News
White River Connect photo White River Connect, a subsidiarity of White River Valley Electric Cooperative, has been working in the Gainesville area over the last several weeks to bring fiber internet to residents and businesses. The first Gainesville customer to get internet to their home will be this Thursday, Feb. 13. Above, a White River Connect contractor works to install a Network Interface Device (NID) on the side of a residential dwelling here. The company is committed to offering fiber internet to all WRVEC customers, which includes most of the central and west side of the county. At this time, the service will not extend to the east side of the county, which is serviced through Howell-Oregon Electric Cooperative.
For years slow internet speeds have been a frustrating reality for Ozark Countians, but that is all about to change for Gainesville residents this week.
High-speed fiber internet is finally making its way to the area through White River Connect, a subsidiarity of White River Valley Electric...
Lorie “Shannon” Collins
Last week Lorie “Shannon” Collins, 50, of Gainesville, walked into the Ozark County Courthouse with her public defender Chase Opolka and officially accepted a plea agreement in connection with an incident last year that ultimately led to the death of her longtime boyfriend, Mark Ault.
During the...
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...
Patrice Santos-Duvalier
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...
Renee Schmucker
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...
Western District Commissioner Layne Nance Eastern District Commissioner Jim Britt Presiding Commissioner Terry Newton
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...
photo by David Vaughan Firefighters from Eastern Douglas County, Brixey-Rockbridge and Dora VFDs fought a blaze at Julie Booth’s house on east Highway 14 for three hours in the early morning hours Sunday.
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...