Longtime Albany ISD board president Betsy Parsons and veteran trustee Pam Davis both announced at Monday night’s regular school board meeting that they do not plan to run for reelection.

They are the senior members of the group, with Parsons finishing her 30th year and Davis her 21st. Parsons has served as president for two decades.

“This decision is made after a lot of prayer,” said Parsons. “I still have a vested interest in this district and stepping down doesn’t mean I’m not going to be here. I just believe it’s time for a change.”

Newly elected county judge Robert Skelton accepted the 2019 Texas Courthouse Stewardship Award from representatives of the Texas Historical Commission (THC) at the 2019 Real Places Heritage Tourism and Historic Preservation conference in Austin last Friday on behalf of Shackelford County.

Sharon Fleming, the director of the THC Courthouse Preservation Program, and Leslie Midgley, executive vice president and CEO of Texas Land Title Association, which sponsored the award, presented Skelton with Shackelford County’s award plaque and $1,000 check.

Veteran Fandangle performer and supporter Lanham Martin was recently elected as president of the Fort Griffin Fandangle board of directors and is already working to increase involvement both on the stage and in the stands.

Martin was one of several officers elected at a regular board meeting earlier this month.

Cody Leech is serving as vice president, Cori Bezner as treasurer, and Lauren Willen as secretary.

After an Albany fugitive was spotted in the community several times over the weekend, Shackelford County law enforcement put a notice on social media Monday to try and apprehend him.

Andrew (Andy) Haw-kins has been “on the run” since a warrant was issued for his arrest in July 2018, according to Shackelford County sheriff Ed Miller.

Charges were reportedly filed on Hawkins in May 2018 in an Albany Police Department case, and he was formally indicted by a grand jury in August, said Miller.

Lereatha Clay, chair of the Friends of the Texas Historical Commission Board of Trustees, presented the 2019 Friends Alliance Award for Stewardship to the local nonprofit Friends of Fort Griffin State Historic Site at the 2019 Real Places Heritage Tourism & Historic Preservation Conference Opening Reception in Austin on Wednesday, Jan. 16.

The first week of the month long filing period for local board elections ended yesterday, and a total of five candidates have already filed for spots on the May 4 ballot. 

There is not a fee to run for the local offices, but prospective candidates must file by 5:00 p.m. on Feb. 15 to have their names listed on the ballot.

Albany City Council

Joe Tidwell and Carolyn Waller hold the two at large city council seats that are up for election in 2019. The office of mayor, currently held by Rodney Alexander, will also be up for vote this election cycle.

With just a week left before the official deadline, a large percentage of the county-wide taxes have yet to be collected, according to figures received Tuesday from the central appraisal district (CAD) office.

Taxes assessed during 2018 are officially due next week, on Thursday, Jan. 31, according to chief appraiser Clayton Snyder. 

Just a little over 24 percent of the total levy had been collected by the end of the year, but a number of payments have been received since then, and Snyder expects to be very busy for the next week. 

Delivery of The Albany News through the mail and at news racks is returning to Thursday mornings this week after printing presses at the Abilene Reporter-News are now back up and running.

A major fire at the Abilene newspaper in November forced the News to switch to printing the weekly paper in Lubbock until the Abilene press was operational.

Newspapers should be on local news racks by 6:30 a.m. on Thursdays, and local mail subscribers will also find the newspaper posted on Thursday morning like it was prior to the fire.

Albany High School students selected eight class members as royalty for the 2019 Winter Formal, including this year’s Mr. and Miss AHS. 

The Winter Formal is organized each year by the AHS student council, and was held Saturday, Jan. 19 at the Whitney Theatre.

Three boys and three girls from each of the four classes were nominated by their peers in class meetings held earlier this month, with the winners selected last week.

Honorees were announced and presented toward the end of the Saturday night event.

Fifteen Albany High School students will travel to Haskell this Saturday, Jan. 26 for the annual Haskell UIL Pow Wow, an academic practice meet. 

“We have 15 students entered in 13 different contests for a total of 38 individual entries,” said Rick Davis, UIL coordinator. “Several of them are doing multiple events.”

This year the student numbers are down significantly from the 37 that competed last year, but still 50 percent greater than the 10 entered in 2017.