News

  Ozark County’s annual Trunk-or-Treat event, will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 31, on the Gainesville square. The event, hosted by the Ozark County Chamber of Commerce, is free, and everyone is welcome to join in on the fun.  Children and adolescents in costume can visit vehicles parked on the...

At their Monday meeting, the Ozark County Commissioners and County Clerk discussed options for new courthouse doors that may be purchased with funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). Presiding Commissioner John Turner said he hopes the doors will help solve two problems: improve access to the building by those with disabilities and help fewer people touch the door handles with their hands. ARPA funds can be used for infrastructure that helps combat the spread of the covid-19 virus. This photo shows the Ozark County Courthouse’s west entrance, accessed by a set of steps or a concrete ramp that leads to the courthouse’s current doors, which must be opened by pulling the handles from the outside or pushing the doors from the inside of the building. County officials have said that the courthouse doors and steep grade of the ramp make it difficult for those with disabilities to access the courthouse. The door does have a button to push for handicap accessibility, photo below, but that feature is currently not working.
The Ozark County Commissioners have been hesitant to jump in and start spending funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) due to the lack of guidance from the federal government concerning how the funds can be spent, but Presiding Commissioner John Turner says the county is exploring the...
Gainesville resident Joshua Hannaford has been reported missing.  According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol online missing persons report, Hannaford was last seen on Sept. 14. A family member has made a post on Facebook that indicates he was on walking on Highway 181 at that time.  To report...
The decision about whether a taped audio recording made by Theodosia resident Rebecca Ruud, who is charged with murdering her 16-year-old daughter Savannah Leckie in 2017 and disposing of the girl’s body, is now in the hands of the Missouri Southern District Supreme Court.  Ozark County Prosecuting...

Gainesville resident Carol Cooper is pictured with an adult monarch butterfly that she recently watched grow from an egg to adulthood, a process that takes about 28 days.
Gainesville resident Carol Cooper has had quite the busy summer attempting to raise more than 75 monarch butterflies in a bright and airy room she refers to as “Coop’s Monarch Camp.” In her second year of butterfly rearing, Cooper says 2021 has been an exceptionally difficult one for a number of...

Photo by Donna J. Vincent Rough Stock Unlimited employees Shai Meek and Brady Brown, perched on the fence, watch a bull rider’s attempt to stay on for eight seconds during the first annual Bull Blast held Friday, Sept. 17, at the Gainesville Saddle Club Arena.
Ozark County FFA chapters hosted their first annual Bull Blast at the Gainesville Saddle Club Arena on Friday, Sept. 17, during Hootin an Hollarin. Around 670 people paid the $5 admission to watch the bull-riding competition. Organizers Monty Hambelton, president of the saddle club; Kevin Meek,...

MDC is hosting a hunter education skills session at Gainesville High School on Saturday, Oct. 2.
The Missouri Department of Conservation will host a hunter education class at 8 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 2, in the Gainesville High School community room (the former library). To be eligible for the class, students must be at least 11 years old on the date of class. Participants must register online. To...

Orval Don Merriman. Ozark County Jail mug shot.
A Theodosia man with a lengthy criminal history that includes two previous convictions of aggravated stalking is being held in the Ozark County Jail without bond in connection with a newly filed Ozark County case in which he’s alleged to have stalked and threatened a woman while in possession of a...

Photo courtesy Christi West
  An Ava Redi-Mix truck was pulled out of Bull Shoals Lake near Protem Friday at the end of Elbow Road. The Times was unable to learn how the vehicle ended up submerged in the water;  calls were referred to Redi-Mix spokespersons who had not returned them by press time. Theodosia Hardware owner...

Century Bank of the Ozarks CEO Chris Harlin is pictured with the antique cannonball safe that was purchased by his family five generations ago when the original Bank of Gainesville opened in July 1894.
Century Bank of the Ozarks’ antique “cannonball” safe, originally brought from West Plains by Joe Farmer’s team of horses in the summer of 1894, was moved to the bank’s current lobby from its resting place in the bank’s old building on the west side of the square on Monday, Sept. 13. The safe hadn’...

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Ozark County Times

504 Third Steet
PO Box 188
Gainesville, MO 65655

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