By Melinda L. Lucas

The Old Jail Art Center will celebrate International Kite Month with a first ever Kites Around the World Family Festival on Saturday, March 7.

The free event will kick off the week of Spring Break on Saturday, March 7, and will be held in the Stasney center along with other parts of the museum from 12:00 noon to 3:00 p.m.

OJAC staff members invite local families to come and bring visitors for an hour or two of cultural crafts, games, food, and music inspired by kite festivals around the world.

The Hendrick Regional Blood Center bloodmobile will be at Albany High School next Monday, March 3 from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., then at First Baptist Church on Thursday, March 5 from 1:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. 

While the AHS location is primarily for students, anyone can donate blood at either event, depending on which is more convenient.

Hendrick Regional Blood Center supplies all of the blood and blood products used for patient care at 17 area hospitals.

By Melinda L. Lucas

Almost 93 percent of the 2019 tax levy had been collected with the required Jan. 31 postmark deadline, according to chief appraiser Clayton Snyder at the Shackelford County Central Appraisal District (CAD) office, with eligible payments coming in for another week or so at the beginning of February.

Official CAD reports show that 8,754,165 of the $9,444,036, or 92.68 percent, had come in as of Feb. 3, when the latest reports were finalized.

By Donnie A. Lucas

It was a true cat fight in Tuscola on Monday, with the Lions and the Christoval Cougars clawing their way to a 33-33 tie at the end of regulation time in the bi-district round of the Class 2A playoffs.

The Cougars came out on top, outscoring Albany 10-6 in overtime for a 43-39 win.

“I thought the guys did a great job of playing hard tonight,” coach Ryder Peacock said. “Defensively, we did exactly what we needed to do to keep the game around 40 points by not allowing Christoval to run transition and eliminate second-chance points.”

By Kathy Thomson

County winners at the San Antonio Livestock Show and Rodeo last week included several family members, two of whom claimed second place ribbons in back-to-back swine classes on Monday, Feb. 17.

Callan Edgar’s Duroc barrow was selected as runner up in class 37 and Tatum Grady took second place in class 38, also with a Duroc barrow. 

Carli Edgar was seventh with a dark cross barrow in Class 58.  

Tye Edgar was 10th in class 100.

By Melinda L. Lucas

A few members of Albany High School’s tennis team saw their first action of the 2020 season on Feb. 20, traveling to Rose Park in Abilene to participate in the Hawley Invitational Tournament.

Tennis coach Sara Wilson said that the six local players who were able to compete last week did “surprisingly well considering it was their first tournament of the year” with limited practice time.

Albany hosted Throckmorton and Cisco on Wednesday. Results will be reported next week.

By Kathy Thomson

Children at Nancy Smith Elementary School will join others around the nation observing Read Across America Day next Monday, March 2.

Read Across America Day was inaugurated in 1998 by the National Education Association, and is held every year in early March.

By Donnie A. Lucas

Advancing to the third round of the Class 2A playoffs for the first time in 25 years, the Lady Lions faced the familiar Stamford Lady Bulldogs on Tuesday, suffering a season-ending 49-39 loss.

Albany finished the season with a 22-11 overall record, including 6-4 in District 8-2A behind Stamford (8-2) in second and Haskell (10-0) in first. The Lady Lions lost both games to the Lady Bulldogs in district.

The Lady Bulldogs move on to the Regional Tournament that starts Friday in Levelland, facing Gruver in the first game.

By Kathy Thomson

The season of Lent began on Feb. 26, Ash Wednesday, and at least two local churches have special activities during the weeks leading up to Easter, which will be cele-brated on April 12.

Trinity Lutheran Church members will host a Lent service at 7:00 p.m. each Wednesday evening until Holy Week. 

The services will be preceded by a soup and sandwich meal served at 6:00 p.m. Desserts are also served.

Everyone in the community is welcome to attend.

By Donnie A. Lucas

Junior high track teams traveled to Knox City on Monday, earning a number of medals and ribbons.

The four teams will compete at Breckenridge on Tuesday, March 3, starting at 3:30 p.m.

Results for both girls teams were received, but records weren’t kept for the boys teams. Several events were run in heats with just heat results reported.

8th Grade Girls

2400 m run – 2. Maci Hatchett 11:06. 4. Callan Edgar 13:24.

100 m dash – 1. Robin Lucas 14.08. 1. Kiana Roberson 15.06. 2. Braylyn Abbate 15.02.