News

Garrison Emergency Services (Fire Department and First Responders) members joined North Benton Ambulance personnel in a training exercise for the brand-new grain bin rescue equipment on Monday outside the Emergency Services building.  During an educational presentation, the responders learned that more than 160 Americans have died in grain bin accidents in the past year.

The students at Shellsburg Elementary have read more than 27 MILLION words in the past few months. In order to recognize this accomplishment, as well as to mark the 30th anniversary of the Book-It reading promotion, Shellsburg Principal Ryan Davis spent Monday on the roof, reading to students gathered below. Mr. Davis bundled up, wearing camouflage and orange from his head to his feet, as he read a variety of books, including the comic book of children's poems called "Falling Up" by Shel Silverstein.

On October 29th, seventeen Vinton-Shellsburg FFA members and four chaperones plus Mrs. Fleming, got up bright and early to leave for Louisville, Kentucky for National FFA Convention; whose theme is Go All Out. The three vans left the school at 6:30 am and made it to Kentucky around 7:30 pm, stopping for a tour at Caterpillar Visitor Center in Illinois.

The 2014 Benton County Livestock Judging 4-H Club had a fun-filled and exciting year. Membership and participation in workouts and contests nearly doubled over 2013. The group had individual success and team success in almost every outing. Team members during the 2014 season were Gabriel Hanson, Mitchell Hanson, Alex Ludeking, Jacob Ludeking, John McQuilkin, Nick McQuilkin, Brady Ortner, Brant Ortner, Brock Ortner, Will Schmidt, Landon Siek, Drew Wiley, Isaac Wiley and Josh Wiley.

            For years, businesses in the City of Vinton have been decked out with holiday roping and wreaths just in time for the holiday season. Twenty-fourteen will be no different thanks to the local Vinton-Shellsburg scholarship committee, GoVS (Generating Opportunities for Viking Scholars). The decorations will be in place just in time for Vinton’s annual holiday parade on Thursday evening, November 20.

During November the home healthcare community honors the nurses, home care aides, therapists, and social workers who make a remarkable difference for the patients and families they serve. These heroic caregivers play a central role in our health care system and in homes across the nation. To recognize their efforts, we call upon all Iowans to commemorate the power of caring, both at the home and in their local communities and to learn more about what Home Health is all about.

Shellsburg students heard about the similarities between two similar words that usually have a much different meaning. Yet, said Scott Koepeke, soil and soul both refer to things that are forever alive. “Nothing ever really dies, said Koepeke, a soil scientist with New Pioneer Co-Op of Iowa City/Coralville. “It just changes.” While allowing students to see a few samples from his composting operation, Koepeke told them that soil is alive and contains “millions of critters,” although it takes a strong microscope to see them well.

The cold case murder trial of former Vinton resident Clint Mackey has been re-set for April 20, 2015, in Terre Haute, Indiana.  The Terre Haute Tribune Star reports that Clint Mackey's trial was reset during a video court hearing on Friday.  Mackey turned himself in to the Benton County Sheriff's Office in January. Court records indicate he told detectives that he indeed had murdered Erika Case, 19, who was stabbed multiple times while she was house-sitting in northwestern Vigo County in September of 1998.

The Iowa Department of Public Safety is proud to announce the graduation of 13 male and female recruits from the Iowa Department of Public Safety’s 38th Basic Academy. Recruit Jordan Barnes, of Vinton, the son of Michelle Ruess and Mike and Connie Barnes, is one of 13 recruits graduating from the DPS Basic Academy. The 13 recruits were sworn in as peace officers for the State of Iowa during the commencement ceremony Friday, November 7, 2014, at the Iowa Army National Guard Freedom Center at Camp Dodge.

Teachers at Vinton-Shellsburg High School are partnering with Farmers Savings Bank & Trust to provide 11th-12th graders a financial literacy program. The program, called Project Financial Literacy is designed to promote financial literacy education by providing high schools with resources to measure and improve their financial literacy curriculum.