January 2022

UNION CITY - Two days after picking up a huge road win over Corn Bible Academy in Washita Valley Conference play, Union City High School’s boys basketball team struggled on offense in the bookend periods against Alex.

The Tigers scored the first four points of the game but allowed a 17-0 run by the Longhorns. Union City trailed 17-6 after one period and 30-20 at the half.

Union City went on a 21-6 break in the third period to lead 41-36 going into the final period, but was outscored 20-3 en route to a 56-44 loss to Alex in the non-conference game.

When Kyle Dillingham and his band Horseshoe Road take the stage Saturday night at the Centre Theatre, there will be several broken violins on stage with them.

The broken violins aren’t props. They are part of the award-winning Dillingham’s show. More importantly, the broken instruments are there to help share a message. That message is “We’re all broken, but through the Grace of God we can still make beautiful music with our lives.”

Dillingham and Horseshoe Road will perform at the theatre in downtown El Reno at 7:30 p.m.

Okarche Fire Chief Steve Liebl confirmed two people were injured Monday by an explosion at an oil site owned by Devon Energy.

The site is located west of Okarche at the corner of NW 248th Street and Brandley Road. Liebl said the first call on the explosion came into his department around 2 p.m.

“Once we got on-scene we were dealing with a grass fire, medical, as well as the vehicles that were on fire,” said Liebl.

Liebl said the vehicles involved were a pickup with attached trailer, a vacuum truck and the component vessel workers were doing maintenance on.

A fire that may have started in a backyard electrical box scorched the yards of two homes on Golf Course Drive Monday night.

Residents called 911 and said police and fire crews were on the scene very quickly.

A crew from OG&E arrived as well.

One of the homeowners, George Knott, used a garden hose to keep the flames from his house before firefighters arrived. Neighbors said flames were several feet high.

More than two dozen wreckers from across Oklahoma arrived in El Reno Wednesday afternoon in a tribute to the late Wayne Albrecht and his family, longtime owners of Cavin Wrecker Service. Albrecht died Jan. 21 at the age of 84.

His life was celebrated during a service at Bible Baptist Church on South Country Club Road.

Albrecht’s son, Bryan, currently serves as president of the Oklahoma Wreckers Owners Association.

Last week marked 49 years since the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that has taken over 60 million innocent lives since its ruling in 1973.

This anniversary reminds us that the fight for life is far from over and that we must use our voice to speak out louder than ever before.

The United States was built on the right to life.

Our Founding Fathers wrote in the Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights: the Right to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

The intensity of emotions expressed online when natural disasters strike doesn’t necessarily lead to an equal amount of financial assistance when people need recovery help afterward, according to recent Oklahoma State University research.

Bessie Louise Gilliam Jenkins passed from this life on Jan. 20, 2022. She was born Sept. 1, 1933, in Bells, Texas, to William Neal Gilliam, a farmer, and Ola Mae Belsher Gilliam, a teacher. Growing up in rural Texas, Bess was encouraged by her mother to pursue her interest in teaching, telling her that next to the ministry, teaching was one of the highest “callings” one could have.

Wayne William Albrecht passed from this life on Jan. 21, 2022, at the age of 84. He was born to Earnest and Bessie (Stack) Albrecht on Aug. 21, 1937, in Woodbine, Kan., the youngest of four children. He graduated from high school in Herington, Kan., and enlisted in the U.S. Army where he spent part of his service in South Korea.