The second of our multipart series of the 2025 year in review focuses on the months of April through June.

The events during those months were varying and impactful.

There were elections, milestones for businesses and civic groups, politics and more.

That more included the tragic death of a young child in an ATV accident.

It also included a wide range up triumphs for local athletes and teams as the spring sports season wound down with state championships.

And we also saw the beginnings of a back-and-forth between the City of Kingfi sher and a local developer who was running into road blocks to not only build a strip mall on Main Street, but, later in the year, move forward with a housing development.

Here are some of the biggest stories of those three months: April

Elections were held across the county for a number of different posts. In Hennessey, incumbents Harold Shaw and David Jones were the top two vote getters out of five candidates and retained their seats on the Hennessey Board of Trustees. John Peach also won an election to fill an unexpired term on the board while Kelley Vaverka narrowly won an election for town treasurer. Rena Walters and Angela Kubat received the most votes in a three-person race for two spots on the Dover Board of Trustees. In Okarche, Judd Kroener was elected to that town’s board of trustees.

A federal fraud charge was filed against Timothy Shane Abercrombie, 42, of Kingfisher, in United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma. Abercrombie was accused of defrauding Interbank in Kingfisher, where he was formerly a vice president, of nearly $900,000. Abercrombie would plead guilty to the charge in May.

The KHS choir received “superior” ratings - the highest possible - from all three judges at the OSSAA state contest in Stillwater.

In a loaded field, the KHS boys golf team placed fifth at the Kingfisher Invitational Golf Tournament. The big news, however, came from Heritage Hall golfer Ben Lathrop, who not only won medalist honors, but his 8-under-par 62 broke the tournament record of 63 held by Kingfisher’s Mason Overstreet since 2015.

KHS senior Brayden Osterholt accepted an offer to attend Yale University. Osterholt was a recipient of the prestigious Questbridge Match Scholarship and will receive a full, fouryear scholarship to the Ivy League school.

Kingfisher Rotary Club celebrated 100 years during the month. Members and guests were treated to a 100-year history by members Carolyn Flood and Darcy Reherman during a meeting.

A downtown Kingfisher staple, Walter Building Cen- May

ter celebrated its 30-year anniversary. WBC owner Brian Walter and his staff served lunch to more than 100 people who attended the celebration.

Scout Snodgrass made a stunning comeback in the 800 meter run at the Class 4A state track and field championships at Plainview. That comeback included seeing the KHS junior run down two-time defending state champ Isabella Gutierrez of Pauls Valley near the finish line to become the state champion in the event. Her time of 2:13.74 not only shattered her PR set at the 2024 state meet, but it also broke a 21-year-old school record of 2:15.5 held by Brittania (Long) Schroeder. Snodgrass medaled in four events at the meet and took part in another school record. She was joined by Mattie Slezickey, Harper Evans and Addison Price to place third in the 3,200 meter relay the day before. Their time of 9:47.86 beat the school record set by a KHS team (that included Snodgrass) at state in 2024. Snodgrass also was fourth in the 400 and part of the mile relay team that placed sixth.

Earlier in the month, Sam Wood made history by becoming the first Dover golfer to qualify for state. Kylee Bell added to history at the Class A state track and field meet when she became the school’s first ever gold medalist in the pole vault. She set a PR by clearing 11 feet and beating the runner- up in the event by 2 feet.

Cashion’s 800 meter relay team of Khloe Kastner, Chevy Eubanks, Kate Nabavi and Abby Hobgood finished in 1:45.67 to win the event in the Class 2A state meet. It was Cashion’s first-ever relay state championship. The second one came the next day in the 400 relay when Kastner, Eubanks, Hobgood and her younger sister Reese Hobgood won in thrilling fashion. Kastner, a freshman, also won gold in the long jump and was a silver medalist in the 200 meter dash. Abby Hobgood also got four medals as she was third in the 100 and part of the fourth place mile relay team.

A group of investors banded together after a fire destroyed the 89’er Theatre in 2004 and made way for the current one to be built. Those investors operated the theater for some 20 years, but announced in May that they had sold it to Zach and Jaryn (Frey) Buseman of Kingfisher.

Randy Bohnstedt was voted mayor and John Peach the vice mayor during a Hennessey Board of Trustees meeting. Bohnstedt succeeded Harold Shaw.

Chris Simon and Brian Walter were announced as the newest members of the Kingfisher High School Hall of Fame. The two were recognized during the 2025 KHS graduation ceremonies.

Cashion had been steadily building into one of the best 2A baseball programs in the state. It cemented that fact with a 7-0 victory over Oktaha in the Class 2A-I state championship game to bring the first baseball title to Cashion. The Wildcats finished the season 33-3 and were dominant in the playoffs as they went 6-0 with five shutouts and outscored foes 66-5.

In what would be the start of a months-long saga of decisions that would yo-yo back and forth, the Kingfisher Planning and Zoning Board denied two requests at a May meeting. One was a conditional use permit sought for 113 N. 6th St. to serve as a marijuana grow nursery. The other was in regards to a request to rezone property at 1000 S. Main St. from residential to general commercial. That was sought by Mike Matthews’ company, which was seeking to demolish the historic “Springer House” on the property and convert the area into a commercial center. Although the vote was unanimous, it wouldn’t be the last time Matthews was before the P&Z board on the matter.

Ryan Deatherage officially became a member of the Oklahoma State Board of Education when his nomination by Gov. Kevin Stitt was confirmed by the state Senate. His confirmation was carried by Sen. Darcy Jech of Kingfisher. Deatherage was appointed to the OSBE in February by the governor.

June

Tragedy struck as authorities confirmed the body of a 2-year-old girl was recovered from Kingfi sher Creek after an ATV accident west of Kingfisher. According to reports, a 23-year-old man was driving a four-wheeler on County Road 2800 through a low water crossing. The 2-year-old and a 10-yearold girl were on the ATV with him when it was swept away. Neither the 10-yearold nor the man driving the ATV were injured when they were separated from the ATV, but the 2-year-old was swept away. Her body was recovered by rescue personnel at the bridge at CR 2830.

Kingfisher County commissioners revised an inactive Kingfisher County trust to operate the county jail during one of their weekly meetings. The move alleviates some of the duties of operating the jail from the Kingfisher County Sheriff’s Office.

An aged storm siren system in Kingfisher failed to sound off on June 17 when the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for part of the county just before 10 p.m. “We tried to activate them, but they wouldn’t work,” said Fire Chief Ryan Gibson, whose department is responsible for activating the system when a warning is issued. Just days later during the weekly system test at noon on Saturday, the system worked properly. Still, the city purchased a new cloudbased activation system that can be activated by the National Weather Service. As a backup, select city personnel can also manually activate the sirens using their cellular devices.