By Sam Waller

Father Prakash Dias took a rather convoluted path to his post as priest at Albany’s Jesus of Nazareth Catholic Church and Breckenridge’s Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church.

A visit home to his native India turned into a nearly year-long ordeal to return to work.

Dias, a native of Honavar, Karwar, Karnataka, India, originally planned a 30-day visit, leaving in late April last year. He finally returned to the United States on Feb. 10 after nine months and 10 days.

By Sam Waller

Local churches will conduct Easter services Sunday, April 17 with other Holy Week services in advance.

Trinity Lutheran Church will have a Maundy Thursday service at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 14 (tonight), and a Good Friday service at 6:30 p.m. Friday, April 15. On Easter Sunday, a sunrise service will be held at 7:00 a.m. at the Lutheran Cemetery. Breakfast will be served at the church at 9:30 a.m. with Easter worship service at 10:30 a.m. An Easter egg hunt for children will he held after services.

By Melinda L. Lucas

Albany ISD staff and students will be off both Friday, April 2 and Monday, April 5 for a four-day Easter weekend.

Younger students at Nancy Smith Elementary School had Easter activities planned on campus this week. Albany Head Start and Pre-K classes will hunt today at Webb City Park. Third graders went to Safety City on Wednesday.

Students will be released at regular times Thursday, April 14 (today).

School will resume at the usual time on both campuses on Tuesday morning, April 19.

By Donnie A. Lucas

The Parliamentary Procedure team of the Albany FCCLA Chapter took first place at the State Leadership Conference in Dallas last week.

The team competed in the Level I division for seventh and eighth graders, taking the top place in the state and earning a trip to the National Leadership Conference in San Diego June 29 through July 3.

Two other Level 2 online teams for ninth and tenth graders were also selected to advance directly to the national convention, including a Digital Stories for Change contest and Instructional Video contest.

By Melinda L. Lucas

Sara Smith and Rylan Roberson were crowned queen and king during the Albany High School Junior-Senior Prom held Saturday, April 9 at the Whitney Theatre.

Nominees for prom queen included Tristen Brown, Sarah Cotter, Avery Kleiner, and Smith. Prom king nominees were Ty Everitt, Cooper Fairchild, Brooks Neece, and Roberson.

Smith, a lifelong resident of Albany who started classes at Stepping Stones Christian School, plans to attend Cisco College after graduation to study nursing.

By Donnie A. Lucas

Requests to receive a ballot by mail for the May 7 election must be received in the county clerk’s office by April 26.

Shackelford County residents have the opportunity to vote early in a statewide amendment election and the county-wide hospital district election, which are both on the same ballot, either by requesting a mail ballot or voting early in person.

By Melinda L. Lucas

Local business owners need to file renditions by April 18, according to Shackelford CAD County chief appraiser Clayton Snyder.

Normally business taxpayers are required to render by April 15, but since Good Friday is a holiday for the tax office, the deadline is extended to the following Monday.

Snyder also explained that he is allowed to grant an extension to May 15 if those requests are received in writing by April 18.

Email is considered a written request, he added.

By Melinda L. Lucas

Most of Monday’s hour-long meeting of the Albany city council was spent in discussing various aspects of the city’s recreational pool.

A job description for the pool managers was presented, and city members asked that a job description also be developed for lifeguards hired by the city for the summer.

Several referred to problems that arose last year, mainly dealing with pool cleanliness.

By Donnie A. Lucas

The 15th annual Albany Classic Car Show is ready at the starting line for Saturday, April 16 in downtown Albany, with the public urged to come view dozens of vintage cars and trucks from around the Big Country.

Organizer Robert Snyder said activities will actually begin on Friday, April 16.

“We will have the traditional ‘cruise’ night on Friday from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m, followed by the burnout starting at 7:00 p.m.,” Snyder said. “It looks like the weather will cooperate with us this year.”

By Donnie A. Lucas

For the first time in a quarter of a century, the annual Membership Sampler of the Fort Griffin Fandangle is returning to Reynolds Bend on the Matthews Ranch on Saturday.

Held at the ranch for a number of years, the membership party and preview of the 2022 summer show will return to the historic Lambshead Ranch for the first time since Watt Matthews hosted the event 25 years ago.