News

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.

A ballot measure to raise Oklahoma’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2029 took a blow recently when a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) study showed a similar federal proposal would eliminate many entry-level jobs for workers.

LAWSUITS

PennyMac Loan Services LLC vs. Isaac Holder for $197,112.06 to pay a debt plus interest, costs and attorney fees and foreclosure of mortgage on Lot 1, Block 12, Hunters Hill Addition Section 3, Mustang.

Elmor Mitchell vs. Sydney Montesano for an amount in excess of $75,000 for injuries and damages alleged to have occurred during an automobile accident.

Editor’s Note: The final three months of 2023 saw groups working to save an historic jail, expand a treasured war memorial, honor successful El Reno High School alumni and help those less fortunate in the community.

October

A nonprofit group got the green light from Canadian County commissioners to try and save the historic county jail.

Preservation El Reno presented a proposal to commissioners to make repairs and upgrades to the old jail site at 300 N. Evans.

A Canadian County sheriff’s deputy is in stable condition after being struck by a vehicle Friday while standing outside his vehicle.

Sheriff Chris West said Deputy Jose Tayahua-Mendoza, 46, of Mustang, was injured around 8 a.m. when a vehicle veered off the interstate and struck a vehicle the deputy had stopped along I-40 and Garth Brooks Boulevard. Mendoza was taken to OU Medical Center in Oklahoma City, where he is in stable condition. West said the deputy suffered arm, leg and foot injuries. He was scheduled to have surgery Monday on an ankle and arm, the sheriff said.

More details have been released in an obstruction of a law officer case against a Yukon-area man who was arrested last September in the lobby of the Canadian County Sheriff’s Office.

Canadian County resident Charles Edward Bishop III had gone to the sheriff’s office on Sept. 15 to request records on a former sheriff’s deputy when he got involved in an unexpected fracas.

Gov. Reggie Wassana has selected Hershel Gorham to serve as lieutenant governor of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes. Gorham will step into the role to fill the vacancy left by the sudden death in September of C&A Lt. Gov. Gib Miles.

He was sworn in during the tribes inauguration Jan. 6 at the Frisco Center in Clinton.