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Lady Gladiators take care of business in Wortham

The Italy Lady Gladiator Softball Team travelled to Wortham on Tuesday night to take on the Lady Bulldogs. Beating Wortham 6-0, the Lady Gladiators played near flawless softball.

Editors Note: Valley Mills Tournament game schedule update (March 12, 9:21 am) (Continued…)

IYAA’s Monday games were a slam dunk

Image: Victory is ours — Head Coach Elizabeth Evans and her girls show team spirit as they hang on to win 26-25 and go undefeated two seasons in a row.

The IYAA begins wrapping up another successful season and is proud of all our student athletes, their parents and grandparents for helping to make this year one of the best! (Continued…)

AirEvac responds to motorcycle accident

Image: Emergency vehicles block traffic — Italy Police Chief C.V. Johns stops traffic clearing room for AirEvac to land at the scene of a motorcycle crash on HWY 77.

About 1:30 p.m. this afternoon, Italy Fire and Rescue along with Italy Police units responded to a peculiar motorcycle crash on Hwy 77 outside of Italy, on the way to Forreston. (Continued…)

Satellite debris begins to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere

The first catalogued fragments of shattered satellite Cosmos 2251 are about to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere. According to US Strategic Command tracking data, reentries will occur on March 12th, 28th and 30th, followed by more in April. (Continued…)

Italy and Milford Election Candidates

Italy and Milford candidates seeking city council and school board election have thrown their hats into the proverbial ring. Some will reach their positions unopposed, while others will have to campaign and win their seats May 9th, 2009. (Continued…)

City fills vacancies on various boards

The Italy City Council reinstated the Italy Park Board Monday evening at its monthly meeting held in council chambers. The council filled other vacancies on the Economic Development Board and the Planning and Zoning Board. (Continued…)

Obituary: Frances Jane Grayson, 1925 – 2009

Frances Jane Grayson, 83, of Hillsboro died Thursday, March 5 at her residence. She was born June 28, 1925 in Italy, daughter of Burley E. and Nellie Griffis Wiles, where she grew up and graduated from high school in 1942. (Continued…)

Spreading the good news one cross at a time

Image: Cindy Sutherland-Cindy’s Crosses

When Cindy Sutherland moved from Waxahachie to Italy with her family in 1986, she had no idea that thirteen years later she would be on the path she has chosen today. Life sometimes deals us hard times. How we deal with these times sometimes tells others what we are made of and what is important to us. (Continued…)

Obituary: Donnie Rose Conner, 1926 – 2009

Donnie Rose Connor, age 82 of Italy, passed away on Saturday, March 7, 2009 at Trinity Mission Health & Rehab of Italy, Texas. She was born on September 18, 1926 in Derrs Chapel, Texas to Floyd and Odell Brown Holley. (Continued…)

Relay for Life Garage Sale

Image: Wayne Boze Building — Silver Bullets Relay for Life team hosted their garage sale from 7:00 AM to 12:00PM.

At 6:30 a.m. Saturday morning some very dedicated members of the Italy Silver Bullets Relay for Life team were at the Wayne Boze building hosting a garage sale. This garage sale was to raise money to help in the fight against cancer. Their efforts were not in vain, they raised over five hundred dollars for the American Cancer Society. (Continued…)

Italy Donut Shop closed their doors

Image: Italy Donuts — Italy Donuts have closed their doors.

Saturday morning many cars could be seen pulling up to the Italy Donut shop, located at 148 W. Main street in Italy and then leaving empty handed. Italy Donuts have closed their doors and have gone out of business. (Continued…)

ECEA’s 25th Birthday Party and Election of Youth Officers

Image: Happy Birthday ECEA — Party goers enjoyed a tasty cake!

Local horse kids and their families celebrated Ellis County Equine Association’s 25th birthday with a party on March 1 at the Flying Dollar Ranch in Italy. Participants enjoyed cake, ice cream, a horse shoe tournament and a rowdy game of “hot potato.” (Continued…)

Roscoe’s Plowboys two-step past Italy and into the big dance

Image: Italy falls one game short of a State appearence — Italy’s #11 Jasenio Anderson (7-points total) just couldn’t find any room against the Roscoe Plowboys. The Gladiators fall short of their mark, 68-34, but finish the 2009 season as Regional Semifinal Champions.

Abilene – The Roscoe Plowboys busted out of the chute and shot their way past our Italy Gladiators to earn a spot in the “Final Four” at Austin. It seemed Italy managed to hang on for about 7.9 seconds into the 1st quarter before getting bucked out of the Regional Championship game 68-34. (Continued…)

Italy outskills Lindsay, takes Regional Semifinal Championship

Image: John Isaac #10 launches Italy into Regional Final against Roscoe — Italy’s #10 John Isaac helped the Italy Gladiators win the Regional Semifinal Championship over the Lindsay Knights 74-64 in Abilene.

The Italy Gladiators dent the armor of the Knights and conquer Lindsay 74-64. The win makes Italy, Regional Semifinal Champions, and catapults them into the Championship game against the rock-solid, Roscoe Plowboys, Saturday at 2:30 p.m. in Abilene on the ACU campus. (Continued…)

Italy Wins! Now Regional Semifinal Champions

Image: John Isaac — Italy’s John Isaac #10 gets a victory hug from the little guy after the Gladiators defeated the Lindsay Knights 74-64 for the Regional Semifinal Championship.

Italy now advances to the Regional Championship game at 2:30 pm Saturday, March 7 in the Moody Coliseum of Abilene Christian University!

Italy beat Lindsay 74-64. Our Gladiators will now take on the Roscoe Plowboys in the Regional Championship game. (Continued…)

IHS Sends Off “The Boys”

Image: The Gladiators on the road — IHS gets out of school early to wish “Good luck” to the Italy Varsity squad.

Coaches Kyle Holley, Larry Mayberry and Josh Ward helped the IHS Varsity squad load the bus on Friday afternoon as fellow classmates lined the parking lot for a victorious send off. The boys were excited as they set out on the road for Abilene. (Continued…)

IHS Band Students Still Playing on a High Note

Image: Helms and Vlk — Helms, Vlk and Tess Clark won honors this year.  Vlk will compete in the Texas State Solo &  Ensemble Contest on Memorial Day weekend.

On Saturday, Feb 21, three members of the Italy High School Band competed in the Region 8 UIL Solo 7 Ensemble Contest at Waco High School. Ronald Helms (Jr), Tess Clark (Sr) and Mike Vlk (Sr) performed for a judge who gave them a rating and a few pointers. This contest draws hundreds of participants from dozens of schools from all classifications each year. (Continued…)

Relay for Life garage sale this Saturday!

Image: Relay for Life’s garage sale is Saturday! — The Silver Bullets Relay for Life team is having it’s annual garage sale to raise money to fight cancer. The sale will be inside the Wayne Boze building in downtown Italy, Saturday March 7th, between 7:00 a.m. and until items are sold.

The Silver Bullet Relay for Life team will be having a garage sale on Saturday, March 7th. Items for sale include: Furniture, clothes, toys, movies, books, appliances, Relay for Life suckers and so much more!!!!!!!!!! (Continued…)

Italy Wins! Claims Regional Quarterfinal Championship!

Image: Italy Gladiators Win — The Italy Gladiators win the Regional Championship against Itasca.  They will travel to Abilene on Friday, March 6 in the next leg of their journey.

We won! We Won! Third time is a charm as our Italy Gladiators deliver a mighty blow to the Itasca Wampus Cats and claim the Regional Quartefinal Championship. Italy’s next game will be in Abilene against Lindsay at 8:00 p.m. on Friday, March 6 for the the Regional Semi-Final Championship. (Continued…)

Things To Do Around Texas

Image: D-Man & DJ — Dontavious Clemons and Diamond Rogers are members of the Italy Gladiator Varsity basketball team.  They will travel to Abilene to play for Regional semi-finals against Lindsay High School.

The weekend is coming and you might be thinking it is time to take a drive. Here are some possibilities of which direction you could choose to go. (Continued…)

Avalon Eagles go to Nacogdoches!

Image: 
	Rodney Mungia — The high-flying Avalon Eagles become Regional Quarterfinal Champions after defeating the Milford Bulldogs 47-41 inside the Midlothian High School Gym.

The Avalon Eagles won the Regional Quarterfinal game against their rival, the Milford Bulldogs! The final score was 47-41. Avalon will play Slocum High School at Stephen F. Austin Coliseum in Nacogdoches. The game will start at 5:00p.m. Friday, March 6. If the Eagles win that game, they will play again on Saturday, March 7 at 12:00p.m. Come support your Avalon Eagles!!! (Continued…)

IYAA Basketball celebrates Week 8

Image: Team Haight — Team Haight celebrates after their win over Hillsboro Light Pink.

You never know when that one pass, that one drive to the basket or that one shot will make that one special memory for a child. The kind of memory they’ll remember for a lifetime. The IYAA provides local youths the opportunity to create those special moments and make friends they’ll never forget. (Continued…)

IYAA still has open rosters!

Image: IYAA points the way — The IYAA needs more base runners to fill rosters. Let the IYAA point your young athlete in a winning direction.

The IYAA has a handfull of baseball rosters still need players to field a team. Please review the list below to see if you might have a rising star on your hands that is ready to play but thought the roster might be full. Contact Gary Wood directly on his cell: 469-261-9566 and he’ll help you get registered. (Continued…)

Lady Gladiators put it to Waco Connally

Image: “We Kick…” — What?

What a difference a day can make! After a bad game last Friday the Lady Gladiators came out on Monday like they had something to prove. And prove they did! Our “Ladies” beat Waco Connally 10-4 in a pre-season contest. (Continued…)

Sports Car Club of America Rally

Image: Corvette — This bright orange Corvette participated in the rally.

Saturday, February 28th, there were many sports cars checking in at the Monolithic campus in Italy. The Monolithic Dome Cabin was the checkpoint for the cars in the Roads of Texas sports car rally. (Continued…)

Stafford Elementary Second Graders go to City Hall

Image: Stafford Elementary Second Graders — These students are ready to learn all about our city government.

Tuesday, March 3rd, TAKS testing was going on at Stafford Elementary. The teachers of the second graders decided to take their students out of the building to give them a day of fun while the older students took their test. (Continued…)

Milford Bulldogs win Area Championship

Image: The Bulldog huddle unleashes against Midway — Milford Bulldogs get ready to take on the Midway Falcons for the Area Championship.

It didn’t take fans long to realize the Milford Bulldogs vs. Midway Falcons game would be a good one. From start to finish these two teams gave fans their money’s worth. (Continued…)

Lady Gladiator Powerlifters make a STATEment

Image: Bales and Norwood will be flexing their muscles at State — Lady Gladiators with attitude, Kaytlyn Bales and Sa’Kendra Norwood, have flexed their muscles all the way to the State Powerlifting Meet in Corpus Christi. They will weigh-in March 20th and go for the gold March 21st during Spring Break.

Members of the IHS Powerlifting Team, Lady Gladiators Kaytlyn Bales and Sa’Kendra Norwood, are carrying the load for Italy all the way to the State Powerlifting Meet, March 20th and 21st. (Continued…)

City and School Elections

Potential candidates can still pick up ballot packets for our area’s City and School elections. Although the election date will be Saturday, May 9, deadlines for filing applications to be placed on the ballots are fast approaching. (Continued…)

Italy Lions Club BBQ Cook-off

The Italy Lions Club wishes to thank everyone involved in making our 1st annual BBQ cook-off a success. We wish to extend a special thank you to all of the judges. The weather was not very cooperative but the turnout was great. We hope to make next year’s bigger and better than this year’s. (Continued…)

Italy students fare well in academic competition

Image: IHS Small Schools Teams — Pictured (left to right): Annalee Lyons (sr), Zach Hernandez (jr), Tyler Boyd (sr),   Marjorie Bridge (Coach), Lexie Miller (jr), Courtney Westbrook (jr) and Taylor Benevidez (jr) 
Not Pictured: Jonathon Levy (jr), Cori Jeffords (jr) and Shane Cotter (sr)

For the last several years, Italy High School has been represented by several students in the Small Schools Academic Competition. The name has changed to the Texas Association of Community Schools Academic Competition, but the new name did not make the competition any easier. This year several IHS students fared very well and earned scholarship monies. (Continued…)

Gladiators Play Wednesday Night

Image: Area Champions — Italy Gladiators will match up with Itasca one more time on Wednesday night in West.

“The Italy Gladiators Varsity team are Area Champions,” says Coach Kyle Holley. The next time to see our boys play will be Wednesday night at 7:00 pm at West High School. Italy will take on the Itasca Wampus Cats. (Continued…)

Something new and blue at IHS

Image: New tennis court — The tennis court has been refurbished with a local donation.

If you drive by the city park on College Street, you will see something very new. The local tennis courts are being refurbished, which is wonderful for the IHS tennis team. (Continued…)

Italy Students have success at Junior High UIL competition

Image: 7th & 8th grade Junior High UIL Competition participants

Over forty 6th, 7th and 8th grade students from Stafford Elementary and Italy High School traveled to Wortham to participate in the A-plus Academic UIL meet on December 4 & 11. They participated as individuals and teams in events covering a wide variety of topics from math and science to speech and journalism. (Continued…)

Avalon moves on to the Regional Quarterfinal

Image: Avalon Eagles — Avalon moves on as Area Champions after a win over the Forestburg Longhorns, 66-55.

The Avalon Eagles and Forestburg Longhorns battled Friday night in Springtown to keep their playoff dreams alive. After an exciting game, Avalon moves on as the Area Champions. (Continued…)

Italy stomps Menard for Area Championship

Image: On the road to victory — Dontavius and Diamond, along with the “Spirit Squad,” show Gladiator fans where the team is headed.

The Italy Gladiators buzzed past the 20-10 Menard Yellow Jackets (13A District Champs) by a score of 65-56 to claim the Area Championship making Italy’s record 22-10. Italy rematches arch nemesis, Itasca, for the Regional Quarterfinal crown on Wednesday, March 4th at 7:00 p.m. in West. (Continued…)

Lady Gladiators come up short against Rice

Image: Make the stretch Cori! — Cori Jeffords (Junior), at first base, makes the stretch towards the throw.

The Lady Gladiators took to the field Friday night in a non-district game against the Rice Lady Bulldogs. In these two teams’ previous game the Lady Gladiators defeated Rice 5-3. This time…not so much. The final score in this contest was 7-0 in favor of the Lady Bulldogs (Continued…)

Boy Scouts of America in Italy

Image: Pack 227 in Italy — The Boys Scouts in Italy consist mainly of Webelos but are looking for more age groups. The group consists of James Youngblood, Cody Nelson, Andrew Rosbeg, Matt Perry, Damon Merdock, Nicholas Feemster and Cole Meador.  If you are interested in your son joining, contact Gwen Gorman for more information.

Did you know the Boys Scouts of America are in Italy? It’s a small group of young men but strong in spirit. This school year they have sold popcorn, helped area churches with different programs, hosted a canned food drive for the local food pantry and have lots more ideas for the rest of the year. (Continued…)

Angel Food Ministries’ March Menu

Image: Angel Food Ministries March Menu

Angel Food Ministries has released their March Menu. Orders must be made on Tuesday, March 10th, from 9 am until noon in Itasca. Pick up day is Saturday, March 28th, from 9-10 am. You may also order through the Baptist Church in Milford. (Continued…)

Bobbie and Sue Sparks Visit Trinity Mission

Image: Bobbie and Sue Sparks — These two sisters can really play those guitars. They have the residents singing along and swaying to the music.

Friday afternoon at 2:00 p.m., Trinity Mission of Italy was alive with up-beat music provided by Bobbie and Sue Sparks. The residents were swaying to the music and some of them were even singing right along. (Continued…)

Meals on Wheels announces “March For Meals” campaign

Image: Meals on Wheels announces a new campaign for the month of March to kick off the  construction of a new kitchen facility.

Meals-on-Wheels of Johnson and Ellis Counties is a proud participant of the national 2009 “March For Meals” campaign. Meals-on-Wheels’ “March For Meals” event will include an awareness media campaign of its local services in each community, the national “Mayors For Meals” delivering in their communities on Wednesday, March 19, and a benefit celebration, “A Night Under the Stars” on Saturday, March 28, kicking off the construction campaign of a new regional kitchen facility. (Continued…)