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Wayne and Doris Sayles stand by the jail door they bought several years ago at a local garage sale. It is the original door from the stone jail and was used for a while in the next jail that was included on the top floor of the Ozark County Courthouse that was completed in 1939. A local resident bought the door from the county in an auction on the courthouse steps when the jail was moved into the “new” Ozark County Sheriff’s Office. It was restored to its original position in the jail. The bars to either side of the door are not original.
In part 1 of this journey back in time, we discussed some of the background and motivation for building a new county jail at Gainesville in the early days of the 20th century. The construction details are vague, but we do know that the land was acquired and an “improved” stone building was erected...

Charlotte Holmes and her husband, Danny, have traveled throughout the region since Christmas as Charlotte shares the story of her visit to heaven during an 11-minute near-death experience last September. She’s spoken to many churches and women’s groups, and in April, she and Danny are scheduled to travel to Dallas to appear in three programs on Daystar, a Christian television network that broadcasts globally. Times file photo / Sue Ann Jones
Life has been flat-out crazy for Charlotte Holmes since the story of her visit to heaven was published in the Dec. 25 edition of the Ozark County Times and soon after was posted on ozarkcountytimes.com. And now there’s a very good chance things are going to get even crazier soon.  Charlotte has...

Almartha resident Janet Taber, left, made a donation to the Gainesville PTO project to purchase new playground equipment at the elementary school in honor of longtime educator Paula Rose, right, and in memory of Rose’s mother, the late Jean Herd. “I decided to dedicate my donation in honor of these two generations of educators who each taught at Gainesville Elementary for 30 years,” Taber told the Times Monday. “Paula coached and taught both of my daughters and had a huge impact on them and many other children – an impact that no doubt continues today, even after her retirement. She taught her students the sense of fair play and commitment, and expected her teams to be the best they could. This was a lifestyle for both of these women, not just an 8-to-5 job.” Times photo / Jessi Dreckman
The Gainesville Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) is nearing its goal to raise the $10,000 needed to purchase and install new playground equipment that will replace an old, wooden boat-shaped play piece located at the Gainesville Elementary School.  Organizers say they are working to complete the...

Travis Smith
Editor’s note: In upcoming editions ahead of the Aug. 4 primary election the Ozark County Times will publish profiles of candidates running for Ozark County offices and for 44th Circuit Judge. Announcements of candidates who are running for state representative and state senator in districts that...

Larry, a blue-nose pitbull, has been missing since October 2019. Larry is a service dog for Ozark County resident Stephanie Rusher-Schrein and her family. Stephanie says she is certain he was taken from outside her home.
Oct. 26, 2019, at 11 a.m.  It’s a date and time Stephanie Rusher-Schrein will not soon forget. That was when her service dog, Larry – her “baby” – went missing. Stephanie and her family have lived at their home above Warren Bridge since moving to the Ozarks from Colorado earlier in 2019.  Stephanie...
Daniel W. Hamby, 55, of Dora, was taken to Baxter Regional Medical Center in Mountain Home, Arkansas, after sustaining injuries when he was run over by his own truck at the Bridges Creek access, locally known as Stump Hole, on Norfork Lake at 5:30 a.m. Sunday. The Missouri State Highway Patrol...

By 1908, Ozark County's "new" stone jail was housing prisoners on what is now Harlin Drive, just off what is now Third Street. The stone was quarried at a spot along Lick Creek south of Gainesville, and the original iron door and window bars were apparently manufactured by a local blacksmith whose shop was next door, where the old City Hall, now the 416th Bomb Wing Archive, now stands.
The Ozark County Jail made news statewide on Feb. 28, 1890, when an unidentified Kansas City Journal reporter wrote a scathing indictment of Ozark County and particularly of the County Jail. The article was picked up by several southwest Missouri newspapers, and local Gainesville residents took it...

Work on the Tecumseh access on Norfork Lake is scheduled to be completed this May in a US Army Corps of Engineers project. A nearby Missouri Department of Transportation project to straighten Highway 160 at the curves just west of the access is slated to begin in January 2021 and will take approximately one year. The entrance to the boat ramp at the lake access will remain open during the project, but entrance to the access might take longer than normal because of the highway construction. Times photo/Jessi Dreckman
The highly anticipated project to realign Highway 160 at the Tecumseh curves is once again on the Missouri Department of Transportation’s schedule.Construction on the project was initially slated to begin in July 2020. However, complications involving the possible historical significance of several...
A new canine deputy will be joining the Ozark County Sheriff’s Office in a few months, thanks to a generous donation from the Harlin family and Century Bank of the Ozarks. OCSO Deputy Cpl. Curtis Dobbs, second from right, accepted the donation last week. Dobbs said John, pictured far left, and his...

Bob Main and Robin Deck
Veterinarians Robin Deck and Bob Main, who’ve operated the Gainesville Veterinary Clinic since moving here in 1985, say they’re ready to retire, but they don’t want to leave Ozark County without any practicing veterinarians. So they’re hoping two veterinarians from America’s Southwest will like...

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Ozark County Times

504 Third Steet
PO Box 188
Gainesville, MO 65655

Phone: (417) 679-4641
Fax: (417) 679-3423