News

The city of El Reno is trying to bring a little Christmas cheer to the sun-baked days of July in a partnership with participating local businesses.

A Christmas in July - Shop Local promotion will run throughout the month with one lucky shopper winning a $500 shopping spree at local businesses that participate in the promotion.

Each merchant will be provided an entry box and forms.

Any purchase made at that particular store qualifies to be entered into the drawing. The promotion will end July 31 at midnight.

A 4 percent to 5 percent cost-of-living raise for Canadian County employees is being considered as annual county budget talks got under way recently.

Several Canadian County elected officials speaking during a recent 2023 fiscal year budget conference expressed the desire to increase salaries for county personnel who have been faced with higher gas prices and double-digit inflation.

Canadian County Sheriff Chris West has been elected third vice president of the National Sheriffs Association.

Outgoing NSA President Sheriff Vernon Stanforth of Fayette County, Ohio, swore West into the office of third vice president on June 29 during the NSA summer conference in Kansas City, Mo.

“It’s been an extremely incredible experience to serve on the board of directors of the National Sheriffs Association,” West said.

“As third vice president, my role will be somewhat increased from what it was this past year when I served as the NSA secretary.”

According to a press release from the Major County Sheriff’s Office, El Reno’s Jerry Pollard was killed in an oil rig accident on July 7.

The sheriff's office received a 911 call at 8:54 a.m. requesting assistance at a swab rig location approximately six miles outside of Fairview. The release says upon arrival, emergency personnel discovered an operator deceased from being pulled into a cable winch drum.

The Orco Service LLC employee was identified as Pollard.

Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes Gov. Reggie Wassana has been appointed as the alternate member representing the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Southern Plains Region for the first ever Secretary’s Tribal Advisory Committee.

The appointment is for a one-year term and was made by U.S. Department of Interior, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland.

The STAC committee is made up of primary tribal representatives from each of the 12 BIA regions and one alternate member from each region.

Three vendors have been selected to deliver truckloads of materials for Canadian County road construction projects.

Canadian County commissioners voted 3-0 to award a rock hauling contract to Zummallen Rock & Grain of Okarche and Farmer’s Supply & Transportation of Cheyenne.

Commissioners had postponed action one week earlier so they could review a range of per-ton mile prices from five companies interested in having their trucks pick up and bring rock to Canadian County road sites.

A Canadian County inmate has been sentenced to two years in prison for having a cell phone at the county jail.

Oklahoma City’s Miranda Gwen Sorber, 40, has been convicted after pleading guilty to possession of an electronic device in a penal institution.

Sorber, already a convicted felon, was charged with the felony May 19 in Canadian County District Court.

With a new school year on the horizon, it’s worth looking at some of the new laws that will impact education across the state.

The start of the 2022-23 school year marks the implementation of a change to the school funding formula passed by the Legislature in 2021.

MARRIAGE LICENSES

Nicholas Ray Stine, 24; Kaylee Nicole Miller, 23.

Jacob Ryan Blalock, 30; Erin Elizabeth Parkin, 29.

Trent Joshua Blake Dodson, 31; Shannon Brooke Burger, 28.

MUNICIPAL COURT

Ahmed Hussein Alderi, Jacksonville, Fla., failure to stop at stop sign, $165.

Mohammed Yahiya Ahmed, Wichita, Kan., speeding, $195.

Aldan Ray Whiteshirt, El Reno, failure to appear warrant, $245.

Christopher Allen Strider, El Reno, failure to appear warrant, $295.

Residents from around the county were treated to a pair of fireworks displays over the recent Fourth of July holiday.