Next Wednesday, Jan. 23 is the registration deadline for local girls and boys from eight years old through fourth grade to sign up for the upcoming Little Dribblers basketball season.

Parents should complete and return the registration form and $30 fee to either the Nancy Smith Elementary School office or to organizer Clint Chapman by Jan. 23 so that teams can be organized later that week.

“The league will play in the practice gym, using nine-foot goals,” said Chapman. “Each team will have two games each Saturday.”

A proposed project to include a senior citizens space in the Albany Visitor Center was discussed at length during the Albany city council meeting on Monday night, Jan. 14, with Chamber of Commerce officials agreeing to bring more information to the next session.

Council members also received an update on progress of the gas line upgrades and how it will affect street repairs during 2019.

Junior Chamber Program

The 2019 Shackelford County Youth and Livestock Association show is set for Jan. 31 through Feb. 2, and stock show exhibitors need to help clean up and prepare the county show barn’s facilities this Saturday, Jan. 19, starting at 8:30 a.m.

“Please bring shovels, hoes, rakes, brooms, and other clean-up tools,” said FFA advisor Chris Beard. “We will pick up any trash, sweep and clean up the bleachers and the barn, and set up the pens. It is the same as last year, except that we are starting a half hour later, at 8:30 a.m.”

Exhibitors are expected to participate. 

Albany High senior Jillian Guinn and Moran ISD senior Curry Pendleton were awarded 2019 DAR Good Citizen awards by the Lee’s Legion Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) at a ceremony at the Lord’s Old Time Gospel Church in Breckenridge last Wednesday, Jan. 9.

The public is invited to come out to Fort Griffin State Historical Site this Saturday,  Jan. 19, when the park hosts its second trout fishing day of the winter.

“As part of an annual rainbow trout stocking program conducted by Texas Parks and Wildlife (TPWD), we will be stocking our fishing pond multiple times with rainbow trout this winter,” said program specialist Eric Abercrombie. “In an effort to help the public take advantage of this great fishing opportunity, we will be hosting a trout-fishing day on Saturday, Jan. 19.”

Winners of the Lower Clear Fork of the Brazos Soil and Water Conservation District 2019 Poster Contest were announced recently. 

Nancy Smith Elementary School fourth graders Hattie Braly, Tatum Grady, and Leah Glick submitted the local overall winning entries, and their artwork advanced to the area contest.

Posters based on this year’s theme “Life in Soil: Dig Deeper” were submitted by students from Albany and Breckenridge.  

Each of the local winners was presented a ribbon and $50 by district representative Sara Head at an informal ceremony on Dec. 18.

Betty Riley, age 88 of Albany, passed away Saturday, Jan. 12, 2019 at her residence. 

Funeral services were held Tuesday, January 15 at the Church of Christ in Albany with Sonny McCauley officiating. Interment followed in the Albany Cemetery under the direction of Morehart Mortuary. 

Betty Jo Knight was born May 23, 1930 in Dallas, Texas to parents, Claude Knight and Dollie Harrell Knight.  She married Ben Jackson Riley on June 6, 1947 in Albany at the Methodist Church.  

Jimmy D. “Jim” Ivy was born July 1, 1934 to Luther and Flora Ivy in Memphis, Texas, and passed from this life on Jan. 9, 2019 in Hobbs, NM. 

He was the third of four children. Jimmy graduated from Seminole High School and later attended Western New Mexico University on a football scholarship. 

He was preceded in death in death by his parents; first wife, Billy June Ivy; siblings: John Ivy, Bobby Ivy, Mary Jo (Jerry) Baker and her husband E.B. Baker; son, Terry Ivy and grandson, Aaron “Brit” Arther.

James (Jim) Lee Sanders II, 76, of Budapest. Hungary, was born on Jan. 17, 1942 in Abilene, Texas. Jim was headed home when he died in Frankfurt, Germany on Dec. 23, 2018, and went to be with his Lord and Savior, to whom he dedicated the last 40 years of his life.

A funeral service will be held at 2:00 p.m. Friday, Jan. 18, at Matthews Memorial Presbyterian Church where Jim was baptized as an infant and was a member as  a youth. The Rev. Anthony Ceder will be officiating the service and burial will be in the Albany Cemetery, directed by Morehart Mortuary.

The Texas Historical Commission (THC) is accepting applications for the Summer 2019 Preservation Scholars Program, with a deadline of March 22, 2019.

The program is an eight-week, paid summer internship available to undergraduate and graduate students interested in learning about the field of historic preservation.