News
Times photo/Jessi Dreckman A project to replace the sidewalks and stormwater drainage on Third and Main Streets in Gainesville is now complete with the exception of some finishing touches.
The Gainesville City Council met for its monthly meeting Tuesday, July 11, at City Hall. This month’s meeting had a light agenda and lasted less than 30 minutes before the council entered into closed session.
All council members were present: Renee Schmucker, Treva Warrick, Lana Bushong, Dana...
These buildings on the south side of the Gainesville square are some of the ones that will be professionally power-washed and cleaned in early August, removing the dark buildup.
Thanks to the Ozark County Community Foundation and the Gainesville Lions Club, several buildings on the Gainesville square will be a little brighter in a couple weeks when the crew with Chaney Monument/D&D Signs professionally cleans the brick and stone faces of the structures.
Gainesville...
Ozark County Sheriff’s Deputy Josh Sherman stands with new K9 Karo. The Belgian Malinois was obtained by the OCSD from a grant aimed at helping replace K9s after the legalization of recreational marijuana. Karo is trained as an apprehension dog in addition to drug, human and evidence detection.
The Ozark County Sheriff’s Department recently welcomed a new member to the team, K9 officer Karo.
Karo, a year and a half old male Belgian Malinois, can sniff out and alert his handler Deputy Josh Sherman to the “big three,” as Sherman calls them: methamphetamine, heroin and cocaine.
What Karo...
Times photo/Bruce Roberts A fisherman takes out his boat Monday at Theodosia on Bull Shoals Lake. Lake traffic is up this summer, thanks to less rainfall and lower than recent lake levels.
For the first time in years, the absence of a major spring flooding event has resulted in almost normal lake and river levels, which means big business for area outfitters and resorts on Ozark County waterways.
“We have to be in a drought situation before we even see close to normal lake levels,”...
Times photo/Bruce Roberts The handicap ramp on the west side of the courthouse has been roped off for a while as commissioners closed the crumbling concrete ramp when engineers told them it was dangerous. The county plans to demolish the ramp in the weeks to come.
Ozark County Commissioners met Monday and tabled bid openings for redoing the courthouse steps and handicap entrance.
Commissioners had planned to open bids for redoing the steps on both sides of the courthouse and the handicap entrance. Presiding Commissioner Terry Newton said the two prospective...
Ten members of the Gainesville High School Class of 69 started kindergarten together in 1956. Julia Anna Taber taught the class, which was sponsored by the Gainesville Lions Club and was held in the old city hall, now the 416th Bomb Group Archive at Harlin Drive and Fourth Street. Four younger kids, members of the GHS Classes of 1970 and 71, also participated. Front row, from left: Debbie Landers, Diane Dreckman White, Beth Taber Peters (Class of 71). Second row: Sue Ann Luna Jones, Roger Luna and Billy Tevebaugh (both graduated elsewhere), Pam Usrey McGinnis and Katherine Sims Coffman. Third row: Kathy Cowart, Stan Taber, Mike Breeding and Rick Sims (Class of 1970 and honorary members of the Class of 69), Sheila Daniel (graduated elsewhere), Vicky Usrey Evans, Bill Walker, Janet Ebrite Taber and Larry Wade (Class of 1970, honorary Class of 1969).
Those of us who grew up in small rural communities like Gainesville, Bakersfield, Dora, Theodosia – and even smaller places like Thornfield, Romance and Rockbridge – may be teased sometimes as small-town hicks. But we have a wealth that only a handful of big-city natives can claim.
We have each...
The Feeding Frenzy food truck (built on a pontoon base) is open for business Saturdays at Lake Bums Brew Co in Pontiac. The PPPVFD also uses the food truck for its own fundraising breakfasts Sunday mornings. Servers and cooks pictured here, from left to right, are Addie Brunson, Carol Butler and Lola Wade.
The newest food establishment in Pontiac, the Feeding Frenzy, fits in well with the lake-loving community.
Built on a pontoon boat and trailer, the food truck is located at Lake Bums Brew Co, 112 Parrothead Lane in Pontiac, and is currently serving up an ever-changing summertime menu. Hours are...
Doyne Byrd
After working in the Ozark County school system for 26 years, Bakersfield High School Principal Doyne Byrd retired this past spring and has taken on a new role as administrator at Mountain Home Christian Academy a private school in Mountain Home, Arkansas. Byrd was hired following the retirement of...
A drawing of the up-and-coming Gainesville School sports complex, done by 4Most Sport Group, a Pennsylvania-based sports field design company, shows how the ball fields will look on the former airport property, across High School Drive from the Gainesville High School.
The Gainesville School district is moving forward with plans to build a new baseball/softball complex across from the high school on the former airport property.
Gainesville Superintendent Justin Gilmore shared architect renderings of the complex with the Ozark County Times, and the superintendent...
When I retired from teaching and came home to the Ozarks from Texas in 2020, I visited the Lutie Cemetery where my father and his Jones/Ledbetter family members are buried. I am embarrassed to admit this, but somehow I always thought we just didn’t know much about his side of the family, as if it...