Moran teams have been running at the track in Cisco to prepare for the spring season, and they will take part in their first meet of the year at Hico today, Feb. 28.

Girls coach Dakota Fowler has 10 tracksters on the high school team and five on the junior high squad.

Harley Ethridge is the boys varsity and junior high coach.

All four track teams competed at Hico today and will participate in a track meet in Gordon on Monday, March 4 before taking a week off for spring break. 

Several weeks ago, 19 dogs from Texas, Oklahoma, and Nebraska came to the Crooked Tree Ranch outside of Albany to compete for the title of “2019 Region 7 AFTCA  Amateur-All Age Champion.”  

Judges for the event were Dr. Alex Jacocks of Edmond, Oklahoma and Scoot Terrell of Canton. 

“Both men have been involved in bird dog trials for many years and are knowledgeable in the ways of pointing dogs and wild quail,” said show secretary Mary Ann Gustafson. “The weather was perfect, and despite the lack of spring rain, quail were there to be found.”  

Next Thursday, March 7, the Albany Chamber of Commerce is hosting a meal and fun event at the Albany Golf Course from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. for Chamber members and their guests.

“All Chamber members are invited and are asked to bring a friend who wants to hear why they should join the Chamber too,” said Chamber manager Mary Beth Jones. “Please call me at 325-762-2525 to RSVP by this Friday, March 1. If I’m not there when you call, please leave a message, including the number and names of those who will be eating.”

Everyone is invited to attend this Sunday’s public performance of The Fourth Ward, the one-act play Albany High School students will take to district competition next week.

The free production will be given at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, March 3, in the AHS auditorium.

The cast has been rehearsing for weeks and already performed at a one-act play festival earlier this month. 

Shackelford County commissioners voted during their regular meeting on Monday, Feb. 25 to move forward with plans to utilize clients from the Walker-Sayle Unit in Breckenridge for special assignments.

Earlier in the month, the elected officials delayed action in order to evaluate costs of initiating the program.

Information about 15-passenger vans, cost of insurance, and options for furnishing porta-potties were all discussed during Monday’s session.

Pick-up dates for the March distribution of the commodity food program are Feb. 28 and March 1.

On Thursday, Feb. 28, certified eligible families in Moran should pick up their monthly commodity food at the Moran City Hall between 9:00 a.m. and 12:00 noon.

Albany families who have been certified eligible for the March food distribution program can pick up their commodity food Friday, March 1, at the rear door of the JP office (the former county jail) from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. 

Chamber manager Mary Beth Jones, three Albany High School juniors, and their mentor Chris Beard are still asking for ideas for a community service project that the students, Tyler Beard, Brayden Sullivan, and Taylor Scott, can complete over the next several months.

About 356 households are currently signed up for the City of Albany emergency call out system, and although 88 percent of those were successfully reached during a test of the One Call Now system that took place on the morning of Wednesday, Feb. 20, city call out system coordinator Chuck Sheppard would like to see those numbers improve.

Several local youth placed well at the San Antonio livestock show this month, including Albany Junior High student Gracie Price, who exhibited the reserve grand champion Maine-Anjou heifer at the junior breeding heifer show, and freshman Chelsy Parsons, who won the medium weight Hampshire division of the junior market barrow show. 

Price won class 1, Maine-Anjou heifers, and then led Gracie Girl 15 back into the ring to be named Champion Maine-Anjou heifer calf. The weanling, born last May, was then selected as the breed’s reserve grand champion heifer.

Shackelford County rancher John Matthews will turn 100 on March 9, and a musical recital performed by both local talent and the North Texas Caledonian Pipes & Drums will be held at the Aztec Theater at 7:00 p.m. this Saturday, March 2 in honor of the occasion.

Tickets to the free performancewere all given away before the end of the first day, according to pianist Sandy Abel.