By Donnie A. Lucas

A few Albany High School students competed in the Wylie Valentine UIL Classic last Saturday, bringing home several medals and ribbons.

Albany students placed in three of the journalism events, including news writing, feature writing, and editorial writing, while one entrant placed in mathematics.

“Our kids did great,” UIL coordinator Rick Davis said. “The journalism  kids were competing against 1A through 6A competitors, while the non-writing events were broken down into smaller classifications both by grade level and school size.”

By Melinda L. Lucas

Grandparents Week at Nancy Smith Elementary continues today and tomorrow, along with the associated Book Fair.

The Parent-Teachers Organization is hosting the annual Book Fair in the cafeteria on the same days that grandparents are welcome to eat with their grandchildren or other students who might need a stand-in.

“It has been really busy so far,” counselor Susie Beard said Tuesday. “We have had lots of grandparents for lunch, as well as both parents and grandparents at the book fair.”

By Sam Waller

Agriculture producers and landowners have an opportunity to earn continuing education units and TREC credits at the Texas Farm, Ranch and Wildlife Expo scheduled for Tuesday-Wednesday, Feb. 21-22, at Taylor County Expo Center in Abilene.

The two-day event, hosted by the Taylor County Extension Service and the Abilene Chamber of Commerce, offers seminars from crop production to range management and wildlife management. Vendors can interface directly with a combination of farm, ranch and/or wildlife managers and rural consumers in the Big Country.

By Melinda L. Lucas

Shackelford County commissioners worked through a fairly routine agenda in short order on Monday morning, Feb. 13, adjourning in under an hour.

A motion passed to lift the burn ban while there is some moisture in area pastures, to be revisited at the next meeting.

County judge John Viertel said he has granted several requests for burns in recent weeks in light of participation.

Even though the burn ban is inactive, landowners or others who plan to burn should contact the sheriff’s office so officials will know the timeline of the burn.

By Melinda L. Lucas

The winners of 10 drawings for Albany Bucks were named by the Albany Chamber of Commerce on Monday afternoon, with each lucky shopper receiving a $100 gift certificate to a specific local retail store.

A total of $1,000 in Albany Bucks was given away.

The Valentine drawings were conducted during the monthly Chamber board meeting held at noon on Monday.

By Sam Waller

Albany FFA and Shackelford County 4-H members spent last week competing at both the San Angelo and San Antonio livestock shows.

This week, local students were busy showing barrows at San Angelo.

At San Antonio, Shackelford County 4-H had three teams competing in horse judging. Grace Fry was the third high individual in the junior division, while the junior team of Grace Fry, Artie Bell, Cody Fry, and Rainy Nitschke finished sixth.

By Donnie A. Lucas

The staff at the Shackelford County Health Clinic recognized nurse practioner Travis Wilburn for 20 years of service to the clinic and the Albany community on Monday.

Wilburn started working for the clinic operated by the hospital district on Feb. 3, 2003, or at least that is pretty close to his start date.

By Sam Waller

History buffs can get a glimpse of what life was like on the frontier Saturday, Feb. 18 at Fort Griffin State Historic Site’s Winter Encampment.

The event, scheduled for 10:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., will feature living historians who will fine-tune their skills while they portray a frontier winter encampment. Assistant site manager Eric Abercrombie said the event is similar to the site’s Living History Days held each October.

By Melinda L. Lucas

With no contested races as of Tuesday, residents only have two more days to toss their hats into the local political ring for several local elections to be decided May 6.

The Albany and Moran ISD trustee elections and both Albany and Moran city councils had drawn full slates of candidates as of Tuesday, with one or more positions still lacking candidates on the other two boards with terms expiring for the election.

Without a contested race thus far, all six boards are looking at the possibility of being able to cancel their elections.

By Melinda L. Lucas

During their Feb. 14 meeting, Albany city council members moved forward with a $3 million bond program through the Texas Water Development Board for water system improvements.

A representative of Enprotec / Hibbs & Todd, the city’s engineering consultant, explained the project, stating that funding can be used for system infrastructure improvements from the plant to the lines and storage tanks.