Guest Blogs


With its short, stubby tail and wispy tufts of new feathers topping its head and sticking out from the back of its neck, the first wren fledgling looked a little bit like an alien.
Note: To read more of Theodosia resident Connie Smiley’s blog, visit ozarkgrace.blogspot.com. It’s quiet on the front porch this afternoon, and a little bit lonely, after the clamor of the morning. A pair of Carolina Wrens have been nesting in a creel that hangs from one of the porch pillars, and...

Lonnie High
Last week, as I was looking out from my porch watching the crows flying about, calling out to one another, it brought back a memory from my childhood growing up on our farm in Ozark County.  As my friend Doug Robinson and I were out walking one Sunday afternoon, we came  upon two baby crows that...

Diane White, right, has been an election judge in Bridges Precinct for five years. The job generally includes long, 14- to 15-hour workdays, but Diane says it’s a very rewarding opportunity to be a part of the election process. Shown with Diane in this November 2017 election photo are fellow Bridges Precinct election judges. From left: Renee Schmucker, Lana Cockrum and Dennis Lawson.
The Nov. 6 General Election is one for the record books. With 4,089 residents casting their ballots in Ozark County, it is one of the largest voter turnouts in recent memory.  Regardless of whether the ballot measures and elections went the way I voted, that number makes me extremely proud. If you...
Charlie’s wife needed to go into the city to have some routine lab work done at a hospital clinic. Needing to get some machinery parts, the old man asked his wife if he could ride to town with her, then he could drive her car to the nearby parts store while she was in the clinic. She agreed, and...

MOFB photo
As political battles continue to rage around the country, a major ballot issue has been quietly gaining momentum here in Missouri. In November, voters here will not only be deciding whether to give Sen. Claire McCaskill a third six-year term; they also will have an opportunity to increase road and...

Six of the shoot-out cast members.
Here’s a story that’s hard to believe in these days of tragic school shootings and mass murders that break our hearts and defy our understanding:  Fifty-some years ago, Gainesville High School students carried shotguns to school and staged wild shoot-outs on the town square. Photos in the 1965 GHS...

Jerry Crownover
Having been involved in the livestock industry my entire life, I know the vast majority of producers go above and beyond what’s expected to provide their animals with absolutely the best care possible. For a cattleman to purposefully mistreat or abuse the source of his or her livelihood makes about...
During his former years as a sheriff’s deputy, Dale Schofield arrested Todd Brown at least a dozen times. “He was constantly in and out of trouble,” Schofield said Monday. “Domestic, DWI, burglary, stealing, you name it. Many folks knew him as the town drunk. If you drove through Theodosia you...
Editor’s note: Father’s Day is Sunday, and baseball season is in full swing. Ozark County ball parks are filled with fathers teaching their kids about sportsmanship and how to hold a bat, catch a ball and run the bases. We salute those fathers who know how important it is to spend time with...

Gainesville school superintendent Mearle Luna, who held the post for 26 years, presenting the senior class of 1962, the last class to graduate in the “old” building before high school classes moved to the current high school building in 1963.
Editor’s note: The Ozark County Times is a nonpartisan newspaper that does not endorse candidates or take sides on issues. However, Times staffers sometimes express their own personal opinions in clearly identified writings. This is Times editor Sue Ann Jones’ opinion about the upcoming Gainesville...

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Ozark County Times

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