Local News


Residences and businesses in Ozark County may eventually be eligible to purchase high-speed, fiber optic internet service. White River Valley Electric Cooperative is proposing a partnership project with Ozark and other counties in the service area to provide the service to their customers, which includes part of Ozark County. The east side of the county is serviced by Howell-Oregon Electric Cooperative instead.
Ozark County commissioners are still considering partnering with four other counties and White River Valley Electric Cooperative to bring high speed, fiber optic internet to the area. Last week, Ozark County Commissioners John Turner, Gary Collins and Layne Nance heard from WRVEC Manager of...
Brixey resident Alvin Searcy was arraigned on felony charges of delivery of marijuana, possession of methamphetamine, stealing a vehicle and maintaining a public nuisance before Associate Judge Raymond Gross Dec. 17.  He is being held in the Ozark County Jail on a $50,000 cash-only bond. A bond...
The Gainesville City Council didn’t have much in the way of business on the agenda for their Dec. 7 meeting, and city staff members served the council a Christmas dinner afterward.  Water Specialist Jessi Price said that city employees have been spending their time focused on inspections and...
If you live in Ozark County and you’re reading this story on the internet, you may soon be able to load it faster and more reliably. “Soon” is loosely defined, but White River Valley Electric Cooperative (WRVEC) presented a proposal to Ozark County commissioners Monday to help bring 100 mbps fiber...

photo courtesy of Shana Hambelton The Highway 181 bridge near Hodgson Mill in Sycamore was closed due to the swollen waters of Bryant Creek Dec. 17, after five to seven inches of rain fell across Ozark County. Photo above: The water receded Saturday, revealing a massive log jam on the bridge.
Ozark County was inundated with up to 7 inches of rain in a 24-hour period in some parts of the county late last week that wreaked havoc on area roads and bridges and prompted some water rescues. The hardest hit part of the county by the fast-moving floodwaters was the north-central and northwest...

Christmas memories During Pam Carter Hutchinson’s childhood, her grandfather Alva McDonald would sometimes put on a Santa suit and walk the sidewalk near his general store on the west side of the Gainesville square (now the site of the Ozark County Historium). But sometimes another well-known figure would also wear the red suit and surprise Gainesville-area kids. In this photo, the late Dr. M. J. Hoerman, right, and his wife, Judy, far left, pay a Christmas time visit to Pam and her first cousins, probably in 1953 or ‘54. From left: Debbie Landers, Carylon Bushong (Goodwyn) holding Mike Breeding (who’s holding Pam’s dog Brownie), Pam, Stacy Landers and Faunlee Breeding (Harle).
Pamela Carter Hutchinson remembers watching Christmastime unfold around the Gainesville square in the 1950s as she sat many late afternoons in the big window of her grandfather A. D. McDonald’s grocery store, now the Ozark County Historium. She recalls seeing simple strands of Christmas lights come...
Dora’s Cassidy Hambelton pushes the pace for the Lady Falcons, who defeated Cabool at Dora on Friday, 62-40. Hambelton scored her 2,000th point last week.   Photo by Karla Smith Dora Lady Falcon Cassidy “Noodle” Hambelton  earns 2,000  career points   Dora’s Cassidy Hambelton pushes the pace for...
During the Ozark County Commissioners Monday meeting, Presiding Commissioner John Turner and Eastern District Commissioner Gary Collins discussed the deadly tornado outbreak over the weekend that left a path of destruction across four states, killing dozens and causing an untold amount of damage....

The Holly Jolly Reindeer Ranch in Vanzant, located about 15 miles north of Dora in Douglas County, opened earlier this year, offering local residents a Christmas-themed experience that includes visits with Santa, a close-up with two of Santa’s reindeer, a variety of “reindeer games” for children, Mrs. Claus’ bakery where simple lunch options and sweet treats are offered and Santa’s workshop (pictured here), an area where children can complete Christmas crafts, write letters to Santa and more.
If you’re looking for something to do this weekend to get yourself in the holiday spirit, you might trot on up to the Holly Jolly Reindeer Ranch in Vanzant. New this year is the ranch, that features reindeer, Santa and a flurry of other Christmas-themed activities and booths. “We’re excited to be...

The elf force behind the Toy Drive Ozark County Toy Drive volunteers, from left, Brent Miller, Walker House, Albert Latham, Tommy Taylor (in black hat in back) and Hunter Luna, work to help a shopper choose items for his children at the Dec. 11 Ozark County Toy Drive. Walker says she’s always impressed by the young volunteers, many in junior high and high school, that show up each year to pitch in with the effort.
Toys and other gifts for several hundred Ozark County children were distributed Saturday, Dec. 11, at this year’s Ozark County Toy Drive. The event was held in the former Senior Center building on Third Street in Gainesville.  “We had plenty of toys, but it seemed like we were down a little in the...

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Ozark County Times

504 Third Steet
PO Box 188
Gainesville, MO 65655

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