TARYN JOE is a senior and a fourth year band student. Taryn joined band as a beginner in ninth grade and is now lead trumpet! Her determination to become a great player has paid off many times over. As band co-captain and section leader, she has earned the respect and admiration of all the band members. Taryn is currently in marching band, concert band and jazz band and is a member of the LEO Club, Student Council, NHS and the medical program HOSA. “Did I mention that she is the co-Valedictorian of her class?Taryn is a remarkable and driven young lady and we are very fortunate to have her as part of the ‘Herd of Thunder’ Band family,” Band Director John Sinibaldi said. Hugo News Photo / Bobby Hamill

CONGRATULATIONS TO the Hugo Middle School September Students of the Month: Kacie Reynolds, seventh grade Cheerleader, Lady Buff softball, and Student Council VP; Genesis Smith, sixth grade Lady Buff basketball and softball, and Student Council Rep., and Caity Fuller, eighth grade Lady Buff softball, Office Aide, and Student Council Treasurer.

• Abbott BinaxNOW tests to be deployed to K-12 schools, health care workers, vulnerable populations OKLAHOMA CITY –– Governor Kevin Stitt announced Oklahoma has received an initial allocation of roughly 77,000 Abbott Laboratories BinaxNOW rapid point-of-care COVID-19 tests. The Oklahoma State Department of Health will prioritize the distribution of these tests and equipment to K-12 schools, highrisk health care workers and other vulnerable populations.

DURANT –– Forty-two NARCAN kits, lockboxes, and bags were distributed to participants during a recent drive-thru style overdose education and resource event hosted at the Stigler Health & Wellness Center.

The Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority has signed a contract with Metrc, a national company in 14 states, for the implementation of a statewide seed-to-sale tracking system. The contract creates a system to track marijuana plants and products from a plant’s growth stage through sale to patients. It serves as part of OMMA’s larger efforts to ensure accountability and safety within the state’s medical marijuana industry.

From physical illness to fiscal woes, COVID-19 has stealthily crept throughout Choctaw County for the past seven months spreading pain, stress and uncertainty. The federal government, cloaked in what initially seemed like a super hero’s cape, responded to the threat by freely dispursing stimulus money to healthcare and emergency service providers to help combat the virus.

BancFirst corporate offices in Oklahoma have announced the sale of their Hugo BancFirst to Ameri-State Bank in Atoka. The transaction is scheduled to be completed during the first quarter of 2021 and is subject to regulatory approval.

HUGO SCHOOL WILL crown its newest Homecoming Queen Friday night at 6:15 p.m. at the football field. Candidates include: Jennifer Jones, Keaira Spear, Jayci Teague, Emilye Covington and Breanna Wolfe (not pictured).

LELA RODRIGUEZ, of Hugo, was this week’s winner of the Hugo News Football Contest after choosing 12 out of 17 games correctly. Rodriguez guessed closest (463) to the OU Sooners’ total offense figure (414) to edge out Jeanne Rorie and Letha Loftin. Pictured, Rodriguez collects the $50 weekly prize from Claudia Vertiz from First United Bank, where she obtained her winning entry blank. Game selections can be found in each Wednesday edition of the Hugo News.

DOAKSVILLE — Before the American Civil War had ground to a close in 1865, Wallace Willis and his bride, Minerva, both slaves and survivors of the Choctaw Nation Trail of Tears to Indian Territory that followed the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek — had spent many hours working for their master Britt Willis in the cotton fields of Southeast Oklahoma.