News

El Reno High School will host an All Classes Alumni Homecoming Day Rally on Friday.

The event will begin at 8:30 a.m. at Jenks Simmons Field House, with a get-together open to all EHS grads and guests.

At 9 a.m., a sign-in will be held with name tags and graduation year coordinated. There will be 1950s and ‘60s music as well as a roaming photographer.

At 10 a.m., Johnnie’s Food Truck will be available for a classic El Reno fried-onion hamburger and other food items.

The 2023 El Reno High School All Sports Homecoming Ceremony will be held Friday night at 6:30 prior to the start of the home football game with Elgin at Memorial Stadium.

One of these EHS male and female students will be crowned king and queen.

Each sport and the marching band at the high school, if they choose to participate, select a king and queen candidate to compete for the title, with winners picked by voting by the student body. 

OKLAHOMA CITY — State health officials have announced plans to relocate the state’s largest inpatient mental health treatment facility to Oklahoma City from Norman, where it has stood for more than a century. 

The Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services said a $147 million replacement facility for Griffin Memorial Hospital will be built on the Oklahoma State University’s Oklahoma City campus near Interstate 44 and West Reno Avenue.

Hundreds of teachers from across nearly 200 school districts have joined a signing bonus program designed to attract new teachers into Oklahoma classrooms, state education officials said.

The Oklahoma State Department of Education expects to make bonus payments ranging from $15,000 to $50,000 to 553 teachers by Oct. 12, agency spokesperson Dan Isett said.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), along with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and other Republican senators sent a letter to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) after new evidence surfaced in August contradicting FBI Director Wray’s March 8, 2023, testimony to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

MARRIAGE LICENSES

William Melvin Thomas, 52; Amy Louise Paskoff, 49.

Caleb Michael Case, 29; Tori Breann Dodson, 27.

Morgan Mark McClelland, 59; Kelley Renee Collingwood, 52.

Kade Michael Woods, 22; Keleigh Jayne Koehn, 20.

Mario Palacios Barragan, 31; Carla Faride Gallegos Villalba, 49.

Justin Dewayne Stamper, 42; Carrie Lynn Pittman, 46.

Alfred Jamie Decoteau, 60; Andrea Denise Selph, 58.

Jariel Alberto Padilla-Agosto, 28; Karina Tanon De Jesus, 28.

Canadian Valley Technology Center’s $75 million bond issue was narrowly defeated in Tuesday’s special election.

CV Tech sought voter support to fund construction of a stand-alone public safety training center and other upgrades at Canadian Valley’s El Reno campus along with modernization and safety improvements at its Chickasha campus.

Some 102 precincts were open Sept. 12 in polling places across eight counties for CV Tech’s bond election, with votes cast in six of those counties.

Vicki Proctor spent 23 years serving for free on the El Reno Municipal Planning Commission.

On Tuesday, Mayor Steve Jensen read a proclamation thanking Proctor for her service, but also pointed out she’s been involved in efforts to improve El Reno for much longer.

Proctor stepped down from the role as chairman of the MPC. The body serves as a filter for the city council, listening to rezoning and code change requests before sending a recommendation to the elected council.

The El Reno Arts Council is gearing up for a busy and colorful couple of months.

From now through November, the council’s second annual town-wide Scarecrow Awards will be under way.

El Reno businesses and residents are encouraged to create their own unique scarecrow to put on display for the community to see. Arts Council information said the goal is to “see styled-up scarecrows on every corner and porch.”

The Arts Council will be selling “simple scarecrow frames” for $10 for those who need a little help getting started.

A few weeks ago, former University of Oklahoma football coach Barry Switzer called the Tribune office wanting the phone number for El Reno’s Joe Garcia.

Switzer and Garcia have known one another since the 1970-80s. Garcia used to patrol the Sooner sidelines, snapping photos for the Tribune as well as providing photos to OU players and coaches.

Switzer wanted to invite Garcia to a 50th anniversary celebration of his OU coaching career that was being held at a restaurant in Norman.