News

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister urged schools to host blood drives for staff and students to help ensure the Oklahoma Blood Institute (OBI) can meet demand.

Blood drive cancellations are driving supplies to critically low levels. To maintain a strong blood supply, 1,200 donations a day are needed in Oklahoma. With more than 30 percent of total donations in the state collected from donors associated with education groups, school-based drives are critical.

Southwestern Oklahoma State University President Randy Beutler said he will close out a 35-year career in education and public service with retirement effective June 30, 2021. 

Beutler was named the 17th president of SWOSU in February 2010. He will be completing nearly 12 years leading the institution, becoming the third longest-serving president in school history.

“SWOSU is a very special place, and I have been blessed to be part of the incredible Bulldog community,” Beutler said.

LAWSUITS

Nationstar Mortgage LLC vs. the Heirs, Personal Representatives, Devisees, Trustees, Successors and Assigns of Ray E. Christensen, Deceased, for $157,121.08 to pay a debt plus interest, costs and attorney fees and foreclosure of a mortgage on Lot 58, Block 8, Parkland Heights Addition, Yukon.

Edward Roberson vs. Terral Garrison for an amount in excess of $75,000 for injuries and damages alleged to have occurred during an automobile accident.

El Reno Public Schools reopened Lincoln Learning Center Thursday, however, three more school sites have been shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Etta Dale Junior High, Lucas Hall and the district’s junior high football facility were shuttered Tuesday after a student was reported to have contracted the coronavirus.

“We got the word that one of our students had tested positive from a parent report. It took us a short time to get everything shut down but I feel like it was a swift and necessary action,” said El Reno Superintendent Craig McVay.

Health care is expanding in El Reno.

Ground was broken last week for a new El Reno Indian Health Center.

The 16,000-square-foot health center will provide space to expand services that will include dental, optometry, podiatry, audiology, general radiology and physical therapy.

J.D. Miller packed up his broom-making machine in Greenwater, Wash., and headed for El Reno. According to Google maps, it’s a journey of 1,457 miles.

Miller wasn’t looking for work making brooms. He’d already done that many years ago with his father, Ray. Miller was looking for a home for the device, built in 1878, according to a patent plate affixed to it.

Corliss Collins said she received notification last week that the man convicted of killing her elderly grandfather in 1985 has been released from prison.

Bobby Bledsoe was sentenced in 2008 to 30 years for the Mother’s Day stabbing death of 95-year-old C.F. Evans.

Prosecutors said Bledsoe broke into Evans’ home in the 500 block of South Hadden late at night and after being confronted by the wheelchair-bound Evans, stabbed him 31 times with a kitchen knife.

After receiving various complaints, El Reno police opened an investigation into the 123 Day Spa at 2709 S. Country Club Road.

Police said on Aug. 25, officers, along with the fire marshal, code enforcement personnel and representatives from the Oklahoma State Board of Cosmetology conducted a license compliance check at the business.

It was found the spa did not possess a local business license to operate as a day spa.

Riverside Superintendent David Garner said the school and parents are working to identify students who may have COVID-19 symptoms before they come to school.

Garner said all school districts are working in a preventive fashion.

He said it is vital that parents routinely check their children to make sure they may not be suffering from any of the known COVID symptoms.

“As schools reopen we are faced with many new changes, but one thing we need help emphasizing is that students who have any COVID symptoms cannot be in school,” Garner said by email.

Canadian County sheriff’s deputies, acting on information from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, arrested a Piedmont man on complaints of possession of child pornography.

Jack Reed, 39, was arrested Aug. 21.

Deputies got the information alleging Reed had downloaded child porn from the OSBI Internet Crimes Against Children Unit.