News
Ozark County Schools start next week, and area school boards are deciding how their schools will start the year in light of rising cases of the covid-19 virus in the area and the recently changed U.S. Centers for Disease Control recommendations.
On Aug. 4, the CDC, on its website, CDC.gov, updated...
Magnolia Wind is scheduled to perform at Hootin an Hollarin at 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 18. The female trio from southwest Missouri combines folk, bluegrass, gospel and old-time music to create a unique Ozarkian sound. Each of the band members plays several instruments including fiddle, mandolin, guitar, bass and banjo. Becca Sein of Stoutland, left, Emalee Flatness of Willard, center, and Maddie Dalton of Lockwood say they love to help continue the tradition of old-time music that originated in the Ozark and Appalachian hills.
The 60th annual Hootin an Hollarin festival, scheduled for Sept. 16-18 on the Gainesville square, is a month away, and members of the Hootin an Hollarin committee have been working behind the scenes to finalize details for the big event. This year’s festival theme is “Celebrating 60 years of Hootin...
This photo of Gainesville is believed to have been taken sometime before 1900, possibly during the 1890s, when Ozark County reached its population peak of 12,145, according to census figures. In the photo, the two-story building on the upper-middle-right side of the image is the former Gainesville School, and the large, two-story white building in the right-corner foreground is the courthouse, standing opposite the row of businesses and the two-story hotel on the west side of the Gainesville square. The two-story home on the left side of the picture, then known as the Ford house, still stands on Third Street. The photo is from the collection of the late Ruby Robins, now preserved in the Ozark County Historium. Robins credited the photo to “Hogard.”
The results of the 2020 census have been released and provide a fascinating look at what has changed in Ozark County over the last decade.
Population decreased 12 percent
Ozark County’s population decreased 12 percent over the last decade, according to the most recent census results. The census...
Eighteen firefighters from six volunteer fire departments in three counties graduated July 24 from extensive Firefighter I and II training hosted by Squires VFD. Front row, from left: Squires VFD chief Travis Veldkamp, State Fire Marshal Tim Bean, State Sen. Karla Eslinger, firefighter Joseph Bommarito with Eastern Douglas VFD (front), instructor Damian Seltzer (back) and instructor Roy Crouch with EDVFD, firefighter Josh Sherman with Tecumseh VFD and instructor Shawn Myers with Battlefield Fire Department. Standing, from left: firefighter Hayden Browning with Squires VFD, firefighter Joe Vronis with Cedar Creek VFD, firefighter Aleshia Garrison and baby Charlie with Squires VFD, firefighter Will Garrison with SVFD, Twin Bridges VFD chief Brian Davidson, Pontiac / Price Place chief Khristie Sansone Jacquin, firefighter C.J. Sicilia with SVFD (back), firefighter Drake Garrison with SVFD (partially hidden behind Eslinger), firefighter Blake Cain with SVFD, firefighter (and treasurer) Michael Schiff with SVFD, firefighter Michael Andrews with SVFD, SVFD firefighter and board chairman William Browning, firefighter Isabella Krutsch with EDVFD (back), firefighter Falecia Watson with SVFD, Battlefield Fire Department chief Scott Moore, lead instructor Shane Anderson, and firefighter and instructor Adam Hammett with EDVFD.
Two Ozark Countians were among the 18 firefighters from six area fire departments in three counties who graduated July 24 from a six-month training academy that prepares them to become certified firefighters after they pass the state skills evaluation later this month and the written exam in...
Century Bank of the Ozarks recently presented a check for $20,000 to Ozark County high schools to be used for student tuition to South Central Career Center in West Plains. Lutie, Bakersfield, Dora and Gainesville schools each received $5,000. Pictured, from left: Brett Mitchell, Dora; Chris Harlin...
Editor’s note: The following terminology may help readers understand the list below: A suspended imposition of sentence (SIS) means that a defendant has not had a prison sentence imposed at sentencing. Instead, the immediate punishment is supervised probation. If he or she successfully completes...
Two bank representatives were present at Monday’s Ozark County Commissioners’ meeting for the formal opening of financing bids for two large county purchases, a sheriff’s department patrol vehicle and a county road grader. Mason Eslinger, Gainesville branch manager for Stockmens Bank, and Weston...
Bruce Sanders, left, and Mark Tyer, visited the Ozark County Commissioners office to discuss preparing a free, county emergency-ready profile for the courthouse, sheriff’s office, recycling center and other county-owned businesses. The men say that Servpro provides the service for free, accumulating all the necessary information about the buildings that would be needed in an emergency. The plan is offered so the company can make connections that in the future may lead to customers considering them for their paid services, which are generally needed in extreme cleaning situations.
The Ozark County Commissioners on Monday gave ServPro the green light to begin an emergency-ready profile (ERP) that can be used to quickly and efficiently regroup after an emergency or natural disaster. ServPro is a national company with more than 1,900 locations, including a Mountain Home,...
Morgan Collins lives in Caulfield with his wife, Terry. The family is well known to many Ozark Countians.
There are few other places where the heart and soul of the Ozarks can be felt more than at a benefit held in honor of a friend and neighbor who has landed in a difficult place. It’s a time when the very best parts of small-town communities are able to shine.
That neighborly support was on full...
Lodema King Haden Bent and her family gathered at the Historium recently. In the photo, Lodema is holding the 400-page book of the history of the John Harvey King family that she is donating to the Historium. Front row, from left: Jenna Haden holding son Luke, Lodema, Michele Haden Walker. Back row: Logan Haden holding son Levi, Mark Haden holding grandson Lincoln Haden, Jeff Haden, Brittney Haden (in front of Jeff), Ty Haden (back), Mike Haden and wife Maissa, Dillon Walker and wife Corinna, and Daniel Walker with wife Kristi and their children Devyn and Daxton.
For Christmas 2019, a few months after Lodema King Haden Bent's 81st birthday, her four adult children gave her cash to spend on herself anyway she chose. She promptly went to Walmart and bought herself a new computer and printer.
She was a woman with a mission.
Her daughter, Michele Haden Walker...