News
During their Feb. 3 meeting, the commissioners decided to table action on county employees’ vacation rollover until the Feb. 10 meeting.
According to Presiding Commissioner Terry Newton, the commissioners are getting more information about some different options for the vacation rollovers.
“We’re...
Defense Attorney Joshua Brown and Prosecuting Attorney Lee Pipkins both appeared before Associate Judge Raymond Gross for a bond reduction hearing for Patrice Santos-Duvalier, a Dora woman who is facing charges of murder and assaulting a special victim in Ozark County in connection with the death...

Times photo/Jessi Dreckman Gainesville resident Holly Uchtman is pictured here with the contents of a care package that will be distributed to a local family through Sammy’s Window, a program within the FosterAdopt Connect organization. The packages include free food, hygiene items, diapers and wipes and other necessities families may need to help support children.
Many people in Ozark County have opened their hearts and homes to children who are not biologically their own. Now, those families have better access to a program to help support them.
Sammy’s Window, a program of FosterAdopt Connect, has officially opened a new distribution center in Gainesville...
At this month’s meeting, January 2025, Gainesville City Councilman Renee Schmucker, who has a seat for the center ward, announced that she was resigning from her position due to health issues.
Schmucker told the Times that she has Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis, a serious lung condition. The only...
During Monday morning’s Ozark County Commissioner’s meeting, officials decided to revert the county’s vacation time procedure back to what it was prior to 2020.
“Our policy says that employees can rollover 40 hours of vacation. But during covid, we decided to give them the option to allow...
It was 3:18 a.m. last Sunday, Jan. 26, when Julie Booth’s son and daughter-in-law noticed that Julie’s house, which sits a short distance from their own house, was on fire. They quickly called Julie and 911 to report the blaze.
Eastern Douglas VFD was dispatched, along with Brixey-Rockbridge and...

Times photo/Jenny Yarger This screech owl, which the Yarger family of Protem found injured last month, is shown here taking its first flight after its left eye was removed by medical staff at the Dickerson Park Zoo Raptor Rehab Program in Springfield. Zack Yarger, pictured far left, was slowly driving up the family’s driveway when the owl bounced off the windshield and came to lay next to his truck. He, along with wife Jenny and their children Ezra and Zeke (pictured center) brought the owl to MDC Agent Tom Leeker, far right, who transported it to the rehabilitation center.
One evening last month, Ozark County Times Advertising Manager Jenny Yarger was home with her children, 17-year-old Zeke and 10-year-old Ezra, after a busy day of work and school. They were settling in when Jenny’s husband, Zack, walked through the door with a big surprise— a screech owl nestled in...
Johnny Pearson, 36, of Caulfield, died in a Jan. 25, crash on H Highway, about four miles west of Caulfield.
According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s online crash report, Pearson was driving a 2000 Chevrolet Silverado westbound on H Highway around 12:27 p.m. that Saturday afternoon when he...
The following positions were announced in the Times in December, and candidates were invited to file to run for the positions from Dec. 10-31, 2024. Candidate profiles for local contested races will be published closer to the election date.
NON-CONTESTED
Two file for two positions on...
Patricia Ann Santos Duvalier, 59, of Dora, is now charged with second-degree murder and first-degree assault in connection with a March 14, 2023, incident in which she reportedly beat a 37-year-old non-verbal, disabled woman that she was hired to care for. The woman died as a result of the injuries...