November 2020

An El Reno schoolteacher and football coach was killed Monday evening in a vehicle accident.

Jacob Randall Briggs, 24, died in the accident that happened on S.H. 81, south of I-40.

“This is the worst thing to have to deal with. This is crushing to get that phone call and then get confirmation the next morning from the authorities. It’s devastating on our first responders because a lot of them knew Jake.

“This is tough on our faculty and tough on our young kids,” said El Reno Superintendent Craig McVay.

The last time El Reno High School’s football team reached the quarterfinal round of the Class 5A playoffs, the Indians did so with a district championship in hand along with a multi-game winning streak.

As fate would have it, Chuck Atchison’s district championship team finds itself on a similar path as that of the 2009 Indians as El Reno rides a seven-game win streak into Friday night’s quarterfinal game at Memorial Stadium.

Ironically, the Indians face the same team it did back in 2009 – the McAlester Buffaloes.

When a COVID-19 vaccine is made available, El Reno School Superintendent Craig McVay said he will be the first in line to take it.

McVay joined El Reno Mayor Matt White for El Reno Live, the weekly program that runs on Thursday at 3 p.m. on Facebook Live.

The 30-minute show allows residents to submit questions to White and city staff on any number of topics, as well as providing updates on city happenings.

McVay had been trying to join White for several weeks on El Reno Live, but the pandemic has played havoc with school as parents and guardians well know.

El Reno Main Street will present the Christmas Experience on Saturday, Dec. 5 in downtown El Reno.

The event will feature the annual Christmas Parade followed by shopping at local stores. Some 20 vendors are scheduled to be on hand as part of the Junk Hippie Tour and live window displays will be presented by Power Dance Company.

Young dancers from Dance Etiquette are scheduled to perform and the Joytones from First Baptist Church are also planned to perform.

El Reno police are asking the public’s help in finding a suspect wanted in connection with the theft of city of El Reno property.

A 2008 Ford F250 truck along with a 2020 Lamar 16-foot dump trailer were taken from the construction site of the SSM St. Anthony Healthplex being built along U.S. 81, just north of I-40. Police said the theft happened Nov. 11.

For 21 years, El Reno’s Blessing Baskets has orchestrated, with the help of the community, a Christmas Basket program that has helped brighten the season for many in the area.

And organizers say the ongoing pandemic known as COVID-19 is not going to stop the effort this year.

Blessing Baskets is planning to help more than 700 local families that will include more than 1,000 children with the Christmas Basket 2020 Program.

The Craft Brewers Association of Oklahoma (CBAO), in partnership with Equity Brewing, is announcing the inaugural Oklahoma Pint Days Nov. 28-29 to celebrate Shop Small Saturday and Small Brewery Sunday.

Craft beer fans can get their limited-edition collector’s glassware exclusively at 28 breweries across the state, including Expedinture Brewery in Okarche.

Oklahoma set a record for COVID-19 hospitalizations last week, and the United States reached a grim milestone of more than 250,000 coronavirus deaths.

After earlier surges in the spring and summer, the country is now in the midst of the feared fall coronavirus surge and we’re peering into the darkness that winter will bring. With more than 1,500 Oklahomans now hospitalized and new positive cases averaging more than 2,600 per day, it’s time for Oklahoma to act.

On Nov. 17 and 18, Oklahoma reported COVID-19 daily records for hospitalizations, ICU patients and deaths.