McCasland honored with EEC award

Oklahomans from across the state and five former Governors with a strong passion for their communities came together for Keep Oklahoma Beautiful’s 30th Annual Environmental Excellence Celebration held virtually on Friday, Nov., 20 at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.

Keep Oklahoma Beautiful (KOB), a statewide non-profit, recognizes Oklahomans doing their part to preserve the beauty and sustainability of this state. This year, over 70 individuals, communities, businesses, municipalities, state agencies and more from across the state were recognized for their work in the past year. The Keep Oklahoma Board selected six individuals or groups as recipients of the prestigious board commendations awards.

This year’s Board award recipients were as follows: Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribe: Bison Program for the Towering Spirit Award. Melody Martin with OG+E for the Visionary Leadership Award. Lyn Land of KOB Affiliate Wild about Piedmont was honored with the Environmental Advocate Award. The Cherokee Nation for the Vanguard Award. Ed Brocksmith was given the Champion Volunteer Award. Last but not least, Gail Ederer the former Executive Director of Keep Oklahoma Beautiful was honored posthumously with the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Each year, KOB hosts the Environmental Excellence Competition, where the public nominates groups and individuals for their efforts to benefit Oklahoma. The nominations are presented to a panel of guest judges from the community, who determine finalist and winners in various different categories.

“I absolutely love this event where we can honor so many deserving individuals and groups for the good they do all across our state,” said Jeanette Nance, Executive Director of Keep Oklahoma Beautiful.

The local winner was Wayne McCasland with the City of Comanche who won in the “Law Enforcement Individual,” category.

The information provided by Keep Oklahoma Beautiful said: “Wayne has been a major asset to the City of Comanche over the past four years with regard to environmental excellence and beautification. He has coordinated the removal of several dilapidated and unsafe structures throughout his community. One of the most impressive things Wayne has done was to create a scrapping program collecting scrap iron and other metals from roadways, abandoned properties and community cleanups. The funds from this program have been used to supplement the City’s cleanup efforts and directly funded the cleanup and structure removal of three dilapidated/abandoned buildings.”

McCasland said he was surprised by the honor.

“It’s not just me, it’s the whole community working together to better the environment and the community,” McCasland said. “That’s what we need is for more people to be involved and we are starting to see that more and more each day.”

City manager Chuck Ralls said McCasland was well deserving of the award.

“I value all members of the city’s staff. Wayne goes above and beyond with his commitment to the city,” Ralls said. “I really appreciate him and this award was well deserved.”

The city also received second place in the “Fresh Paint Days,” category. It is the fourth straight year the city has placed in the top three in the category. This year was the painting of the old Comanche Motel now owned by the city that is being converted into a flea market.

“I’m very appreciative of the people who came out and helped,” Ralls said.