Children are invited to dress up in costumes late Saturday afternoon and head to the elementary school for the Ministerial Alliance sponsored Trunk or Treat, taking place between the school and the bus barn, from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 27.

Members of various churches of the Alliance along with other volunteers from the community decorate their vehicles and bring games and/or treats to share with attendees, offering a safe place for the tykes to go trick or treating. 

Games of skill and chance, homemade cakes and assorted other scrumptious desserts, freshly prepared chili and beans, prizes, and children and adults dressed up as characters from video games, heroes, mermaids, animals, and clowns are all expected to be on hand for the annual Parent-Teacher Organization’s Fall Fest held at the Nancy Smith Elementary School campus on Saturday, Oct. 27.

Traditionally trick or treating takes place on Oct. 31, and participating downtown Albany store owners will once again offer costumed local students and pre-schoolers a safe place to show off their cute outfits and solicit candy donations on Halloween.

According to Chamber of Commerce office manager Mary Beth Jones, downtown merchants will be handing out candy from 3:00 until 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 31, and there will also be groups at the Bank Park.

In addition, trick or treaters can visit the Shackelford County Law Enforcement Center during the same time frame.

Shackelford County commissioners met for about 30 minutes Monday morning, okaying several budget adjustments so county treasurer Tammy Brown could begin to close out the fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30.

She stated that there were only a couple of areas that couldn’t be adjusted within that department’s budget.

Not enough was budgeted for utilities at the county library, Brown said, with the overage taken from the non-departmental budget.

Early voting for the Nov. 6 general election is underway in Shackelford County and continues through Nov. 2, with 110 people casting their ballots in person on Monday, another 95 voting Tuesday, and 71 mail-in ballots returned by Tuesday, according to election clerk Cheri Hawkins.

Early in-person voting takes place on the first floor of the Shackelford County Courthouse from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon and 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Monday through Thursday, and from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon and 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Friday. 

Trick or treating will involve some older youth again this year, including Albany High School student council members who will be out in local neighborhoods to “Trick or Treat for Change” on  Tuesday night, Oct. 30 starting at 6:30 p.m.

“There will be about 45 kids, from grades seven through 12,” said student council sponsor Donnie Lucas. “They will go door to door asking for contributions.”

With the 2018 “Red Ribbon Week” campaign winding down, organizers still have quite a bit more planned for local students on Thursday and Friday.

Red Ribbon Week in Albany this year began on Monday, Oct. 22. The annual campaign is recognized not only locally but across the state and nation.

This is the 30th straight year that the event has been conducted in Albany. The campaign is designed to draw as much attention as possible to the problems of drug and alcohol abuse, some of the leading causes of drug abuse, and its prevention.

Motivational speaker Shannon Pickard will be entertaining and educating students at Albany High School today at a 10:00 a.m. assembly.

Pickard, who is from Kilgore, started his own entertainment company while in high school and later launched it into a career in comedy, acting, and music. He has been the co-host, producer, and writer of Teen Talk, a regular on For Better or For Worse, and did multiple movies in Hollywood before returning to Texas to become a pastor, motivational speaker, author, and cofounder of the band “Tin Umbrella!”

The Albany band received an overall rating of III at the East Zone Region 6 Marching Contest at Wylie Bulldog Stadium earlier this week.

The Ragin’ Red Band was the second one to compete on Monday, Oct. 22, taking the field at 3:00 p.m. The 25 members of the band performed Rise of the Phoenix, which was written for the band by Luke McMillian, according to AHS band director John Stockdale.

Bands from Class 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A, and 6A schools were at the UIL sponsored contest.

Everyone is invited to attend a free presentation at the Aztec this Sunday given by an explorer who has been on an archeological expedition to Mount Ararat trying to find Noah’s Ark, and who was a member of the 2017 team that found a cave known to have contained some of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the first such discovery since 1956. 

Bruce Hall’s 2013 climb and search for Noah’s ark was documented in the 2015 released film Finding Noah, an Adventure of Faith.

Paul Johnston met Hall recently, and the chance encounter led to this Sunday’s presentation.