News


Lanell Long, center, wearing the red shirt, was greeted by several of her Pontiac-area mail customers at a retirement party held last week at the Pontiac post office. “I will miss these people,” said Long. “I thank them all for everything.”
“Never in my life have I ever dreaded going to work.” Lanell Long may be one of the few people who can honestly make that statement. And after 36 years of delivering mail, that is saying a lot. Long filled in on mail routes for 10 years before her first husband, Emmett Lewis, was hired for the...
It’s that time of year, when pumpkins, apple cider and crisp, fall air set a tone of festivity in the Ozarks. Listed here are Halloween and fall events that residents can visit or attend in the coming weeks. Watch the Times each week for an updated list of fall-related events. Those organizing a...

Savannah Leckie
It’s been over two years since Ozark County Sheriff’s deputies found the burned remains of 16-year-old autistic teen Savannah Leckie in a burn pile on her biological mother’s Theodosia-area property, and many residents wonder when justice will be served for the individual or individuals responsible...

Photo from https://black-walnuts.com/
The annual black walnut harvest has begun, according to a news release from Stockton-based Hammons Product Co. announcing the opening of its hulling stations on Oct. 1. The company said hullers will be paying a higher opening price this year than in 2018: $16 per 100 pounds after hulling ($15...

Katie Hoversen won the Best in Show ribbon in this year’s Hootin an Hollarin quilt show for her pieced and hand-appliqued “Climbing Jacob’s Ladder” quilt. Hoversen made the quilt using scraps and other pieces of fabric given to her by friends after all her quilting supplies were destroyed when her house was washed away in the 2017 floods. See more photos in the quilt show album on the Ozark County Times Facebook page, which includes winners of the Judges’ Choice and People’s Choice ribbons as well as the “Out of This World” quilt made and donated by Linda and Gary Smith of Sycamore.
Twenty-eight beautiful quilts were presented for the public’s enjoyment at this year’s Hootin an Hollarin quilt show sponsored by the Friendly Neighbors Extension Club. Katie Hoversen won the Best in Show ribbon for her hand-appliqued “Climbing Jacob’s Ladder” pattern. Sandra Stone’s machine-...

Hayden Johns, 10, killed this 9-point buck on Sept. 22 with a crossbow from 15 yards. The buck scored just shy of 130 inches, and was taken exactly one year from Hayden's 139 3/4-inch crossbow kill in 2018. Hayden is the son of Theodosia residents Josh and Melanie Johns.
Dedicated Ozark County bow hunters have taken to the woods the last of couple weeks to fight sweltering temperatures, mosquitoes and humidity in hopes of harvesting a deer. Forecasted cooler temperatures throughout the end of the week and the weekend should provide better hunting conditions.  At...

Monica Cowin Bethards, left, and her mother, Judy Evans, worked in Judy’s Daystar Shirts booth at Hootin an Hollarin wearing T-shirts bearing the 2019 Hootin an Hollarin design Monica created, reflecting this year’s “A trip back when” theme. Monica began drawing an annual Hootin an Hollarin T-shirt design in 1989, while she was in high school, and continued until about eight years ago, when her deteriorating eyesight left her legally blind.
The design on this year’s Hootin an Hollarin T-shirts – a rustic-looking, mule-powered covered wagon carrying the familiar, stylized Cedar Pete and Addie Lee characters – was designed by Ozark County native Monica Cowin Bethards reflecting the 2019 festival theme, “A trip back when.” It wasn’t...

Bird perched on Michele Johnson's steering wheel
Our ongoing coverage of Gainesville’s Bird the Blue Jay continues. Last week, when Century Bank of the Ozarks employee Michele Johnson drove to the post office, Bird fluttered into Michele’s car and wouldn’t leave. He insisted on riding along, perching on the steering wheel (above) for part of the...

Kelly and Jason Marsh
There’s a movement happening in Bakersfield that even Donald Trump would get behind. Make Bakersfield Great Again. While there are no mega-rallies and no political sharpshooters involved, what’s happening is a quiet transformation of this sleepy little historic town in southeast Ozark County....

Five-year-old twin brothers Dalton, left, and Dakota Morgan, visited the McWilliams Pumpkin Patch near West Plains Saturday during its opening weekend. The twins, sons of Joe and Kristin Morgan of Gainesville, are shown riding the farm’s tractor train.
The weather forecast for this coming weekend features a prediction of beautiful, crisp, fall temperatures that promise to provide the perfect setting for a fun day at an area event or activity celebrating the season. Listed here are events happening soon in this area. Watch the Times each week...

Pages

Ozark County Times

504 Third Steet
PO Box 188
Gainesville, MO 65655

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