May 2022

Graveside services for Sam T. Crawford of El Reno will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday, May 11 at Canadian Valley Cemetery in Calumet with Rev. Paul Roach officiating.

Mr. Crawford died May 3, 2022, at his home. He was born Dec. 24, 1937, in Calumet. He was a farmer and had worked for the railroad. He was a member of First Christian Church of Calumet.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Coy and Georgie Crawford; his wife, Audrey; son, Nathan Crawford; brother, Johnny Crawford, and sister, Sybil Penwright.

El Reno Fire Chief Jason Duff uses hand signals to guide the ladder operator into position to allow him to take down the Burger Day Festival banner over Rock Island Avenue that was damaged by high winds in April.

Opinions on Oklahoma’s weather are often more variable than the weather itself.

Some Oklahomans will look back on April 2022 and remember the seven confirmed tornadoes that touched down, although that is still below the long-term average of 11.7 for the month.

Many others will remember drought that saw both intensification in the northwest and improvement across the southeast.

There is one aspect of this April’s weather that would unite most Oklahomans, however — the wind.

It all started from a giant baby bottle and a challenge to fill it with spare change.

Fresh Anointing took the challenge.

When the bottle was full, Brother Beau Davis, who had brought the bottle from Gateway Testing as a fundraiser, told the congregation that he would take a pie in the face when the bottle was full.

It took several months for the bottle to be filled, but when the bottle was full, then they raffled off chances for 50 cents to see who would get to throw the pie in his face.

Recently, the Stillwater Board of Education announced it will not change course on its policy of allowing boys to use the girls bathrooms unless given “no choice” by state officials.

They took that stance despite countless requests to change course from Stillwater parents and the fact that the rare non-gender-conforming student can easily use a single-stall bathroom at the school.

The Stillwater board stuck with recommendations from State Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister’s agency and ignored both parent wishes and actual legal requirements.

MUNICIPAL COURT

Naomi Davidson, El Reno, failure to appear warrant, $295.

Michael Everett Sweezy, Mustang, failure to appear warrant, $295.

Thomas Morton, Calumet, failure to maintain single lane and driving under suspension, $570.

Thomas Christopher Morton Jr., El Reno, driving under suspension and failure to appear warrant, $690.

Mileena Kay Horse, El Reno, obstructing an officer, $845.

Kameron Capone Wallace, Yukon, failure to appear warrant, $295.

El Reno High School held its 2022 prom recently at The Festivities, located in downtown El Reno. This year’s theme was “A Night Under the Stars,” with 310 tickets being sold for the event.

Students arrived for the Grand March which included a walk down the red carpet. The line waiting to arrive for the march was four vehicles wide and stretched for three blocks.

LAWTON – Watching both teams warm up, El Reno High School girls soccer coach Andrea Williams knew there was not a clear-cut favorite in the Indians first-round playoff game with Lawton MacArthur.

“This is a toss-up, we look pretty even,” said Williams.

Turns out she was right.

Making its fifth playoff appearance in eight years under Williams but the first since 2018, El Reno played the higher-seeded Highlanders to a stalemate for 80 minutes of regulation play and 7:09 into the first overtime period.

Then disaster struck.

Shorthanded by a player for the Class 5A West Regional, El Reno High School’s boys golf team fell short of qualifying for the state tournament set to start Monday.

The Indians did advance one golfer to state, being played at the Duncan Golf and Tennis Club, as Bryan Richardson grabbed the fourth individual medalist ticket for those not on a state-bound team.

Switching from guns to bows and arrows, El Reno High School’s archery team placed 12th overall at the 2022 National Archery in Schools Program (NASP) Western Nationals.

Shooting in Salt Lake City, El Reno amassed 3,238 team points and was one of 25 teams in the 26-team high school division to break the 3,000-point barrier.

The competition was close as the difference from 15th place to national champion Sarcoxie High School out of Missouri was 213 points.