By Kathy Thomson

Students, teachers, and support staff will celebrate the first school holiday of the year on Monday, Sept. 2 when the local school district dismisses for Labor Day.

Classes will resume on Tuesday, Sept. 3 at the normal times of 7:55 a.m. at Nancy Smith Elementary School and at 8:00 a.m. at the secondary campus.

The next scheduled student holiday is Columbus Day, Oct. 14, followed by Thanksgiving. Classes will dismiss early on Tuesday, Nov. 26, and will resume the Monday after Thanksgiving, Dec. 2.

By Kathy Thomson

Parents and grandparents do not know exactly where their young adult children are at all times, especially this time of year when college students head back to campus, and scam artists are trying to take advantage of that, according to Shackelford County Sheriff Edward Miller.

By Kathy Thomson

The Mike Whitmore hand-forged Blade of Fort Griffin was recently delivered to officials at Fort Griffin State Historic Site, where it will remain in their safe keeping until it is presented to the winner of the 2019 Fort Griffin BBQ Cook-Off and Battle for the Blade on Saturday, Sept. 28.

The annual event raises funds for the historic calvary fort located around 14 miles north of Albany on Highway 283.

By Kathy Thomson

The city of Albany will receive a sales tax allotment of $41,872 from the state this August. The amount is down 13.25 percent from the $48,272 payment received in August of 2018.

Payments to date for the 2019 year to the city of Albany are $375,843, up by 9.32 percent from the comparable time last year, when payments of $343,786 had been made.

The city of Moran will receive a net payment of $1,514 this period for a 12.47 percent decrease from the $1,730 received in August 2018.

By Kathy Thomson

Music fans only have a few more days to purchase their tickets for ResourceCare’s second annual Carefest fundraiser before prices increase on Monday, Sept. 2.

“Ticket sales are going well,” said program assistant Ragan Riley on Monday. “VIP and Preferred tickets are almost sold out.”

Carefest is scheduled to take place Saturday, Sept. 7 at the Happy Wife Happy Life venue just outside of Albany, rain or shine.

Tickets for the music festival can be purchased at www.outhousetickets.com. 

By Kathy Thomson

Hannah Snyder placed well with all three of the barrows she showed at the Gillespie County Fair last Saturday, Aug. 24, winning a reserve champion breed banner, as well as winning two first and a third place ribbon.

Snyder won Reserve Champion Hampshire.

The Albany High junior also claimed a class blue ribbon with the heavy weight Hampshire, and took first in her heavy weight cross class.

Snyder’s Duroc was selected third in its lightweight class. 

By Kathy Thomson

The Albany Chamber of Commerce annual garage sale is just over two weeks away, on Sept. 14, so participants may want to take advantage of this weekend’s slightly cooler temperatures to sort through items stored in garages, spare rooms, sheds, and attics and gather up items to sell.

The signup fee to register a garage sale, be included on the map, and receive a sign number is $25 again this year. 

By Melinda L. Lucas

With just one week since the public disclosure of Texas school districts’ accountability performance, Albany ISD administrators and staff have already knuckled down and formulated plans to improve the local ratings – dissecting the reports and breaking down the subgroups so they can see exactly where to dig in.

The ratings rolled out last Wednesday, and although AISD’s overall score was an acceptable B, Albany educators are not happy with the D attached to the elementary campus. 

By Kathy Thomson

The “Albany Home of the Hereford” sign and three people selected as “Lights of Albany” will all be honored at the Albany Chamber of Commerce’s bi-annual party Friday night, Aug. 23 at the Aztec Theater.

Chamber manager Mary Beth Jones said that several nominees for “Lights of Albany” have been submitted.

“We’ve had quite a few nominations, probably 15 to 20,” Jones said. “Some of those were nominated more than once. Most likely the winners will be selected from those that were nominated multiple times.”

By Kathy Thomson

With a significant impact expected in state funding, Albany Independent School District enrollment totals for the beginning of the new school year are now sitting at 525, 39 more than last August and 14 more than at the end of the 2018-2019 school year.

Several students have registered in the days since classes began last week, but as of press time Tuesday, the official enrollment numbers were 283 at Nancy Smith Elementary School, 87 at the junior high, and 152 at Albany High, for a total of 522.

First Day Count