Covid couldn’t dampen the Christmas cheer of the annual foster care Christmas extravaganza


The annual foster care Christmas event transitioned from its traditional Christmas dinner and party to a covid-era, life-sized scavenger hunt based on the Candy Land board game. The effort also provided wish list gift items for 175 children in Ozark, Douglas and Wright counties’ foster care program. The event is organized by Stacy Garrison, left, and a group of Division of Family Services workers. Above, from left: volunteers Candace Mayberry, Ashley Volner, Brianne Bryson, Melanie Hanger, Kayla Premer and Kendra Ritchie.

‘Maybe you’ve brightened their world a little’: ‘Splendid’ volunteers distribute toys, gifts for 350-plus kids at 2020 Toy Drive


Above, left: The Ozark County Toy Drive, held Dec. 12, provided toys, gifts, stocking stuffers and other items for about 350 Ozark County children. The annual event is the work of many volunteers led by organizer Nancy Walker, whose granddaughter, Crystal House, second from left, sends out a “mass text message” each year, asking for toy drive volunteers. "And I'm always shocked with how many happy helpers show up," she said. From left: Cindy Thomas, House, April Luna, Gayla Murphy, Walker. This year’s toy drive was held in the basement of the First Baptist Church on Third Street in Gainesville rather than in the former Ozark County Senior Center as it has been in past years. House told the Times the venue was “super packed, but absolutely perfect!” See page B1 for more photos and details about the event.

‘A real cowboy’: Hale retires by celebrating a career that ‘wasn’t work’


Former Ozark County resident Joe Hale, shown here with his wife, Eva, was recently honored for his more than 40 years of service to the Mark Twain National Forest’s Range Allotment Program. Friends and colleagues gathered Dec. 1 at the MTNF headquarters in Ava to celebrate Hale’s retirement.

From the ‘old black phone’ to enhanced 911, Burnett has seen many changes in his years with sheriff’s office


Ken Burnett first started working for the Ozark County Sheriff’s Office as a one-day-a-week dispatcher in 1986, when the sheriff’s office and jail were on the second floor of the courthouse. He took a few years off then came back and worked several years as a jailer in the current sheriff’s office and jail facility on County Road 806. For the last 20 years, Burnett has been dispatch supervisor and jail administrator. Now 60, he plans to retire Dec. 31.

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Ozark County Times

504 Third Steet
PO Box 188
Gainesville, MO 65655

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