August 2023

With confetti flying and cheers from the crowd of students and dignitaries, El Reno Public Schools Superintendent Matt Goucher cut the ribbon on one of three in-house STEM centers. The district received centers at Rose Witcher, Lincoln and Roblyer Learning Centers through a joint gift from El Reno’s Flogistix, Devon Energy and the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation.

“This is a huge benefit for us. Flogistix, Devon and the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation came to us and asked for a meeting about STEM centers and it grew into this.

It’s not a pretty statistic.

Over the past two years, the Intervention and Crisis Advocacy Network (ICAN), has seen an almost 20 percent increase in the number of people seeking help, many involved in domestic abuse situations.

For that reason, ICAN is promoting a survey designed to provide information on how better it can assist women, men and children who are trying to flee such abuse.

There will be no El Reno City Council elections after the two current office holders were the only candidates to file for the offices. The filing period opened Monday morning and closed late Wednesday afternoon.

Amy Neathery will continue as Ward 1 council representative, while Dr. Brian Shafer will continue to serve as the Ward 4 representative.

Both Neathery and Shafer were appointed to fill unexpired terms. They will be sworn in to their new council terms in November, following the general election.

Ward 1 is one year because it was an unexpired term.

Heat may have kept the event from breaking an attendance record, but an estimated 18,000 to 19,000 people still came out to the 2023 Canadian County Free Fair. “Under the Big Top” was the theme of the Aug. 23-26 fair hosted by the Canadian County Expo and Event Center, 3001 Jensen Road East.

“We had between 18,000 and 19,000,” Canadian County Fair Board Secretary Brad Tipton said.

“Last year was the highest (attendance) we’ve had, but we had cool weather for the fair.”

City of El Reno employee Eric Wilkerson lowers himself in a bucket lift after changing out a red light on the traffic signal at the intersection of Wade and Rock Island recently.

Canadian County Sheriff Chris West said he will seek a third term.

“I’m running for re-election in 2024,” West said. “It’s such an incredible honor to serve as Canadian County sheriff.”

A U.S. Marine Corps veteran and retired Oklahoma Highway Patrol captain, West took office as sheriff in 2017 after winning 71 percent of the vote.

He ran unopposed for a second term in 2020.

Fire service has many layers of training/education, which includes thousands of hours throughout one’s career.

First starting with the basics: Firefighter 1 consists of Hose Line Drills, Forcible Entry, Ventilation, Rescue, Extrication and more.

An IFSAC certification will take approximately 1,000 training hours. On top of that, you start getting into Technical Rescues, Swift Water Rescues, Trench, High Angle and Ropes.

As you move up in your career as a driver/operator, you will train in Pump Operations, Hydraulic Calculations and some professional development.

Celebration of Life for Gary Richard Miller of El Reno will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 9 at Richland Nazarene Church, 10825 N. 6th Street, Yukon (corner of West Hefner Road and 6th Street), with Revs. Matthew Lowery and Terry Rohlmeier officiating.

Gary passed away Aug. 27, 2023, after a battle with cancer.

He was born Dec. 3, 1946, in El Reno to Derald Miller and Helen (Stout) Miller.

He graduated from El Reno High School in 1965. He was a mechanic in the U.S. Army Reserves from 1966 to 1972, stationed at Fort Polk, La.

During the Canadian County Free Fair Family Night festivities, Lynda Landrith of Yukon was awarded the 2023 Outstanding Canadian County Citizen Award.

Donna Jung, Canadian County Family Consumer Sciences Educator, presented Landrith with a certificate and the winning cookie jar fair entry, made by Sunshine OHCE of Mustang.