By Sidney Bartee

As the school year begins, hundreds of children commute to and from the local campuses by school bus, car, bicycle, and on foot.

Drivers should be aware of the increased risk of injury to children that results from speeding or distracted driving, especially when combined with students who may forget to watch for oncoming traffic.

Although the first couple days of classes at both Albany school campuses went very smoothly, school authorities want to put more community focus on school transportation safety.

Flashing Lights

By Melinda L. Lucas

An accident right at the Albany city limits on Highway 6 Monday afternoon sent two local residents to the hospital, where they remained at press time with the possibility of being dismissed on Wednesday.

Adam Viertel, 40, and Cooper Edgar, 16, collided a little before 2:00 p.m., with Viertel headed south, and Edgar, an Albany High School student, turning north to go to football practice.

Both were taken by ambulance to Hendrick Medical Center in Abilene.

By Sam Waller

Shackelford County residents applying for FEMA Individual Assistance following February’s winter storm can get help in filing their claims from members of the Albany Lions Club, with a deadline of Monday, Aug. 23. 

Claims can be filed by calling 1-800-621-3362.

“We’ve had some training from FEMA personnel so that we can assist people who have questions about uploading their pictures and documents,” Shackelford County judge Robert Skelton said. “The applicants have to call the FEMA number first and get an account set up.” 

By Sidney Bartee

Nine artists are set to hit the stage for CareFest 2021 on Aug. 28 at Happy Wife Happy Life wedding and event venue.

The gates will open to the public at 1:00 p.m., and bands will begin to play at 2:00 p.m.

The bands and musicians for this year are Roger Creager, Stoney Larue, Giovannie and the Hired Guns, Dylan Wheeler, Shea Abshier, Randy Brown, 360 Band, Cole Barnhill, and Jeff Martin.

By Melinda L. Lucas

Directors of the Shackelford County Hospital District met Monday with the intention of proposing a budget and tax rate for the 2022 year, but left after almost four hours with plans to work on the numbers again in a couple of weeks.

Board members spent some time working through line items in the district portion of the budget and later reviewed the clinic budget during a separate session, but because of time constraints, they decided to delay action.

By Melinda L. Lucas

Following a series of budget workshops over the past month, Shackelford County commissioners met in a regular session on Monday morning, Aug. 16 to propose a deficit budget for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1 and a tax rate that promises to raise “no-new-revenue” (NNR) for the upcoming tax year.

Several parts of the proposed budget were discussed in depth on Monday, including increasing county employee salaries by five percent, accounting for an additional $67,420, not including retirement, Social Security, and Medicare costs.

By Melinda L. Lucas

During their regular session on Aug. 16, Albany ISD’s board of trustees set a date for a special meeting to adopt the 2021-2022 budget and set a tax rate.

The board plans a 7:30 a.m. meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 31, the last day that the budget can be adopted, according to state law.

Budget Projections

Superintendent Jonathan Scott, who met with the board remotely because he has been quarantined, went over the second draft of the budget.

By Melinda L. Lucas

Tickets for the Oct. 9 Friends of Fort Griffin Gala featuring Larry, Steve, & Rudy: The Gatlin Brothers.

The $50 tickets are limited to 300 seats, with response to the announcement two weeks ago even speedier than expected. 

“Half the tickets are already gone,” said Susan Waller, who is coordinating the event for the 17th year. “I just want everyone to know that you’re definitely not going to be able to wait until the last minute to decide. That will be too late.”

By Donnie A. Lucas

The number of local residents testing positive for the COVID-19 virus reached 21 over the last two weeks, with a total of 79 tests administered.

The results are the combined totals from both the Shackelford County Hospital Clinic and the Albany ResourceCare Clinic, for the period of Aug. 2 through Aug. 13.

Shackelford County Judge Robert Skelton issued an update on Tuesday for the two-week period, and results for the first two days of this week from the hospital district clinic were also added to the totals.

By Donnie A. Lucas

Albany ISD is expecting just over 500 students at the start of this school year, about the number the district ended with in May.

Following “Meet the Teacher” sessions at both Nancy Smith Elementary and the Albany Junior/Senior High campuses on Monday evening, local administrators were looking for a total of 501 total students to show up for classes yesterday for the first day of school.