Can COVID-19 Cause Shingles? Dear Savvy Senior, How effective is the shingles vaccine and what is the CDC recommendation for getting it? My older brother and sister, both in their fifties, got COVID a few months back followed by shingles. Do you know if there is a connection between these viruses, and would the shingles vaccine have protected them? Scared of Shingles Dear Scared, Great question! Many healthcare professionals across the country have been urging their older patients to get the shingles vaccine (in addition to the COVID-19 vaccinations) during the pandemic because getting COVID-19 can increase your chances of developing shingles.

Senior Jose Martinez with parents Miguel and Maria. Senior Josiah McPerryman with family.

Senior Laeh’lah Bowen with parents Amie and Darin Johnson. Senior Liberty Jackson with mother Carla Griggs and her Papa Lloyd Thomas.

New rodeo stars will be born during the wild and crazy “Dairyland Donkey Basketball Show” at Moss School Gymnasium on March 6, 2022 starting at 4:00 pm! It is basketball played on real, live donkeys and it will be wilder than a rodeo and funnier than a circus! All local players will be riding, so come out and see someone you know try to ride a donkey and play basketball at the same time. It’s a thrill a minute, a spill a minute. Laugh as you’ve never laughed before at the wild and crazy Donkey Basketball show!

The Singing ChurchWomen (SCW) of Oklahoma is one of the performing groups sponsored in part by the Oklahoma Baptist. The group, which began in the fall of 1989 by founding director, James D. Woodward, now numbers nearly 350 active singing members. The phenomenal growth and statewide popularity are due in large part to the leadership and vision of Dr. Bill Green who directed the group from 1991 (following Woodward’s death) until 2009. The group’s next director, Dr. Ken Gabrielse, celebrated the 20 anniversary of the group and focused on a worship service concert, continued by their next director, Bart Morrison. Currently, the group is under the direction of the Oklahoma Baptist Worship and Music Specialist, Dr. Randy C. Lind, who also conducts the Singing Churchmen of Oklahoma.

District 24 State Representative David Smith will hold a town hall meeting for all constiuents in the area who may have questions for him. The Oklahoma State Legislature is currently in session and Representative Smith has information he’d like to share concerning bills coming up for a vote this year. Representative Smith invites you to the Holdenville Church of the Nazarene fellowship hall at 323 S. Oak at 12:00pm. Refreshments will be served. Don’t miss this opportunity to meet your State Representative.

Felony charges have been filed against Brian Anderson for aggravated assault and battery upon a police officer after an altercation with two Hughes County Sheriff’s deputies. Deputy Cook and Deputy Whisnant made contact with a man and woman parked in a vehicle at the intersection of Oak and Main Streets. The vehicle had an out of state tag which had expired in November of 2021. The woman in the vehicle was found to have several warrants through Holdenville Police Department. Upon attempting to speak with him regarding messages he had sent to a drug court participant, Anderson became very aggressive with Deputy Cook. Anderson attempted to walk away from the deputy stating that he would not talk to him. Deputy Cook followed him on foot and informed Anderson that he was being detained. As Deputy Cook grasped Anderson’s wrist to place him under detainment, Anderson cursed at the officer and then struck him in the chest with his right forearm. Anderson was placed on the wall next to them while Deputy Cook continued to try to detain him. Anderson again attempted to strike Deputy Cook in the upper chest/lower neck area. Deputy Wooten assisted Deputy Cook in placing Anderson on the ground and under arrest for assault and battery upon a police officer and obstruction.

It seems unfathomable that a week ago, the world’s televisions were full of triumph and sport, international spirit and respect. Those same screens are unrecognizable now, as people from every continent woke up to a new reality: war. As images flash across monitors of explosions along the Ukrainian front, there’s a certain disbelief that any of this is real. Families, hunkered down in bomb shelters. Children, pinned with bright stickers listing their blood types, parents› names, and phone numbers. Mothers and fathers, braced for news that their soldier sons have fallen. A new winter is blowing through the West, and no one is sure how -- or where -- it will end.

Weather alters basketball play-off schedule The icy weather has altered the basketball state playoff schedule. The Holdenville boys’ and girls’ team were scheduled to play on Thursday but the road conditions didn’t improve enough for the teams to make it to the tournament sites until Saturday.

February 25, 2022 Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) has confirmed that he will retire at the end of 2022, confirming scattered reports that such an announcement was imminent.