City government and coaching moves were the biggest newsmakers of the last half of 2023 - and for the entire year for that matter.

New city managers. New mayors. Additional wards. Court rulings. Court settlements. Coaches resigning.

All of that and more shaped the latter half of the year.

The Times & Free Press gives you a look back at those stories and more in Part II of the year in review:

July

After tabling the potential hiring in late June, the Kingfisher City Commission voted at a special meeting on July 5 to hire Jim Thomas as the new city manager. Thomas had an extensive history of more than three decades in municipal government, most notably serving as city manager in Claremore from 2012-20. The vote to hire Thomas was 4-0 with Dawn Taylor, Kyle Mecklenburg, Debbie Burpo and Vice Mayor Geoff Covalt voting in favor. Mayor Roxie Alexander was unable to attend the meeting due to a health condition.

Less than a week later, at the city commission’s regular July meeting, members voted 3-2 to proceed with the construction of a 20,000 square foot fire station. Voting to move forward with the projected $10 million project were Dawn Taylor, Debbie Burpo and Roxie Alexander. Kyle Mecklenburg and Geoff Covalt voted against it. The size of the new station had been the subject of much debate as construction costs continued to climb and the projections of the FIRE tax would leave the city about $2.5 million short of the $10 million projections.

At the end of the meeting, Alexander announced she was stepping down as mayor. “Recent injuries from a fall make carrying out my duties extremely difficult,” Alexander said in her resignation letter. She had served as mayor since June 2020 and prior to that was a city commissioner for several years. Her resignation was effective immediately.

Postmaster Gary Townsend retired after 30 years with the United States Postal Service. His career began in Kingfisher in 1993 as a clerk/mail carrier. After several stops during his career, including postmaster at Hennessey for 13 years, Townsend returned to his hometown to serve as postmaster in April 2017.

Like Kingfisher, Hennessey hired Oklahoma Municipal Management Services to assist in finding a new town administrator. At the board of trustees’ July meeting, members rejected a list of potential candidates offered by OMMS. “They aren’t what we’re looking for,” Mayor Clif Vogt said after the board met for an hour in executive session.

The walls came tumbling down at Dover Ele- mentary School. The century- old structure was razed by crews in the July sun. The building was torn down just a few months after the new elementary school opened for students on the north end of the campus.

Working off a tip received in June, members of the Kingfisher Police Department and the OBSI’s Internet Crimes Against Children Unit interviewed and later arrested Bryan Kent Tollison, 41. According to the OSBI, the arrestee “engaged in sexual conversations with minors.” Tollison pleaded not guilty to the charge.

She didn’t get to compete, but she was still a winner. Kingfisher’s Kylie Hood - the reigning Distinguished Young Woman of Kingfisher County - was crowned the state winner at a ceremony in Kingfisher late in the month. Hood was set to take part in the state scholarship program, but multiple conflicts and personal reasons forced others to withdraw. Hood will represent Oklahoma in the national competition in June 2024.

Crimes were still germinating from the marijuana grow facility in Lacey that was the site of a quadruple homicide the year before. Three men - Jiffeng Chen, Zhenfei Xie and Lun Dian Zeng - were arrested by Kingfisher County Sheriff’s Office deputies east of Hennessey on State Highway 51. The men charged with grand larceny after the U-Haul truck they were in was discovered to be “filled with a large amount of u-shaped metal poles, two large industrial sized box style fans and some power tools” as well as marijuana stalks. According to police reports, one of the men told officers the men had been at the grow site.

Hennessey’s board of trustees voted to hire Starla Fuksa as the interim town administrator. David Treanor, the town’s parks and cemetery superintendent, had also been serving as interim administrator since Tiffany Tillman’s resignation in February.

August

Kingfisher police arrested Joseph Hayslip on a first-degree murder complaint. The arrest came hours after a deceased woman’s body was found in a room at the Cattlemen’s Inn. Police later confirmed the identity of the woman as Peggy Lynnette Bollenbach, 59, of Kingfisher, who had been residing with Hayslip. The arrest came after investigation and interviews by the KPD and OSBI.

OSBI officers arrested John Taylor Land, Jr., 53, of Cashion, on accusations of embezzling more than $100,000 from his mother. He was charged in Kingfi sher County District Court with a one count of exploitation of an elderly person by deception or intimidation, a felony.

Kingfisher Board of Education members held a special meeting in conjunction with a court-ordered settlement conference at the United States District Courthouse in Oklahoma City. The settlement conference in the civil suit filed against the district and four football coaches by Mason Mecklenburg lasted about six hours. After the conference - the details of which were ordered to not be discussed outside of the courtroom by the magistrate - the three present board members did not take any action on their agenda which was “discussion and vote to approve or not approve the settlement.”

County voters passed a proposition to extend a halfcent sales tax for another five years. The tax, which provides funding for county road and bridge projects, received a 69.57 percent approval.

Hundreds were without power in Hennessey after thunderstorms brought wind gusts up to 90 miles per hour. The storm took down multiple power poles and also blew a portion of the roof off of Hennessey First Baptist Church.

Tamara Hurd, 41, of Guthrie, a former assistant district attorney for Kingfisher County, was killed in an accident when the bicycle she was riding was struck by a car east of Guthrie.

Vice Mayor Geoff Covalt was voted mayor by city commissioners during the August meeting. Covalt was vice mayor and had tendered a letter of interest and qualifications for the position as did former commissioners Bill Tucker and Wendell Prim as well as citizens Chris Cameron and J.J. Stitt. Kyle Mecklenburg made the motion to appoint Covalt and Debbie Burpo seconded it. Covalt joined them in voting in favor while Dawn Taylor voted against it. His move into the mayor’s seat left open a commission seat, which would be filled at a later date by the same process that had just been followed for mayor.

Lila Michelle Aghaebrahimi, 43, of Kingfisher, was arrested on a felony warrant of trafficking in methamphetamine. The warrant and arrest branched from the investigation of the murder of Peggy Bollenbach the previous month.

Kingfisher County commissioners voted to rescind a contract with North End Construction of Norman after the company failed to respond to requests for a starting date on the parking lot project on the south side of the county courthouse. Commissioners moved to call for new bids for the project.

Justin and Lyndy Mecklenburg filed an application to assume original jurisdiction and petition for writ of mandamus with the Oklahoma Supreme Court. They are the parents of Mason Mecklenburg, who had a civil suit pending against the school district and four coaches. Their filing sought to compel the Supreme Court to direct the Kingfi sher Board of Education to fire head football coach Jeff Myers and also direct the State Board of Education to implement an interim superintendent to oversee the termination process. Kingfisher Public Schools, KPS Superintendent David Glover, the Oklahoma State Department of Education, Oklahoma State Board of Education and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters were named as respondents in the brief. Myers was not among those named.

Twelve FFA members from Kingfisher County chapters were announced to be among those to receive the prestigious American FFA Degree during the upcoming National FFA Convention.

Hennessey town trustees voted 3-1 to hire Tiffany Tillman as the town administrator and approved a fiveyear contract with a base salary of $85,000 a year, which was $22,000 more than Tillman was receiving annually when she resigned the same position in February. Voting to hire her were Mayor Clif Vogt and Trustees Bert Gritz and Randy Bohnstedt. Trustee David Jones voted against it and Vice Mayor Harold Shaw left the meeting after the board’s nearly three-hour executive session and prior to the vote. The meeting came one day after an anonymous email to trustees and other town employees threatening lawsuits “if she (Tillman) gets the job.” Prior to the meeting, Interim Town Administrator Starla Fuksa, whose tenure ended with Tillman’s hiring, handed out a two-page report listing potential issues she said she’d found during her month on the job.

September

The Oklahoma Supreme Court granted Jeff Myers’ motion to intervene in the legal action that was calling for his immediate termination. Myers was not named as one of the original respondents in the application to assume original jurisdiction and writ of mandamus filed the previous month by Justin and Lyndy Mecklenburg. The Supreme Court’s ruling allowed Myers to be a part of the proceedings, including oral arguments, which were rescheduled to October as part of this ruling as well.

City commissioners were originally scheduled to vote in a new member to fill the void left when Geoff Covalt became mayor. However, they voted to table the agenda item as Dawn Taylor was unable to attend the meeting due to an illness.

A crowd of more than 630 people attended the 87th annual meeting of Cimarron Electric Cooperative, easily surpassing the 400 members needed for a quorum.

Voters in Okarche passed a proposition to add two more trustees to its municipal governing body. The proposition passed 109-18 and bumped the number of trustees from three to five.

It was a banner day for cheerleading teams in Kingfisher County. Kingfisher was crowned the Class 4A state champion and Cashion the same for Class 2A in competitive cheerleading. The two earned the honor after their routines at the state competition at the UMAC in Tulsa. It was Cashion’s first-ever cheer title (but not the last of the year…stay tuned) while Kingfisher won its fourth overall title, but first since 2008.

All residents were reported safe and uninjured, but all had to be relocated from the Homestead Assisted Living Memory Care center on 13th Street. That was due to a fire that broke out in the facility. The sprinkler system quickly contained the fire and Kingfisher Fire Department members secured the facility, but enough damage (mostly smoke and water) was done to necessitate the temporary relocation of residents to multiple other facilities across the state.

October

Kingfisher County Republican Women celebrated 20 years as an organization during a gathering. The celebration included State Rep. Mike Dobrinski presenting KCRW a citation on behalf of himself and Sen. Darcy Jech.

The late Morris Farrar, founder of Farrar Construction in Dover, was inducted into the American Pipeline Contractors Association Hall of Fame. His son Randy Farrar and Randy’s wife Sherry attended the banquet in Savannah, Ga., to receive the honor for Morris.

Kaci Farrar was tabbed to fill the vacant Kingfisher City Commission seat during a special meeting. Also vying for the seat were Wendell Prim and Chris Cameron. All three candidates received a nomination for the seat in the first round of voting, but neither received a second. Prior to the second round, Prim asked that he not be considered as he planned to run for mayor in April 2024. Afterward, Debbie Burpo nominated Farrar and Dawn Taylor seconded. Kyle Mecklenburg and Geoff Covalt made it a unanimous vote.

A forensic audit of the Town of Hennessey by State Auditor & Inspector Cindy Byrd’s office began on Oct. 10. The audit was requested by District Attorney Mike Fields based on findings of a preliminary inquiry by the OSBI “into possible financial concerns at the Town of Hennessey,” Fields told the Times & Free Press. The audit, expected to take several months to complete, was to cover five years of records, Town Administrator Tiffany Tillman was told.

After it was reported the previous month that Tillman was hired on a fiveyear contract at Hennessey, the town board voted 3-2 to approve a “year-to-year contract” with Tillman at the base salary previously reported.

Four people were charged with criminal offenses based on the OSBI investigation that stemmed from allegations in the civil suit against KPS and four football coaches. Charged in Kingfisher County District Court were KHS head football coach Jeff Myers, former assistant coach Micah Nall, Justin Mecklenburg and Dana Golbek. Myers was charged with a felony county of child neglect while Nall was hit with two felonies, child abuse and perjury. Mecklenburg, the father of Mason Mecklenburg who filed the civil suit, and Golbek, a school board member, were each charged with a misdemeanor count of failure to report child abuse.

As a result of the felony charge, KPS put Myers on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the criminal matter. Superintendent David Glover announced longtime assistant Stan Blundell would serve as interim head football coach.

The Oklahoma Supreme Court denied the petition filed by Justin and Lyndy Mecklenburg to force the firing of Myers. The Supreme Court application was a separate filing from the civil lawsuit and the criminal charges that were also ongoing.

November

A pair of Center of Family Love executives spoke at Kingfisher Lions Club and discussed plans for a new $40 million project planned east of Piedmont that will serve as a “day program” to further expand learning and training opportunities for the developmentally disabled. The project won’t house residents like the one in Okarche, nor will it in any way replace the Okarche facility, the executives said.

KHS junior Kamryn Purintun was named the winner of the Distinguished Young Woman of Kingfi sher County scholarship program. The 57th event - formerly Junior Miss - was held at the Heritage Auditorium where Angela Muñoz, also of KHS, was the first runner-up. Purintun will represent the county at the state event later in 2024.

Kingfisher city commissioners approved a contract with the Oklahoma Department of Commerce to receive a $2.6 million grant to extend the Kingfisher Airport runway an additional 1,200 feet. The expansion will put its total length at 4,000 feet.

KingfisherPublicSchools agreed to settle its lawsuit with Mason Mecklenburg. The settlement agreement will see Mecklenburg receive a $5 million payout, stipulates mandatory training for KPS staff and board and also stated head football coach Jeff Myers would not have his extra-duty contract renewed. The agreement ended Myers’ coaching career at KPS, though he remained on administrative leave as a teacher pending the outcome of his criminal case.

The payout agreement called for KPS to pay Mecklenburg $1.25 million by early February 2024 with the remaining $3.75 million plus taxes to be paid from the school’s sinking fund over the next three years, meaning it falls to taxpayers within the school district. Figures provided to the Times & Free Press by the county’s accountant estimated the payout would result in a 12 percent tax hike for taxpayers over those three years.

Cashion won its second state cheerleading championship in a matter of months as it claimed the Game Day title for Class 2A in Moore. Cashion had previously won the competitive cheer championship in 2023.

A settlement hearing for a case against Kingfisher County and Sheriff Dennis Banther resulted in a $70,000 settlement. The case alleged inappropriate behavior by a county employee at the previous jail facility.

Miriam, Emmanuel Luthern Church’s comfort dog, unexpectedly passed away following a surgical procedure.

December

Nearly 200 people attended the December meeting of the Kingfisher Board of Education at which the board was set to approve the terms of the settlement agreement in the civil lawsuit. The board did vote to accept the terms, but by a 4-1 vote. Charles Walker, Carly Franks, Dana Golbek and Terry Payne voted in favor while Brad Wittrock voted against the motion.

Five people spoke during the public participation portion of the meeting. Public comments voiced issue with the board ultimately deciding to settle, some with the school district’s insurance situation, others with the majority of the payment falling to taxpayers and other comments voiced support for Jeff Myers. Retired pharmacist Tom Edgar elicited applause from the crowd when he said “this will be a precedent for more lawsuits.”

During the meeting, Wittrock addressed the crowd on a number of issues surrounding the case. (Editor’s note: Randy Mecklenburg, grandfather to Mason Mecklenburg, wrote a “Letter to the Editor” that appeared on the front page of the Dec. 3 edition. Wittrock’s comments at the meeting and a subsequent “Letter to the Editor” that he penned appeared in the Dec. 6 edition and addressed some of the points raised by Mecklenburg.) In his comments, Wittrock said the school board would seek ways to pay down the tax burden each year to lessen the hit on taxpayers.

Nadia Valles of Hennessey and Elizabeth Perdue of Kingfisher were named OSU Seniors of Significance for the 2023-24 academic school year.

Head coach Haley Mitchel and assistants Kaylene Ullom and Skye Tilley resigned their duties with the Okarche girls basketball program, effective immediately. Mitchel read her resignation letter during the Okarche Board of Education’s December meeting on Dec. 11. Superintendent Josh Sumrall confirmed to the Times & Free Press that the resignations came after he and others in the community received an anonymous letter making allegations against the coaching staff and the letter also referenced the recent lawsuit and settlement in Kingfisher. In her letter, Mitchel said “when threats have been made to destroy the reputation and lives of my family, coaching staff and myself, I believe there’s no other choice…The intentions the coaching staff has had for this program are clearly not being seen and therefore we cannot pursue our jobs.” Larry Black, who previously coached the Okarche girls for a total of 10 years, was named interim head coach. Mitchel, who played for years at Okarche and assisted her mother Cherie Myers for several years, was in her fourth season as head coach.

KHS senior Jorden Beck was “matched” with Notre Dame and will receive a four-year, full scholarship to attend the university as part of the QuestBridge Match Scholarship program. It’s estimated the scholarship is worth about $300,000.

A multi-county grand jury indicted three men for a scheme that allegedly allowed non-Oklahomans to illegally obtain commercial licenses for medical marijuana in the state. Indicted were Kevin Paul Pham, Alex Shiang Linm Chang and Richard Gregorio Ignacio. All three were linked to the grow farm in Lacey that was the site of a quadruple homicide in late 2022.

A minor was taken into custody for sending potentially threatening messages toward Kingfisher Public Schools students via social media. The district sent parents a message via a texting app on the morning of Friday, Dec. 15, alerting them to the potential threat. The minor was taken into custody later that morning.

It was discovered that KPS and the school board would be limited in its ability to ease the burden on taxpayers over the course of the next three years. An opinion filed by then-Attorney General Drew Edmondson in 2000 stated schools can’t use local or state funds to pay into a sinking fund, which the district hoped to do over the next three years in paying off the remaining $3.75 million of a settlement. The school can use federal funds for such a payment, but only if they aren’t specifically earmarked for something else, the opinion stated.

District Attorney Mike Fields announced earlier in 2023 that he would be resigning his position at year’s end. It was announced in December that Tommy Humphries of Piedmont, Fields’ first assistant since 2021, would step into the top job in District 4 beginning Jan. 2.

The Kingfisher Educational Foundation announced the disbursement of more than $60,000 in grants to KPS teachers with more than $56,000 coming from the KEF. The other funds came from the GO For Public Schools Innovation Fund and from KPS.

Former Kingfisher and Canadian county prosecutor Eric Epplin was named first assistant district attorney for District 4 by incoming DA Tommy Humphries. Epplin was managing attorney in the Kingfisher County DA’s office from 2014-17.