and serve a bigger area than Vernon County.