By Sam Waller

While the state-wide outlook for the spring turkey season is a little brighter than last year, prospects for Shackelford County are still down.

“It’s very poor,” game warden Jacob Mort said. “I know a lot of people are not allowing lease hunters to come. Lots of ranchers and hunters are not seeing the birds that historically Shackelford has had.”

The spring season for turkey in the north zone began Saturday, April 1  and runs through Sunday May 14. Two youth-only day remain – Saturday-Sunday, May 14-15.

By Melinda L. Lucas

Dates for state-required testing for both elementary and secondary students have been pushed back in the school year by about two weeks, with both STAAR and end-of-course (EOC) tests administered during April and May.

By Melinda L. Lucas

Pick-up dates for the April distribution of the commodity food program will be Thursday, April 13 and Friday, April 14.

The date was pushed back from the usual first full week schedule because of the Easter weekend.

Certified eligible families in Moran should pick up their monthly commodity food at the Moran City Hall between 9:00 and 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, April 13.

By Sam Waller

Albany churches are celebrating the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ this week with a full slate of Easter services.

In addition to Easter Sunday on April 9, services are being held by several congregations for Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.

Trinity Lutheran

Trinity Lutheran Church has a full slate of services starting with Maundy Thursday at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 6.

A Good Friday service is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Friday, April 7.

By Donnie A. Lucas

Both Parliamentary Procedure teams competing for the Albany FFCLA chapter took first place at the State Leadership Conference in Dallas last weekend, qualifying them to advance to the National Conference in Denver in July.

The junior high team of all eighth graders competed in Level I division for seventh and eighth graders, while the Level II team for ninth and 10th graders entered all local ninth graders.

Most of the Level II team won the National Championship as a Level I team last year in San Diego.

By Melinda L. Lucas

A blood drive is scheduled to take place in Albany next Friday, April 14.

Regular donors are asked to remember that the dates have changed in 2023 from Thursdays to Fridays.

Scheduled for roughly eight-week intervals, the rest of this year’s blood drives are planned on June 9, Aug. 4, Sept. 29, and Nov. 28.

Hendrick Regional Blood Center will park its bloodmobile at First Baptist Church at the usual time from 1:00 until 6:00 p.m.

By Melinda L. Lucas

Members of the Albany Volunteer Fire Department elected new officers during a regular meeting on Monday, April 3.

Joel Viertel will serve as Chief, while Jeff Hill will remain as Assistant Chief and Casey Kimbrough as Lieutenant. Cyrena Viertel was elected as secretary/treasurer.

Travis Gardenhire, who is stepping down as Fire Chief because of other obligations, was appointed as Interim Captain.

By Sam Waller

An offhand remark has resulted in Albany resident Zach Harmon becoming a published author.

Harmon’s novella “The Top of the Stairs” is now available on Amazon. It is his first published work.

“It’s a supernatural noir piece of fiction,” Harmon said. “I have been a big fan of David Lynch’s ‘Twin Peaks.’ That’s kind of what I had in my head, that noir style on top of the supernatural side of the show.”

The novella tells the story of John Fey, a young man who travels to a small town in Texas to arrange his late father’s funeral.

By Melinda L. Lucas

Another annual Albany Classic Car Show is gearing up for Saturday, April 15 in downtown Albany, with the public urged to come view dozens of vintage cars and trucks from around the Big Country.

Organizer and car enthusiast Robert Snyder said he has had a good response so far of owners planning to attend.

“There are actually a couple of other shows that weekend, even though we try to avoid that,” Snyder said. “The people I have talked to are planning to come to ours, and we are expecting another good show if the weather cooperates.”

By Melinda L. Lucas

Albany ISD staff and students will be off both Friday, April 7 and Monday, April 10 for a four-day Easter weekend.

Younger students at Nancy Smith Elementary School had Easter egg hunts planned this week.

Students will be released at their regular times Thursday, April 6 (today).

School will resume at the usual time on both campuses on Tuesday morning, April 11.

The remainder of the semester will include mandatory state testing, along with numerous spring activities.