News

An El Reno schoolteacher and football coach was killed Monday evening in a vehicle accident.

Jacob Randall Briggs, 24, died in the accident that happened on S.H. 81, south of I-40.

“This is the worst thing to have to deal with. This is crushing to get that phone call and then get confirmation the next morning from the authorities. It’s devastating on our first responders because a lot of them knew Jake.

“This is tough on our faculty and tough on our young kids,” said El Reno Superintendent Craig McVay.

When a COVID-19 vaccine is made available, El Reno School Superintendent Craig McVay said he will be the first in line to take it.

McVay joined El Reno Mayor Matt White for El Reno Live, the weekly program that runs on Thursday at 3 p.m. on Facebook Live.

The 30-minute show allows residents to submit questions to White and city staff on any number of topics, as well as providing updates on city happenings.

McVay had been trying to join White for several weeks on El Reno Live, but the pandemic has played havoc with school as parents and guardians well know.

El Reno Main Street will present the Christmas Experience on Saturday, Dec. 5 in downtown El Reno.

The event will feature the annual Christmas Parade followed by shopping at local stores. Some 20 vendors are scheduled to be on hand as part of the Junk Hippie Tour and live window displays will be presented by Power Dance Company.

Young dancers from Dance Etiquette are scheduled to perform and the Joytones from First Baptist Church are also planned to perform.

El Reno police are asking the public’s help in finding a suspect wanted in connection with the theft of city of El Reno property.

A 2008 Ford F250 truck along with a 2020 Lamar 16-foot dump trailer were taken from the construction site of the SSM St. Anthony Healthplex being built along U.S. 81, just north of I-40. Police said the theft happened Nov. 11.

For 21 years, El Reno’s Blessing Baskets has orchestrated, with the help of the community, a Christmas Basket program that has helped brighten the season for many in the area.

And organizers say the ongoing pandemic known as COVID-19 is not going to stop the effort this year.

Blessing Baskets is planning to help more than 700 local families that will include more than 1,000 children with the Christmas Basket 2020 Program.

Candidates for the Board of Education in 11 Canadian County school districts will file their Declarations of Candidacy beginning at 8 a.m. on Monday, Dec. 7, and continuing Tuesday and Wednesday, Dec. 8 and 9, according to Canadian County Election Board Secretary Wanda Armold.

Armold said the official filing period ends at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 9.

All candidate filings will occur at the Canadian County Election Board, 200 S. Bickford Ave.

The Craft Brewers Association of Oklahoma (CBAO), in partnership with Equity Brewing, is announcing the inaugural Oklahoma Pint Days Nov. 28-29 to celebrate Shop Small Saturday and Small Brewery Sunday.

Craft beer fans can get their limited-edition collector’s glassware exclusively at 28 breweries across the state, including Expedinture Brewery in Okarche.

Each glass is $10 and comes with one free beer of the brewery’s choice. The glass is yours to keep and collect.

LAWSUITS

Bank of America N.A. vs. James M. Kinuthia for $5,385.17 to pay a debt plus interest, costs and attorney fees.

Bank of America N.A. vs. Christy Mackey for $8,740.41 to pay a debt plus interest, costs and attorney fees.

Jefferson Capital Systems LLC vs. Sylvia Wilcox for $9,843.91 to pay a debt plus interest, costs and attorney fees.

Tinker Federal Credit Union vs. Sandra L. Watz and James L. Smith for $6,696.73 to pay a debt plus interest, costs and attorney fees.

Less than a year after pulling up stakes and leaving El Reno, energy giant Halliburton is looking to hire employees at its Duncan operation.

The Duncan Area Economic Development Authority sent out a press release last week saying Halliburton is looking to fill numerous positions within the company.

In December of 2019, Halliburton announced it was leaving the El Reno campus on SH 66 and moving its operation back to Duncan from where it had relocated a few years earlier. No explanation was given for the move and about 800 people were quickly looking for new employment.

Emilie McReynolds has loved looking at the sky since she was a little girl. She especially was drawn to gazing upward when the storm clouds would roll across Oklahoma.

So fascinated by the weather was McReynolds, she enrolled in the School of Meteorology at the University of Oklahoma after graduating from El Reno High School in 2017.

McReynolds was honored recently, winning first place in the National Weather Festival Photo Contest for 2020.

She dubbed the photo she took of a storm developing in southwest Kansas “The Mother Ship.”