Local News
Absentee voting for the Aug. 7 primary election continues through Aug. 6. Registered voters who are unable to go to the polls on Election Day should contact County Clerk Brian Wise for the required application. Absentee ballots may be voted by mail or in person at the clerk’s office from 8 a.m. to...
Musician Sarah Cecil
The Center to host ‘Meet the Candidates’ dinner event Friday
A “Meet the Candidates” fundraiser dinner will be held at 6 p.m. Friday, July 20, at The Center on Highway 5 north at the Gainesville city limits. Local candidates running the Aug. 7 primary election will speak and answer questions during...
Rebecca Ruud, right, is shown with her biological daughter, Savannah Leckie, in this family file photo. Ruud and her husband, Robert Peat Jr., are now charged with murder in Savannah’s 2017 death. Court documents related to a recent search warrant executed on Ruud’s Theodosia-area farm include an informant’s description of how Savannah may have died.
A gruesome murder-method possibility has emerged in court documents related to a recent search of the Theodosia-area property where 16-year-old Savannah Leckie is believed to have died one year ago this month.The court documents, which include an affidavit in support of a June 2018 search warrant,...
Ozark County commissioners expressed relief at their Monday morning meeting that FEMA has approved funding for repairs to county roads and bridges damaged by flood and high water. One of the crossings to be repaired is Haskins Ford over the Little North Fork of the White River as it flows into Bull Shoals Lake on County Road 863 near Isabella. A hole opened up in the submerged slab earlier this spring, and concrete blocks were placed in the damaged area to keep vehicles from driving into the hidden hole after vandals stole metal fenceposts originally marking the hazardous spot. The crossing was underwater most of this spring due to high lake levels. The repairs, which will return the area to "pre-flood" condition, will include concrete work, asphalt and new culverts. Times photo / Amelia LaMair
At Monday’s meeting of the Ozark County Commission, the commissioners agree there are big shoes to fill in the wake of Ozark County Emergency Management director Brett Meints' resignation last month.Presiding Commissioner John Turner said they are formulating a list of qualifications for the...
District specialist Laramie Johnson grills hot dogs while Ozark County Extension specialist Randy Wiedmeier and SWCD intern Clayton Leroy offer advice. Hamburgers and hot dogs were served to 180 people who attended the Ozark County Soil & Water Conservation District's annual meeting and election Friday in Gainesville.
Morrison and McKee reelected to Soil and Water Conservation board in recent election, annual meeting
Ozark County Soil and Water Conservation District's annual meeting and election were held Friday, June 22, at the office in Gainesville. There were 180 in attendance for the annual meeting, according to district specialist Melisa Myers. Hamburgers and hot dogs were served, and 100 landowners voted...
July 11 was the last day to register to vote in the Aug. 7 primary election. Absentee voting for the August primary has begun, and two local events are planned this month to help voters gather information before casting their votes in the Aug. 7 primary election. Registered voters who are unable...
Faith Harlin, a graduate of Gainesville High School and four-year volunteer at Camp Barnabas, hugs Theresa, a 29-year-old woman with Down syndrome. Faith spent a week with Theresa during this summer's week-long camp at Table Rock Lake. Camp Barnabas is a Christian-based summer camp for people with disabilities or chronic illnesses.
Faith Harlin first volunteered at Camp Barnabas the summer after her freshman year at Gainesville High School. The week-long Christian camp at Table Rock Lake serves campers with special needs or chronic illnesses. During her junior high years, Faith had spent some time volunteering at Special...
If the Gainesville R-V School District's 75-cent levy-increase proposal is approved by voters in the Aug. 7 primary, the district will replace interior and classroom doors with high-security doors that offer better protection for students and teachers. Here, district business manager Allisa West shows one of the original interior doors in the 55-year-old school that would be replaced. Times photo / Jenny Yarger
It's been 25 years since Gainesville R-V School District voters approved a levy increase. That 1993 increase, of about 30 cents per $100 assess valuation, was dedicated exclusively to fund the construction of the "new" elementary school. And when that facility was completely paid for in 2008, the...
Twenty firefighters from five area departments worked several hours fighting a July 5 lightning-caused fire that destroyed the Caulfield-area home of an older Ozark County couple. Caulfield Membership Fire Department chief Shannon Sisney said the home was a total loss, but firefighters kept the fire from spreading to two nearby outbuildings.
Lightning sparked a July 5 house fire on Highway 160 west of Caulfield that destroyed the home of an older Ozark County couple. The Times could not confirm the couple's identity, but their last name is thought to be Metz.Caulfield Membership Fire Department chief Shannon Sisney said firefighters...
In this Ozark County Times file photo, Robert Peat Jr. stands with his attorney, special public defender James R. Hayes, before Ozark County Circuit Judge Craig Carter at his Sept. 26, 2017, arraignment on murder charges. Ozark County Prosecuting Attorney John Garrabrant is seated behind them, and behind Garrabrant are Minnesota residents Tamile Leckie-Montague, adoptive mother of murder victim Savannah Leckie, center, and her fiance (now husband) Cary Steeves. With them is victim's advocate Nicole Graham, left. In a surprising turn of events last week, a Greene County judge released Peat from custody on his own recognizance, with GPS monitoring by Court Probationary Services.
Reed: 'What the heck just happened?'
Ozark County Sheriff Darrin Reed said Monday he was "as appalled as everyone else was" when a Greene County court ruled last week that Robert Peat Jr., accused of murder in the 2017 Savannah Leckie case, could be released on his own recognizance with electronic...