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El Reno artist Sue Johnson paints a white outline on a flower which is the centerpiece of her mural on the side of a van located on South Dille Avenue last week.

The van is being repainted as an eye-catcher to the community garden project being conducted by Southern Heights Baptist Church and local charity Children of Hope Community Outreach. The garden idea was started last year during the COVID-19 lockdown as a way to teach youth how to grow and cultivate their own food during a pandemic.

El Reno Public Schools has completed its latest round of vaccine distribution in the district’s ongoing fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since the state of Oklahoma made the vaccine available to educators, administration and support staff for kindergarten through 12th grade in late February, El Reno has held three vaccination pods.

The last two were conducted internally with district nurse Nikki Cerne giving shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

El Reno Community Theatre’s Garrett Wells, blue shirt and red shoes, acts out a scene from “The Absolutely True Story of Tom Sawyer As Told By Becky Thatcher,” while fellow cast members, from left, McKenzi Smith, Camden Sears, Coen Taylor, Emercyn Looper and Teagan Finnigan look on during a recent practice at the Centre Theatre. The cast, which features 10 youth actors, will be putting on the show as part of ERCT’s Fourth Annual Dinner Theatre on April 17 at the Education Building at the Canadian County Fairgrounds.

Plans are for El Reno Now to return in June.

The news that the monthly in-person event may be coming back was made during last week’s El Reno Live broadcast.

El Reno Live took the place of El Reno Now after the COVID pandemic shelved public gatherings a year ago.

Now, with vaccines being distributed and virus numbers reportedly coming down, Mayor Matt White and El Reno Schools Superintendent Craig McVay are considering if it’s time to again host public information sessions.

VFW Post 382 in El Reno has hosted an annual Easter egg hunt for special needs children beginning in 1999 with Terry Walker as commander of the post. It has continued every year except for 2020 when it was canceled because of COVID.

This year Auxiliary President Nancy Salsman worked with ERPS Special Services Director Mendy Klepper to arrange an Easter egg hunt for special needs students.

A four-ton heat and air unit has been donated to Canadian Valley Technology Center’s Heat and Air program by the Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI). The Institute is the trade association representing manufacturers of HVAC and water heating equipment.

The Trane gas/electric unit is valued at $3,580.

AHRI is the testing and certifying organization for all American manufacturers of heat and air equipment.

AHRI shipped the unit at no cost to the school.

STILLWATER — Vaccine hesitancy is one of our last major hurdles in the fight against COVID-19, and we are racing against the emergence of several variants to avert a (more) prolonged pandemic.

Alarming social media stories portraying COVID vaccines in a negative light have added a dangerous roadblock for many. I hope dispelling these three myths will help others feel ready to safely build protective immunity through vaccination.

Myth 1: The approval process was rushed

El Reno High School’s baseball team ran into a hitting and scoring freeze over the weekend in the Kingfisher bracket of the 2021 F&M Bank Classic.

The Indians went 1-3, scoring a run in the eighth inning to defeat Elk City 8-7. El Reno dropped games to Class A’s sixth-ranked Vici (10-0) as well as Class 5A powers Guthrie (6-0) and Pryor (11-0).

The effort left El Reno with a 10-9 record heading back into District 5A-2 play this week against Capitol Hill.

El Reno struggled at the plate, going 13-of-77 for the four-game set for a .168 average.