News

El Reno police dispatcher Jodi Wolff has been honored for her dedication to her department.

Last week the Oklahoma City Thunder and OG&E celebrated Wolff by presenting her with the October OG&E Safety Partner Award.

A reception was held in her honor at the Public Safety Center.

Thunder representatives, including Rumble, and OG&E officials as well as Police Chief Ken Brown and City Manager Matt Sandidge took part in the award presentation.

Wolff was also recognized at the Thunder vs. San Antonio Spurs game.

El Reno will help decide the next president of the United States and will choose the next Ward 1 City Council representative in Tuesday’s General Election.

Early voting started on Wednesday and ends Saturday afternoon. In El Reno, early voting is taking place at the Public Safety Center off SW 27th Street. The location is open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. through Friday and from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.

Local voters will also decide whether to grant OG&E another 25-year franchise agreement to provide electricity for the community.

The El Reno Fire Department was expecting a Halloween-eve trick, weather-wise, but ended up with a much-needed treat in the form of overnight precipitation.

According to Oklahoma Mesonet, El Reno received 0.49 inches of rain, which was the first measurable precipitation for the month of October according to the state’s weather network.

The city’s annual average rainfall for the month is 3.07 inches.

“It was not enough (rain) and what we got will be dried out by afternoon. What really was the savior was the wind came down with the storms,” said Fire Chief Jason Duff.

Sacred Heart Catholic School will host a traveling relics exhibit Monday, Nov. 4 from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The exhibit will be set up inside the church. It is open to the public.

This exhibit has more than 60 relics from some of the Catholic church’s most influential saints.

The exhibit is sponsored by the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, as a way to focus on youth ministry and the Embracing our Call to Holiness in our youth. 

Ferb the tortoise had been missing from its Piedmont home for nine weeks. Then amazingly, last week, Ed Zaidi saw something in the field behind his home near Piedmont High School that looked like a clump of dirt. Turns out, it was Ferb. Finally.

Ferb is owned by Ed’s wife, Cherrie Zaidi. 

“I was at work when my husband called and said, ‘Guess who just came home?’

“He saw Ferb in the field west of Windmill Park,” Cherrie said.

Ferb, an African tortoise, would not have been able to survive temperatures under 40 degrees.

The Pride of El Reno High School Marching Band took part last week in the OSSAA Class 5A Regional Contest in Weatherford.

Performing its show titled The Heist, the band earned an excellent rating from judges. 

Heaston Church held its annual chicken dinner last weekend, feeding more than 400 people in an hour and a half. The tradition started in the 1960s and continues going strong today.

Church volunteers provide everything for the dinner including the set-up, cooking and the cleanup.

Funds raised by the event are donated to charities.

OKLAHOMA CITY – Several western Oklahoma lawmakers have requested state water officials pause the current release of water from Canton Lake to Oklahoma City.

Reps. Mike Dobrinski, R-Okeene, Carl Newton, R-Cherokee, Kenton Patzkowsky, R-Balko, and Sens. Casey Murdock, R-Felt, and Darcy Jech, R-Kingfisher, asked for the action after it was announced the Tulsa District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was making the release to improve the drinking water supply for the Oklahoma City metro area.

Nearly $600 million in federal funding for Oklahoma projects, including $37 million for improvements to Interstate 35 in McClain County and nearly $35 million for Durant’s water distribution line, could be on the line as lawmakers negotiate the fiscal year 2025 budget once they return to session after the Nov. 5 election.

As lawmakers negotiate a budget for the next fiscal year, appropriators will be deciding what to include. With Rep. Tom Cole as chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, most of Oklahoma’s funding requests will have a chance to survive.

LAWSUITS

Citibank N.A. vs. Gary Morren for $6,465.88 to pay a debt plus interest, costs and attorney fees.

Capital One N.A. vs. Joshua Greninger for $4,256.50 to pay a debt plus interest and costs.

Citibank N.A. vs. Bruce Charest for $4,980.67 to pay a debt plus interest, costs and attorney fees.

Capital One N.A. vs. Desmond Merrill for $2,773.44 to pay a debt plus interest and costs.

Capital One N.A. vs. Gregory Tate for $3,858.90 to pay a debt plus interest and costs.