By Sam Waller

The Moran Bulldogs football team encountered some ups and downs in its second game of the season, falling 50-0 to Baird on Friday, Sept. 2, in the home opener at Bulldog Field.

The Bulldogs (0-2) return to the road at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 9 at Aspermont.

Bulldog coach John Hughes said Moran was inconsistent in its outing against Baird, which scored 22 points in each of the first two quarters before ending the game with a touchdown on the opening drive of the third quarter.

“We went every direction we could have gone,” Hughes said.

By Sam Waller

The Moran Lady Bulldog volleyball team dropped its two matches last week and now faces its longest homestand of the season.

On Tuesday, Sept. 6, Moran (4-10) hosted Woodson. Results will be reported next week.

The Lady Bulldogs play their third consecutive home match at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 10 against Trent.

In last week’s matches, Moran lost in four sets at Gustine on Tuesday, Aug. 30 before being swept Saturday, Sept. 3 at home by Rotan.

By Sam Waller

Moran ISD students have two upcoming field trips that will focus on college and career opportunities.

On Friday, Sept. 9, eighth and ninth grade students will attend Tarleton State University’s Ag Discovery Day, one of several Academic Discovery Days hosted by the university.

By Melinda L. Lucas

After working through line items for all four divisions of the Shackelford County Hospital District in a special session on Wednesday, Aug. 24, board members ended up with a proposed budget based on the “no-new-revenue” (NNR) rate of 19.24 cents.

A $3,993,192 budget proposal, combining expenditures for the district administration, EMS, health clinic, and pharmacy, was approved on a motion by Myra Hise, seconded by Mary Beth Jones, with the stipulation that the number could possibly change before adoption.

By Melinda L. Lucas

Shackelford County commissioners topped off a month of budget workshops and regular sessions by meeting for the fourth Monday in a row on Aug. 29, working through about 30 minutes of agenda items before tackling an unexpected budget complication that just came to light in the last week.

By Donnie A. Lucas

What is believed to be a record crowd of music festival fans was on hand last Saturday for the fifth annual CareFest benefitting the ResourceCare centers, which serve six area communities.

The event was hosted at Happy Wife, Happy Life Event Center located about four miles west of Albany.

At press time, organizers were still cleaning up following the event and had not crunched the numbers to determine the number of tickets sold or money raised.

By Sam Waller

Registration for the Albany Chamber of Commerce’s Community Garage Sale continued this week with Chamber manager Mary Beth Jones reporting the event has reached 10 participants signed up.

“We’ve got a few more who have called or come in when they’ve had a chance,” Jones said. “People are working around my schedule, and I’m working around their work schedules. I know more people are still talking about coming in and signing up.”

The garage sale is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 10. Registration will close on Wednesday, Sept. 7.

By Sam Waller

A hot, dry summer is shaping up to force another below-average dove season in Shackelford County.

Game warden Jacob Mort said conditions have led to a low bird count in the area.

“Driving around the county right now, there’s not a lot of birds,” Mort said. “There are some localized groups in some areas, but across the county, I’m afraid it’s going to be bad.”

By Donnie A. Lucas

Directors of the Shackelford County Appraisal District (SCAD) have set a public hearing for the proposed 2023 budget on Wednesday, Sept. 14 at 7:30 a.m.

Following the hearing, the board of directors is expected to adopt the budget, which tallies $425,791 in expenditures. The proposed figure re­presents a 6.73 percent increase over 2022 budgeted expenses of $398,937.

The public is invited to attend the hearing and the meeting to adopt the measure that will follow.

By Sam Waller

Shackelford County 4-H will hold its annual kickoff party to start the coming year at 6:00 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 18 at Webb Park.

Shackelford County extension agent Kelsey Bell said 4-Hers will be introduced to a variety of projects in which to participate for the coming year.

“We’ll have hot dogs, and all the project leaders will be there to answer questions about the programs,” Bell said. “Some of them will do a little activity or have information to hand out.”