El Reno’s Christmas holiday season got under way over the weekend as the Lights in Legion Park were flipped on for a 12th straight year, while a large cross-section of the community took part in the two-hour festivities.
“We estimated the total number to be between 450 and 550 people. We had a lot of vehicles that drove through and others that stopped and came in. It was a great crowd and it was a beautiful night,” said El Reno Mayor Matt White.
It’s a Wonderful Life is coming back to El Reno.
For the second consecutive year, students in the El Reno High School drama and speech program will present the Christmas classic in a live radio play.
“We are so excited to present a radio play for the second year in a row,” said Stacy Haberland, drama teacher and speech coach at EHS.
EHS students in Haberland’s class presented the live radio broadcast a year ago to an audience that parked itself, literally, in the parking lot outside the EHS Media Arts building.
Last year’s October ice storm, coupled with the sub-arctic temperatures that arrived in February, proved too much for the tree in Petree Plaza that served for 30 years as El Reno’s Community Christmas Tree.
Assistant City Manager Kent Lagaly said a new 23-foot pre-lit artificial tree will now serve as the El Reno Christmas Tree.
The tree will be plugged in Saturday evening when the El Reno Christmas Parade and Tree Lighting event is held downtown.
The tree lighting is expected to take place after 5:30 p.m. The parade that day will begin at 11 a.m.
Health Career students from Canadian Valley Technology Center’s Cowan campus volunteered last week to prepare boxes of food for the Blessing Baskets Christmas distribution to families.
Blessing Baskets is preparing to help more than 500 families, which includes approximately 1,000 children.
High school juniors and seniors can earn up to 27 credit hours tuition-free through Redlands Community College’s concurrent enrollment program. Both eight-week and 16-week courses are offered online or via Zoom, as well as on high school campuses or on the El Reno campus.
Two Canadian County attorneys and a Canadian County judge received recognition at the Nov. 11 Annual Meeting of the Family Law Division of the Oklahoma Bar Association.
Attorney David Halley received the Guardian Ad Litem of the Year Award. This award recognizes the contributions made in family law matters representing the minor children of the parties.
Attorney Mark Osby received the Integrity Award of the Year, and Judge Charles Gass received the Family Law Judge of the Year Award.
El Reno High School’s girls basketball team will debut one of the best 1-2 guard punches in Class 5A Friday night when the Indians host Shawnee for the 2021-22 season opener.
Ashlyn Evans-Thompson and Tetona Blackowl are two of the three returning starters off last year’s state semifinal team which went 15-6 and spent most of the COVID-19 shortened season ranked in the top 20.
“A lot of what we do will go through them because they are the best ball handlers and have the most experience,” said El Reno head coach Jennifer Douglas.
The public safety crisis created by the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in McGirt v. Oklahoma can be summed up by one anecdote included in recent court briefs.
Many criminals now assert tribal membership to deter arrest — including “a known member of the white-supremacist Universal Aryan Brotherhood, covered in swastika tattoos.”
McGirt was hailed as a victory for tribal citizens. Instead, it’s been a windfall for society’s dregs who now actively target American Indians.
LAWSUITS
Midland Credit Management Inc. vs. Mark Long for $1,000 to pay a debt plus interest, costs and attorney fees.
Midland Credit Management Inc. vs. Lacey Wilkerson for $2,497.44 to pay a debt plus interest, costs and attorney fees.
Ford Motor Credit Company LLC vs. Bobby Tillman for $8,255.23 to pay a debt plus interest, costs and attorney fees.
Discover Bank vs. Deborah K. Epperson for $2,079.09 to pay a debt plus interest, costs and attorney fees.
To the Editor:
Thank you to the band and crew of Uncle Zep. You guys brought some normalcy back to El Reno.
We’re actually getting there after all this.
It was so good to see people Saturday evening that we had not seen in so long. Everyone appeared to be having a really good time and enjoyed sitting back in the old Centre Theatre and listening to some really good music.
Thanks for coming to El Reno. If you missed it, you missed a great evening.
I hope Uncle Zep will think an outdoor concert this spring or summer.
