By Sandy Morris

Members of the Albany Volunteer Fire Department will host their annual Easter egg hunt at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 3 at the city park.

The park will be sectioned off for each individual age group.

All children will need to meet at the pool entrance before the hunt begins to find their section. 

The groups are ages zero to three, ages four to six, ages seven to nine, and ages 10 and up. 

In addition to candy eggs, gold and silver coins will be provided as prizes courtesy of First National Bank.

By Sandy Morris

Albany FFA andShackelford County 4-H members wrapped up action at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo last week with their steer entries.

Kenzie Neve won second place and Kam Browning won sixth place with their shorthorns, and both will participate in the steer sale at NRG Stadium later in the spring on Saturday, May 22.

Hattie Braly earned fifth place with her heavy-weight Angus. 

Gracie Price also competed in Houston.

When Texans see a pillar of smoke rising out of a forest or state park, with Texas A&M Forest Service on the ground, our gut instinct is always the same: wildfire. However, that isn’t always the case.

Prescribed burning has become one of the most efficient and effective tools for land management in the state of Texas, and some of the state’s leading experts in wildland fire management – from Texas A&M Forest Service to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department – can’t emphasize its merits enough.

By Sandy Morris

The Parent Teacher Organization at Nancy Smith Elementary School will hold the traditional Scholastic Book Fair beginning Monday, April 12 to Friday, April 16.

PTO members plan to set up the book fair on the cafeteria stage at NSES.

The book fair will be held face to face and offers the usual assortment of books, games, posters, bookmarks, and more. 

By Sandy Morris

Albany High School seniors will be able to begin applying for local scholarships this week.

According to Ann Riley at the AHS office, the scholarship list will be uploaded to the district’s website and distributed to local seniors by Friday, March 26, informing them of the requirements for specific scholarships. 

“Some scholarships have a form the student needs to fill out; others require the student to write a letter,” Riley said.

The seniors must then turn in their application letters by Wednesday, April 14, Riley stated.

By Sandy Morris

The Albany High School  band will compete in the UIL Region 2, East Zone Concert and Sightreading contest in Abilene next week.

The contest will take place at Wylie High School in Abilene over a two-day period, and Albany is scheduled to perform on Tuesday, March 30. 

AHS band director Will Vaughan said the band will take the stage  at 3:30 p.m.

“We will perform three numbers and then sight read a piece that will be given to us there,” said Vaughan. 

By Sandy Morris

Albany High School  FFA members competed in the Cisco College Invitational Career Development Events (CDE) contest on Monday, March 22. 

AHS ag teacher and FFA sponsor Chris Beard said the students competed with either the horse judging team or the wildlife judging team.

The horse judging team of Addie Beth Denton, Elizabeth Chavez, Landree Connally, and Susie Cormack placed second out of 42 teams. 

The Albany team earned 808 points right behind the first place team with 809 points.

By Sandy Morris

Thursday, April 1 is the last day to register to vote or make a change of address effective for the May 1 local election. 

Voter registration applications can be found online at votetexas.gov or filled out in person at the Tax Assessor-Collector office at the Shackelford County Courthouse.

Shackelford County voters who wish to vote by mail for the Shackelford County Hospital District can submit applications for ballots; however, the vote by mail applications for this election should not be sent to the courthouse.

By Melinda L. Lucas

Shackelford County commissioners voted to purchase a new battery backup for the Law Enforcement Center (LEC) at a cost of about $9,000 during a morning session on March 22.

Much of Monday’ meeting was spent in an overall update of the county’s technology with Zach Fitzgerald from CTSI, the county’s IT consultant.

County sheriff Edward Miller asked for the immediate purchase of the “external battery pack” for the LEC IT system in light of the fact that the current backup is completely “dead.”

By Melinda L. Lucas

Monday’s monthly meeting of the Albany ISD board of trustees, postponed one week from its regular time because of spring break, was mostly COVID updates in various areas, with a couple of motions made on routine agenda items.

The board also went into closed session about  personnel for about 30 minutes at the end of the meeting, but no action was taken before adjournment.

TEA/UIL Updates