News


The Gainesville City Council is currently investigating options for installing a more permanent pipe-style gate at Hoerman Memorial Park. Currently, the park has the cable and post system pictured above, but the city hasn’t been able to find a good system of utilizing it. With continuous vandalism at the park, the city is now considering installing a more permanent pipe-style gate that will be closed at night and reopened in the morning, a duty Councilwoman Lana Bushong volunteered to handle now. The city council also approved purchasing and installing more cameras at the park to attempt to catch the vandals in action.
The city council had a lengthy discussion about park security and ways to help curb the vandalism that occurs regularly at Hoerman Memorial Park. Mayor Gail Reich said she drove through the park at 10:20 p.m. a few nights before the meeting, and there were three adults in cars up at the park in the...
Gainesville Fire Chief Kevin Piland reported that the department had 23 calls last month (June), including 16 medical calls, one structure fire, four motor vehicle crashes and two brush fires.  Piland said the department also conducted five fire safety inspections, and responded to four special...

BVFD photo Bakersfield Fire Chief Greg Watts inspects what remains of a 2011 Dodge Citadel after the vehicle caught fire parked at Century Bank’s Bakersfield location last Friday, July 11.
Bakersfield firefighter Luke Croney’s quick actions last Friday afternoon likely kept a bad situation from becoming a whole lot worse. Croney said he had stopped in at Evan’s Kwik Stop, across Highway 101 from Century Bank of the Ozarks, before heading to work that morning. “I was just killing time...

Cade Nold was honored as the 2025 Boys Track Athlete of the Year by the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame at a presentation program in Springfield on June 18. He’s pictured here after the presentation with Dora High School track coach Sheree Nold, right, and assistant coach Kaitlyn Perkins. Sheree Nold is also Cade’s mother.
Last month, Cade Nold was named Boys Track Athlete of the Year by the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame during presentation ceremonies in Springfield. It was the third year the 2025 Dora High School graduate had been nominated for the award and the first year he won.  The Missouri Sports Hall of Fame...

Joann and Steven Young hug their granddaughter Willow in the Ozark County courtroom last Wednesday after officially adopting the girl. They are pictured here with Judge Craig Carter, far left, who presided over the adoption hearing. Also pictured are two of the Young’s other daughters, Daytona Young, front, and Hannah Vaughn behind her, with Hannah’s husband Cole, far right, and their children Presley (in Daytona’s arms) and Evelyn.
Before presiding over a docket of various criminal cases in the Ozark County courtroom last Wednesday, Circuit Judge Craig Carter handled a much happier matter - the official adoption of sweet Willow Young by her loving grandparents, Steven and Joann Young of Gainesville. “It was a wonderful...
There was confusion - and anger - in many Ozark County homes when residents received an unwelcome letter from the Ozark County Assessor in their mailboxes in late June. The memorandum of understanding informed all real estate owners in Ozark County (residents in several other Missouri counties...

The fireworks show was launched from the ridge across Highway 160 from the square and rodeo grounds. Sheena Taylor shared this photo showing some of the many vehicles lined up for the display.
Gainesville’s first-ever “Fireworks Over the Square” lit up the night sky July 4 as hundreds gathered downtown for a celebration that blended small-town charm with a big-time spectacle. The event, organized by the Ozark County Chamber of Commerce, is the first professional fireworks show to come to...
Subscribers of the Ozark County Times with addresses in West Plains, Pottersville and Moody should see better newspaper delivery service in the coming weeks, now  that Times staff members are direct dropping subscribers’ newspapers there.  The process involves driving those subscribers’ newspapers...

Times photo/Jessi Dreckman Lonnie and Bev Uchtman show two of the recent plaques that were awarded to them in honor of Lonnie’s achievement of being the only man to own the top three reproducing Bluetick Coonhound stud dogs in history.
If you know anything about Bluetick hounds or the sport of coon hunting, you’ve probably heard of Lonnie Uchtman. The Tecumseh resident has made quite a name for himself in the coon hunting community, building a legacy that reaches far beyond this place he calls home.  In his many decades...
Ozark County Commissioners assure residents that road and bridge crews are doing everything they can to fix roadways this year. The crews have battled round after round of heavy rains and floods that continue to destroy county roads.  “We’re fixing roads from the [previous] floods, and now there’s...

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Ozark County Times

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PO Box 188
Gainesville, MO 65655

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