News

Horned lizards: Where did they go?     

Historically, Texas horned lizards were found across about 80 percent of Oklahoma’s counties, foraging in native grasslands for ants and other insects during their active season and burrowing underground to avoid extreme temperatures. But the lizards have become increasingly scarce as more and more of their habitat has been converted to crop fields and non-native pastures.   

Note: This is the first article in an effort to look behind the scenes of how Canadian County law enforcement works to find and stop online predators of children.

There are men and women walking among us that share a sadistic side to their personalities, one which they try ever so cleverly to keep hidden from the public as well as their own families.

Organizers of the Oklahoma Indian Nation Pow-Wow and officials with the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes were welcomed to a reception last week to celebrate the event. The pow-wow runs Aug. 4-6 at Concho.

This will be the 33rd year for the Indian Nation Pow-Wow.

Dara Franklin, one of the main organizers of the event, was presented a key to the city by El Reno Mayor Steve Jensen at the reception held at Great Plains Bank on Country Club.

A program that helps Canadian County’s most vulnerable kids served 130 abused and neglected youth in fiscal year 2023.

And the financial support of Canadian County commissioners helps make that possible, the program’s director said.

Commissioners approved a contract that provides $25,000 to Canadian County’s Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) for FY24.

Canadian County CASA Executive Director Dana Lutz shared her appreciation and hopes that this partnership will continue for decades to come.

A Canadian County sheriff’s deputy was arrested on complaints of sexual assault after he allegedly assaulted a female inmate he was driving from Bryan County to Canadian County.

Sheriff Chris West said when he learned of the allegations, he requested the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation to take charge of the matter. That was on July 25.

Deputy Wesley Wayne Hunter Jr. is alleged to have assaulted the inmate on July 20 while en route from Bryan County to Canadian County. The inmate was being brought to Canadian County for an outstanding warrant.

Reggie Wassana is the only person to ever be re-elected governor of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes. He’s also the only C&A official to say the Tribes have offered a long-term lease to the federal government to continue scientific research at Fort Reno, should the land be given back to the C&A.

Wassana spoke to a packed crowd at last week’s El Reno Now Breakfast. The event, hosted by the city of El Reno and El Reno Public Schools, is held quarterly at the Public Safety Center on SW 27th Street.