April 2024

Chances of making the playoffs for El Reno High School’s boys soccer team took a major blow last week as the Indians dropped a 2-1 road match to Western Heights.

The loss was the second straight in league play for El Reno, which slipped to 3-7 on the season and 1-4 in the District 5A-2 standings. The Indians are sitting in seventh place with two matches left, needing to leapfrog to fourth place to make the playoffs.

El Reno hosts district leader Southeast (5-0) and third-place Carl Albert (3-2) this week.

El Reno High School senior and two-time state qualifier Hannah Koen (center) signed a national letter of intent last week to wrestle at Baker University in Kansas.

Millions of Oklahomans looked toward the sky last week to watch the solar eclipse.

Parts of southeastern Oklahoma viewed a total eclipse, while much of the state, like El Reno, viewed in the 90 percent range.

Rumors that the city of El Reno is out to do away with A Small Town Weekend are greatly exaggerated.

That was the message from City Councilman Dr. Brian Shafer at last week’s council meeting.

While city leaders said the popular Route 66 event is important for the community in a number of ways, there are liability concerns.

Especially with the Sunday afternoon drag races.

City Manager Matt Sandidge said drag racing on Route 66 “gives our public safety officials and legal counsel concern.”

Around here, most know Jana Knott as the city attorney for El Reno. But further east, she’s known as being part of the legal team that is trying to secure some form of justice for the last known survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre.

Knott calls the experience “humbling.”

Because she specializes in appellate matters, Knott was asked to join the legal team representing Lessie Benningfield Randle and Viola Ford Fletcher, and the late Hughes Van Ellis Sr.

The Oklahoma City Council denied a rezoning request to allow a new outdoor amphitheater in eastern Canadian County. Council members voted 7-2 at their April 9 meeting against Planned Unit Development (PUD) 1983, which would have allowed the proposed Sunset Amphitheater in the 280-acre Mustang Creek Crossing development near the Kilpatrick Turnpike.

The eastern Canadian County site, which is now zoned agriculture, is west of Sara Road and north of S.W. 15th.

The celebration of the El Reno High School Lady Indians basketball team continued last week as the city of El Reno honored the team for its perfect season en route to the school’s first state championship in girls basketball.

Mayor Steve Jensen read a proclamation celebrating the Lady Indians for their 28-0 season record and Class 5A state title.

The team recorded only the third perfect season for an EHS team, the proclamation read, the others coming in 1933 and 1949.

The city of El Reno honored the Redlands Community College Livestock Team for being named Team of the Year for the 2023-24 season.

The honor came after the RCC team’s showing at the Houston Livestock Showand Rodeo in Houston, Texas.

Mayor Steve Jensen read a proclamation listing the RCC team’s accomplishments that included wins in Kansas City, Louisville, Denver and Oklahoma City as well as RCC’s Spencer Scotten being named Coach of the Year. Four members of the RCC team were named to the Livestock Judging All American Team.

When school board elections were held April 2, the results continued a longstanding trend in Oklahoma: Few voters knew there were any elections under way and school leaders across the state were selected by a small sliver of voters who may not represent the broader community, including most parents.

A day later, parents from across Oklahoma rallied at the state Capitol to urge lawmakers to shift school board races to a November general election ballot that will produce far greater input from the public.

Following the Feb. 8 suicide of Dagny Benedict, a 16-year-old Owasso girl who recently identified as nonbinary and went by the name Nex Benedict, one prominent 2STGNC+ activist said state officials should no longer require teachers to notify parents of information related to their child’s mental health.

2STGNC+ is an acronym for “Two Spirit, transgender, gender nonconforming+.”