Shackelford County voters who wish to vote by mail ballot for either Albany city council members or for trustees for AISD can submit applications from now until April 23.

Albany school district applications can be requested from Morgan Whitley at the AISD superintendent’s office at PO Box 2050, Albany TX 76430, or by phone at 325-762-3974.

City ballot applications can be requested from Becky Wiloth by phone at 325-762-3133, by mail at Albany City Hall, PO Box 3248, Albany TX 76430, or in person at 425 South 2nd Street. 

Fort Griffin State Historic Site will hold a Stars and Skies party this Saturday, March 9, at 7:00 p.m.

“Join us next week for our first star party of the spring season,” said event specialist Eric Abercrombie. “We are hoping for great temperatures and clear skies!”

The forecast calls for a low of 42 degrees, only a 10 percent chance of showers, and mostly clear skies. The sun should set at 6:40 p.m., and the moon won’t rise until morning, leaving a long dark night, perfect for a star party.

Star Party

Albany High bass fishing team members Riley Green and Max Balliew competed in four of five Texas High School Bass West Division fishing tournaments this year, placing just a few points too low to continue on to the regional tournament next month.

The pair landed two bass for a total weight of 4.04 pounds at last weekend’s tournament at Lake Whitney.

They caught three bass, weighing a combined 4.87 pounds at the first tournament at Lake Granbury on Oct. 6.

The Lady Lion softball team won only one out of five games at the Stephenville tournament last week, playing against a tough slate of all larger teams.

Albany traveled to Bangs on Tuesday, bringing back a 16-6 win from only their second non-tournament game of the season. Details were not available at press time but will be reported next week.

The girls will be at home on Friday for a 5:00 p.m. game against Cooper High school’s JV team. They won’t play again until a tournament in Snyder on March 7-9.

The high school track season officially opens Thursday (today) at the Clyde meet, and Albany coaches are hoping to enter a strong field of competitors.

Field events start at 3:30 p.m. with running events set for 6:00 p.m.

Girls head track coach Lauren Peacock expects several returning tracksters, notably two state qualifiers – Caroline Masters and Alli Hill. There are several others with potential to do well, she said.

The JV Lion baseball team won two out of three games at the local tournament held last week and were on the road Tuesday for a game in Cisco.

Several varsity players joined the team this week following the end of the basketball season, giving coach David Fairchild enough players to put his varsity squad on the field in a tournament this weekend.

The Lions are playing in the Hamlin tournament starting Thursday (today), continuing over the next two days.

Both the varsity and JV are scheduled to travel to Anson on March 5 for a pair of games against the Tigers.

Color photo packets of the youth basketball and Little Dribbler teams, taken by The Albany News, are now ready for pickup at the News office. 

Youth packages are priced at $18 plus tax, while the cost of school sports packages is $25 plus tax.

Also, stock show pictures will be ready next week, but those should be picked up at the Shackelford County Courthouse.

Call or come by the News office for more information about the sports photos.

Little Dribblers teams will end the 2019 season this Saturday, March 2, playing two games each in the old Albany High School gym, starting with Red taking on Blue at 8:30 a.m.

Results from the third week of play, Saturday, Feb. 23 are listed below.

BOYS

Black 24 - Blue 23

Scoring for Black - Aiden Vickers 12, Wesley Gleitz 6, Lyle Wheeler 6.

Scoring for Blue - Zarek Bell 9, Connor Smith 5, Levi New 4, Jack Nail 3, Graham Ceder 2.

Grey 17 - Blue 16

Little League signup takes place tonight at The Feed Store between 5:30 and 7:30 p.m.

Today is also the deadline to sign up children for T-Ball and Coach Pitch.

Players who will be eight years old or older on Aug. 31, 2019 should plan to go with their parents to sign up for Little League. The registration meeting will be held between 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. tonight at The Feed Store, but signup should only take a few minutes per player.

Moran FFA members and their advisor Matthew Hise hosted two special events recently during national FFA week, and the entire school celebrated the week with daily dress up days.

Monday was camouflage day, Tuesday was dress as your favorite farmer, Wednesday was bring your favorite stuffed farm animal to school, Thursday was dress as your favorite cowboy, and Friday was wear Blue and Gold.