MESSENGER & REPUBLICAN THURSDAY I DECEMBER 24, 2020 I 3

wishes each of you a very Merry

Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

Alva. Woodward. Enid

Anthony. Harper. Cherokee

Member FDIC(580)327-1122 bcna.com

Greetings of the SeasonGreetings of the Season

Hadwiger & Jungman, PLLCHadwiger & Jungman, PLLCAttorneys at Law Attorneys at Law

Cherokee (580) 596-3591 • www.hjoklaw.comCherokee (580) 596-3591 • www.hjoklaw.com

With sincere gratitude from all of us this holiday season.

With Tidings of Comfort & Joy

DOUBLE T VETERINARY CLINICJon Tevebaugh, DVM

Clinic Phone Number: (580) 596-35007/8 of a Mile East of the Cherokee Post Office on Cemetery Road

T

Closed December 24th & 25th

Wishing you and the ones you love, the blessings

of peace, love, and contentment at this special time of year.

We’ve enjoyed the time we’ve spent with you,

and look forward to your continued friendship!

Jet State Branchof the Cleo State Bank

Jet, Oklahoma ~ 580/626-4434Member FDIC

First Carmen Branchof the Cleo State Bank

Carmen, Oklahoma ~ 580/987-2238Member FDIC

Meno Guaranty Branchof the Cleo State Bank

Meno, Oklahoma ~ 580/776-2257Member FDIC

Cleo State BankCleo Springs, Oklahoma

580/438-2223Member FDIC

Merry ChristmasWe will close at

Noon Dec. 24th and reopen Dec. 28th with

regular hours.

The Alfalfa County Commis-sioners met at 10 a.m., Monday, Dec. 14, for their weekly meeting.

The meeting was called to or-der with Jay Hague, Stan Tucker and Marvin Woodall present.

The minutes, maintenance and operation warrants for pay-ment and blanket purchase or-ders were approved first.

No road crossing permits were submitted for approval.

The commissioners opened and accepted the six month bids.

Next, a resolution for fair-board filing period and possible election dates were approved as follows:

“Be it remembered that on the 14th day of December, 2020 at a regular meeting of the Board of Commissioners of Alfalfa Coun-ty, Oklahoma, the following reso-lution was adopted:

WHEREAS, the County Com-missioners of Alfalfa County, Oklahoma resolves that, in ac-cording with 2 O.S. 15-68, as

County accepts six month bids, to award lateramended by SB223 of the revised 2014 Oklahoma Legislative Ses-sion, the Alfalfa County Fair Board Members shall be elected as follows:

1. The filing period for such election shall consist of five (5) consecutive business days and shall commence on January 04, 2020 and end on January 08, 2020.

2. Prospective candidates must file with the County Clerk, 300 S Grand, Suite 5, Cherokee, OK, on the second floor on the form prescribed by the Board of Commissioners of Alfalfa Coun-ty, Oklahoma.

3. The Election shall be held on Tuesday, January 12, 2020 be-tween the hours of 7:00AM and 4:30 PM

District #1 - County Barn, 64784 Latimer Road, Byron, OK

District #2 - County Barn, 400 S Euclid, Cherokee, OK

District #3 - County, Barn, 100 S Kingman, Helena, OK

4. Only registered voters of

Alfalfa County shall be eligible to file as a candidate.

5. Any person so filing must reside in the Commissioner’s district they seek to represent.

THEREFORE, BE IT RE-SOLVED, by the Board of Com-missioners of Alfalfa County, Oklahoma, to adopt the above resolution.

ADOPTED THIS 14th day of December, 2020.

Board of County Commission-ers.”

Those up for this election are Jeff Waugh, District 1; Tom Chace, District 2; and Jessica Peery, District 3.

Next, a declaration of surplus and resolution for disposing of equipment for District 3 for a 2017 John Deer 672 G Grader were approved with Tucker ab-staining.

Also approved were two trans-fer documents. The first was from Emergency Management to Sher-iff’s Department for NX-5700K

Kenwood VHF50 Watt Mobile Radio and NX-5200KS Kenwood VHF6 Watt Portable Radio with DMR and NXDN Capability.

The second was from 1305-1-2000-2005 Contingency fund sales tax M&O to 1311-1-2000-2005 General government sales tax M&O for $12,426.32 to close out the old chart of accounts number per the auditor.

A funding agreement for coro-navirius aid, relief and economic security act Oklahoma CARES PPE reimbursement for $13,888 was approved.

The bridge inspection invoice and report of conference for all three districts were approved as well.

The final item of business was approving a certificate of compli-ance for OMMA businesses for OMMA and compliance letter for 77 Grow.

After hearing no unfore-seen business, the meeting ad-journed.

The Oklahoma State Depart-ment of Health announced as of press time on Dec. 18, that Alfalfa County was up to 824 cases with 568 recovered from the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Alfalfa County has recorded two deaths due to COVID-19. According to the Department of Corrections, the first death came from James Crabtree Cor-rectional Center on Nov. 23 and the second was recorded in Aline.

The towns receiving posi-tive tests are: Aline, 35 with 30 recovered; Burlington, 21 with 19 recovered; Carmen, 20 with 15 recovered; Cherokee, 93 with 70 recovered; Goltry, 19 with 19 recovered; Helena, 612 with 389 recovered; and Jet, 23 with 22 recovered.

The 73722 zip code is reporting 26 cases with 23 recovered, 73728 zip code is reporting 91 with 68 recovered, the 73741 zip code is reporting 614 with 391 recovered and 73749 is reporting 23 with 22 recovered.

Currently the Oklahoma De-partment of Correction is report-ing 216 positive cases at James Crabtree Correctional Center. They have 217 in insolation and 522 quarantined inmates.

The following was the lat-est information released to the

County breaks over 800 total Covid-19 casespublic by the Oklahoma State Department of Health as of press time:

• Confirmed Positive Cases: 251,760.

• Total Cumulative Negative Specimens to Date: 2,192,087.

• Total Cumulative Number of Specimens to Date: 2,447,260.

• Acute care OSDH licensed facility hospitalizations: 1,594.

• Other types of facilities hospitalizations 139.

• Total Cumulative Hospital-izations: 14,970.

• Total Cumulative Deaths: 2,161.

• Total Active Cases: 32,065.• Total Recovered Cases:

217,534. As of press time, the current

cases in counties neighboring Alfalfa are: Dewey, 361 with 302 recovered; Garfield, 4,761 with 4,301 recovered; Grant, 304 with 247 recovered; Kingfisher, 1,168 with 1,059 recovered; Major, 637 with 592 recovered; Woods, 751 with 659 recovered; and Wood-ward, 2,227 with 2,068 recovered.

Teacher VaccineGovernor Kevin Stitt and the

Oklahoma State Department of Health announced that PreK-12 teachers and support staff will be moved up to phase two in the state’s COVID-19 vaccine

distribution plan. This decision was made to support teachers and encourage school districts to provide an option for safe, full-time, in-person instruction for every child in Oklahoma.

“We know our kids are struggling without being able to attend school in person,” said Gov. Stitt. “Our teachers are so important to our children and to our state, I know they’ve battled through many challeng-es this year to change how they teach to try and make sure their students don’t fall through the cracks. That’s why I’m so proud to work with Commis-sioner Frye and the Oklahoma State Department of Health to prioritize our educators for the COVID-19 vaccine and help get our kids back in the classroom.”

In addition to moving teach-ers up in priority for the vac-cine, OSDH will also continue to offer schools access to testing to provide frequent monitor-ing for COVID-19. CDC Direc-tor Dr. Robert Redfield has said schools are one of the safest places a student can be, and little evidence exists to show widespread COVID-19 spread has occurred in schools.

Increased vaccination priori-ty for teachers coupled with the

recent decision by the CDC to reduce quarantine to 10 or sev-en days under certain circum-stances should give schools multiple tools to fight COV-ID-19 in this spring semester.

“This update was reviewed and discussed with state gov-ernment, health and education officials as we focused on find-ing a solution that was in the best interest of our students, their families, our teachers and those that work to keep our schools running across the state,” said Dr. Lance Frye, Oklahoma State Commissioner of Health. “We are hopeful this will help in our efforts to have all students return to in-person learning as soon and as safely as possible.”

As a teacher himself, Secre-tary of Education Ryan Walters says he knows teachers across the state want to be in their classrooms.