April 2020

MARRIAGE LICENSES

John David Vincent, 46; Julie Denise Morgan, 37.

Jeremy Bill Birchfield, 40; Lori Gail Betterton, 51.

Ttendo Sseruyange, 39; Esther Kiyombya, 38.

Ruben R. Ramirez, 57; Alissa Diane Proffitt, 49.

Christy Michelle Koger, 41; Jasman Marie Marrison, 44.

Charley Ryan Walker, 47; Kimberly Ann Faulkner, 51.

Thomas James Lively, 56; Neva Loraine Wood, 60.

Nathan Chance Jensen, 19; Alicia Nathalia Ceballos, 21.

Michael Keith Woodruff, 28; Samantha Jene Wann, 32.

Dillard Girard turned 90 years old on Saturday, April 4, but he couldn’t have a traditional birthday party because of the coronavirus pandemic. So family and friends found a way to celebrate with the Navy veteran, retired El Reno postal worker and lifetime farmer.

The Oklahoma Tax Commission released its figures for El Reno’s April sales and use tax collections and the numbers have Matt White worried.

White is the mayor and acting city manager for El Reno.

The figures are for February collections as well as the projected sales for the period of March 1-15, the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak in Oklahoma.

Several weeks ago, Canadian County Sheriff Chris West said his office was trying to track down ancestors of a deputy who was killed in a shootout with outlaws more than 100 years ago.

West wants to honor Deputy Sheriff Sam Farris who died in the shootout that took place on the streets of Yukon.

The sheriff thought ancestors of the slain lawman may be living in the El Reno area.

Enter Jean Kyle.

Kyle is a genealogy enthusiast.

Helen Ruth Jones, 89, formerly of El Reno, passed away April 7, 2020.

Services are pending with Wilson Funeral Home. 

When should someone get tested for COVID-19?

On Tuesday, the Canadian County Health Department began drive-up testing at its locations in El Reno and Yukon.

“At this point you can go to your physician or you can call the health department if your physician cannot do tests,” said Maggie Jackson, District 2 Community Engagement director.

District 2 covers the seven counties of Canadian, Logan, Kingfisher, Blaine, Major, Garfield and Grant. On the first day of testing in Canadian County, there were 26 swabs taken in El Reno and 20 in Yukon.

El Reno mayor Matt White updated his State of Emergency Proclamation Wednesday to add what he calls more “teeth” to the city’s fight to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

“It’s similar to what we are doing now, but here are some differences. We looked at what Guthrie, Yukon and Oklahoma’s City and what they were doing and then tailored it to us right now. We can add or subtract things depending on how this works,” said White.

The main difference from his first proclamation dated March 16 is the city is asking all residents to shelter in place.

A quick glance at the final Class 5A girls state basketball rankings and it’s easy to see why games in the Suburban Conference were knock-down, drag-out battles on most nights.

Six of the league’s eight teams, including El Reno High School, were ranked in the top 17 of that poll. Two of those teams went on to qualify for the state tourney before it was canceled due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

“When you talk about our conference, there were four of us that really should have been at state so this is a big-time conference,” said El Reno head coach Jennifer Douglas.