August 23, 2019 Issue, Page 1 of 10

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A ¢ Y serving Friday, August 23, 2019 Weekend Edition Native Elk Citian begins administrative career at elementary school By Don Munsch, Editor Haley Price and her husband wanted to raise their children in Elk City. Price, the new assistant principal at Elk City Elementary School and a native of Elk City, said she likes the family atmosphere of the town. Her husband, Jorey, also grew up here and went to school here. Haley’s and Jorey’s parents live here. “So, community is really important to us,” she said. She said one event that stood out about Elk City occurred when her husband’s aunt, Wen- dy Nagle, had cancer eight years ago and the whole town came together to help her. “ think if you live in a bigger town, you don’t get that,” Haley Price said. “In the smaller town, they got T-shirts for her and all the proceeds went to her and helped cover bills. It was just nice to know that people care.” Nagle died eight years ago. Price graduated in 2005 from Elk City High School and began college at Southwest- ern Oklahoma State University in Sayre and then transferred to the University of Central Oklahoma. Her undergrad degree is in elementary education and her graduate degree is in educational leadership. She taught three years of third grade and six years of fifth grade in Elk City. “And then last year, I taught gifted and talented [first through sixth grades] and leadership at the middle school,” she said, noting the leadership course was for seventh- and eighth- graders, Moving into administration was a natural advance for her career. “J love instruction, and my passion is kids,” she said. “I just felt like being an administra- tor, I could have a bigger impact on students and classroom instruction.” In the classroom, she learned the importance of building relationships with her students — a skill that carries over into her new role. Haley Price started this year as the new assistant principal at Elk City Elemen- “1 feel that’s very important, and you have to know your students,” she said. Knowing all tary School. She brings several years of classroom experience to the posi- the aspects of what teachers face daily in the classroom can only help her now. As an assistant, she oversees the discipline component of the job, and she and ECES tion. Staff photos Don Munsch. Principal Amanda Friesen share duties, such as monitoring classroom instruction and do- ing teacher evaluations. In those evaluations, administra- Keeping it in the family: Beutler sisters have tors will look for student engagement with the teacher and teacher participation with students. Price wants to see stu- dents participating in learning and that teachers have a firm worked in the Elk City rodeo office for years grasp of the material and class procedures. See Assistant page 2. By Ruth Nicolaus, Special Contributor Rodeo fans rarely see their faces, but these ladies are an Stoker was at the Burwell, Neb., rodeo, and his sister was integral part of the Elk City Rodeo of Champions. And their married to Una’s brother. family has put on the rodeo for decades. “My dad went up to him and asked if he’d be interested in Sisters Dollie Beutler Riddle and Vickie Beutler Shireman coming to the house to teach the girls to trick ride,” Dollie are seldom seen by the fans, but without them, there would remembered. “We even got Bennie in on it,” she said, noting be no rodeo, that he learned how to vault. The women, sisters to Bennie Beutler, work as the sec- Dollie was 14 years old when she learned, and when she retary and timers at the rodeo, taking entry fees from con- was 15, she worked her first rodeo in Enid. During high testants, keeping time for the roping, wrestling, and barrel school, she played basketball so she didn’t trick ride as racing events, recording times and scores and submitting much. But after high school, she trick rode for not only her paperwork to the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, father’s company but others. They have been in the rodeo office, taking care ofthe ro- The girls were also by their mother’s side, often in the deo business, since their mother, Una Beutler, was doing crow’s nest, where the announcer stood, with a stopwatch in the secretary and timer work. They learned working along- their hand, practicing. Dollie preferred to trick ride; she did side her at rodeos across the nation, when she and their dad, more of that while Vickie secretaried. They did perform to- Jiggs, had the Beutler and Son Rodeo Co. gether, sometimes hurrying to the announcer’s stand in their ‘When Dollie was 16 years old, she got her PRCA member- costumes, to run a stopwatch before the next event started. ship and began working rodeos on her own. Since then, she When Vickie was 20, she began secretarying rodeos, while estimates she’s missed the Elk City rodeo only a couple of Dollie focused on the trick riding. Vickie would trick ride times. with Dollie, and Dollie oftentimes timed a rodeo. But it The women, who are 13 months apart, grew up on a ranch See In the family page 2. north of Elk City. They were with their parents during the her sister Vickie Beutler Shireman in vintage cowgirl clothes at the Elk City Rodeo in 2018. summers, going to rodeos and helping out. When school started, they were back at home. Grandma Hill, Una’s moth- Commissioners Both women have worked in the secretary's er, lived in Canadian, Texas. She would stay with them dur- ing the week, and on Friday, after school, they'd go home approve zoning changes office and have timed at the Wrangler National with her for the weekend till their parents were home. By Don Munsch, Editor Finals Rodeo. Photo submitted by Ruth Nico- The girls took an interest in trick riding after they saw it at their parents’ rodeos. The world-famous trick roper J.W. The Elk City City Commissioners approved a couple of laus. zoning requests from a relatively light agenda at Wednes- day’s meeting. One change came at the 300 block of North Jefferson Street and the other was located at behind 907 N. Main St. The two requests to the ordinance were introduced at the Aug. 5 commission meeting. For the zoning requests, Gas Investments and Holdings LLC, the petitioner for the property in the 300 block of Jef- ferson, requested a change from Single Family Residential district to C-1 Convenience Commercial District. As previ- ously reported in The News, the company wants to use the property for business development. The property is not in use at this time because of the zoning classification. OKC Philharmonic. Submitted photo. The second ordinance petitioner wanted a zoning change from C-1 Convenience Commercial District to C-2 High- lations and marketing office, OKC Philharmonic at SWOSU Room 205 of the Administration Building. A limited number of $5 way Commercial and Commercial Recreation District. 4K Investments LLC is the petitioner for the property, which is vacant. The petitioner wants to use the property for storage tickets are available for purchase The OKC Philharmonic will kick off Southwestern Okla- by SWOSU students in the PR and marketing office. buildings and camper parking. homa State University’s 2019-20 Panorama Series on Sept. The OKC Philharmonic began in 1988 under the musi- “Tt’s just going to be an expansion of the storage facil- 13 on the Weatherford campus. cal direction of founder and Music Director Emeritus Joel ity there,” said Tom Johnson, chairman of the Planning & The concert, at 7:30 p.m., will be held in the Fine Arts Levine. The group began a new era with the passing of the Zoning Board, at the Aug. 5 commission meeting. Center on the SWOSU campus, according to a news release. baton to Maestro Alexander Mickelthwate in 2018. Also Wednesday, resident Albert Henry appeared before Ticket are $10 and available on stubwire.com at https:// The program at SWOSU will include: the council again to complain about the city’s handling of share.swosu.edu/OKCPhil or in the SWOSU public re- See Philharmonic page 2. See Zoning page 3. Weather 1) Vol. 117, No. 68 Mail delivery View online ‘ TT * tomorrow v / 73 75 cents, 10 pgs. 580.225.3000 elkcityoknews.com