March 2023

Six El Reno players were named to various lists on the 2023 Boys All-Suburban Conference squads after helping the Indians through one of the most challenging schedules in recent history.

Carter Roman Nose earned a first-team selection, followed by a second-team pick for James Reveles.

Alex Elizondo earned a third-team nod, while Evan Roman Nose was selected for both the All-Defensive Team as well as honorable mention.

Diante Palmer and Matthew Tofpi both earned honorable mention status.

El Reno High School’s baseball team battled cold weather, high winds and a tough pair of small schools to split two games in the 2023 Union City Spring Break Festival.

The Hub Reed Complex was one of the host sites for the event as El Reno defeated Granite 8-7 before dropping a 5-0 game to Wister. The split left the Indians with a 3-5 overall record.

El Reno scored six runs in the first inning against Granite before the Panthers rallied with seven unanswered runs.

The Indians then rallied with a two-run fourth inning to secure the win.

An eight-game run through the Waukomis Invitational left Union City High School’s slow-pitch softball team with a 6-2 record and a runner-up finish.

The Tigers, now 10-4 on the season, defeated the host team 17-7 along with Dover (12-4), Arapaho-Butler (16-13), Woodland (6-5/22-6) and Frontier (18-7).

Union City dropped two games to Hydro-Eakly by scores of 13-3 and 29-6. For the eight-game stretch, Union City went 120-of-224 (.539) from the plate with 25 doubles, five triples and five home runs.

Calumet High School’s baseball team ran into a tough slate of games in two separate spring break festivals, dropping three games over the break.

The Chieftains, ranked third in Class B, fell to 2-3 on the season after losing a 6-1 game to Class 2A’s 16th-ranked Haskell in the Union City Spring Break Festival.

Calumet then played two games in the Edmond Festival, losing to 5A power Piedmont (8-1) and 6A’s Moore (6-0).

The Chieftains went 14-of-73 (.192) for the three-game set with only two extra base hits, doubles from Hunter Arnold and Carson Cooper.

Both the boys and girls teams were scheduled to play this week in the Noble tourney starting on Thursday.

Taking three out of four games from National Park over the weekend, Redlands Community College’s baseball team moved to within a game of .500 for the season.

The Cougars won the first three games by scores of 4-1, 14-2 and 12-3 before the Nighthawks avoided a sweep with a 12-9 win in the series finale.

Redlands improved to 13-15 on the season with the victories and 5-3 in the NJCAA Region 2, Division 2 standings for fourth place.

The Cougars bats had a combined 32-of-116 (.276) effort over the four-game series with seven doubles and four triples.

Vicki Proctor has served 23 years on the Municipal Planning Commission.

The El Reno native was honored for that service and her overall commitment to the community at last week’s city council meeting.

The week before, she was honored by the American Planners Association as the Oklahoma Outstanding Citizen Planner for 2023.

Proctor was nominated by the city of El Reno and in particular, City Planner Dustin Downey.

Former El Reno resident Alan B. Hollingsworth has announced the release of Heavenly Blues, the final book of his trilogy collectively known as The Brainbow Chronicles.

Writing under the pseudonym John Albedo, Dr. Hollingsworth has been working on this trilogy for over 20 years, with the first installment titled Nutshell published in May 2021, followed by Cannibal Club in May 2022, and now Heavenly Blues, all three volumes from Black Rose Writing (San Antonio, Texas).

A Yukon woman could face a long prison sentence for her alleged role in an armed robbery at a truck stop in far west Canadian County.

Hilary Ebera Iannuccilli, 55, was formally charged Feb. 23 in Canadian County District Court with three felonies – first-degree robbery, conspiracy and trafficking in illegal drugs.

Her alleged co-conspirator in the truck stop heist was Watonga’s Dairious Laundrell Kearney, 28. He has been charged with first-degree robbery, kidnapping, conspiracy and possession of a firearm after a felony conviction.

Prayer service for L. Van Perkins will be held at 7 p.m. Monday, March 20 at McNeil’s Funeral Service, Mustang.

Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10 a.m. Tuesday, March 21 at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Union City, followed by burial in St. Joseph’s Cemetery with Rev. Lance Warren and Deacon John Teague officiating.

Services are under the guidance of McNeil Funeral Home.

Van departed on his heavenly journey March 15, 2023, after a short illness.