Local News

I’ve been a journalist for 33 years, having started my career right here at the Ozark County Times in 1989. Back then I started out covering sports, including Gainesville volleyball … and now volleyball is back at GHS after having been dormant for three decades. Number one, that makes me feel old...
A 58-year-old man called the Ozark County 911 dispatch office around 9:17 p.m. Aug. 16, explaining that he was on the North Fork of the White River in his kayak, was taking on water and was lost. The weather had turned, and it was raining hard and there was a lot of lightning.  “He may be...

These two dogs have gone missing after a fire broke out at a residence on P13 off County Road 650 in Dugginsville.
It was around 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 20, when a passerby called Ozark County’s 911 dispatch office to report what appeared to be a structure fire at or near a home on County Road 650 in the Dugginsville area, off P13. The Theodosia Area Volunteer Fire Department was dispatched to the scene, with...

Times photo/Bruce Roberts County commissioners discuss the proposed half-cent sales tax for law enforcement at the regular weekly meeting of the commissioners Monday morning. Commissioners voted to put the issue on the November ballot.
Ozark County commissioners on Monday voted to put a half-cent sales tax for law enforcement on the Nov.8 General Election  ballot. Presiding Commissioner John Turner, in making the motion to put the issue before voters, said “In my eight years in office I’ve never asked for a new tax, but I propose...

2020 Hootin an Hollarin princess pageant winners are pictured here.
Girls in first through sixth grades are eligible to participate in the annual Hootin an Hollarin princess pageants, to be held Friday, Sept. 16. Those who wish to enter the contest must pre-register by Friday, Sept. 9. The Hootin an Hollarin princess contests, which begin at 2:45 p.m. Friday on the...

After a rugged climb, Duane Grigg makes it to the peak of Pinnacle Mountain during the Ouchita Trail 50 ultra in Little Rock, Arkansas, several years ago.
Duane and Debbie Grigg, who now live by Lick Creek between Howard’s Ridge and Mammoth in Ozark County, lived along the Kuskokwim River in the Alaska bush  for 17 years. The first part of this story, published in last week’s Times, shared some of the adventures the Grigg family had while living in...

Times photo/Bruce Roberts
Ozark County has now earmarked or spent all of the nearly $1.8 million in federal covid-19 relief funding from the American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA) that was given to the county in 2021 and 2022. The county received $891,764 in ARPA funds in 2021 and is set to receive about $890,000 in 2022.  ...

The proposed route for the Ozark Run Scenic Byway is included on this map.
In other business on Monday, county commissioners announced a public forum on a proposed scenic byway (that includes a portion of Ozark County) from 2 to 4 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 6, in the upstairs courtroom in the Ozark County Courthouse.  The meeting is open to the public, and the commissioners are...
Ozark County commissioners will be discussing an idea to put a half-cent sales tax increase measure on the Nov. 8 General Election ballot during their next regular weekly meeting at 9 a.m. on Aug. 22. The commissioners meet every Monday at 9 a.m. on the second floor of the Ozark County Courthouse....

Driving to and from Alaska For 17 years, while Duane and Debbie Grigg taught school in Alaska, they drove the Alaska Highway and other roads to come home to the Ozarks for summer vacation every year. They now drive it to visit their son, Cole, who lives in Wasilla, north of Anchorage. Duane says he’s driven the 4,000-mile trek from Gainesville to Alaska 45 times so far. It takes about a week, he said, and his goal is to drive it 52 times, so he can say he’s spent a year of his life driving to and from Alaska. This photo was taken in 2011. You can see what is left of the Matanuska Glacier over Duane’s right shoulder.
Duane Grigg was feeling restless.  It was 1979, and he had been teaching school and coaching at Mountain Home (Arkansas) Junior High School for six years and was yearning for a change.  “The need for adventure was consuming me – it had been all my life,” he said.  Soon Duane and his wife Debbie...

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Ozark County Times

504 Third Steet
PO Box 188
Gainesville, MO 65655

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