Local News
Gainesville resident Tyelor Estes had a hunting experience he’ll never forget when he harvested a 320-pound black bear boar in northern Ozark County Oct. 19. Officials say the bear, estimated to be about three and a half years old, is the first to be tagged in Ozark County since Missouri’s bear...

photos courtesy of Ed Doiron Derric Byington, an employee with Kansas-based Gerard Tank company, is shown here last Saturday, Oct. 25, working to align the top of Gainesville’s new center water tower as his co-worker Kile Kennedy waits patiently on the ladder below him. After it was aligned, two men climbed on top and welded the cap in place. The new tower is funded through a mutli-million dollar grant the city received to improve its water system.
If you’ve driven down Highway 160 toward Gainesville lately, you may have noticed a change to the town’s skyline - the city’s central water tower is standing a lot taller these days. That’s because a brand-new tower, which holds double the capacity of water, has been installed to replace the city’s...
Operation Christmas Wish, formerly known as the Ozark County Toy Drive, is now accepting applications from local families who need a little extra help making the holidays special for their children this year, as well as from residents who would like to financially support the program and help bring...
The turn to fall along Bryant Creek brings a quiet kind of magic to the valley. The sunlight cuts through the red and gold leaves, mist drifts above the clear, cold spring water and Hodgson Mill, with its red, rough-sawn cedar boards and stone foundation, stands as it has for more than a century -...
If you didn’t get enough square dancing at Hootin an Hollarin, you’re in luck!
On Oct. 31, the Gainesville square will host the annual trunk-or-treat from 6 to 8 p.m., followed by a square dance block party from 8:30 to 11:30 p.m. There will be live square dance music, a concession stand and lots...
Sometimes, in the midst of an ordinary moment in an ordinary day, some little thing can happen, some random words can be said, and the next thing you know, your life is careening off in a direction you never could have expected. That's how Dora resident Von Martin's life went to the dogs some 30-...
When Missouri conservation agents followed up on a tip that a black bear had been killed near Udall, they discovered more than just a rumor - they found packages of bear meat labeled as “deer” in the freezer and a confession, they say. Now, 39-year-old Curtis Hastings is charged in Ozark County...
Photo by Karla Smith
This group of student fans at the GHS ‘Pink Out’ volleyball game last Friday night dressed in pink in honor of breast cancer awareness month and showed animated support for the Lady Bulldogs. See page 9 for more information on the game. The Bakersfield Lady Lions volleyball...

In May, during a family trip to Niagara Falls, the Abrahams and other members of their family made a detour near Erie, Pennsylvania, to gather with Katy Holland and her family 20 years after Katy became the recipient of Matt's donated heart. From left: Corey, Logan and Hope Hillhouse (Logan's girlfriend Abbie Johnson took the photo), Angie Calvert and son Grant; Katy and Melinda (Katy's dad, Jack Holland, is standing behind her next to Katy's husband Michael who’s holding their son Drew), Dylan and John Abraham, Melinda's mother Kay Rackley Young and Katy's mother Kathy Holland.
When Jack and Kathy Holland said good-bye to their 14-year-old daughter Katy as she was wheeled into surgery at Cleveland Clinic just before midnight on Sept. 29, they knew the chances were less than 50-50 that they would see her alive again.
Katy had been born with a heart condition. Thirty-six...
The Times is currently accepting recipes, stories and photos from local residents for this year’s cookbook. Jane Elder, who lives with husband Andy in Luna, a small town north of Gainesville, is featured in this photo and article that ran in a past edition of Ozark County Cookin’. The springerle cookies pictured here were made using a board that belonged to Jane’s great-great-grandfather, a German baker who immigrated to the United States in the 1860s.
It’s our favorite season at the Times office: cookbook season!
For more than two decades, we have asked Times readers to share their favorite recipes for our popular Ozark County Cookin’ cookbook, and it’s time to ask for those recipes again – as well as anecdotes, stories and photos of yourself or...







