Members of the Albany Volunteer Fire Department responded to a call of a tank battery fire just after 6:00 a.m. last Saturday, April 13. The location was about two and a half miles south of town off of Highway 283.

“Upon our arrival, we found one 210 barrel tank battery fully involved with the top blow-off and sitting where it landed some 75 feet away,” said fire chief Kyle Tischler. “The second tank battery was at the point of being involved. It had tremendous heat and smoke coming out of the tank.”

All 4-H and FFA members who plan to enter steers in major livestock shows in the fall of 2019 or the spring of 2020 should have already placed their order for validation ear tags. Tags should also have been ordered for show heifers, swine, market lambs, and market goats destined for the State Fair. 

The tags cost $15 each if they were ordered by the early deadline, or $25 each if ordered late, but before June 30. After June 30, animals (except breeding heifers) will not be eligible for validation.

The Moran Independent School District will be closed on Good Friday, April 19 and Easter Monday, April 22.

Classes will release at the normal times on Thursday, April 18 and begin again on the regular schedule on Tuesday, April 23.

The next break from classes will be  holidays on May 24 and 27 for the Memorial Day weekend.

Classes will release early on the last two days of school, May 30 and 31.

 High school graduation will take place on May 31.

UIL Region 3 meet

Children are invited to the Moran City Park this Saturday, April 19 at 10:00 a.m. for the third annual City of Moran Volunteer Fire Department sponsored Egg Hunt.

“We are hoping for as many kids as possible,” said fire chief Steve Taggart. “It is open to everyone from infants up to those who are 13 years of age. We will divide the children into three different age groups for the hunt.”

Over 4,000 eggs, lots of toys, and 30 free child’s meal vouchers to Texas Roadhouse will be given away.

At 6:00 p.m. this Saturday, April 19, the cast of the Fort Griffin Fandangle will present the 2019 membership Sampler at the site of the Town of Fort Griffin on Lynne and Clifford Teinert’s Collins Creek Ranch. 

Gates at the ranch will open at 5:30 p.m., and seating will be ready for Fandangle Association members who send in their RSVP by today, April 18.

AHS counselor Dee Dee Waggoner has scheduled a dual credit meeting for 5:30 p.m. this afternoon, April 18 in the Albany High cafeteria.

“We will host representatives from Cisco College’s dual credit and financial aid departments,” said Waggoner. “Any students interested in taking dual credit classes and their parents should attend.”

Dual credit allows high school students to earn college credit and high school credit concurrently.

The Moran junior high boys placed fifth at the District 20-A track meet in Ranger on Monday, April 1, and the junior high Lady Bulldogs team took sixth.

Braxton Ethridge claimed three individual gold medals, Curtis Eason followed with two silver medals, and members of the Bulldogs 2x200 meter relay team also brought back silver.

Junior high athletes do not advance beyond district.

District 20-A Meet in Ranger

Junior High Girls

200 m dash – 6. Emily Murk, 33.53. 

800 m run – 4. Jaylen Ethridge, 3:27.

Children, from infants to those 13 years old, are invited to head to the Moran City Park on Saturday, April 20 for the City of Moran Volunteer Fire Department’s annual Egg Hunt, starting at 10:00 a.m.

“We have a whole bunch of eggs to hide, over 4,000,” said fire chief Steve Taggart. “We will divide the kids into three different age groups for the hunt. We are hoping for as many kids as possible.”

Members of the Moran VFD will cook and serve a free hot dog meal.

Nine Albany High School students will compete in a total of nine different contests, many of them in multiple events, at the Region 1-2A University Interscholastic League academic meet in Odessa on Saturday, April 13. 

“We have several students competing in more than one event,” said UIL coordinator Rick Davis. “Addison Asher is in four of the five journalism events, Alayna Koemel is in three journalism events, and there are two other students, Tana Thompson and Hannah Trail, who will compete in two separate journalism events.”

Yesterday, April 10, the sixth grade students at Nancy Smith Elementary School spent the day touring downtown Albany while fourth and fifth graders were taking STAAR exams.

“It is nice for them to have a special day away from school,” said NSES counselor Leigh Lowe. “And we needed their classrooms for testing.”  

The sixth graders met with several elected county officers at the Shackelford County Courthouse beginning at 8:30 a.m.