July 2022

The company that owns Pop’s in Arcadia purchased property at Radio Road and I-40 and eventually plans to build a truck stop at the site.

El Reno Mayor Matt White made the statement at last week’s El Reno Now gathering. It was the first time for new School Superintendent Matt Goucher to co-host the event after the retirement of Craig McVay.

White and McVay created the monthly gathering in 2018 as a way to keep residents up to date on happenings in city government as well as public education.

As temperatures land above the century mark on a daily basis, the threat of drought has quickly become more than a concern.

The impacts brought about by a deficit in rainfall and scorching temperatures are already being felt.

Although time will tell whether this year ranks among the hottest in state history, there are some parallels with previous warm summers taking place. 

Georgia Ann (Rund) Rother, 85, passed away on Friday, July 22, 2022, in Ponca City, with family and friends by her side.

She was born in Okarche on April 1, 1937, to John and Georgia (Barrackman) Rund.

She grew up in Okarche and attended Holy Trinity Catholic School. Her brothers coined the nickname Shorty that stuck with her her whole life.

Republican legislators passed a law lowering taxes for businesses, but critics say it comes at the expense of jobless Oklahomans.

The law, which passed along party lines in both the House and the Senate, cuts the maximum number of weeks that unemployed Oklahomans can receive financial support from 26 to 16 starting Jan. 1.

Right now, Oklahoma offers the same number of weeks in unemployment benefits as 40 other states. But when House Bill 1933 takes effect, only four states will offer fewer weeks of emergency income to those looking for a job.

Memorial services for Jerry D. Mitchell will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at Flower Mound Family Funeral Home, Flower Mound, Texas.

Jerry passed away July 16, 2022. He was born Jan. 11, 1936, in Goodland, Kan.

He graduated from El Reno High School in 1952 and began working for the Rock Island Railroad, Frisco Railroad, Burlington Northern Railroad, MKT (Katy) Railroad, Union Pacific Railroad, then back to Burlington Northern Railroad until retirement in 1996. Seven years later he worked for Avis Rental Car for an additional 20 years, retiring permanently in 2018.

Janet Ebert is aware of the inherent dangers of crashing in the sport of drag boat racing and watches nervously every time her husband, Todd flies down the water.

“We’ve been lucky for a long time and we always say a little prayer before every race,” said Janet.

The Wamego, Kan., couple’s luck, spanning more than three decades, came to an end over the weekend at the 2022 Smoke on the Water Drag Boat Races on Lake El Reno.

On the event’s first pass, Todd was thrown out of his boat shortly after crossing the finish line of the 1,000-foot course.

LAWSUITS

LVNV Funding LLC vs. Edward B. Wright for $12,010.25 to pay a debt plus interest, costs and attorney fees.

Ford Motor Credit Company LLC vs. Janalie Simmons for $38,805.35 to pay a debt plus interest, costs and attorney fees.

Capital One Bank N.A. vs. Katie A. Schorp for $11,001.79 to pay a debt plus interest, costs and attorney fees.

Slawson Exploration Company Inc. vs. Chaco Energy Company for an amount in excess of $30,000 for alleged compensatory damages.

About a dozen young children spent an hour listening and rolling with laughter as El Reno Mayor Matt White read a book to them at the Carnegie Library. The event was part of the Summer Reading fun put on by the Children’s Library inside the historic library.

White chose a book titled “The Book With No Pictures.”

He told the kids he’d never read a book before that didn’t have pictures.

“That's crazy,” he said, and the dozen or so giggling youngsters appeared to agree.

An El Reno man who left home to serve his country in the early days of World War II has finally officially been identified.

Petty Officer Robert Thomas Stout was killed in the Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Stout was one of 429 crewmen serving on the USS Oklahoma killed in that attack. Stout was a Navy fire controlment third class who enlisted in Tulsa in 1939, federal officials said.

He was 21 years old.

Amid a thunderous beating of red animal-skin drums and powerful song, survivors of Indian boarding schools met in southern Oklahoma recently with the nation’s ranking official in charge of strengthening tribal self-determination in Indian Country and upholding the government’s treaty obligations to tribes.