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Justin Gilmore
The Gainesville R-V Board of Education at its meeting Monday night named current Gainesville High School principal Justin Gilmore as the district’s new superintendent, effective July 1, 2020.Gilmore, who is in his third year as high school principal here, will succeed Dr. Jeff Hyatt, who is in his...

Four Ozark County volunteer fire departments battled a Sunday night blaze that destroyed a home south of Gainesville occupied by a family of six, including four children age 3 and younger. Photo courtesy Pontiac / Price Place VFD
A Gainesville-area family of six, including four boys age 3 and younger, lost their home and possessions in a Sunday night fire.Daniel Johnson called the Ozark County Sheriff’s Office at 10:12 p.m. Sunday to report that his house on Highway 5 south of Gainesville was on fire.Johnson, with Haley...

The identities of the couple sitting on the board-topped wire fence bordering the front lawn of the late Willard and Alta Boone’s home (now the parking lot behind the Ozark County Historium) aren’t known, but the picture provides a glimpse of the former M. E. Church that was once a Gainesville landmark. The photo is from the collection of Judy Ford Lyons.
When my wife, Doris, and I acquired the commercial buildings at 434 and 438 Third Street in Gainesville, we never expected them to take us on an Ozark Journey, but they did. The journey began when Mary Ruth Sparks, who compiles the Times Past column for the Times, recently shared with us an...

Rikki Barton with Community Partnership, standing at left, led a three-hour training session Oct. 15 for representatives of three Ozark County high schools, two Ozark County medical clinics and various other community groups. Pictured, clockwise from left on the far side of the table, are Shana Hambelton, Dora School nurse; Dan Israel with the Ozark County Sheriff’s Department; Suzanne Lundry with Theodosia Family Medical Clinic; Dawn Norton with The Fountain Church and Ozark County Ministerial Alliance; Jeff Dotson with Mission Square Church and the Ozark County addiction-recovery meeting; Gainesville High School principal Justin Gilmore; Gainesville School nurse Cheyenne Nash; Bakersfield School nurse Erin Bonham; Bakersfield Superintendent Amy Britt; and Dara Collins with Missouri Ozarks Community Health. Times photo/Jessi Dreckman
Thanks to a grant through the MO-HOPE (Missouri Opioid-Heroin Overdose Prevention and Education) Project and the persistence of the Ozark County Substance Abuse Task Force, three Ozark County high schools now have doses of the opioid-overdose-reversing drug Narcan on-hand at their school nurse’s...

Hicks family The family of the late June Hicks, a long-time Ozark County teacher, encourages school supporters to donate gifts to the PTO playset fundraiser in honor of current or retired teachers in Gainesville Schools, or in memory of teachers who have died. From left: Steve and June Hicks, their son, Trevor Hicks, a Gainesville High School history teacher and assistant coach, and Jordan Hicks, their daughter.
On a golden October afternoon, the sounds of children at play – laughter, shouts of glee, young friends sharing a few minutes of sunshine and fresh air – fill the air as the new school year is once again in full swing. But a quick walk around the playground at the Gainesville Elementary School...

This photo of the Latham property on County Road 803A in Gainesville was taken in April 2016, shortly after charges of arson and property damage were filed against Johnathan Latham in connection with allegations that he bulldozed down and burned a manufactured home and set fire to a tractor on the property. An Ozark County jury found Latham guilty of property damage in connection with the burned tractor. Associate Judge Lynette Veenstra dismissed the count concerning the manufactured home. Times photo/Jessi Dreckman
It took only 18 minutes for an Ozark County jury to unanimously find Gainesville resident Johnathan Latham, 48, guilty of first-degree property damage after hearing the evidence in an Oct. 24 trial with Wright County Associate Judge Lynette Veenstra presiding. The case was filed in connection with...

Image by Brent Barnett from Pixabay
Of the 2,163 medical marijuana facility applications filed with the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services by the Aug. 19 deadline, only one proposed to bring a medical marijuana business to Ozark County. And now it looks like that applicant’s plans have fallen through. According to a...

Theodosia Area Volunteer Fire Department Board President Boyd Garrison stepped down from the TAVFD Board of Directors on Oct. 3 after serving several terms in the last 40 years. Garrison says he’ll likely still help out with the department, driving trucks when the firefighters need help at area fires.
In 1976, Jimmy Carter was elected president, grocery ads in the Ozark County Times advertised bacon for 49 cents a pound and Ozark County natives Boyd and Freeda Garrison made the big move back home to Theodosia from Springfield.  “Of course, we were from here, and we were happy to move back,”...

The National Weather Service in Springfield said structures were damaged and hundreds of trees were snapped or uprooted Oct. 21 by the EF-1 tornado that tore through the northeastern section of Ozark County. This large oak was blown down, blocking a residential driveway off County Road 154.
The National Weather Service in Springfield confirmed last week that the nighttime storm which swept through Ozark County in the early morning hours of Monday, Oct. 21, was an EF-1 tornado with peak winds of 105 miles per hour.   The  NWS announcement, described as “preliminary,” said the...

Ozark County Chamber president Doug Hawkins, right, and Amy Green were rocking the disco look at last year’s trunk-or-treat event in Gainesville.
A forecast of frigid, rainy weather on Halloween has led some activity planners to move their outdoor events inside. Date or place changes for outdoor events that had been announced by press time Tuesday are listed below. For each event’s details, as well as for information about planned indoor...

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