News


Jordan C. Haden
Area law enforcement officers are investigating a case in which an unidentified Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper was apparently injured Saturday night in Gainesville in an incident involving Jordan Christian Haden, 25, of Mountain Home, Arkansas. The Times has been told that the unidentified...

Photo courtesy Doug Hawkins.
Rob Collins of Chaney Monument and D&D Signs assisted Gainesville city employees Monday in hanging holiday decorations around the Gainesville square in celebration of the Christmas season and to prepare for Saturday’s “Wonders of Christmas” event to be held from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. See page 2...

Kathy Weinert works to chisel a stone to fit a spot within Rick and Jill Norton’s fireplace. Rick said the Weinerts were true craftsman, and “as many stones were chosen as were rejected.” Photo courtesy of Jill Norton.
Despite living away for several years, Ozark County native Rick Norton has always considered Ozark County his home. He and wife Jill looked forward to the day they could retire and move back to the area. After some unexpected health issues, that day came a little sooner than expected. But the early...

Photo by Val Price
Makadah Price, daughter of Warren and Valerie Price, shares her Christmas wishes with Santa during the breakfast with Santa event Saturday morning in the Bakersfield School cafeteria prior to the Home Town Christmas parade. Children visited with Santa (Richard Chamberlain) while his elves (Carol...

Jeremy Haskins, right, received the Best New Product award from American Public Works Association president Bo Mills during the association’s PWX conference in late August in Orlando, Florida. Jeremy, son of the late Jerry Haskins and grandson of the late Charles and Juanita Haskins, formerly of Brixey, is the founder of HoleHat, a manhole safety cover that is now being used by municipal utilities in metropolitan areas, including Los Angeles, California.
Jeremy Haskins, P.E., of Scottsdale, Arizona,  invented HoleHat, a portable manhole safety cover now being used by municipal utilities to help prevent falls and injuries. The invention earned him the prestigious Best New Product award at the American Public Works Association PWX Expo held in late...

Wren and Ini Russenholt
An Ozark County couple will be featured in an upcoming episode of the Discovery Channel’s “Homestead Rescue” show. The Ozark County-filmed episode of the show, which pairs survival expert Marty Raney, his daughter Misty, a farmer, and his son Matt, a hunter and fisherman, with struggling...

Bode Long took this photo of a Chevy truck parked about 50 yards from a Mammoth-area apartment that had been burglarized Sunday afternoon. A sign on the truck’s window said, “Broke down. Please don’t tow it away. I’ll be back today. Thanks!” When Long and three other men drove back to the apartment later, a man dressed as a woman came out and attempted to leave the scene.
Sunday afternoon began like any other day for Gainesville resident Bode Long and Mammoth residents Donovan and Dee Goodman, but things took an unusual turn when, late that afternoon, the three men found themselves blocking the roadway to prevent a suspected cross-dressing burglar from fleeing the...

This fall, owner Jerry Ann Lash celebrates 19 years of operating the Christmas House at Rainbow’s End on County Road 555 near Tecumseh. The Christmas House is open from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and from 12:30 to 5 p.m. Sundays through Dec. 10. The store offers seasonal decor and gifts from 20 crafters in southern Missouri. Photo courtesy of Rural Missouri.
Reprinted with permission from Rural Missouri. (Local information added.) Outside the Christmas House at Rainbow’s End is a sign that owner and artist Jerry Ann Lash says describes her perfectly: “When someone told me I live in a fantasy land, I nearly fell off my unicorn.” It’s easy to see why. A...

Nancy Walker says she’s grateful to Jimmy Fortner, owner of the old Senior Citizen Center on Third Street, for giving her and the other Ozark County Toy Drive volunteers access to the building well ahead of the Dec. 16 event so they have plenty of time for setup. If this year’s event follows past years’ experiences, more than 400 area children will find gifts under their Christmas tree that came through the efforts and donations of area residents who support the annual toy drive – an Ozark County tradition for decades. Times photo/Jessi Dreckman.
Volunteers throughout the county are working hard to get things ready for area residents who look forward to celebrating Christmas, Ozark County style.  Bakersfield: ‘Home Town Christmas’ The county’s first Christmas season event happens Saturday in Bakersfield, where Santa will be chatting up the...
Radu Slavik credits 2 1/2-year-old Raven with saving her family – Radu and his wife, Anna, and three other sleeping children – in the early hours of Thanksgiving morning when a fast-burning fire destroyed their Dora-area home. The couple also have three other children who were away from home that...

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Ozark County Times

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PO Box 188
Gainesville, MO 65655

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