January 2024

A day after earning even more first-place votes in the Class B state poll, top-ranked Calumet High School’s boys basketball team logged an 85-30 win over Gracemont in the return to conference action.

Calumet extended its two-year, regular-season win streak to 36 straight games with the 55-point victory.

The Chieftains are 16-0 on the season and 6-0 in Washita Valley Conference games, and grabbed 90 of the first-place votes in the latest poll and 1,942 points.

Only eight other first-place votes were cast toward six other schools.

Rosary for Bob G. Schweitzer will be held at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 17 at Benson Memorial Chapel. Mass of Christian Burial will be at 2 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 18 at Sacred Heart Church with Rev. Cory Stanley and Deacon Lloyd Menz officiating. Burial will be at Red Rock Cemetery under the direction of Huber-Benson Funeral Home.

El Reno city leaders said residents need to be prepared for the arctic temperatures expected to arrive over the weekend.

The weather warnings were issued at the conclusion of last week’s city council meeting.

Mayor Steve Jensen encouraged residents to take precautions and to make sure family and friends are included in plans to stay warm.

Workers were high in the sky at the Lake El Reno water tower preparing the tower for a coat of new paint.

Chris Smith, El Reno utilities superintendent, said a crew from USG Water was at the tower on Wednesday working on it so it could be painted later. Smith said USG Water has provided maintenance for the El Reno water towers for more than a decade.

He said depending on the weather, the outside work will take about three weeks. Once it’s complete, the tower will be drained and repairs will be made inside.

The tower holds 750,000 gallons.

A developer’s plan to rezone a piece of property on Gabriel Street from R-3 Multi-Family to Planned Unit Development R-3 was tabled for the second time by the El Reno City Council.

The vote to table until the February meeting was unanimous at last week’s council meeting.

Cesar Salazar is asking to change the zoning at 1415 Gabriel St. from R-3 Multi-Family to a Planned Unit Development (PUD) with a base of Multi-Family Residential.

The plan is to develop five duplexes on the property that consists of .3989 acres.

Kirstein Haydon holds one hand over her heart and the other over her grandson, Kreid as the two smile through the plexiglass viewing wall at Jenks Simmons Field House during the national anthem ahead of last week’s home basketball games against Western Heights.

The Canadian County Expo and Event Center has returned to its typically busy schedule after a relatively slow few weeks over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. Event bookings were light in December – by design – as the complex switched to maintenance mode to close out the year.

After a home and garden show, there were several private Christmas parties, “the biggest of which had 750 in attendance from 11 different states,” Canadian County Expo Center Director Mandy Davis said.

“And they booked over 500 hotel rooms, all within Canadian County.

A filing period and voting date have been set for the annual Canadian County Fair Board election. County commissioners approved a Canadian County Free Fair Board election resolution at their first January meeting.

“It’s that time of year,” Canadian County Fair Board Secretary Brad Tipton said.

The fair board has nine members, three serving from each county commissioner district.

Each year, three fair board seats are up for election.

El Reno High School December Students of the Month are Abrielle Vanderschans, Malachi Bilbrey, Brooklyn Black, Carter Roman Nose, Maddie Moss, Dawson Holland, Dana Almanza and Coy Atkins.

Redlands Community College President Jena Marr and Northwestern Oklahoma State University President Dr. Bo Hannaford signed a partnership agreement recently to allow Redlands nursing students to seamlessly continue their education at the university.

Graduates of Redlands nursing program will be given credit at Northwestern for specific courses already taken, totaling 48 credit hours.