June 2021

Close to two dozen people involved in the television and film industry in Oklahoma toured El Reno recently, guests of the newly created El Reno TV and Film Commission.

Steve Maddox, who helped create the local effort, organized and led the tour. The producers, directors and others involved in television and film met at the Elks Lodge on a Friday evening.

Kenny Haydon of Midwest Bus drove the group around town while Maddox explained what El Reno offers for TV and film.

“I was nervous about pulling off our first mixer,” Maddox said.

Canadian County should put any funds it receives as part of the American Rescue Plan into the search for a permanent water source.

Marc Hader, District 1 commissioner, made the statement at last week’s Legislative Breakfast put on by the El Reno Chamber of Commerce.

Hader, along with Sen. Lonnie Paxton, R-Tuttle, and Steve Carson, representative for U.S. Sen. James Lankford, addressed the audience at Redlands Community College.

Inmates caused damage to lights at the Canadian County Jail and action is being taken to help resolve the issue.

Canadian County commissioners recently gave their blessing to upgrade the lighting system in the older section of the county jail.

Voss Lighting will provide and install the new system for $42,500.

“The old lighting system – we have some destructive inmates and we’re constantly repairing these lights,” Canadian County Sheriff’s Sgt. Doug Gerten said.

El Reno High School’s volleyball program was greeted with its largest turnout for a youth skills camp as 71 campers took part in three days worth of fundamentals training as well as team-building games and competitions.

The camp was held in two sessions and was broken up by experience level.

Business incentives are to state economic growth what baling wire and duct tape are to home repair. Both are less-than-ideal attempts to provide a temporary solution to longer-term problems.

This problem came to the forefront again when state officials announced that Canoo, an electric vehicle company, will build a manufacturing plant in Pryor — and the company’s CEO told Reuters that $300 million in government incentives played a major role in the decision.

Phyllis Ann (Jason) Hunt, 77, passed away June 6, 2021, at the Californian Assisted Living Facility in Woodland, Calif. She had managed multiple severe physical problems for a number of years but finally succumbed to end stage kidney disease.

Phyllis was born in El Reno on Feb. 4, 1944, to William and Dorothy Jason. She was an only child and lived with her mother in El Reno until the age of 15 when the two moved to Sacramento, Calif. She graduated from Norte Del Rio High School in 1962 and attended a local program in cosmetology.

While she’s not in the cab of a combine, Lindsey Von Tungeln-Vise is keeping a close eye on every bushel of hard red winter wheat coming out of the fields her family has been cutting.

Using close to a dozen cell phone applications at one time from the cab of her pickup, Von Tungeln-Vise can see how much grain each transport truck delivers to the elevator in Geary.

Wesley in ACTSion, the mission team of Wesley United Methodist Church, has added five new Blessing Boxes to El Reno. The new boxes are located at Farm Bureau and The Lord’s Harvest on Sunset, King Electric on Shepard, going into the neighborhood off 27th Street behind Montana Mikes, and Sunrise Missionary Baptist Church on Admire.