By Sam Waller

The Moran Lady Bulldogs dropped two road matches last week, one while playing shorthanded, before finally getting to take their home court for the first time this season.

On Sept. 19, Moran hosted Rotan in the first event on the new floor recently installed in the gym. A ribbon cutting for the renovated facility was held earlier that afternoon.

Results of the game will be reported next week.

Moran will host Trent at 10:00 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 23 in the first of several homecoming activities scheduled.

Richard “Dick” Hash, 91, of Albany, Texas, passed away in Abilene, Texas, on Sunday, Aug. 20, 2023, surrounded by his family. His funeral service, officiated by Joel Sanders, was held at the Collins Creek Ranch on Friday, Aug. 25, 2023. He was laid to rest at the Albany Cemetery under the direction of Melton-Kitchens Funeral Home.

By Donnie A. Lucas

A ribbon cutting Friday at the Shackelford County Show Barn officially marked the opening of the remodeled facility, giving county officials, donors, volunteers and the public a look at improvements.

The ceremony was sponsored by the Albany Chamber of Commerce, with close to 100 interested parties on hand for the event.

The project was started in the spring with fundraising that totaled $375,000 to bring the 50-year-old structure up to date.

By Melinda L. Lucas

After holding the required hearings for the proposed budget for the 2023-2024 fiscal year and then for the proposed tax rate for 2024,  Shackelford County commissioners voted unanimously during a meeting on Thursday, Sept. 7 to adopt both.

The $4,955,169 budget that had been proposed and filed on Aug. 14, as required by law, had been refined since that time, and the amount that ended up being adopted last week was actually $4,713,006, almost $250,000 less.

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, Sept. 6, board members ended up with a proposed budget based on the “voter approval” tax rate of 19.55 cents.

The annual “Dollars for Bob’s Scholarships” fundraising drive gets underway later this month.

Sponsored by the Albany Ex-Students Association, the campaign traditionally starts the week of Robert Nail’s birth date, Sept. 13. This is the 56th anniversary of the first scholarship.

Although the annual goal is always set at a minimum of $1,000, fundraising efforts will hopefully bring more in donations.

Regular contributions are very important in keeping the fund stable, according to board secretary Melinda Lucas.

By Melinda L. Lucas

Albany city council members voted during the regular monthly meeting time on Monday, Sept. 11 to adopt the tax rate that had been proposed on Aug. 21.

Council members also decided, after a short closed session, to give city manager Billy Holson a raise.

Tax Rate

In a special meeting on Aug. 21, the council had proposed a “No New Revenue” (NNR) rate of 56.39 cents.

By Sam Waller

Albany’s Bradee Stautzenberger had a big weekend at the West Texas Fair and Rodeo.

Albany FFA students stayed busy in the fair’s second week, exhibiting livestock projects and competing in judging contests.

Stautzenberger caught a calf in the calf scramble to finish seventh. She earned $700 to put toward the purchase of an animal for next year’s fair.

In the show ring, Alli McDaniel placed fourth and Chase McDaniel was seventh in Full Blood Boer Goats.

In the ORB Heifers, Stautzenberger was fifth and Myleigh Leveridge was sixth.

By Sam Waller

Three Shackelford County 4-H members received awards for their entries in the Fine Arts Division at the West Texas Fair and Rodeo in Abilene.

Carley Kreitler took three first places and a second with her projects. She was first in junior pillow with a jack-o’-lantern reading pillow, junior holiday with a monster decoration, and junior household sewn accessory with a hanging dish towel. She took second in junior clay with gnomes.

By Donnie A. Lucas

ResourceCare is hosting the 4th annual food drive contest for the Albany and Cross Plains locations, with a Chick-Fil-A lunch on the line for the winning class in both towns.

The contest will continue through Monday, Oct. 9, with students competing by grade level at both schools.

The school that collects the highest number of non-perishable foods will be declared the overall winner, with the top class at both schools with the highest number of donations treated to the special lunch.