As is the case every year, there was no shortage of news in Kingfisher County in 2023.

There was tragedy and triumph; droughts and flooding; big school shakeups and a major move at Pioneer Telephone Cooperative.

The Times & Free Press was there to cover it all and as 2023 winds down, we give you one last look back at some of the stories that shaped the first half of our year: January

Jackie Sternberger, an English teacher at the high school, was named the Kingfisher Public Schools’ 2022-23 teacher of the year.

Christine Reid announced she was stepping down as editor of the Kingfi sher Times & Free Press to return to practicing law. Reid accepted a position as assistant district attorney in Garfield County, ending her run of 15 years as editor at the newspaper.

Dave Slezickey announces he’ll be stepping down later in the year as the Kingfisher city manager. Serving in the post for more than a decade, Slezickey accepted the same position at The Village in Oklahoma City. Later in the month, city commissioners named City Clerk Brittney Hladik the acting city manager until Slezickey’s successor was hired.

Two men - John Hazelton of Edmond and Jonathan Benton of Mustang - were killed in an airplane crash east of Kingfisher. The flight originated from Wiley Post Airport on Jan. 16 and Hazelton was listed as an instructor with Engineers Flying Club, Inc., which was listed as the owner of the airplane.

Nellie Sanders of Kingfisher was appointed to the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board by State Senate Pro Tempore Greg Treat.

Dover patrons - as well as past and present students and staff - packed Dover’s “old” gymnasium for one final night of basketball. Dover hosted Ninnekah in the elementary gym that was built in 1920, but was set to be torn down later in the year.

Dennis Mueggenborg was named the Citizen of the Year and Rachel Cameron the Volunteer of the Year at the 84th Kingfisher Chamber of Commerce Banquet.

February

Pioneer Telephone Cooperative announced it would be ceasing its cellular operations before the end of the year. In a letter made available through its social media platforms and its website, Pioneer called the move a “business decision.” Pioneer had begun its cellular operations in 1987. In an interview with the Times & Free Press, Pioneer General Manager Blake Callaham said being a regional carrier, it became increasingly difficult to compete with national carriers who could put together “aggressive device and plan promotions.” He said the national carriers also left little bargaining power on national roam rates. With the move, Pioneer’s main focus moved to its high-speed broadband service and the expansion of fiber installation.

Dave Slezickey officially wrapped up his tenure as city manager on Feb. 14. At the final commissioners’ meeting with Slezickey on the job, commissioners took time to praise his work. “The testament to a good leader is leaving a situation better than when you came in,” Commissioner Kyle Mecklenburg said. “There’s absolutely zero doubt in anybody’s mind who knows anything about this city that we are in a better position now than we were 10 years ago.”

Longtime Hennessey Town Administrator Tiffany Tillman announced her resignation after 17 years in the position.

Rachel Franks, a music teacher at the elementary school, was named the Hennessey Public Schools Teacher of the Year.

Kingfisher Planning and Zoning Commission approved a request to rezone a one-acre lot on the south end of the city to Commercial 2, which was one of the first steps in clearing the way for construction of a Family Dollar/Dollar Tree store. The building is currently under construction just south of the Holiday Inn Express.

March

Hours after allegedly shooting and killing his supervisor at Hobby Lobby in Oklahoma City, Domonique Thompson was pronounced dead at the scene after crashing his vehicle on State Highway 33 near N2960 Road in Kingfisher County. The crash ended a highspeed pursuit with authorities that began at Interstate 35 and State Highway 51.

The Kingfisher County Spring Livestock Show annual premium auction raised more than $143,000 for local exhibitors.

Okarche senior P.K. Harris was critically injured after being involved in a head-on collision with a semi-truck on Calumet blacktop. Harris was flown to OU Medical Center and had surgery to alleviate pressure on his brain. Just two months later, Harris was able to attend high school graduation with his classmates.

All 77 counties voted against State Question 820, which would have decriminalized marijuana use in the state. In Kingfisher County, just over 81 percent (2,402) voted against the measure while under 19 percent (552) voted for it.

Tragedy again struck Okarche Public Schools as longtime teacher Lyndal Westmoreland suddenly passed away. A high school English teacher, Westmoreland was also the district’s director of debate and speech/drama activities. Under his direction, Okarche won speech and debate state championships in 2001 and 2002 as well as one-act play state championships in 1990, 2004, 2010, 2016 and 2018.

Kingfisher’s Mike Sanders was named the first director of the Oklahoma Broadband Office. The state agency is tasked with ensuring at least 95 percent of Oklahomans have access to reliable, affordable highspeed internet service by 2028.

Lomega’s board of education accepted the resignation of Superintendent Steve Shiever, effective at the end of the school year. Shiever, a Dover graduate who served six years in Lomega, accepted the same position at Pond Creek-Hunter.

Kingfisher’s board of education got some good news as the bid opening for a major renovation project came in well under projections. The 19 different bid packages produced a total just under $6.2 million for the multi-phased renovation project, which was a full $1 million under recent projections.

Kingfisher Heritage Principal Shane Hood announced that he’d accepted the superintendent’s position at Aline-Cleo Public Schools. Hood was at Kingfisher for six years and served as a principal at three different schools during his tenure.

April

Brad Wittrock defeated Mitch Massey for the open seat on the Kingfisher Board of Education. The election day saw Michael Winn in Dover and Joe Alig in Okarche unseat incumbents on those respective boards of education.

In town elections, Dana Reese was re-elected as Okarche town clerk while Jason Kroener was elected to the vacant seat on the Okarche board of trustees. In Hennessey, Randy Bohnstedt, Bert Gritz and Clifford Vogt received the most votes for the board of trustees. Five men were running for three open seats on that board.

Town hall elections were held in Cashion and Loyal. At Cashion, incumbent Mayor Greg Morrissey and Trustee Brad Stone were re-elected to new terms and Trey Beutler elected as a new trustee. In Loyal, Trustees James Savage and Freda Faulkner were re-elected as trustees and Dorothy Glazier as town treasurer.

Debbie Burpo and Dawn Taylor took oaths of office to fill empty seats on the Kingfisher City Commission. Both were unopposed for the seats in the most recent filing period. Taylor is filling a three-year unexpired term left open by Ryan Deatherage when he resigned to take over as the county 911 director. Burpo’s term is four years as her seat was previously held by Vice Mayor Wendell Prim, who was ineligible to run for at least a year after serving eight full years on the commission.

Kingfisher Board of Education members voted to approve a five-year lease-purchase agreement to install synthetic turf at the football/soccer field and the high school softball field.

Lomega didn’t go far to find its successor for Steve Shiever. The board of education voted to hire Cory Wilson as its next superintendent. Wilson was Lomega’s high school principal for four years before earning the promotion.

Dover Elementary students were in for a surprise when they went to school on Monday, April 17. Principal Trilla Ramer informed students at breakfast that they weren’t returning to their old classrooms. Instead, they were moving into the brand-new elementary building, which was finally completed. The 30,000 square-foot building was approved by voters in August 2020. Superintendent Jay Wood was there to greet the students as they toured their new facility.

Thomas-Fay-Custer voters overwhelmingly approved a proposition to have that school district annexed into the Chisholm Trail Technology Center district. It became the fifth school district to join CTTC since opening in 1987, joining Kingfisher, Watonga, Lomega and Dover.

A second hail storm in less than 10 days battered parts of Kingfisher. The first storm happened on April 10 and had two rounds. The second storm hit April 19 a brought with it some stones that measured as much as two inches in diameter, bigger than a golf ball.

Lawyers for John Doe No. 1 in his lawsuit against Kingfisher Public Schools and four coaches announced a settlement demand of $5 million as well as the firing of head football coach Jeff Myers. If that demand wasn’t met within two weeks of the letter dated April 26 and sent to Superintendent David Glover and members of the board of education, the demand would jump to $10 million. Earlier in the month, the plaintiff filed a motion to extend the relevant time frame of the case to 2008.

Jared Reese announced he had accepted the positions of elementary principal and head boys basketball coach at Dover, ending the most successful run in KHS boys basketball history. During his 10-year tenure, Kingfisher was 248-28, won four state championships and was runner-up one other time. Danny Green, a member of Reese’s staff for the final seven seasons, announced he would be joining Reese in Dover.

Reese took the elementary principal role over after Trilla Ramer was reassigned as the district’s federal programs director, curriculum director and RTI director. Ramer, who said she welcomed the move, had been principal since returning to her alma mater in 2015.

Emily Garrett and Madelyn Gerken, both Kingfisher High School graduates, were selected to the top 21 Outstanding Seniors at Oklahoma State University for 2023.

May

Morgan Dutton was named Kingfisher’s new softball coach after being rehired by the district’s board of education at the May meeting. Dutton was a junior high softball, basketball and track coach at Kingfi sher in 2021-22 before she and her husband Bryan took jobs the next school year in Arkansas.

Dover’s Pedro Valles was elected state FFA secretary at the 97th Oklahoma FFA State Convention in Tulsa. Valles became the first person from Dover FFA’s chapter to be elected to state FFA office.

A near-record number of people turned out for the 70th Pioneer Telephone Cooperative annual meeting. There were 927 members who signed in at the meeting, a number topped only by the 1,190 who signed in for the the 60th annual meeting a decade prior.

Bert Gritz and Valerie Shamburg were chosen as inductees into the Hennessey High School Hall of Fame.

Several parts of Kingfisher County became movie sets during the month as Dirt Road Films shot scenes for the movie “Twisters” which is the follow-up to the 1996 hit “Twister.”

A 10-year, $21.5 million bond issue in Cashion fell just short of passing. The bond issue got 332 votes in favor and 248 against. The 57.24 percent approval rating fell shy of the 60 percent needed for bond issues. If passed, it would have allowed for seven additional classrooms, a cafeteria and other improvements to the district that’s growing at a rapid pace.

Chris Combs announced he would be joining Jared Reese and Danny Green on Dover’s basketball coaching staff. Combs was a part of the epic seven-year run enjoyed by KHS basketball and was at Kingfisher - his alma mater - for 23 years. Also making the move from the KPS district to Dover were Jill Haub and, the previous month, Lindsay Reese.

The judge in the federal civil suit filed against KPS and four coaches ruled that if the case was to proceed, John Doe No. 1 would have to file an amended complaint under his real name. That amended complaint later revealed John Doe No. 1 as Mason Mecklenburg.

Former Kingfisher High School basketball coach Carl Nick was selected for the Oklahoma Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame. Nick had two stints at KHS. He was here from 1963-70 coaching boys (and also a stint as the girls coach) and compiled a 120-48 record. He also coached the 1993-94 season. The induction took place in June in Edmond.

City commissioners approved an $18.7 million budget for the 2023-24 fiscal year, which would begin July 1. The budget was about $1 million more than the previous year for the city, which was projected to have about $9.7 million in carryover.

Former longtime educators Karla Eischen and Beth Schieber were announced as new inductees into the Kingfisher High School Hall of Fame.

KHS alum Capt. Will Walter of the Oklahoma Air National Guard was the keynote speaker at the Memorial Day service held at Kingfisher Cemetery.

Barry Pollard, a 1969 Hennessey High School graduate, was announced as a member of the 2023 class of the Oklahoma Hall of Fame. Pollard, who has a number of honors on his resume, served as a neurosurgeon in Enid for more than four decades.

June

The staffing carousel continued for local schools. Kingfisher hired two new principals at its June meeting of the board of education. They were Lisa Meier for Heritage and Chris Farris for the junior high. The board also approved the hire of Stefanie Wolf as the new ag ed teacher and FFA co-adviser. Wolf replaced Megan (Thormodsgard) Mueggenborg, who took the same position at Lomega. Also hired in Kingfisher was Colby Connel to succeed Jared Reese as boys basketball coach.

Craig Patterson, former KHS boys basketball coach, girls golf coach and athletic director, was announced as part of the 2023 class of the Oklahoma Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Patterson went 213-104 in his 12 seasons here and coached the Jackets to state four different times. His girls golf teams won three consecutive state championships from 2008-10. In all, Patterson spent 17 of his 36 years in education at Kingfisher.

Kingfisher attorney Paul Schulte was honored for 30 years of service on the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation’s board of directors during the OMRF’s spring meeting.

City commissioners were set to hire a city manager at a June 26 special meeting, but voted to table the lone agenda item after a 75-minute executive session.