December 2023

As we approach the joyous holiday season, we find ourselves reflecting on the incredible achievements of our students and the remarkable strides our academic community has made.

It is with great pride and gratitude that we reach out to you, our valued supporters and champions, to share exciting news and extend a heartfelt invitation to make a lasting impact this season.

Three cheers to Gov. Kevin Stitt for walking back a decision to apply for a new private school tax credit program that he championed just months ago.

At the very least, it’s a bad look for a millionaire to apply for a tax credit that GOP lawmakers promised would help poorer families.

It also seems to raise some thorny ethical questions about whether it’s OK to almost immediately reap the rewards from legislation that has financial implications.

COMANCHE – Three and a half months removed from prison, Kara Chapman is striving to rebuild her life.

The 38-year-old mother works most days waiting tables at a catfish restaurant in Comanche.

On days off, she volunteers with a local food pantry or drives 30 minutes north to visit her four children in Marlow. She hopes to progress through a transitional program and move into a duplex where she can have overnight visits with her kids.

Oklahoma State University 2020 winter wheat variety Butler’s Gold is growing more prominent on the commercial market, and researchers want to ensure that producers know when and how to plant it.

“Wheat producers are interested in the late planting system,” said Amanda Silva, assistant professor and state Extension specialist for small grains.

“You people of the South don’t know what you are doing,” William Tecumseh Sherman told David F. Boyd in 1860.

“This country will be drenched in blood, and God only knows how it will end. It is all folly, madness, a crime against civilization! You people speak so lightly of war, you don’t know what you're talking about. War is a terrible thing!”

MARRIAGE LICENSES

Joshua David Von Tress and Kory Suzanne Knowlton.

James Ruben Cowns III and Jennifer Lee Bennett.

Gerald Edward Galbreath and Rebecca Gomes.

Bradyn Scott Edwards and Lynnette Eden Lineback Paonessa.

Kayli Cheyenne Strain and Hannah Doris Sue Keeney.

Steven Lemont Purvis and Emily Beth Nixon.

Zachary Adam Merrell and Kailey Rae Morse.

Austin Jacob Miller and Katelyn Rose Shriver.

Garrett Allen Howell and Madison Dion Childers.

John William Davis Jr. and Kamryn Olivia Larman.

HARRAH - Jennifer Douglas has been waiting to see what the outcome would be when her talented group of El Reno High School basketball players came together as a team.

It took just five games to get that answer.

El Reno moved to 5-0 on the season with a 57-40 win over Putnam City in the championship game of the 51st Annual Harrah Panthers Classic.

“We don’t go to tournament to stack trophies. We go to tournaments to get better. We’ve got something to build on and to show that if you do this and do that, that this will happen.

HARRAH – Having scrimmaged Classen SAS during the preseason, El Reno High School’s boys basketball team used that knowledge of the Comets to post a win when it counted for real.

El Reno outscored the Comets 18-7 in the fourth period to seal a 72-55 victory in the title game of the 51st Annual Harrah Panthers Classic.

The Indians moved to 4-1 on the season after reaching the championship game with victories over Harrah’s junior varsity (93-31) and District 5A-1 foe Shawnee (91-46).

El Reno High School’s wrestling team suffered its worst loss of the dual season last week, dropping a 63-9 decision to Class 4A’s top-ranked Tuttle Tigers.

The Indians, ranked seventh at the time in the Class 5A poll, slipped to 2-2 on the year with its second straight setback.

El Reno forfeited three weights to the Tigers, while giving up falls by Trevor Robinson (157), Terry Guzman (113), Hunter Myers (150) and Spencer Davidson (175).