By Donnie A. Lucas

The Albany High School One Act Play earned fourth place out of seven district schools last Wednesday, March 8  to serve as alternate to the bi-district contest, and three members of the cast and crew received special recognition.

The group presented the comedy “Oz” for the judges at Haskell.

Two members of the cast received honorable mention All-Star Cast, including Landon Balliew as the Lion and Avery Everitt as the Scarcrow.

Presley Green, a member of the technical crew, received All-Star Crew.

By Donnie A. Lucas

The Albany Chamber of Commerce is currently sending out membership notices to current members and encouraging new members to join in time for the annual Crawfish Boil set for Thursday, April 6 in the parking lot in front of the Depot.

All Chamber members are invited to attend without charge, and memberships will be available during the event for anyone wanting to attend.

By Melinda L. Lucas

Cheerleader tryouts for the 2023-2024 school year were held last Friday, March 10 prior to dismissal for spring break.

Several adjustments were made in this year’s tryouts, including the change back to an eight-member varsity squad.

“Last spring, we just had 10 high school girls signed up, so it was decided that they would all be on varsity rather than having a separate JV squad,” said cheer sponsor Nickie Leveridge. “The administrators always intended to go back to eight on varsity when the numbers went back up.”

By Sam Waller

When classes resume on Monday following spring break, Moran ISD will have nine weeks of class remaining until the end of the school year. However, there will be minor changes to the schedule, superintendent Dr. John Denson said.

At its meeting Monday night, the Moran school board will review proposed changes to the school calendar regarding makeup dates for two class days missed because of winter weather in February.

“We’ll let the board approve the calendar amendment and make those days up,” Denson said.

By Melinda L. Lucas

Families are invited to celebrate the beginning of spring break and a traditional holiday from India this Saturday, March 11.

Even though the forecast calls for some wind on Saturday, temperatures are expected to be warm, and the OJAC hopes to host games and crafts in both the Stasney Center and outdoors.

“Family Festival: Holi!” geared toward children of all ages, will begin at 1:00 p.m. and end at 4:00 p.m., with docents, junior docents, and other volunteers helping with activities.

By Melinda L. Lucas

Just in time for spring sports and other warm weather outdoor activities, Daylight Saving Time (DST) returns this Sunday, March 12, at 2:00 a.m.

Most of the United States officially begins DST every year on the second Sunday in March, and changes back to standard time on the first Sunday in November.

Local residents are reminded to set any manual clocks forward one hour before they go to bed on Saturday night.

By Melinda L. Lucas

The Albany Volunteer Fire Department recently  upgraded its “jaws of life” super powers with new equipment provided by donated funds.

“We’ve taken delivery of a new set of cordless extrication tools,” said AVFD captain Joel Viertel. “We received a set of cutters as well as a set of spreaders (jaws of life), with extra batteries and charger.”

By Donnie A. Lucas

With two rehearsals now under their belts, the cast and crew of the Fort Griffin Fandangle will take a week off for spring break before resuming practices for the Membership Sampler slated for April 15 at Reynolds Bend on the Matthews family’s historic Lambshead Ranch.

The initial two rehearsals for the show were held at the Aztec Theater over the past two weeks, but the cast will move outside at the Prairie Theater for practices on Mondays and Thursdays through April 13. All rehearsals will start at 7:30 p.m. at the theater.

By Donnie A. Lucas

A group of 20 Albany FCCLA members competed at the Regional Leadership Conference last week in Waco, with both Parliamentary Procedure teams and two other paired partners advancing to the state  conference.

Both the Level 1 and Level 2 parliamentary teams are moving on to the State Regional Conference set for March 31 through April 2 in Dallas.

By Donnie A. Lucas

The Ragin’ Red Band is preparing for concert and sight reading competition set for March 28 at Cooper High School in Abilene, hoping to repeat last year’s Sweepstakes Award by bringing home a pair of Division I ratings.

The band earned a Division I at the marching contest last fall, and if they earn two more Division I ratings in concert and sight reading, the group will add another Sweepstakes Award to their collection.