April 2020

A newborn Thoroughbred mare is fighting to stay alive after its mother took her sibling, but rejected her.

Denise Cope said the twin mare was born early Wednesday. Cope and Tammy Garcia were busy trying to feed the rejected foal from a bottle, while also trying to get the newborn to stand up.

Cope is hoping someone with a mare who has recently given birth will contact her and offer to let their horse nurse the newborn.

“She's fighting to stay alive,” said Cope. “Twins are very rare. I guess the mother thought one was all she could handle.”

While they might not fit the common mold as a frontline fighter in the battle to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, the work being done by the El Reno Public Schools food service team is nothing short of heroic.

Friday is School Lunch Hero Day across the nation, but for the 18 people making up the El Reno team, it’s another day to serve a greater need.

Seamstresses are being called during the COVID-19 pandemic to use their skills and talent for a new trend in modern-day fashion … facial masks.

The moment COVID-19 became widespread and caused a shortage in medical supplies worldwide, many seamstresses and first-time sewers found themselves in a position not only to help but also share their sewing experience with others.

Residents at Saint Katharine Drexel Retirement Center were treated last week to a drive-thru circus, compliments of Physicians Choice Hospice. The parade of cars pulled through a parking lot at the center, led by an El Reno police cruiser. Clowns and plenty of balloons and bubbles filled the air. Saint Katharine’s, like other long-term care homes, is locked down because of COVID-19.

El Reno police are looking for a white four-door car in connection with the shooting of a man Sunday evening.

Assistant Police Chief Kirk Dickerson said officers were called to the Elms Apartments, 1200 West Elm, just before 6 p.m. after a man called saying he had been shot. Officers found Terrance E. Rednose, 36, of El Reno at the scene. He was treated there for a gunshot wound and later was taken to an area hospital for further treatment.

Officers said the shooting actually took place in the 800 block of South Frances.

An 18-year-old El Reno woman found by police lying in the road Saturday night died later in an Oklahoma City hospital.

Assistant Police Chief Kirk Dickerson said the woman, Maria P. Estrada, was found in the 1500 block of West Elm, shortly after 9 p.m. Police had received a report of a woman falling from a moving vehicle.

When officers arrived they found Estrada. She appeared to have “various injuries.”

With the panic over Covid-19 and the news predicting a cure will take possibly a year or more to discover, perhaps it is time to revisit the past.

Until the advent of chemical antibiotics, nature provided all the ingredients to ensure survival and health for the inhabitants of the planet.

Here in North America, our own Native Americans survived severely harsh conditions with an intricate knowledge of healthful foods. The Plains Indians ate as they nomadically traveled and the Apache alone had over 200 items in their yearly diet.

Going through some online news the other day, I came to a couple of realizations. Obvious ones that we seem to forget as we’re going about our lives.

If you spend any time at all on the Internet, you’ll realize what a cesspool some of it can become. I didn’t have to look very far - I simply read public comments on a news article.

The story was about a teenager who committed suicide. While many left their condolences, some comments were insulting this child and making fun of Generation Z.

The Cresap Family Foundation has offered a $100,000 matching challenge to kick-start a relief fund managed by the Oklahoma Restaurant Association’s Hospitality Foundation.

Funds will be dispersed as $500 grants directly to restaurant and beverage workers to spend on their immediate needs whether that is food, rent, gas, medical expenses, etc. 

Applications will be taken until Wednesday, April 29 at 5 p.m. 

Updates will be given once the application process is live. Applicants must live in Oklahoma, Canadian or Cleveland counties.

A worker with Oklahoma Environmental Management Authority uses a crane to lift a boat into a dumpster next to the Denny-Crump Rodeo Arena over the weekend. The city is allowing free dumping into containers at the site for residents through May 2. Dumping is open from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m.