December 2022

Guard Carson Elliott hit a 3-pointer with just over two seconds left to catapult Choctaw past El Reno High School’s boys basketball team 56-55 in the championship game of the 50th Annual Harrah Panthers Classic.

El Reno suffered its first loss of the season to slip to 5-1 overall after beating the Yellowjackets junior varsity team (67-40) and Classen SAS (47-45) to reach the title shot.

The Indians trailed in the fourth period before tying the score at 53-all on a free throw each from Alex Elizondo and Jacob Robertson.

Undefeated in dual meets, El Reno High School’s wrestling team proved it’s a salty tournament team as well following a fourth-place finish in the 2022 Mid-America Nationals.

The field of 35 teams came from Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Arkansas and Utah. All teams were ranked with 13 appearing in the top 15 of their respective classes and 11 in the top five.

El Reno, ranked third in Class 5A, was the highest placing team in its class and the second highest Oklahoma team with 332 points. Marlow, Class 3A’s top-ranked team, was third with 372 points.

Watching Julie Holdcraft work with her lab, Birdie, is like watching kids play the game “red light, green light.”

Holdcraft, 18, keeps a whistle in her mouth while her dad or mom fling a hunk of rubber tied to a piece of rope as far as they can.

The object represents a duck that got caught in a hunter’s sights.

Birdie’s job is to keep track of where the objects land. She does this while sitting patiently next to Holdcraft. But she’s also wound up like a spring, ready to uncoil.

Organizers of a community Christmas dinner for members of the Oklahoma National Guard and their families called the event a “huge success.”

“Our community certainly came together to make it happen,” said Nancy Salsman of the El Reno VFW Post 382.

Salsman was one of the main organizers for the dinner that took place Sunday at the National Guard Armory in El Reno. But she said many others pitched in to help with the event.

In a partnership with Oklahoma Higher Ed, the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes will offer training in fiber optic installation to tribal members who are reintegrating into society after having served time in jail.

The Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes Reintegration Program gets under way for released inmates in 2023.

The Reintegration Program was formed under the grant “Healing to Re-Entry” to the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes Judicial Branch in November 2021.

Family, friends, attorneys, fellow judges and district court personnel converged at the Canadian County Courthouse to bid farewell to Jack McCurdy II.

The Yukon native has retired after 39 years in the legal profession, the last four as a Canadian County district judge.

During a retirement reception, McCurdy fought back tears while thanking everyone who supported him over the decades.

“It’s quite humbling to see this crowd and hear all the nice things that have been said,” he said.

Canadian County lawmen arrested Chase Berg, 21, of El Reno on complaints of being in possession of child pornography.

The arrest was made Dec. 1 by deputies with the sheriff’s office.

The case was referred to the Canadian County Sheriff’s Office by the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children.

Investigators reviewed the case and gathered Berg used chat applications to send and receive child pornography.

A Yukon man was one of three victims of a Monday night plane crash at Clarence E. Page Municipal Airport near Yukon.

David Lamb, 78, of Yukon was one of the passengers in a 1971 Beechcraft Bonanza F33A Aircraft operated by 53-year-old Christopher Lamb of Perry.

Gage Prough, 28, of Stillwater was the second passenger, according to the Oklahoma State Department of Public Safety.

All three men died of “massive injuries,” according to the Oklahoma State Medical Examiner.

Students from Holy Trinity Catholic School in Okarche arrived in El Reno last week to help with food distribution at The Lord’s Harvest.

Nikki Pruitt, founder and director of the food ministry, said some 20 children and four adults “accomplished a lot” to help The Lord’s Harvest at a busy time of the
year. Pruitt said she especially appreciated “their energy and enthusiasm.”

This surplus military watercraft made a stop in El Reno last week.

According to the man hauling the craft, it has been used in the making of several movies including Seal Team 6 and GI Jane.

Its destination was unknown.