Boone County News Release


Press Archives Press Room

For Immediate Release

Media Contact:
Boone County Commission Administrative Coordinator
Phone: (573) 886-4312


Boone County Week In Review

June 10, 2011

For the week ending June 10, 2011

Things you may have missed...

Fuemmeler earns Certified Professional in Erosion and Sediment Control designation

Nicki Fuemmeler is now a Certified Professional in Erosion and Sediment Control (CPESC). This designation is given to specialists who have met established standards of expertise, experience and knowledge. Through a process of peer review and written exams, pre-approved applicants can obtain certification. Nicki took her certification test in St. Charles on Thursday, May 26. There are several parts to the test, and the applicant must achieve a 70 percent score or greater on each section to pass. Many people have to take the test more than once, but Nicki passed on her first attempt. Congratulations, Nicki.

Georganne Bowman, Resource Management

Gardeners of Boone County, we've still got a plot for you

The River Fountain on the Boone County Courthouse Square is being converted into a series of container gardens. We would like to encourage Boone County gardening groups or individual master gardeners to Adopt-A-Plot and help beautify Courthouse Square.

There are five plots total, each 38 inches wide by 24 feet long. Each plot will be filled with a container mix of topsoil and compost. Adequate drainage will be installed for each plot, and water will be available from a nearby spigot.

Organizations that adopt-a-plot can advertise their participation with a sign up to 5 inches by 8 inches in their plots.

Each container will be a self-contained container garden embodying the diversity of gardening interests represented in Boone County. Some possible concepts for your plot include:

  • Native plants: Install a selection of the generally drought tolerant plants that are native to Boone County's high clay content soil and climate.
  • Rain garden: Demonstrate the proper way to use a rain garden to beautify an area as well as controlling runoff.
  • Conifers: Show the design possibilities of evergreen plants and create a showcase for pine straw mulch, a developing Missouri agro-forestry product. Conifers are normally perennial plants, but the plants could be exchanged with others from elsewhere over time.
  • Decorative: Beautify the courtyard with color, texture and design. Plant a mix of annuals and perennials, plant one section with perennials and another with new annuals each year or some other combination.

Downloadable documents

Download these documents for more information about the container garden program.

  • Container garden program agreement template: The template for the contact between individual gardeners or gardening groups and the Boone County Commission.
  • Container garden program description: More information about the container garden program.
  • Container garden program release: A release form that will need to be signed by each individual who will be working on a container garden.

Groups or individuals interested in adopting-a-plot should contact Lamar Henderson, Boone County Public Information Officer, at 573-886-4312 or lhenderson@boonecountymo.org.

Lamar Henderson, Public Information

The Boone County (Randomly Selected) Employee of the Week
Cameron Clarke

Cameron Clarke

What is your job title?

Deputy County Clerk.

Where do you work?

County Clerk's Office.

What are the three most important tasks you do in your job?

  • Create the agenda for Commission meetings.
  • Create Commission orders.
  • Take minutes for the Commission meetings.

When did you start work with Boone County?

A few weeks ago on May 23, so take what I say with a grain of salt!

What do you like most about working for Boone County?

So far, the people. Everyone has been extremely helpful in helping me learn the position. Also, everything I've learned about the County government so far has been really interesting. (I was a political science geek in school.)

What do you do for fun?

Watch movies. I love my Netflix account. Also, I have my pilot's license, and although I haven't flown in a couple years, that is a big hobby of mine when I get the chance.

What is something your coworkers would be surprised to learn about you?

Some people are surprised that I was born and raised in Boone County. It seems like a lot of people have come here from other areas. I was happy to come back to the area after 4 years at the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg.

Lamar Henderson, Public Information

Job opportunities

Boone County Human Resources is currently accepting applications for: Custodian, Office Specialist - Civil Process; Office Specialist - Warrants Division; Corrections Officer; and Deputy Sheriff - Roster Eligibility Only. For more details about these positions, or to apply, please visit www.showmeboone.com/hr.

Kara Coustry, Human Resources

In the news

Boone County at risk for mid-June floods

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to release water from a dam in South Dakota that may cause significant flooding around the Missouri River in Boone County within the next few weeks. More than twice the usual amount of water would be released from Gavins Point Dam in order to prevent flooding in South Dakota and Montana. However, this would cause a noticeable increase in the river levels around McBaine, Huntsdale, Rocheport and Hartsburg. | KOMU-TV

Boone County authorities prepare for flooding

Boone County authorities are preparing for possible flooding as the Missouri River continues to rise. Officials at the McBaine Water Treatment Plant south of Columbia said they learned plenty of lessons from the Great Flood of '93. | KRCG-TV

Cooling centers offer relief from heat

Boone County health officials said heat can especially affect the very young, the elderly and the chronically ill because they are more vulnerable to the effects of high temperatures. Boone County Health Department administrators are offering seven cooling centers in Columbia for people without air-conditioning. | KRCG-TV

Making the best out of invasion, Missouri shop makes cicada ice cream

What is it that they say? If life gives you a cicada invasion, make ice cream. OK that's not what anyone says, but Columbia, Mo. is in the midst of cicada mating season. It means that once every 13 years, cicadas leave their homes underground as nymphs, they molt and emerge as adults. Sparky's Homemade Ice Cream decided that while they were out there, they might as well make a cicada flavored batch. | NPR.org

Insect-flavored ice cream? Health department says "no"

Those chunks in your ice cream might not be nuts. Sparky's Homemade Ice Cream in Columbia, Mo., recently tried a new a "cicada flavor," whipped up with the little insects that employees collected from their backyards. | SeattlePI.com

Cicada ice cream: Crunchy, delicious and banned

Apparently cicadas taste like peanuts. Which make them excellent candidates to be boiled, coated with brown sugar and milk chocolate and then mixed into brown sugar and butter ice cream. Garnish with wings and serve. | Reason Online

Have an item for Week in Review?

Do you have something coming up that you want to share? Send it in! Let us know what's coming up in your week that your colleagues may be interested in, or what happened in the previous week that everyone should know. Contact Lamar Henderson, Boone County Public Information Officer, at 886-4312 or lhenderson@boonecountymo.org; the deadline for next week's Week in Review is 5 p.m., Thursday, June 16.



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