News

Kathleen Douglas came back to work for the city of El Reno once after retiring. 

She made it clear at last week’s city council meeting after being honored for her service that one encore would suffice. 

The executive assistant at the fire department, Douglas spent 25 years “directing traffic” for the firefighters, both en route to a fire as well as in the fire station. 

“She kept us in line,” Fire Chief Jason Duff said while honoring Douglas as the “Fireman of the Year.”

MaCrae Putnam admits to being a material girl struggling in a digital world.

Owner of “Make it Sew,” a quilt shop in downtown El Reno, Putnam sought a boost to help her business escape the post-COVID blues. 

The award-winning quilter has expertise in everything from batting to backing and blocking to binding. But she once lacked the know-how to reach and draw in the fabric faithful. 

With findings spanning decades, a forensic audit of the city of Yukon has identified significant problems related to prior administrators, including unauthorized transfers of funds, the diversion of $185,000 to an unusual nonprofit, the sharing of “hard-core” pornography, an avoided investigation of inter-office sexual encounters and an overpayment of nearly $35,000 in vacation benefits to a former city manager at the heart of the examination.

The Redlands Community College Board of Regents voted last week to sell a one-acre parcel of property to Brakes Plus, LLC.

The property is adjacent to the 0.89 acres recently purchased from RCC by Waffle House.

The RCC agenda for the Regents meeting said the sales price for the one acre was $413,820.

The transaction reflects the college’s commitment to fostering economic development and creating opportunities for growth in the El Reno community, said Redlands President Jena Marr.

The deadline to request absentee ballots by mail is approaching. Applications must be received by the Canadian County Election Board no later than 5 p.m. Monday, Jan. 27.

Banner Schools, Cashion Schools, Deer Creek Schools, Union City Schools and City of Oklahoma City-Ward 3 elections will be held Feb. 11.

County election board secretary Allen Arnold said absentee voting is available to all voters and applications can be submitted several ways.

A former sheriff’s deputy sentenced to life in prison for shooting his wife to death has withdrawn his guilty plea.

Vaughn R. Cannon was sentenced Dec. 10 in Canadian County District Court to serve life without the possibility of parole in Oklahoma Department of Corrections custody.

Cannon, 42, was convicted after previously entering a plea of guilty to the charge of first-degree murder - deliberate intent for killing Jordan Cannon, 40. The crime occurred in August 2023 at their eastern Canadian County home.

LAWSUITS

Bank of America N.A. vs. Sarah Withington for $4,200.00 to pay a debt plus interest, costs and attorney fees.

Capital One N.A. vs. Tracy Boyd for $2,137.05 to pay a debt plus interest and costs.

Synchrony Bank vs. Toni Karnes for $2,496.26 to pay a debt plus interest, costs and attorney fees.

Bank of America N.A. vs. Traina Sunday for $4,543.02 to pay a debt plus interest, costs and attorney fees.

Medical marijuana retail operations are welcome inside the El Reno city limits, but those who want to grow the stuff, clean it or transport it must remain outside the city boundaries. The city council voted 4-1 Tuesday night to prohibit medical marijuana grow operations inside the city limits. Council member Amy Neathery cast the lone dissenting vote. 

Earlier, the El Reno Planning Commission had voted 6-0 to deny an outright ban of medical marijuana grow operations inside the city limits. 

PowerSchool, a massive cloud-based software company, reported a data breach that affects more than 12,000 current and former El Reno Public Schools students and faculty.

According to ERPS Associate Superintendent Pat Liticker, the district was informed last week that unauthorized access to certain customer data found on Teacher Table and Student Table happened within the PowerSchool’s platform.

Lingo Construction began renovation at the corner of Choctaw and Sunset on what will be known as the Filling Station once completed.

The city of El Reno purchased the property and then secured a $1.2 million grant to transform the former service station into a Route 66 attraction.

The plan is to have the renovation done before the Burger Day Festival in early May.