By Melinda L. Lucas

Tax appraisal notices for county property were mailed out recently, according to Clayton Snyder, chief appraiser of the Shackelford County Appraisal District (CAD). 

“The appraisal district physically reappraised Albany ISD property outside of the City of Albany for this year,” said Snyder. “The district also updated the cost schedule, provided through Marshall and Swift, used for appraising in 2020 for all taxing jurisdictions within the county boundaries.”

Albany High School junior Amber Leverton was inadvertently left off the list of honor students provided by Albany ISD two weeks ago. 

AHS counselor Jenny Scott said on Tuesday that Leverton is among students with a GPA of 90 or above and should have been included in the list of academic honors.

“We would like for her to receive the recognition that she is due,” said Scott, who apologized for the omission.

The family of Elgin Ray (Punk) Jones and Mary Belle (Steddum) Jones proudly announce their 70th wedding anniversary.

Punk and Mary Belle were reared in Shackelford County. They met in 1940 when the Jones family moved to Albany, Texas next door to the Steddum family. At that time, Punk was 13 and Mary Belle was nine. 

She promptly told her grandfather that when she grew up, she was going to marry Punk Jones.

By Lynsi Musselman

Moran Independent School District superintendent Danny Freeman and school board member Sug Roller presented diplomas to seven seniors at Friday evening’s commencement exercises.

Graduates and eight family members per student were in attendance at the ceremony.

“We made every effort to practice safe social distancing and make all attendees comfortable,” Freeman said. “Additonal spectators drove up or stood outside the rock wall of the school to watch the seniors.”

By Lynsi Musselman

The Moran City Volunteer Fire Department received a new fire brush truck from the Texas Forest Service on Monday.

Moran currently has one fire engine used to respond to house fires, vehicle crashes, and grass fires that can be reached from the road.

“We have an agreement to respond to any rural area fires within a 10-mile radius and to help Albany if needed,” City of Moran Mayor and Volunteer Fire Chief Steve Taggart said.

By Lynsi Musselman

Shackelford County Youth Livestock Association members met Tuesday, May 26 to discuss plans and elect officers for the 2020-2021 season.

After all members met together, the directors stayed to elect officers. Both meetings had been postponed due to -COVID-19 meeting restrictions.

“Not much changed from this year’s show,” said board president Bronco Askew. “The times and format will be the same as 2020. The only new business is an additional pig sale.”

Rule Changes and Show Dates

By Donnie A. Lucas

In the continuing effort to contain the spread of -COVID-19 coronavirus, the old adage of “no news is good news” definitely applies.

Shackelford County continues to hold the virus at bay with no new tests administered over the last week and only one positive case reported.

According to county judge Robert Skelton, the county continues to hold at 28 tests conducted locally with 28 negative results. 

By Donnie A. Lucas

No new tests for -COVID-19 were reported over the last week in Shackelford County, with the total holding at 28 negative tests.

According to a release by county judge Robert Skelton on Tuesday, there are no active cases currently and the one previous positive case already reported has been released from self-isolation after testing negative to a follow-up test.

“Since there has only been one case here, there have not been any big changes for our county since we opened businesses and restaurants at 50 percent in Phase II,” Skelton said.

By Melinda L. Lucas

In a “socially distant” ceremony that looked much different than most Albany graduations in recent years, dozens of local scholarships were presented to members of the Albany High School Class of 2020 during commencement exercises held last Saturday morning, May 23.

The event was held at the Robert Nail Memorial Stadium, planned quickly but thoroughly over a two-week period after school officials decided that the 41 AHS seniors could receive their diplomas in person and still comply with the state’s newest COVID-19 restrictions.

By Donnie A. Lucas

Shackelford County Commissioners added another county road to the list of roadways that will soon have speed limits posted, along with taking another step in the process of repaving the parking lot at the Courthouse, during a meeting held Tuesday.

A public hearing was held just before the regular meeting to hear comments on adding CR 157 to the list of roadways that will have posted speed limits that was approved at the May 11 meeting.