“No matter how good you are, you’re going to lose one-third of your games. No matter how bad you are you’re going to win one-third of your games. It’s the other third that makes the difference.”

Italy’s own Morgan Cockerham, and her Duroc swine, Kinsler, named after Texas Ranger’s ball player Ian Kinsler, won 1st in class and 3rd in their light-medium weight division during the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo this past Wednesday, March 16.

Tommy and Anne Sutherland could not have been more surprised when they came home and found the “Citizen of the Month” sign in their yard. Anne explained, “We were both so surprised but we feel very special that we were chosen. It means a lot.”

Kristin & Kevin Buchert of Tyler, Texas are proud to announce the birth of their daughter and Kaiden’s little sister.

The Gladiator Regiment Band Booster Club will have a meeting on Thursday, March 24 at 5:30pm in the Italy High School Band Hall. Agenda items include upcoming spaghetti dinner, annual band trip and scholarship committee formation. All supporters of the band program at Italy ISD are welcome to attend.

The Italy Lady Gladiators Softball team has had quite a stretch of softball starting with the Grandview Tournament just before Spring Break and wrapping up with a non-district home win against Rice this past Tuesday. All-in-all, the Lady Gladiators played 7 games in 6 days winning 4-of-7.

Jane Medrano was in shock when she learned she was selected as the Italy ISD Employee of the Month. “I was thoroughly shocked when I was told I was receiving this award. I feel privileged and honored.”

When Suzzy Crowell met and married her husband, Steven, she had no idea that they would one day return to live in his home town of Italy, Texas, but that is exactly what happened. They fell in love and married in 1980.

Clients enjoy a greater quality of life thanks to dedicated volunteers

Meals-on-Wheels client Edward Dawson is proud of his rustic roots. A Navy veteran of World War II, Dawson, 85, has called Maypearl home all his life. His ranch was founded in 1896 – a fact that is part of his dining room décor – in wrought iron numbers on the wall. “It cost a dollar and fifty cents an acre back then,” Dawson said. “That’s on the deed.”

1 Comment

The Gladiator Athletic Booster Club will have a meeting on Monday, March 21 at 5:30pm in the Italy High School Library. Per Booster Club president, Erick Thompson, the meeting will adjourn at 6:45pm or before. All supporters of Italy High School and Junior High School athletics are welcome to attend.

CareFlite transports local Italy resident to hospital after driver looses consciousness behind the wheel.

Mark your calendar. On March 19th, a full Moon of rare size and beauty will rise in the east at sunset. It’s a super “perigee moon”—the biggest in almost 20 years.

Meg Lyons went to college and earned two associates degrees, started out in the business field and did lots of office work. But something was missing. She just couldn’t figure out why she was not happy.

The Italy ISD Board of Trustees will have called meetings on Tuesday, March 22, Wednesday, March 23 and Thursday, March 24 in the school’s Administration office located at 300 S. College Street. Meeting times are slated for 5:00pm each day. Superintendent applicants will be interviewed during these three meetings during executive sessions.

Central Baptist Italy Youth are planning trip to Glorieta, New Mexico for youth camp this summer.

The Italy ISD Board of Trustees will have their regular monthly meeting on Monday, March 21 in the band hall at the Italy High School campus. Meeting time is slated for 7:00pm. Contract renewals for the teachers and school personnel is one of the agenda items listed.

The Italy City Council will conduct its regular monthly meeting tonight, March 14, 2011. The meeting will be held in the Council Chambers at 105 Main Street, Italy, Texas and will begin at 7:00pm.

The Italy Gladiator baseball team traveled to Axtell Tuesday night and played in their first district game of the season. The Axtell Longhorns used their bats a little better and won the game 1-0.

Last Friday and Saturday the Upchurch Ball Park was overflowing with BBQ grills, RV’s and people galore. It was the Italy Lions Club’s third annual BBQ cook-off. They had the biggest turn out of cookers this time – they had fourty-four cookers.

The fourth six weeks assembly at Stafford Elementary was a lot like the last one, lots and lots of awards were being given out. There were many happy and excited students accepting their awards, a lot of them were receiving extra recesses and ice cream coupons from Sonic.

Stephenville — The Italy Gladiators (27-8) returned to the regional final game for the third straight season on Saturday. This time around, Italy matched up against the top-ranked Melissa Cardinals (36-1) who suffered their only loss against 4A Woodrow Wilson.

Italy Lady Gladiator Kaytlyn Bales, a junior, earned 4th Place at the regional girls powerlifting meet held in Forney and will be returning to the AA State Powerlifting Meet where she finished in 3rd Place last season at the 1A level and in 5th Place back in 2009.

Where else but Stafford Elementary can you go back in history and see Davy Crockett and Stephen F. Austin? These two fine gentlemen showed up at Stafford Elementary around 1:30pm on March 2nd.

Italy High School Library hosted its third annual Mardi Gras Party in the Library on Fat Tuesday, March 8. All students and staff were treated to slices of King Cake and the students who got the “plastic baby” in their slice got all their library fines deleted and special Mardi Gras beads.

The Milford Chapter of the National Honor Society will host a blood drive on Wednesday, March 9, from 11:00am – 4:00pm at the Milford School. Carter BloodCare will have a blood mobile parked in front of the school for donating whole blood. Members of the community are invited to participate in an event designed to save lives.

The IYAA Girls T-Ball team & the Girls 8u Coach Pitch team needs a few more players to fill these rosters. Registration has been extended to Wednesday, March 9, for these age groups.

Dorris “Dot” Harris, age 84, of Italy, passed away Monday, March 07, 2011 at Trinity Mission Health and Rehab. She was born June 16, 1926 in Lyford, Texas. Dot was a loving wife, mother, grandmother and great grandmother.

An all-around athlete and an all-around good guy, Italy Gladiator Jasenio Anderson has been drafted to play in the FCA SuperCentex All-Star game to be played at Floyd Casey Stadium on the Baylor University campus on Saturday, June 11, 2011.

The Italy Gladiator baseball team will travel to Berryville to play in a tournament hosted by Frankston ISD on Thursday, March 10 to begin play in the Keno Fitzgerald Memorial Tournament. Italy will take on Westwood in a 3:00pm game. The tournament will continue thru Saturday, March 12.

Added directions to field 3/8/11 2:05pm

The Ellis County Equine Youth Association is proud to announce their 2011 officers. The youth met on March 19, at the Flying Dollar Ranch in Italy for their first meeting of the year. The group elected officers, played horse soccer, went on a trail ride, and had a hamburger cook-out.

The Italy Gladiators (27-7) knockoff the three-time reigning Region II-AA State Champions, the Ponder Lions (20-16), by a score of 74-67 inside Wisdom Gymnasium on the Tarleton State University campus in Stephenville. With the win, the Gladiators claim the Regional Semifinal Championship and will compete in the Regional Final game against Melissa starting at 2:00 p.m. today.

Meals-on-Wheels of Johnson and Ellis Counties is a proud participant of the national 2011 “March For Meals” campaign.

The Italy Gladiators enjoy a farewell send-off from Italy High School’s faculty and students, as well as, IHS alumni and fans as they board the playoff bus for Stephenville.

Both the Italy Gladiators (25-7) and the Hearne Eagles put on a dazzling display of athleticism, aerial acrobatics and precision shooting with a Region II-AA Regional Quarterfinal Championship on the line. In the end, a 34-point third-quarter explosion by the Gladiators blew the feathers off the high-flying Eagles and allowed Italy to coast home from Waco.

The Italy Gladiator JV team took on the Avalon Eagles Tuesday night in pre-district game and did so with great success. The final score was 12-7 for our local baseball team.

Final IYAA Softball/Baseball signups will be this Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the old Italy gym and again on Sunday from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.