December 2020

Someone apparently checked out some library equipment without permission.

El Reno police said five Google Pixel laptop computers were taken from the Carnegie Library. The theft was discovered Nov. 16 by library staff.

The computers were being stored at the library, police said.

The estimated value of the equipment was $3,300, reports said.

In another police matter, reports said an officer pulled over a Hyundai Elantra being driven without the headlights on.

El Reno High School cheerleader Caleb Garrett sticks his head out of a weather enclosure to take a bite of chocolate from Ainslee Bailey during halftime of the Indians playoff football game with McAlester. Temperatures were in the low 40s for most of the game.

Construction on the new Canadian County Fairgrounds is moving along. The more than $15 million complex is being built just north of Jensen Road and east of U.S. 81.

The fairgrounds is expected to be complete by summer of 2021 and in time to host the Canadian County Free Fair.

El Reno Main Street will present the Christmas Experience Saturday 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.

A national celebration to commemorate the 100th anniversary of U.S. 66 will start in Oklahoma with a weeklong road festival that will kick off next June.

“Ever since Tulsa’s Cyrus Avery helped pioneer the U.S. highway system in the 1920s, the Mother Road has been intrinsically connected to Oklahoma and its early history,” said Jared Peterson, president, AAA Club Alliance Great Plains Region. “So it is only fitting that Oklahoma will be first in line to begin a national celebration of the 2,400-mile highway’s 2026 Centennial.”

A full moon helped light up the sky Sunday night.

A few weeks before the 2020 election, I visited a local gun shop. It was a madhouse. Weapons flew off the shelves as fast as customers could get their wallets out.

Ammunition was in short supply too. Why? Well, on the front door, a flier warned that, if elected, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris would act quickly to push “gun control” legislation through Congress.

“Panic buying” before a big election, just in case, is the norm. That means booming business for gun dealers, but there’s just not much reason for gun owners or would-be gun owners to worry.

The Okarche High School speech team recently competed in two virtual speech tournaments, winning the Class 3A sweepstakes award in both. 

Five OHS students competed in the Muskogee Little Nationals, one of the oldest tournaments in the nation, while nine students competed in the Marlow tournament to claim the top school award in Class 3A.

Individual results from Muskogee are as follows: Madison Schaefer, first in both prose and standard oratory, Kaylea Steelman, second in poetry, Brody Sadler, second in standard oratory, and Afton Shirey, second in prose.

LAWSUITS

Midland Funding LLC vs. Alison Dunbar for $2,327.08 to pay a debt plus interest, costs and attorney fees.

Midland Funding LLC vs. Kate Grady for $1,995.01 to pay a debt plus interest, costs and attorney fees.

Citibank N.A. vs. Christina A. Hays for $4,721.71 to pay a debt plus interest, costs and attorney fees.

Conn Appliances Inc. vs. Christine Dries for $2,134.74 to pay a debt plus interest, costs and attorney fees.

Unifund CCR LLC vs. Michael J. Onstot for $1,947.59 to pay a debt plus interest, costs and attorney fees.

Mass of Christian Burial for William “Bud” Jensen will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 2 at St. Joseph Catholic Church, Union City, with  Rev. Lance Warren officiating. Services are under the direction of Huber-Benson Funeral Home.

Bud passed away Nov. 26, 2020, at his home in Mustang. He was born April 22, 1942, in Pueblo, Colo. After graduating high school in 1960, he served for three years in the U.S. Army and then began a life-long career in the building industry. He was an active member of St. Joseph Catholic Church and he especially loved singing in the choir.