News
One Ozark Countian died and several area residents were injured in these recent crashes on roadways in or near Ozark County.
Mountain Home teen hospitalized Autumn McFarland, 16, of Mountain Home, Arkansas, was transported to Baxter Regional Medical Center after sustaining moderate injuries in a...
When the floodwaters of the North Fork of the White River receded enough Sunday morning, April 30, MSHP 2017, trooper John Roberts and other rescuers got Peggy Donahue and her daughter and son-in-law, Autumn and Joshua Shirley, from the roof of their two-story home on James Lane near Dawt. The three family members spent nine hours on the peak of the roof as the raging river uprooted trees and destroyed homes and other structures and sent the debris hurtling toward them. Pictured above: Peggy Donahue, seated in the boat wearing the orange life jacket, and, from left, Missouri Department of Conservation agents Mark Henry and Gerald Smith and MSHP troopers Jason Philpott, Cole Chatman and Roberts. This photo was taken as they reached the shallower edge of the floodwater where they would deposit Peggy before returning to the flooded house to rescue Autumn and Joshua. File photo courtesy Shawn Taylor
On that rainy Saturday, April 29, 2017, Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers John Roberts and Jason Philpott began their shift at 6 a.m. by preparing for swift-water rescues in a flood they didn’t really expect to come.“Most of the time when a possible flood is predicted, we prepare and get the...
ALTHEA SPRING - THEN AND NOW Ozark County commissioners and Missouri Department of Conservation biologist A. J. Pratt say one of the most noticeable results of the devastating 2017 flood along the North Fork of the White River is the loss of shade along the stream. These photos show an example of that change at Althea Spring, part of MDC’s public access point at Patrick Bridge on H Highway. Above: Before the 2017 flood, visiting the icy-cold water spilling over the small dam below Althea Spring meant a walk through the woods from the highway or splashing up the tree-shaded spring branch from the river. Below: Last year’s flood destroyed thousands of trees along the North Fork, including those that shaded Althea Spring. MDC has cleared away the towering pile of knocked-over trees and other debris along the spring pond, leaving a wide-open area where shade is difficult to find. Photo courtesy Jerry Luna
The flood that ravaged Ozark County a year ago over the April 28-30 weekend “was terrible, terrible, awful,” Ozark County Presiding Commissioner John Turner said last week at the commissioners’ regular Monday morning meeting. “Hopefully, we won’t see anything like it in our lifetimes.”But even if...
Murder victim Lawrence Brostedt
Murder victim Lawrence Brostedt was a “very private person who didn’t talk publicly about his family,” one of his friends, Juanita Heriford, recalled Monday.Heriford, who owns and operates the Heriford Store at Thornfield, not far from the house Brostedt had built on Up Hill Lane Drive, met him...
Mae Johnson peruses local gardner Miriam Schrippe’s selection of plant starts and baked goods at the 2017 Ozark County Homegrown and Homemade Festival. This year’s festival, to be held Saturday on the Gainesville square, will feature vendor booths by local farmers, gardeners, artisans and others.
The fourth annual Ozark County Homegrown and Homemade Festival will fill the west side of the square with creative vendors and a variety of appealing activities from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.Local farmers, artisans and other “merchants” will be peddling their wares, which must be made or grown...
SUNBURST RANCH - After the devastating flood of 2017 wiped several structures from Sunburst Ranch’s property, including its campground bathroom and showerhouses, resort owners Justin and Amy Spencer decided to rethink the buildings. Now Sunburst Ranch has colorful bathrooms and showerhouses that are stand-alone structures that can be picked up and moved with heavy machinery when high water threatens the resort on the North Fork of the White River. After a wildly successful “sponsor a shade tree” fundraiser last summer, Sunburst Ranch has purchased and planted 100 trees in the campground over the winter and spring season after the flood swept virtually all of the trees away from the resort. They are planning to plant another 100 trees in another park of the campground next year.
Ozark County’s resorts on the North Fork of the White River took a huge hit during the historic flood that ravaged the area a year ago this week. But Ozarkians are known for their resilience, and river resort owners are proving the truth of that reputation. All the resorts on the North Fork have...
Lawrence C. Brostedt
A call from the Mountain Grove Police Department Friday morning prompted Ozark County Sheriff’s Department Investigator Curtis Dobbs to make a well-being check at 290 Up Hill Lane, off JJ Highway northeast of Thornfield, where he found the body of 73-year-old Lawrence C. Brostedt. (See related...
Patterson
Brandon Patterson, 33, recently pleaded guilty to abuse of an animal, a class E felony, in connection with a May 28, 2017, incident in which Patterson allegedly tortured a dog over a two-day span. A class E felony can carry a sentence of up to four years in the Missouri Department of Corrections....
Bakersfield firefighter Kelly Fowler, left, practices cutting door and window posts to remove a vehicle roof during an emergency services extraction-training session held recently at Duke’s Truck Repair in Tecumseh. State-certified instructor Ed Doiron, right, the Gainesville VFD chief, helped lead the session, in which volunteers from Bakersfield, Gainesville and Tecumseh departments participated.
Firefighters from Gainesville, Bakersfield and Tecumseh volunteer fire departments participated in a training session April 10 to familiarize themselves with Bakersfield’s new equipment and practice with current TVFD and GVFD tools. The session was held in Tecumseh at Duke’s Truck Repair, which...
Brown
Barry Scott Brown, 54, of Caulfield is currently being held in the Ozark County Jail on a $100,000 cash-only bond after allegedly holding his wife at gunpoint with a shotgun and holding her 9-year-old son at gunpoint with an “Uzi-type firearm.” Brown also reportedly discharged the shotgun once...