News

The North Eden Willing Workers 4H Club installed new officers as follows at their November meeting: ·         President: Jonathon Kreutner ·         Vice President: Alex Pladsen ·         Secretary: Caroline Lang ·         Treasurer: Samantha Walton ·         Reporter: Sarah Kreutner ·         Historians: Kate Hyland, Jenna Pattee and Zena Aragon ·         Photographers: Lydia Radeke and Weston Bierschenk ·         Recreation Officers: Jesse Pladsen and Bryce Radeke ·         Birthday Officers: Ashlie Meyer and Morgan Lang The club also welcomed several new members at the first meeting of the 4H year, held the evening of November 1st.

Vinton Lions Club speaker on Veteran’s Day was Harold Vanscoy, P.A.C., and former Green Beret serving in Vietnam starting in 1967.  Harold is better known in Vinton from his many years of practice as a physician assistant at Vinton Family Medical Clinic. “I’m not going to talk about war,” Harold began, “because if you’ve been in war you know words don’t convey much, and if you haven’t, words can’t begin to tell the story.

The Vinton Lions Club presented the Vinton-Shellsburg Booster Club with a $1000 check from selling funnel cakes and sno cones at V-S home football games. President Mike Timmermans hands the check to Betty Cayton representing the Boosters. Dr. Alan Woodhouse (Lions) on the left and Barb Winsor (boosters)look on. 

The entire Vinton-Shellsburg student body gave a standing ovation to the veterans of the area on Wednesday. The ovation came after several veterans who had served in the military introduced themselves during the annual Veterans Day event. Led by the VSHS Student Senate, the ceremony included songs from all grade levels, a speech about how veterans help each other and the community by veteran John Gualtier, a tribute to the military branches by the combined middle school and high school choirs, and more.

Pancake Breakfast   On November 7th, 2015 the Vinton-Shellsburg FFA Chapter held their 3rd Annual Veterans Benefit Pancake Breakfast from 7 am- 11 am in the Vinton-Shellsburg High School Commons. The breakfast consisted of pancakes, eggs, sausages, milk, coffee, and orange juice. The breakfast was made possible by Cedar Valley Eggs, Vinton Kiwanis Members, Fareway Grocery, Fareway Meats, Vinton Newspapers, Farmer’s Bank, the V-S cooks, VGH, and of course the FFA members that planned and worked the event.

Our annual day of honoring our Veterans for the service that they have given to all of us in this country, again, never fails to move me. Each year we are continuing to add to our list of those that have served from our county. This past year I have done a bit of research on our family trees and have found that military service goes back as far as the Revolutionary War.

Wreaths Across America will be celebrated at the Mt. Auburn Cemetery on Saturday, December 12, 2015.  Like last year, the ceremony will start at 11am. The vision of Wreaths Across America is that every Veteran will have a wreath on their grave during the Christmas season.  The effort is all voluntary and the hand made wreaths are shipped fresh from the state of Maine, where the program originated.

 A group of volunteers from the University of Iowa Veterans Association left Jesup on Thursday, heading for Brandon. On Friday morning, another group will carry a ceremonial game ball from Brandon to Hiawatha along the Cedar Valley Nature Trail, passing through Urbana and Center Point. Thast day of the ruck will include other veterans from the U of I walking the ball to Kinnick Stadium on Saturday.

Local Scouts joined the Vinton American Legion Post 57 for the annual flag retirement ceremony on Monday.  Bobbi Enos, the first female post commander, led her first ceremony, inspecting flags and reading the script before the flags were disposed of via the traditional burning.  The Scouts and Legion members have shared this tradition for many years.

Thanks to the ongoing relationship between Vinton-Shellsburg High School students and local veterans, the new Iwo Jima silhouette at Veterans Park includes two 48-star flags and a new flag pole, paid for with money from VSHS student fund-raising projects. The flags will stand as a silent reminder that during World War II, there were just 48 states in the USA.