While the number of new cases of COVID-19 continues to rise both in El Reno as well as the county’s other larger towns, Canadian County Health Department officials are stopping short of calling the spike a hot spot for the virus.
“I would not say it’s a hot spot but it’s a concern for sure. I know we had a spike of cases but the trend in hospitalizations are not the same as what we were seeing several months ago.
Marie Hirst held on to the Canadian County Court Clerk position, besting challenger Rindie Hunt by about 800 votes in Tuesday’s primary election.
Hirst has served in the position for the past 12 years. Hunt at one time had worked under Hirst in the court clerk’s office.
Unofficial results provided by the Canadian County Election Board had Hirst garnering 7,951 votes, or 52.63 percent, while Hunt captured 7,156, or 47.37 percent.
The primary election was the only one for the court clerk post as both women are Republicans and no Democrats filed.
In December, Halliburton shook the El Reno area when it announced it was leaving its operation on SH 66 and laying off most of the 800 people who worked there. That news, coupled with the collapse of oil prices and then joined by the COVID-19 pandemic created an ocean of economic strain and uncertainty for the area.
So news last week that the Halliburton property has been sold brought an excited reaction from the community.
Canadian County deputies fished a man out of Lake El Reno after he jumped into the water following a high-speed chase that began as an ongoing drug investigation.
Information provided by Sheriff Chris West said investigators were watching a house at 906 S. Duane on June 25 after receiving reports that drugs, especially methamphetamine, were being sold from the residence. Sonny Joseph Phillips was said to be living at the house. Documents show he has an extensive history of drug involvement, dating to 1999.
El Reno police are waiting on a report from the state medical examiner to learn what caused the death of a 29-year-old man.
Assistant Police Chief Major Kirk Dickerson said Kompton Otto Killsnight was found unconscious and unresponsive near the ATV track at Lake El Reno. Officers were called to the scene Friday, June 26 shortly after 3:30 p.m. When they arrived they found citizens performing CPR, trying to revive Killsnight.
A request from the parent company of Oklahoma Natural Gas for additional assurances from county officials that they will not build over a gas distribution line at the new county fairgrounds complex was denied last week.
ONG had sought an encroachment agreement on its rights-of-way on the site of the future facilities.
However, attorney Joe Weaver of the Bass Law Firm said the agreement was not needed because the county had already agreed to not build near the pipeline. It does, however, plan to create a parking lot over the pipeline, which is legal.
County officials are hoping to recoup some of the expenses related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The money would come from Oklahoma’s portion of the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
County commissioners, during their meeting Monday, authorized emergency management director Andrew Skidmore to begin the application process for reimbursement.
This summer seems determined to rival the summer of 2011 when we had record-breaking heat, excruciating long days of humid sweltering and little rainfall, allowing thousands of grasshoppers to thrive.
This year, along with a pandemic, we can add the hazy dust from Africa to the miserable mix.
The fact that dust traveled across the entire Atlantic Ocean to our landlocked state is amazing, and besides being hazy, it has caused breathing problems and those who garden may develop crusty eyes from irritation.
