News

The Benton County Nature Center was the place to be for some unique trick or treating fun on Thursday afternoon. But before that, the children were entertained by a Praying Mantis that Aaron Askelson had in a small container. As they sat around the floor of the Nature Center waiting for the hunt to begin they were able to look at the insect up close, and of course, get a little education about the bug.

Personal Safety and Situational Awareness Training was held at the Vinton Skate Center, brought by the area group, "Just Us". 80 service providers, students and community members attended the event facilitated by Mike Ferjak. Tressa Walton and Erin Monoghan opened the event with a brief explanation of who the Just Us group is and what they are doing in the community.

...the children sang together at the Benton County Conservation's Nature Center northwest of Vinton.   In a program hosted by Aaron Askleton and Caitlin Savage, the two read books, made crafts and explained to the children various characteristics of nocturnal animals.  The children were able to feel a coyote pelt as well as a see what a brown bat looks like up close.

This year National Prescription Take Back Day is on Saturday, October 27th, 2018 from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. This day is announced by the NABP (National Association of Boards of Pharmacy) and the DEA on a national scale to prevent unused prescription drugs from finding their way into the wrong hands. In order to prevent substance use disorders and overdose deaths this day provides the community to dispose of unwanted and expired medications in a safe and locked drop box locations across our Iowa counties.

  Congratulations go out to the Union High School Vocal Music department on their outstanding showing at All-State auditions on Saturday October 20th in Hampton. 1 UHS vocalist was chosen to perform in the festival and 3 additional UHS vocalists made the recall round. This is the highest honor a high school musician in the State of Iowa can receive.

The 2018 Vinton Christmas Ornaments are now available! Melissa Schwan said that this year’s ornament features the Benton County Fair. Ornaments are available at Arnold Motor Supply, Cameron’s, Clingman Pharmacy, Henkle Creek, Jessy’s Gems, LaGrange Pharmacy, Michael & Dowd, Nature’s Corner, Three D Kitchens, Viking Sewing as well as the Vinton Unlimited office located in City Hall.

SHE MATTERS- Barriers for Iowa women including a Daycare Crisis -75% of the elderly poor are women and 82% of them were not poor before they became widows -Iowa women earn 77% of what men earn when all other factors are equal -Iowa women lose more than $4.6 billion annually in wages or 83 weeks of groceries in a household -75% of Iowa households with children under age 6 have both parents working outside the home -There are 4,189 children in Benton County and 811 child care spaces available in our County -This leaves a shortfall of 3,378 spaces -Benton County has lost 25% of its childcare programs in the last 5 years These were just a few of the statistics that were shared by Dawn Wiand of the Iowa Women’s Foundation to several residents of Benton County Wednesday night.

Vinton Popcorn Company is making changes.   At Vinton Popcorn, we would like to discover what flavors of popcorn everyone would like to see from us by answering to the poll below! Simply Click below and give us your input!   https://strawpoll.com/e4swcky4

For years, the Ron-Da-Voo has been a place for motorcycle riders to gather for fun, friendship and occasionally, benefit rides such as the Special Olympics Ride Rick and Yvonne Zimpfer, who are member of A.B.A.T.E. (American Bikers Aimed Toward Education), have "graciously welcomed riders for years," says Susan Roberts, who along with Rick Lazenby, is organizing a Cards of Love for Yvonne effort to show support to Yvonne Zimpfer, who fought cancer seven years ago, but recently received a new diagnosis, this time with metastatic breast cancer.

Today Vinton Unlimited and a group of its members visited Fareway to "Ambush" the local business. Ambushing area businesses is a recent activity started by Vinton Unlimited to just say, "Thank you". As Melissa Schwan said today of Fareway, they have always been good to help out the community with donations or giving discounts on products for area projects.