2025: A Year In Review

As shocking as it may seem to some, 2025 is at an end. Time seems to fly by faster with each passing year. There was no shortage of excitement in the community, however.

In the first week of the 2025 year, the O'Neill Eagles hosted their Holiday Tournament, and the girls managed to claim the top spot, with the boys taking runner-ups.

The week of January 9 announced O'Neill native Michael Harvey was serving aboard a future Navy warship.

Later, the Holt County Animal Shelter met their goal of collecting shoes for a third-world country. They were awarded a $1000 grant for the collection.

A celebration was held Jan. 17 to honor Veterans who served in World War II around 80 years ago.

The O'Neill Police Department announced it had reached it goal of $15,000 for a new K-9 unit.

Moving into February, and keeping with police news, it was announced that Holt County law enforcement would see an increase to their wages.

Sports fans had some exciting news when the St. Mary's Cardinal girls and boys basketball teams both claimed the NVC Championship title.

O'Neill High School had news of their own when they sent five wrestlers- Molly Corkle, Pryor Mathews, Brody Jakubowski, Grady Welke and Reid Laible to State.

With March quickly approaching, the Irish Hall of Fame revealed Tom Allen and Scott Poese were to be inducted this year.

Avera St. Anthony's Hospital decided it was time for a slight makeover, so they asked St. Mary's for some help. The students created some artwork to be displayed on the walls of the Hospital.

  St. Mary's graduate Kiel Neumann made the headlines with his contributions to tracking diseases such as Alzheimer's

St. Mary's stayed in the news when their boys basketball team brought home the Championship title in their final match against Wynot on Mar. 15. Unfortunately, the girls were cut short from the competition the week prior by Archangels Catholic.

In the final week of March, we got some interesting insight into what it was like for the St. Mary's boys and girls sports teams, practicing in a building still undergoing renovations from the Oct. 7, 2024 explosion.

St. Mary's continues making the news when they, along with Stuart and Chambers, came home with the Speech first, second and third  State Championship titles, respectively.

The week of April 10 O'Neill High School posted their Prom Royalty Candidates; Zuri Moore, Chelsie Janzing, Brooklynn Cahoy, Taylor Staroscik and Alana Hoefer were the Queen Candidates. King candidates were; Cooper Hoffman, Weston Kohl, Marcell Summers, Reese Grosch and Trevor Alder.

The O'Neill Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon cutting for Davidson Guns here in O'Neill during the week of April 17.

April 24 brought some exciting news for the community, as some of this year's Summerfest entertainers were announced, including Sam Barber and an Elvis impersonator.

Now in the month of May, there was a turkey hunt near the Niobrara River for qualifying veterans.

The next week brought the announcement that Butte was reopening their nursing home for Boyd County and surrounding areas.

The week of May 15 celebrated the seniors' of O'Neill High, St. Mary's High and Chambers High school graduation.

Shortly after, St. Patrick's Church showed off a mock-up of renovations they were planning to their Church.

In the final days of May, O'Neill held its annual Memorial Day celebration, hosted by Pastor Bob Wynn.

The first week of June was a special one for Page high school when some from the classes of 1955, 1965 and 1975 reunited.

An event honoring O'Neill's Fire Department with an awards ceremony was held June 7.

The week of June 19 brought some unfortunate news with the announcement that the O'Neill's Men's Club would not be able to shoot off fireworks as part of this year's celebration.

O'Neill High School made the news again when eight students were selected to participate in the 29th All-Star Masonic Marching Band during the halftime show of the Shrine Bowl game in Kearney.

Keeping with OHS, they, along with St. Mary's, held some class reunions. SMH reunited the classes of 1975, 2000 and 2015. OHS saw the reunion of the class of 1975.

The week of July 10 showed off some of the highlights of Stuart's 4th of July celebration.

Page held their yearly Community Day shortly after. There was tons to do this day, with events for all ages.

After a long build-up, O'Neill's Summerfest events finally dropped the morning of July 17th.

With July coming to a close, an insightful article written by Jerry Raehal was submitted that took a deep dive into the importance of newspapers and their impact on not only their community, but news in general.

Moving into August, this was the time some kids may have not been looking forward to, with schools starting to announce times they would be back in session.

The week of August 14,  a Vietnam Memorial Replica was announced to be visiting Spencer Sept. 2 in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the war's end.

Another announcement came in the form of this year's Ribfest to be officially held Sept. 13.

KBRX released dates for the Tandem Wing Fly-In "Field of Dreams" event coming soon to the John Baker Airport in O'Neill

In the first week of September, High school sports were underway, with St. Mary's and O'Neill High coming away with wins in Volleyball and Football

The week of Sept. 11, two businesses, with the assistance of the Chamber of Commerce, held ribbon cuttings. They were Norfolk United Way and B's Sweet Treats.

Our local Fire Department received a huge buff in the form of a $2,100 from Black Hills Energy. Other Departments around the area also received generous donations for a total of $135,000.

September closed out with the honoring of Jacob Miles, who was promoted to the rank of Navy Chief Petty Officer. Miles graduated from OHS in 2008.

October kicked off with Leah Chohon taking first place in the Women's Division of the Cowboy 100 mile race in Atkinson with a time of 20:12:14. Other area runners had impressive times as well.

October 9th's edition looked back on the 2024 Parish Center explosion and how the community came together to overcome such a huge obstacle.

Atkinson released the news that Bryan Olesen, finalist on the show The Voice, would be performing a free concert in the town with his band VOTA.

The OHS Eagles and the SMH Cards were in the spotlight when they prepared for Football State Playoffs.

The Fire Department received another generous donation in the final days of October. This time it came from Christensen Farms.

Getting ready for memorial day, the Independent ran an article detailing the beginning and the meaning of the celebration.

CASA made the news when they received donations from Torpin's Rodeo Market and the O'Neill Lion's Club.

The week of Nov. 20 the O'Neill Chamber of Commerce announced the Ladies Night Out winners. In total, $750 was given out to the lucky winners of the day.

In the final week of November, the long-standing Independent building was taken down after being cleaned out about one year ago.

Moving into the final month of the year, the O'Neill Fire Department was kept busy with three separate calls made. One a truck fire, another a trailer house fire and the final being the doors to Super Foods being rammed through.

The second week of December highlighted some events from the community's annual Hometown Christmas Celebration.

Keeping with the theme of the holidays, next week's new saw Faith Community Church hosting their own Christmas programs.

Another annual tradition is posting all of the third graders from St. Mary's and O'Neill Public Schools wishes for Santa Claus in the final issue of the year.

We hope everybody had a merry Christmas in 2025 and can look forward to a happy new year!

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