Local News

OATS Transit, which serves Ozark County, has announced it will begin implementing a new fare system in southwest Missouri starting in 2019.  The announcement says the change “is being made to help offset declining revenues while supporting increased ridership opportunities. The fares are necessary...
At noon on Christmas Day, VFW Post #5366 in Isabella, with help from the AmVets chapter, will serve its annual free community dinner at the VFW hall on HH Highway in Isabella.  Facility manager Ruby Winslow said everyone is invited to the free meal, veterans and non-veterans. If advance...

Nial Castle and his wife Georgette share a selfie with the 12-foot-tall Christmas cross erected on their property at Ozark Country Estates south of Theodosia. The cross, covered with thousands of multicolored lights, is visible from Bull Shoals Lake.
For several years, Nial Castle has wanted to build a lighted Christmas decoration on his property at 837 Eagle Wing Drive south of Theodosia that would be visible from a wide area, including from Bull Shoals Lake, below. Finally, this year, he carried out his plan. The result is a 12-foot-tall...

Marine Corps SSgt. Kyle Hogan, second from right, participated in the Baxter County Wreaths Across America ceremony Dec. 15 in Mountain Home, Arkansas. Also pictured are, from left: Bill Andres (HT1 Navy retired), Charles Reimer (Navy Sr. Chief retired) and Bob McClelland (E6 Navy retired), far right. The program, which places a wreaths on veterans’ graves in the area, was brought to Baxter County this year by Mountain Home floral designer Heather Duggins after she visited Washington, D.C. Hogan, who lives in Gainesville, serves in the Marine Corps recruiting office in Mountain Home.
The Ozark County Long-Term Recovery Committee responded to last week’s article in the Times describing the Nov. 30 fire that destroyed the vehicle that was the only mode of transportation for Justin Ledbetter and Krista Cofer and their five children by presenting the couple with a check for $250....

A Dec. 12 fire destroyed the Caulfield home of John Wells and his daughter, Ellie, leaving only the exterior shell (above). Firefighters believe the blaze had an electrical source and started in Ellie’s bedroom but couldn’t determine the exact cause. Ironically, Wells works for Reliable Fire Protection Company out of Little Rock, Arkansas. South Fork School, where Ellie is a fourth-grader, is accepting donations of cash, gift cards and clothing for Ellie.
Caulfield resident John Wells and his 9-year-old daughter, Ellie, were coming home after a visit to Wells’ parents, Billy and Kelly Wells, Wednesday evening, Dec. 12, when they noticed the glow of a fire lighting up the night sky. “At first I thought the neighbors had a brush fire,” Wells told the...
While most banks, businesses and government offices will be closed on Tuesday, Christmas Day, as well as Tuesday, New Year’s Day, several will also be closed or have special hours on Dec. 24, Christmas Eve, and New Year’s Eve, Dec. 31.  Post offices will be closed Christmas Day and New Year’s Day...

Ozark County Toy Drive chairperson Nancy Walker, left, with granddaughter Crystal Walker House and great-grandson Daden House, shows her happiness as more than a dozen volunteers work in the background, putting the final touches on this year’s Dec. 15 toy and gift give-away. The doors opened at 9 a.m. Saturday in the old senior center, and by 12:30 p.m., parents had been given gifts for 440 children. Photos courtesy Crystal Walker House.
This year’s Ozark County Toy Drive distributed gifts, clothes, treats and other items to the parents of 440 children Saturday morning at the old senior center on Third Street in Gainesville. Chairperson Nancy Walker said the cheerful army of volunteers “was serious about their job” of making sure...

Rodger and Kim Hickerson and newly adopted daughter Frances will be spending Christmas together this year. Rodger and Kim adopted the girl Nov. 9 after serving as her foster parents for several months. Photo submitted.
This Christmas, Rodger and Kim Hickerson, a Zanoni-area couple who experienced the unimaginable pain of losing both of their teenage sons in separate accidents eight years apart, will be spending the day counting their blessings and thanking God for bringing a daughter into their lives. The...

Roger and Sherri Wilson, formerly of Nebraska, shown here with their dog Libby, have purchased Bryant Plastics manufacturing company on Highway 5 north of Gainesville. The business was started in 1974 by James R. Beasley, but for most of its history has been owned by Ralph Brown. Times photos / Jenny Yarger.
The Ozark County manufacturing business that opened 44 years ago as Bryant Plastics has been purchased by a Nebraska family who will rename the business Wilson Industries, a corporate umbrella that will continue the PVC-pipe-manufacturing side of the business as Wilson Plastics and the freight side...

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Ozark County Times

504 Third Steet
PO Box 188
Gainesville, MO 65655

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