Blaine County Clerk Jennifer Haigler.
Signal Peak Silica hosted a golf tournament last weekend at Roman Nose State Park to benefit golf teams at Watonga and Clinton high schools.
Sept. 4, 2024
Jenny Love Meyer made a surprise appearance August 28 at Love’s store No. 1. She came armed with a broad smile and a pocketful of gift cards for customers. It was a trip to reward the loyal customers for 60 years of support to the store, aiming to ‘surprise and delight’ the regulars.
Sept. 11, 2024
Officials and dignitaries from the state park service, the City of Watonga, State Representative Mike Dobrinski and Senator Darcy Jech as well as park employees were on hand September 4 to cut the ribbon on the newly renovated picnic area and restrooms. The restrooms occupy the former bath house area, which was replaced near the pool with outdoor showers.
The Geary School Board tabled the so-called ‘Bible mandate’ from the state superintendent of education, refusing to vote on the matter until it cleared legal hurtles.
Twenty-three years ago today, hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in Washington D.C. and a Pennsylvania field.
Sept. 18, 2024
The sitting council members, Ryan Bruner, Kayla Ragsdale and Tina Willis agreed to retain City Manager Karrie Beth Little until after the April elections, which will fill the empty council seats.
Two Canton residents are facing animal cruelty charges in relation to the death of at least one dog.
Sept. 25, 2024 The City of Watonga has received several letters of interest from those residents seeking to fill the open city council seats.
Cecil Gray Native Blues will be the headliner for this year’s Cheese Festival entertainment.
Friday was football homecoming at Watonga.
Oct. 2, 2024
The companies that did business with Signal Peak came in clutch. The donations at its charity golf tournament were enough that the golf programs at Watonga and Clinton schools each received $6,000. There was enough cash donated the day of the tournament to donate $4,000 to the Watonga Lions Club.
Oct. 9, 2024
The 47th annual Watonga Cheese Festival is getting ready to hit the streets and it promises to be a jam-packed weekend.
It would be hard to imagine a Watonga without the influence of Dr. Fred and Joyce Lucas. To commemorate that influence, Watonga Main Street is dedicating a special bronze statue to honor the couple.
September 30 was the deadline for schools to commit to spending the last of the COVID-19 recovery money — more than four years after the pandemic disrupted education. The public should soon have a more complete picture of how schools chose to spend the massive influx in federal cash in response to the pandemic.
Oct. 16, 2024
The Oklahoma Legislature wants voters to change one word in the state constitution to explicitly forbid noncitizens from participating in state and local elections.
A good crowd showed up for the annual Cheese Festival parade and festivities on Saturday, October 12.
Oct. 23, 2024
An early morning traffic stop Friday turned into a significant drug bust for the Watonga Police Department.
Oct. 30, 2024
Mid-afternoon Tuesday, the Watonga Fire Department was called out to a fire at the former HollyTex Carpet Mill on Russworm Avenue. They arrived on scene to find a brush pile engulfed in flames.
Nov. 6, 2024
In one of the largest turnouts in recent election cycles, Donald Trump has been returned to the White House.
Watonga Cross Country runners brought home gold from the state championship meet. Reese Coleman and Brayden Cowan each won the gold in individual competition, and Graycie Welton took all state honors with a ninth place finish. The Lady Eagles won third place as a team.
The headlines read the entire Geary police force quit, which is close. Four current officers and the chief did resign. There are two reserve officers and one full time officer who hasn’t completed the hire packet.
Nov. 13, 2024
When the Blaine County Commissioners met Tuesday, they had to deal with an unusual situation, what to do with all that money. Usually, governments are seeking ways to curtail expenses, but the Blaine County Commission has until Dec. 31 to decide where to stow $1.8 million in ARPA – American Rescue Plan Act – funds.
Watonga suffered a citywide water outage beginning Thursday evening when a water main on Eagle Lane was damaged.
The dry spell in Watonga broke Thursday in more ways than one. Not only did the region receive much needed moisture, but the Eagles won their matchup against Merritt 28-6, breaking a streak of losses that stretched back to last season.
Nov. 20, 2024
At approximately 5:30 a.m. Nov. 18, there was a brief tornado touchdown in Watonga.
Three adult men have recently been arrested and charged with attempting to initiate sexual contact with a Blaine County minor. The ‘minor’ was one or more investigators from the sheriff’s investigators’ office. A new and improved Geary City Council met Tuesday night in regular session. The council has had to revamp itself after the resignation of the mayor. At the forefront of the city’s issues was the Oct. 31 resignation of the police department en masse. After an executive session, the council named J.J. Stitt as chief of police.
Nov. 27, 2024
J.J. Stitt, the newly selected Chief of Police for Geary, has issued a 22page report on the turmoil inside the department that led to the resignation of the former chief and four officers.
Dec. 4, 2024
Early Sunday morning the Blaine County Sheriff’s Office made a traffic stop that resulted in four arrests. Sgt. Joe Jones said the search turned up more than a half pound of meth, scales, a large amount of cash and a handgun.
The handgun was loaded with so-called ‘cop killer’ rounds, designed for the military to pierce body armor. The narcotics were packaged separately, ready for sale.
The termination of Watonga Police officer Monty Goodwin has been rescinded after an appeal to the city’s police review board. Goodwin was reinstated on a technicality, perhaps because some of his warnings were verbal rather than written warnings.
Dec. 11, 2024
Diversified Energy Company, a natural gas producer with operations in Oklahoma, partnered with Operation Warm to provide 365 new coats to children at Watonga Elementary School.
The Watonga School Board moved to hire a second teacher for the fourth and fifth grades for next semester. Those classes are large and a second teacher would promote more one on one time in the classroom. The new teacher is Brennan Dobbins, who grew up in Watonga.
Dec. 18, 2024
Six students from three Blaine County families took all the marbles at the 2024 4-H/FFA Junior Wheat Show.
When Watonga City Council held its regular December meeting, one of the first agenda items was to determine the status of the Ward 1 seat.
That seat was held by Tina Willis. Willis missed the regularly scheduled November meeting and had informed the mayor she would be out of town for the rest of the year.
Statute allows a council to unseat a member who has missed more than 50 percent of meetings in a four-month period. Watonga City Council scheduled six special meetings, which, when added to other meetings Willis had missed reached the required 50 percent mark.
Students at Geary public schools experienced the magic of the holiday season at Toy Express, an event sponsored by Devon Energy and the First Responders Children's Foundation.
Dec. 25, 2024
Legislators are gearing up for the 2025 legislative session, which has an organizational day Jan. 7, less than three weeks away.
One of the actions taken by the Watonga City Council in its regular December meeting was to approve the resolution calling for a 2025 election.
That election will fill the vacant council seats in Wards # 1,2 and 4, as well as the at-large seat.