June 2021

Oklahoma Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell, along with state Sen. Lonnie Paxton (R-Tuttle), and State Rep. Rhonda Baker (R-Yukon), helped kick off A Small Town Weekend in El Reno when they drove the original 1926-1932 alignment of Route 66 through El Reno neighborhoods.

The state officials would end the cruise in the home of Karen Nance, director of El Reno’s Chamber of Commerce.

Nance and her husband, Larry, live on Hoff Avenue, one of the streets that was the original Route 66 highway.

Gov. Kevin Stitt appointed Redlands Community College alumna Kass Newell to a seven-year term on the college’s Board of Regents, succeeding Yukon businessman Jim Kitch.

Newell earned an associate degree from Redlands in 2012 and was a member of the college’s National Champion Livestock Judging Team.

“I am so honored to be asked to serve the college that was such an important step in my life,” Newell said.

In a letter sent to Oklahoma’s two U.S. senators, the secretary of the Oklahoma State Election Board warned that an election bill promoted by congressional Democrats “guarantees chaos in our elections.”

The June 2 letter from Oklahoma State Election Board Secretary Paul Ziriax focused on the provisions of S.1, titled by its authors as the “For the People Act of 2021.”

Remembrances of the Tulsa Race Massacre have focused largely — and understandably — on the tragic and unnecessary loss of life and property. But Oklahomans should not ignore other lessons provided by the rise and resurrection of “Black Wall Street,” Tulsa’s Greenwood district.

Too many observers gloss over the fact that a center of wealth and commerce was a black community in a state where Jim Crow laws were still enforced —at times, brutally so. How could this be so? Because the power of free markets is often greater than even the power of true systemic oppression.

Pictured are the winners from the 2021 A Small Town Weekend Hot Wheels Races, from left, Henry Weaver of Chickasha (13), Mattison Norton of El Reno (3) and Asher Schweitzer of El Reno (6). 

Canadian Valley Technology Center had several dozen state contest placers, including many state champions.

El Reno Campus National Contest

Business Professionals of America (BPA)

Ian Fowler placed eighth in Server Administration Using Microsoft as well as 10th in Computer Security.

State Contest

Business Professionals of America

C+ Programming: Austin Bole, first.

Okarche junior high students Brenna Crider and Jaici Easton were recognized at the annual Delta Kappa Gamma conference held recently in Oklahoma City.

The girls submitted essays to the DKG’s annual essay contest, and after placing first in the countywide contest, continued to the state level, each placing first at her grade level.

Brenna and Jaici received certificates of achievement and a monetary award.

Their teachers are Traci Fuller and Lyndal Westmoreland.

Honor rolls at Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford and Sayre have been announced for the 2021 spring semester.

An undergraduate student earning all A’s in 12 or more hours during a semester qualifies for the President’s Honor Roll. Recognition on the Dean’s Honor Roll includes completion of 12 semester hours of undergraduate work with a grade point average of 3.5 or higher with no grade lower than a C.

In an effort to get more competitive against upper-tier opponents, El Reno High School girls basketball coach Jennifer Douglas has opted to put her players up against some of the best teams in the state this summer.

So far the move has paid off.

In its first summer outing, El Reno posted a 5-3 record in the Mustang Lady Broncos Summer League against a predominant Class 6A schedule.

It wasn’t long after he first picked up a glove and started throwing a baseball around that Rhett Kouba dreamed of one day playing on the biggest stage in college baseball – the NCAA College World Series.

Now the El Reno native is two games away from becoming what is believed to be the first EHS graduate to ever play in the CWS.

“It’s been a dream of mine since I was a little kid. We would watch the games on television and I can recall seeing so many great games and all the great players that made it there. Being this close to making it myself is unreal,” said Kouba.