July 2023

Finnigan descendants gather at Roman Nose

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The 130 descendants of Elmo and Agnes Finnigan held their annual reunion recently at Roman Nose State Park.

Attending were their children, Tim and Danella Finnigan, Pat and Cheryl Finnigan, Willie and Kathleen Finnigan Baeriswyl, Peggy Finnigan Wahweah, Terry and Lorie Finnigan and Jimmy and Sheila Finnigan Cowan.

Public Records - 7/29/2023

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LAWSUITS

Discover Bank vs. Robert Velia for $10,421.10 to pay a debt plus interest, costs and attorney fees.

Freedom Mortgage Corporation vs. Jeffery Everett for $199,314.71 to pay a debt plus interest, costs and attorney fees and foreclosure of mortgage on Lot 4, Block 7, Westport West Addition, Yukon.

U.S. Bank N.A. vs. Christopher Ulery for $112,303.71 to pay a debt plus interest, costs and attorney fees and foreclosure of mortgage on Lot 6, Block 1, Canadian Estates Addition, Mustang.

Looking within to fill a void

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When El Reno Public Schools Athletic Director Rodney Haydon began looking for the district’s new wrestling coach, he wanted to find the person who could keep the program’s momentum going with little to no fallout.

He didn’t have to look far.

In its July meeting, the El Reno School Board approved the promotion of Anthony McDonald to head coach.

McDonald served as the lead assistant last season under Lewis, who resigned earlier this month to take the head coaching job at Kansas-based Baker University.

Anthony McDonald was promoted to head wrestling coach last week

Lewis watches ER grads split All-State matches

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In what will likely be the final prep match for three alumni, El Reno High School ended a 13-year absence from the Oklahoma Coaches Association’s All-State Wrestling Matches.

With former head coach Tyrone Lewis, an EHS All-Stater himself (1999), yelling instructions from the stands, recent grads Dailey Jennings and Will Heger split matches for the Large West Team.

Both wrestlers are headed to the college ranks at the University of Central Oklahoma, while Lewis resigned earlier this month to take the head coaching job at Baker University in Kansas.

Tyrone Lewis poses for a photo with Dailey Jennings (left) and Will Heger

Preseason begins

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El Reno High School’s softball team will kick off the 2023 preseason on Tuesday with a trip to Chickasha.

The Indians will play Chaney Valley (10 a.m.), Berryhill (11:05 a.m.) and Bridge Creek (1:15 p.m.) with games being played at the town’s sports complex.

El Reno will then play at Southmoore High School on Thursday, taking on Washington (noon) and Norman North (3 p.m.)

New head coach Jason Little and the Indians are scheduled to open the 2023 regular season Aug. 7 with a road trip to Yukon.
 

Preseason begins_1

Fishing Report - 7/29/23

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NORTHEAST

Birch: July 23.
Elevation is 1 ft. below normal (stable). Water temperature 85°F and stained.
Crappie fair on minnows around brush structure. Blue and channel catfish fair on cut bait and shad around channels and points.

Jurassic Pet back filming

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Actors and a filming crew from Boiling Point Media, based out of Oklahoma City, were back in El Reno last week to shoot scenes for the third installment of the Jurassic Pet series.

The movie, according to Boiling Point’s Chris Hoyt, is titled The Adventures of Jurassic Pet 3: Return to the Wild. It’s the second time parts of the city have been used as backdrops for the series.

Filming will return to locations in El Reno in early August.

Hoyt said the crew and actors are non-union and not affected by the current strikes in Hollywood by actors and screenwriters.

Jurassic Pet back filming_story

C&A Sand Creek exhibition honored with national awards

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Truth matters.

The story of what really happened on Nov. 29, 1864, at the Sand Creek Massacre site in Eads, Colo., is being told through an exhibition titled “The Sand Creek Massacre: The Betrayal That Changed Cheyenne and Arapaho People Forever.”

The exhibition first opened in November 2022 at the History Colorado Center in Denver, Colo., telling the history of the Sand Creek Massacre from the perspectives of the Cheyenne and Arapaho people, drawn from oral histories that have been passed down for generations.

Sunset over a teepee constructed on the site of the Sand Creek Massacre

Amphitheater planned for Canadian County

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In a booming eastern Canadian County, families are a driving force of development.

Families move in for the schools, for the houses and for the communities, said Carol Hefner, the spokeswoman for a development that has landed a future amphitheater that will bring family entertainment to the area.

The 12,000-seat Sunset Amphitheatre planned for west Oklahoma City

Lord’s Harvest receives help from Yukon students

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Students from Yukon’s St. John Nepomuk Catholic School helped out at The Lord’s Harvest last week in what founder and director Nikki Pruitt called a “wonderful blessing.”

The Lord’s Harvest is an El Reno food ministry founded and operated by Pruitt, her family members and community volunteers.

The St. John’s students helped stock shelves, unload trucks and scrubbed pallets used to stack food items.

Organizers asked that only the first name and initial be used to identify the students.

Students from Yukon’s St. John Nepomuk Catholic School