January 2022

Scoring 63 points in three straight games carried Okarche High School’s girls basketball team to the title at the 2021 Three Rivers Conference Championship.

The three wins extended the Warriors current winning streak to seven straight. Okarche, ranked third in Class A, improved to 16-1 on the season.

Haley Mitchell’s team defeated Crescent (63-25) and Oklahoma Bible Academy (63-45) before taking down Class 2A’s 18th-ranked Watonga 63-49 in the championship game.

It’s Okarche’s third straight Three Rivers title.

Fresh off a third-place finish in the Alex Longhorn Classic, Calumet High School’s boys basketball team uncorked its offense for a season-high point total in an 86-28 win over Gracemont.

The Chieftains, ranked sixth in Class A, moved to 14-3 on the season and 5-1 in the Washita Valley Conference standings.

Calumet’s 86 points was the seventh time in 17 games to score 70 or more points and the fourth output to eclipse the 80-point plateau.

Matt Snyder was one of four players in double digits with 21 points and 16 rebounds.

Veto Richey, like a lot of young guys, had some big hair in the early 1980s.

Former El Reno High School football coaches Tom Cobble and Rocky Carter remember some of their players like Richey would put a hair net on to help make their helmets fit better.

Richey, back then more commonly known as “Tommy,” was a standout running back for the Indians.

The Indians had a heck of a team. Ran the wishbone and Richey was a fast and powerful halfback. He also had a “can do” attitude that was infectious.

A Moore woman has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for driving drunk and killing four people in a Canadian County highway collision.

Ashley Louise Ricks, 34, had previously entered “blind” guilty pleas to four counts of first-degree manslaughter in connection with a deadly crash Oct. 17, 2020, on Interstate 40 near mile marker 120.

Ricks admitted to driving under the influence of alcohol and colliding with another vehicle, causing the deaths of Carol Jones, Laura Jones, Zachary Homant and Lily Homant.

El Reno’s Little League wrestling program held an Indian Taco fundraiser Sunday at the old county fairgrounds.

A Canadian County judge has granted the county commissioners’ motion for summary judgment in a negligence suit stemming from a Mustang woman’s fall near the county jail.

District Judge Paul Hesse issued an order Dec. 15 in a lawsuit filed in April 2020 on behalf of plaintiff Pamela Smith against two defendants, the Board of Canadian County Commissioners and the city of El Reno.

ANADARKO – Promising her team they could douse her with water if they won the 2021 Anadarko Warrior Classic, El Reno head coach Jennifer Douglas put up little resistance in the locker room following the game with Millwood.

Douglas’ team defeated the Falcons, ranked 19th in Class 3A, 47-32 in the championship game to complete the three-game weekend sweep and extend their current win streak to six in a row.

ANADARKO – After a 33-point blowout win in the opening game, El Reno High School’s boys basketball team suffered narrow back-to-back losses in the 2021 Anadarko Warrior Classic.

The losses dropped El Reno, ranked 12th in Class 5A, to 5-5 on the season.

El Reno defeated Chickasha 85-52 in the quarterfinals, but dropped a 60-53 game to Class 5A’s 15th-ranked Lawton MacArthur in the semifinals.

The Indians then lost an 86-81 double overtime contest to Anadarko (No.16/4A) in the third-place game.

A Yukon woman who brought drugs into the Canadian County Jail has pleaded guilty and received a seven-year deferred sentence.

Julie Ann Whiteley, 43, was charged Sept. 28 in Canadian County District Court with possession of contraband in jail (a felony) and possession of a controlled dangerous substance (a misdemeanor).

She also was charged Oct. 26 with unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia (both misdemeanors).

Ruth Kostruha Roberts Reusser was born Sept. 17, 1923, in Grand Rapids, Mich., to Rosie (Strouhal) and Charlie Kostruha. Ruth had a younger sister, Alice. The family moved to El Reno when Ruth was a child.