July 5, 2025 Issue, Page 1 of 10

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SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2025 Weekend Edition Rotarians Elk City Grad Pass the Takes to the Skies Gavel to New By Sheryl Ponce Leadership The University of Oklahoma’s Professional Pilot pro- gram prepares student sfor a career as a pilot for a major airline. Only one to two percent of students who apply By Sheryl Ponce will be accepted. Syvan Syribouth is one of those stu- dents. He graduated from Elk City High School in 2023, The Elk City Rotarians met last and is on track to graduate as a professional pilot in the Thursday, at noon in the Elk City summer of 2027. Golf and Country Club for their “OU has partnered with a lot of different commercial regular meeting and transitioning companies, so the hour requirement is a little bit differ- of leadership. Outgoing president, ent (in their program). Instead of having to have 1500 Rob Stephens ended his year and hours, you can have 1000 hours, and you can go to the presented incoming president Greg airlines because it is such a prestigious school for avia- Britton with his gavel. tion,” Syribouth explained. Stephens gave certificates to his He went on to say that the program has only been officers. He said that they were piv- around for two or three years, but it is rated number otal in making his year a success. one or two in the United States. Syribouth attributed He also thanked several people for that to Oklahoma’s flat geography and different types of making the year better and his pres- weather. He also noted the OU purchased a lot of planes, idency better. therefore, the students get a lot of flight time. “Everyone of you helped me at “We get neighboring traffic from Oklahoma City, and some point in time throughout the we also have Tinker Air Force Base in our area. So we presidency. I want to thank Tom get to talk to those different air spaces, and that is a little Mike (Johnson) because he was bit more difficult. It also helps in the training, because here every week to greet people, you’re flying through a lot busier areas with a lot more and that’s awesome. That makes possible consequences,” Syribouth continued. everybody who comes in feel wel- He admitted that he had no idea he would go into come. I want to say thank you for aviation, except the fact that he loved driving and going doing that. Gary (McGinn) keeps on road trips. He had not been on many planes before me honest on a lot of things, and he started flying, but he was fascinated with the idea of Gary is like the historian of the flight. club. I would like to thank Gary,” “I am interested in how flight works, and how air hits Stephens said. your plane. That has always fascinated me. I kind of just He went on to say, “I want to went for a Hail Mary when I applied. At OU the accep- say thank you to everybody. Kelci Daughter Anita Thompson and her daughter McKinley Thompson Christian visit Guy Hylton in Sayre. tance for it is very low. It was a shot in the dark when I (Werner), you made it easy for me. applied, and I ended up getting it. After I flew, I abso- Greg (Britton) for filling in when I couldn’t be here. Kenny (Ruiz) for See GAVEL page 2 Career in City Government lutely loved it,” Syribouth said, He loves the difficult of flying, which he compared to the feeling of riding a motorcycle. He feels like it is free-spirited when he is in the air. Comes to a Close “It’s also beautiful. It doesn’t really seem like Okla- homa’s super pretty, but when you’re above and you’re flying and you’re looking down, it’s beautiful. Since it’s so difficult, it’s rewarding when you can do things right By Sheryl Ponce and do things correctly and safely,” he said. Syribouth currently has his pilot’s license so he can Former long time Elk City resident, Guy rent a plane and fly almost anywhere he wants to. He Hylton, has decided to retire from city govern- can take passengers, but he cannot fly for compensation. ment July 17th, as City Manager of Sayre. He has If he were to take someone on the plane, he would have a total of 45 years as a city manager. He spent 16 years in Elk City, and 15 years in Sayre. Addition- See SKIES page 8 ally, he worked on the Park Commission for eight years and six years as the Elk City Mayor. Hylton and his wife Suzanne, married for 53 years, came to Elk City and opened Hylton Flow- ers in 1974. They spent 29 years in the florist’s shop. The couple have three children. The oldest is Anita, who is married to Ken Thompson, and Rob Stephens and Greg Britton they have two children, McKinley and Meg. Their second child is Penny who is married to Tom Patten. Their youngest child is Jay Hylton who is KECO and Presidio married to Trisha. Together they have five chil- dren, Dutch, Luke, Presley, Kennedy, and Landry, Meg Thompson with Suzanne and Guy Hylton Hylton’s passion for his job has been evident Present 11th with the progress he has made happen in both Elk City and Sayre. He says the best part of his job it has been in Sayre because Elk City had plenty of money most of the time. In Sayre he has had is being able to move the cities forward. to spend a lot of his time finding money. He has Annual Kids’ “Moving forward with the infrastructure and getting good employees is what I am proud of. I had to try to get grants to do anything other than regular business. Fishing Derby have been very fortunate to have quality people doing their jobs. Putting the right people in the right places to do the job is like a wood pile. You “We can make most people in the community happy. Somehow, there’s always a few, but mostly everybody’s been great to work with. I am really By Sheryl Ponce stack the wood pile, so it is a little higher each proud of our employees in both places,” he added. piece that goes up,” Hylton said. Larry Hart, Elk City, worked with Hylton over Ackley Park will be filled with kids He also admitted that the hardest part of be- and their families to participate in the ing city manager was different for Elk City than See CAREER page 2 KECO and Presidio’s 11th Annual Kids’ Fishing Derby on Saturday, July 19th. The fishing will be from 8 a.m. to noon, while the family activities will take place from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. According to KECO’s Elk City’s Polar Shed Transforms Industrial By Product to Well Houses announcement about the event, this year By Sheryl Ponce years old, and he will work circles around me. He is the will be bigger than ever. hardest working person I have ever met in my life. It’s The event is totally free. For those who Set in the City of Elk City’s Industrial Park, Polar In- incredible. I didn’t have to work as hard as he did grow- are 15 years old or younger, there will be sulated Sheds of Oklahoma manufactures well houses, ing up. Because he worked so hard, and he made life a fishing for prizes including $100 cash, focusing on the water well industry. In 2014, Michael little bit easier for me,” Rogers explained. called “Hook a Hundred.” The rods, reels, Rogers and his family went to work to produce insu- According to Rogers they do not advertise anymore and worms will be provided, as well as lated sheds, both industrial and residential. Since that because they have built enough brand recognition and free t-shirts for early birds. The Oklaho- time, they have streamlined the process to the water such a specific product, that there are few people mak- ma Dept. of Wildlife Conservation and well industry. They have approximately 60 dealerships ing the sheds. He has found that people will find him other volunteers will be on hand to help. in six states. to order or purchase the water well house. They sell The carousel and miniature golf will Michael serves the company as CEO, while his everything they can make, and the product is usually also be free for the morning. There is no mother, Lisa Rogers, takes on all of the bookwork, and on backorder. signup required, so everyone is encour- his father, Dave Rogers, is the operations manager. Mi- Last year they had 300 to 400 units with dealers buy- aged to show-up for all of the fun activ- cheal’s wife, Sarah, is the office manager. Together, they ing 50 to 100 units a year. Some customers will buy a ities. For more information call 580-225- each contribute to the success of the business. 9696. “My dad is out there working right now. He’s 65 See POLAR page 8 Weather Vol. Vol. 117,121, No.No. 54 27 Mail delivery Home delivery Viewonline View online tomorrow 99/70 90 / 70 75 75 cents cents, 12 pgs. 580.225.3000 580.225.3000 elkcityoknews.com elkcityoknews.com