Shackelford County rancher John Matthews will turn 100 on March 9, and a musical recital performed by both local talent and the North Texas Caledonian Pipes & Drums will be held at the Aztec Theater at 7:00 p.m. this Saturday, March 2 in honor of the occasion.
Tickets to the free performancewere all given away before the end of the first day, according to pianist Sandy Abel.
Ash Wednesday is next week, and at least two Albany churches will have special services that evening.
Trinity Lutheran Church will hold a service at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 6.
Jesus of Nazareth Catholic Church has Mass scheduled for 5:45 p.m. on Ash Wednesday.
Ash Wednesday is observed 46 days before Easter Sunday and is the beginning of the Lenten season.
Lent is a time of reflection, focusing on repentance for sins, and remembering the suffering Christ endured to win forgiveness and salvation for all believers.
The city of Albany will receive a sales tax allotment of $50,966 from the state this February. The amount is down 15.20 percent from the $60,108 payment received in February of 2018.
Payments to date for the 2019 year to the city of Albany are $102,929, down by 0.53 percent from the comparable time last year, when payments of $103,480 had been made.
The city of Moran will receive a net payment of $1,738 this period, for a 46.26 percent increase from the $1,188 received in February 2018.
The Methodist Women’s group invites everyone in the community to enjoy lunch at First United Methodist’s annual fundraising Mexican pile-on dinner this coming Sunday, Feb. 24.
The meal consists of seasoned ground beef, tortilla chips, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, onions, and additional trimmings. Desserts and drinks will also be served.
The free-will donation meal will be available for either dine in or carry out, starting at 11:30 a.m.
Proceeds raised by the meal will go to missions and to the Methodist Women’s scholarship fund.
The regular dominos crowd, plus a few extras, helped Louise Shelton (front, c) cele-brate her 103rd birthday with a few brisk games of “42” last Friday afternoon at the local library. Shelton is a frequent winner and attends the games almost every week.
Moran High School student JT Holland placed fifth in class 35 medium weight European cross steers at the Fort Worth Livestock Show earlier this month, earning a spot in the exhibition’s Sale of Champions.
Judge Chris Mullinix from Kansas placed Holland’s Simmental steer “Coon” in the top seven percent of the 70 animals in the class.
Holland had already won the grand champion steer banner at the Shackelford County Youth and Livestock show with Coon on Feb. 2 before exhibiting the animal in the Fort Worth show the following week.
Dakota Fowler, head girls coach at Moran High School, was chosen to be one of the volleyball coaches for the upcoming Big Country Fellowship of Christian Athletes All-Star Festival.
Coaches and players for the teams were announced on Sunday, Feb. 10 at Beltway South in Abilene.
Fowler was named as one of the coaches for the South volleyball team, along with Jamey Wills from Clack Middle School and head coach Natalie Whitewood from Early High School.
The Albany Independent School District and the City of Albany will both hold elections on May 4, while the other three local governing bodies, the Shackelford County hospital district, the Moran city council, and the Moran school board do not have any contested races and are expected to cancel their elections.
Six new candidates joined various local races before last week’s 5:00 p.m. Friday cut-off.
Don Taggart is the newest candidate for a seat on the Albany city council.
Rodney Alexander filed to return as mayor of Albany.
A quorum of Shackelford County Hospital District (SCHD) directors voted to order a new ambulance at a cost of $199,775, a purchase that has been discussed for several months and which is included in the 2019 budget.
The board members settled on a 2019 Dodge Ram 3500 diesel chassis furnished with a Stryker “Powerload” mechanism from Frazer Ltd. in Houston, the company that has supplied the last three units owned by the district.
The new ambulance will replace one of the two 2009 models owned by the district. A 2013 ambulance will remain in service.
Shackelford County 4-H and FFA members brought back an assortment of prizes from the San Angelo Stock Show recently.
“It was a stellar outing for Shackelford County, especially following the wins at Fort Worth,” said Albany ag instructor Chris Beard. “It’s pretty exciting to see all the successes.”
Breed reserve champion banners were won by Hannah Snyder and Huffman Heatly, Tyler Beard earned a belt buckle and scholarship money, and other local youth also placed well.
Junior Heifers
