By Caitlyn Cummings

At the August 20 meeting of the Ozark City Council, members of the Ozark-Dale County E911, Ozark Police Department, Ozark Fire Department, and Ozark EMS were commended for their quick response time to the near-drowning emergency of a five-year-old Ozark child. It was a mere sixteen minutes from the arrival of first responders on the scene to their arrival at Dale Medical Center. The child was later flown to UAB Children’s Hospital in Birmingham where he made a full recovery.