News
Dakota Woodward
Dakota Woodward, 18, of Gainesville, is being held in the Ozark County Jail on a $25,000 cash-only bond in connection with a Memorial Day high-speed chase with Missouri State Highway Patrol Trooper J. Prater. Woodward is charged with possession of methamphetamine and resisting arrest by fleeing,...
Mike Wallace, standing back, right, has resigned after 22 years with Thornfield School as a teacher and, since 2004, administrator. He’s pictured with his parents, Thornfield residents Maynard and Linda Wallace, left, and sons (back, from left) Cale, 18, Casey, 19, and (front, left) Riley, almost 10, as well as girlfriend Lexie Scott and her son Hoyt, right. Maynard, Cale and Casey all attended school at Thornfield, as did Maynard’s parents, the late Archie and Ruby Mahan Wallace. Mike Wallace has accepted a job as superintendent of schools in Everton, northwest of Springfield.
After 22 years at Thornfield School as a teacher and administrator, Mike Wallace has resigned, effective June 30. Wallace said Monday in an email to the Times that when he told the Thornfield students last month on the last day of school that he was leaving to accept a job in another district, “I’m...
Cooper Friend, 13, and his “Papa D” (Dana Crisp) pose with their first home run baseballs after Cooper hit his out of the Bakersfield ball park Tuesday, May 29. Dana hit his first home run in the summer of 1976 when he was 16 while playing for the Mountain Home, Arkansas, American Legion team at a...
The Ozark County Chamber of Commerce is sponsoring some “Music on the Square” events this summer, starting with the Backyard Bluegrass Band performing from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, June 15, on the west side the Gainesville square. The first night’s music will be sponsored by Century Bank of the Ozarks,...
Bakersfield School officials, board members, and representatives of DeWitt Construction in Springfield (the project’s general contractor) and Paragon Architecture in Springfield broke ground Thursday for the new FEMA storm shelter to be built on the Bakersfield campus. Pictured, from left: Dee (Barron) Smith, DeWitt safety officer; Kathy Jackson, DeWitt project manager staff member; Mark Hampton, DeWitt site superintendent; Bakersfield school board member Chris Bales; board vice president Charles Moss; board president Bruce Bales; superintendent Dr. Amy Britt; maintenance director Jason Marsh; board members Mike Zimmer, Matthew Evans and Tim Watlington; and Paragon Architecture representatives Jessica Struckhoff and Conner Stokes.
Bakersfield school officials and board members, with representatives from Springfield-based construction and architectural companies, staged a groundbreaking event Thursday for the school’s new storm shelter. The structure, funded primarily through a grant from the Federal Emergency Management...
Exploding tree This red oak tree exploded when it was struck by lightning Thursday night near the home of Les and Patrice Wells in the Spring Creek area between Gainesville and Isabella. Les Wells said pieces of the tree landed 100 feet away from the trunk, and another nearby tree was split by the powerful bolt.
Les and Patrice Wells were sitting in their hilltop home off County Road 829 during Thursday night’s thunderstorm when a bright flash and something that sounded like an explosion shook their house and made them jump. Friday morning, they discovered a large red oak tree that had been shattered by a...
Ozark County resident Sean Sweeney, pictured at left in his DR-107 airplane, hosted a practice-and-critiquing event for 20 International Aerobatic Club members May 12 at West Plains Regional Airport in Pomona in preparation for the 2018 competition circuit. Six pilots flew in from around Missouri...
Spellman Robertson
Ozark County residents soon may be seeing a new face behind the defense table in the courtroom. Spellman Robertson is now the assistant public defender assigned to Ozark County. Robertson, who lives in Ava and works out of the Ava branch of the Missouri Public Defenders office, officially began his...
Willis G. Hawkins, 57, of Caraway, Arkansas, was taken by a private vehicle to Baxter Regional Medical Center in Mountain Home, Arkansas, after sustaining moderate injuries when the tractor trailer he was driving overturned on J Highway around 3:50 p.m. Thursday, May 24. According to the Missouri...
Seven additional people have been charged with theft in connection with allegations that they stole merchandise from Theodosia’s Dollar General store with the aid of former Dollar General employee Kenneth Smith. In addition to the defendants identified here, other suspects are expected to be...