The 80th anniversary edition of the Fort Griffin Fandangle officially concluded soon after 10:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 30, with the traditional singing of “Prairie Land” by the entire cast, in front of an audience that included a large contingent of visitors from China, as well as U.S. Representative Jody Arrington and his family.

2018 Recap

Although tickets did not sell out for any of the performances this year, Fandangle board president Steve Waller said he was pleased with this year’s show.

The Albany Lions football district schedule was reshuffled recently after Roby ISD announced in June that it doesn’t have enough players to field a varsity team in the fall.

The schedule originally set for members of District 7-2A Div. II after the biennial re-alignment in February had to be scrapped after Roby’s announcement.

Except for a few areas, Albany ISD end-of-course (EOC) and STAAR scores stayed above the state testing averages, which were released  along with Region 14 averages last week.

Local scores were received a little earlier, but have continued to change a little as the state sends out re-calculations, according to district testing coordinator Leigh Lowe.

Jacob Mort, an eight year veteran of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, is Shackelford County’s new game warden.

Although Mort grew up hunting and fishing, and always knew he wanted to be in the same profession as his father, a Nebraska game warden for over 40 years, he said that he “blames” Johnnie Hudman for his move to Texas.

The Chamber of Commerce weekly luncheon will not take place this Friday, July 6, but will resume next Friday, July 13, at the Icehouse.

The Chamber board of directors regular monthly meeting is also cancelled in July, according to president Ramby Anderson.

“The monthly Chamber meeting always takes a break in July,” he said. “We will meet again in August.”

Anderson added that Chamber manager Mary Beth Jones recently attended a “Chamber Best Practices” meeting.

Next Wednesday, July 11, the City of Albany will test the emergency warning siren at 12:00 noon, as it does the second Wednesday of every month.

The siren should sound one of the three emergency tones at noon on that day.  

The tests are used to make sure that the siren, computer, software, and radios are working correctly, as well as to keep citizens familiar with the warning sounds, but the test is not run if storms are in the area.

The three different tones signify severe weather, fire danger, and impending flooding.

By Melinda L. Lucas

Subscribers to the digital version of The Albany News most likely have noticed recent changes in the appearance of the online website and the functionality of the facsimile or PDF version of the weekly editions of the newspaper.

The internet editions of the News, found at thealbanynews.net, are now being hosted by e-Type Newspaper Services and will provide subscribers with a host of updated services. The change was effective with the Thursday, June 28 edition of the newspaper.