Moran Independent School District has a student holiday scheduled for Friday, Jan. 25, and for Friday, Feb. 1. 

Jan. 25 is a staff professional development day and Feb. 1 is a staff comp day.

The holidays correspond with the original dates chosen for the Shackelford County Youth and Livestock Association show (Jan. 24-26) and the rescheduled dates for the local livestock show (Jan. 31-Feb. 2).

Youth entered in the livestock show need to be at the show barn at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 19 to help prepare the facility for the upcoming event.

Next Wednesday, Jan. 23 is the registration deadline for local girls and boys from eight years old through fourth grade to sign up for the upcoming Little Dribblers basketball season.

Parents should complete and return the registration form and $30 fee to either the Nancy Smith Elementary School office or to organizer Clint Chapman by Jan. 23 so that teams can be organized later that week.

“The league will play in the practice gym, using nine-foot goals,” said Chapman. “Each team will have two games each Saturday.”

Albany High senior Jillian Guinn and Moran ISD senior Curry Pendleton were awarded 2019 DAR Good Citizen awards by the Lee’s Legion Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) at a ceremony at the Lord’s Old Time Gospel Church in Breckenridge last Wednesday, Jan. 9.

The public is invited to come out to Fort Griffin State Historical Site this Saturday,  Jan. 19, when the park hosts its second trout fishing day of the winter.

“As part of an annual rainbow trout stocking program conducted by Texas Parks and Wildlife (TPWD), we will be stocking our fishing pond multiple times with rainbow trout this winter,” said program specialist Eric Abercrombie. “In an effort to help the public take advantage of this great fishing opportunity, we will be hosting a trout-fishing day on Saturday, Jan. 19.”

Winners of the Lower Clear Fork of the Brazos Soil and Water Conservation District 2019 Poster Contest were announced recently. 

Nancy Smith Elementary School fourth graders Hattie Braly, Tatum Grady, and Leah Glick submitted the local overall winning entries, and their artwork advanced to the area contest.

Posters based on this year’s theme “Life in Soil: Dig Deeper” were submitted by students from Albany and Breckenridge.  

Each of the local winners was presented a ribbon and $50 by district representative Sara Head at an informal ceremony on Dec. 18.

The Lady Lions won two of three games during the local basketball tournament last week, improving to 13-8 for the season as they prepare to open district competition this week.

Albany will host the Cross Plains girls on Friday, Jan. 4, with the JV team taking the court at 5:00 p.m., followed by the varsity at about 6:30 p.m.

The Lady Lions will be on the road next Tuesday, Jan. 8 for games in Stamford. Tip-off will be at 5:00 p.m. for the JV and 6:30 p.m. for varsity.

Local Tournament

New Year’s Day 2019 wasn’t exactly balmy, with temperatures in the low 30s for most of the day and freezing drizzle on Wednesday, but it wasn’t the extreme of one year ago, when the mercury dipped down into the single digits on both New Year’s Eve and the next night, Jan. 1, 2018.

The nine degrees recorded on both those nights was nowhere near the all-time low in Albany of minus nine degrees that bottomed out thermometers on Jan. 5, 1947.

Color photo packets taken of high school varsity and junior varsity girls, and junior high boys and girls basketball, taken by The Albany News in December are ready for pickup. 

Pictures of the varsity and JV boys teams are scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 17 at 3:00 p.m. and will be ready in a couple of weeks.

There are also quite a few packages from previous sports that have not yet been claimed.

The cost of the school sports packages is $25 plus tax.

Youth packages are priced at $18 plus tax.

Signup is underway for Little Dribblers basketball and local boys and girls from eight years old through fourth grade are invited to join.

“Players must be at least eight years of age on Jan. 1,” said organizer Clint Chapman.

Parents need to complete, sign, and return the registration form along with the $30 entry fee to either the Nancy Smith Elementary School office or to Chapman by Wednesday, Jan. 23.

General hunting season for white-tailed deer ended last weekend, but antlerless deer and spikes can be harvested until Jan. 20, and a special Youth-Only Season also extends through that same weekend.

Local hunters who harvest more venison than they intend to use are being encouraged to donate their extra bounty to Hunters for the Hungry, with distribution being handled locally through the Albany Masonic Lodge.

Locally, field-dressed deer can be dropped off at Rocker B Taxidermy, along with the required $40 processing fee, during regular business hours.