Conflict, Resolution, Championships: Wrapping up our look back at 2025

Our final installment of the year in review for 2025 looks at the last three months.

A dispute between the city and a developer ramped up, then found a resolution.

There were resignations, championships, the spreading of Christmas cheer and much more:

October

Nellie Sanders of Kingfisher stepped down as the state Secretary of Education, which was a part of a flurry of moves within Governor Kevin Stitt’s cabinet as well as the Oklahoma State Department of Education. Among the flurry of moves was naming Lindel Fields to succeed Ryan Walters as state superintendent of education. Walters had resigned several days prior. As part of the day’s moves, Stitt named Sanders and Tom Newell of Cashion to his “Turnaround Team” to assist Fields in his quest to right the ship at the OSDE. Newell had been Stitt’s chief of staff since December 2024.

F&M Bank and Community National Bank of Okarche announced they had entered into a merger agreement. The merger was expected to be finalized by the end of the year.

After years of planning and discussion, the new Kingfisher Fire Department took a major step toward reality with a groundbreaking ceremony on Oct. 6 at 1501 S. Main St.

The Dover baseball team won two elimination games at its regional, including 8-5 over Stuart in nine innings, to advance to the Class B fall state tournament for the first time in 15 years. Dover was defeated 2-1 by Leedey in the state quarterfinals.

Okarche’s baseball team made history. The top-ranked Warriors beat No. 2 Canute 8-2 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City to claim the Class A fall state championship. It was the first baseball title in Okarche’s history and capped a 30-2 season.

Ryan Deatherage resigned as the Kingfisher County Emergency Management and 911 director. Deatherage had served in the position since April 2024.

Chisholm Trail Technology Center hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Debbie Biehler Annex, which houses the center’s new electrical trades and expanded welding programs. Biehler has been on the CTTC board from its beginning…more than 38 years now.

There was a series of moves taken by Mike Matthews regarding multiple disputes with the City of Kingfisher. One saw him file a civil suit in district court against the city and its commissioners asking the court to vacate the previous vote by the commissioners that denied his zoning request. Matthews was also seeking the court grant him another hearing before the city commissioners regarding his request. Later in the month, Matthews began circulating a petition to seek the removal of Mayor Geoff Covalt and commissioners Dawn Taylor, Jeff Wittrock and Kyle Mecklenburg. Although he said he had more than the necessary amount of signatures, Matthews never turned them in to begin the process of recalling the city officials. A move later in the year would explain why.

That move came at a special meeting on Oct. 27. Commissioners voted to rescind their original vote to deny Matthews’ rezoning request. They followed that up with a 4-1 vote to approve the request with Covalt, Mecklenburg, Wittrock and Tammy Sammons voting in favor and Dawn Taylor voting against it. That was followed by commissioners voting to wave electric infrastructure fees for a housing development of Matthews’ that had been held up due to a dispute of those fees. That move cleared the way for Matthews to move forward with the development. Matthews said after the meeting that he would not be moving forward with his recall petition.

Several out-of-town landowners showed up at a Hennessey Utilities Authority meeting to protest a proposed waste dump facility just outside of Hennessey. The issue would continue to fester through the end of the year, which included landowners filing a protest that delayed a court hearing before the Oklahoma Corporation Commission.

Sgt. Thomas Duran, a 14-year veteran of the El Reno Police Department who lived in Kingfisher, died from injuries suffered during a hit-and-run accident while he was assisting a pedestrian.

Katon Lunsford and Taylor Mills of Kingfisher and Madisyn Myers of Lomega were announced as OSU Seniors of Significance for the 2025-26 academic year. They were among the top 1 percent of their graduating class at OSU.

November

Cashion held the groundbreaking ceremony for the expansion of its new high school and had good news to announce as well. The expansion was originally scheduled to be 30,000 square feet, but lower-than-expected bids allowed the expansion to be increased to 36,600 square feet. The project is expected to be completed in August 2027.

Kyle Glazier of Loyal, Tom Kloeppel of Kingfisher, Don Hennigh of Hennessey, Sheriff Aaron Pitts and District 3 County Commissioner Anthony Schwarz were named as the new board of directors for the Kingfisher County Jail Trust. The board will oversee the operations of the county jail, taking a significant amount of that burden off the plate of the sheriff.

Voters overwhelmingly passed a proposition to continue a half-cent sales tax that supports a number of county services. The vote was 464-184 in favor of continuing the sales tax for another five years.

December

State Commissioners of the Land Office “disapproved” their staff taking further action on property north of Okarche during a meeting. It was being requested by the land’s new lessee, Horizon Rail Group LLC of Davenport (which was leasing from Solaris), to “allow for a business expansion beyond what is permitted” by the lease and also asked “to include the remnants agricultural land surrounding the rail yard leased area in the exchange (trade)” according to minutes of a meeting. David Dollar of Hennessey listed Horizon Rail Group of Davenport on a previous DEQ application for commercial waste pits north of Hennessey.

Alberto Sanchez was the lone person to file for the opening seat on the Kingfi sher Board of Education during a filing period early in the month. Sanchez will take over the seat being vacated by Mike Copeland, who chose to not run again. He’ll take over the seat in April. Only one race developed in the county. Incumbent Jarrod Mueggenborg filed to run again in Okarche, as did Brian Mueggenborg. That election will be April 7.

The City of Kingfisher hired Inframark LLC to manage and operate the city’s water and sewer departments, including the employees.

Kingfisher Educational Foundation board members made their way throughout the district’s campuses to distribute some $77,000plus in grant monies to teachers and programs. KEF funded nearly $61,000 in grant requests and KPS funded another $16,000. The total amount was a new record.

County commissioners announced the hiring of Randy Poindexter as the new Kingfisher County Emergency Management and 911 director. He succeeded Ryan Deatherage, who resigned earlier in the fall. Poindexter is quite familiar to most in the county. He served as the Kingfisher fire chief from 2007 to 2013.

A retirement celebration was held for a pair of downtown icons. Dennis and Tammy Mueggenborg - owners of Designs by Dennis - served their final day as owners at the end of the year. Dennis began working at Maxine’s Flowers and Gifts in 1997 and then purchased the business in 1981 and renamed it to Designs by Dennis. The couple owned and operated the store in the same location for more than four decades.

The Kingfisher and Lomega girls basketball teams represented the county well at the 48th annual Bertha Frank Teague Mid-America Classic in Ada. Kingfisher finished as the tournament’s runner- up, falling to 3A No. 1 Washington in the finals. KHS defeated 2A No. 2 Howe and 3A No. 8 Keys in the first two rounds. Lomega knocked off 2A No. 7 Latta in the opening round before losing to Washington in the semifinals. The Lady Raiders bounced back to beat Keys for third place on the final day of the year.