News : Year in Review: Remembering June of 2010

Year in Review: Palace celebrated digital age with June event.

Bob & the Beachcombers brought summer music to Party in the Park.

Grand Marshal Duane Fisher

WWII vet Henry Van Eschen meets Gov. Chet Culver during June Honor Flight.

Remembering June, 2010: IPA members watch a real rocket launch during meeting at Bar-Y.

Leaders gathered to celebrate ground-breaking for new LEC in June.

Pics of 2010: Madison Drake paints the face of Jaden Rogers during Party in the Park.

Roger Uthoff loads the last 35-mm rolls at the Palace before the digital age arrives.

Greg & Debbie Sampson watch PIP fireworks.

WWII vet Vince Blank receives welcome from soldiers after June Honor Flight.

June brought big changes, and celebrations of those changes to Vinton.

On June 2, county leaders – past and present – gathered at the site of the old LEC to celebrate the beginning of the new one. It was just two weeks shy of the two-year anniversary of the Flood of 2008. Architects from Design Dynamics joined the current supervisors as well as those who were in that office when the “old” LEC was built in the 1980s. Benton County EMA Director Scott Hansen, FEMA representatives and Congressman Leonard Boswell were also on hand to celebrate the beginning of the new LEC, and to remember the community effort to fight the flood.

Otherwise, the two-year anniversary of the flood passed without any ceremony. “People like to remember one-year and five-year anniversaries,” said Hansen. “But not 2-year anniversaries.” Mother Nature, however, seemed to remember, sending a mild storm that damaged a few trees with its high winds, but causing no significant property damage.

Digital theater at the Palace

June also brought another big change to Vinton: The Digital Theater (and 3D) era. Thanks to many generous donors, the Palace quickly reached its $80,000 goal, enabling the purchase and installation of the 3D projection system and a new silver screen. A community celebration took place in June, before the showing of the final “Shrek” animated movie, in 3D, of course. That was the first of several $3 3D movies the Palace offered throughout the rest of 2010.

Changes at IBSSS

Other kind of changes – the kind that many in Vinton opposed – seem imminent. The Iowa Board of Regents met at the Iowa Braille School to dicuss – among other things – the future of the residential program there. Later that summer, the committee assigned to study IBSSS recommended the ending of the residential program, and the renaming of the institution as Iowa Vision Services to reflect its new mission.

Vinton-Shellsburg Superindentent Mary Jo Hainstock served on that committee. She explained in an interview with Vinton Today how the changes that came in 2010 began in the 1970s with changes in federal laws governing the services states provide to persons with disabilities. See that interview here: http://www.vintoniowa.org/articles/News/article10951.html

Rocket Science

Fireworks is, at times, indeed rocket science, as members of the Iowa Pyrotechnic Association learned during a weekend meeting at Chuck Yedlik’s farm in rural Vinton. Scott Dixon, the brother of long-time IPA member Jerry Dixon, showed the IPA an actual rocket launch. Dixon has done much work in this area for the federal government. See his story here: http://www.vintoniowa.org/articles/News/article10799.html

The LeaningTower

While preparing the LEC site for the digging and pouring of the new foundation, crews determined that the 911 tower on the north edge of the site was leaning ever-so-slightly. But a 1-degree lean could cause long-term problems, so crews spent a day leveling the tower.

Duane Fisher: Grand Marshal

For years, Duane Fisher and his Vinton-Shellsburg FFA students have been active participants in the annual Party in the Park celebration. The FFA often sponsored pedal-tractor pulls during Thursday night events. They also shared their farm animals and horses and ponies to offer a petting zoo and rides during Saturday Party in the Park activities.

To honor Mr. Fisher during his last Party in the Park as a V-S teacher, the PIP Committee named him the Grand Marshal of the Party in the Park Parade.

Honor Flight

Also in June, the first of two Honor Flights which included Vinton veterans left from Cedar Rapids for the one-day journey to Washington, D.C. World War 2 veterans participate at no cost to them in the trip that takes them to the WWII memorial and other military landmarks in the Nation’s Capital. Many Vinton veterans are active in the program, helping to raise funds for, and to organize the trips.

Bold crime: Charges filed

Also in June, Vinton police completed their investigation and officially filed charges against Michael Jay Fedderson, 45, of West Union, who was shown on security video cameras in what police called a “bold daytime burglary” at the Dollar General store in February.

Animal lover’s final gift

In June, the dogs and cats of the Vinton area lost one of their friends. Ron Fiebelkorn loved to support the Vinton Animal Shelter. After his death, his widow, Bev, donated more than $2,000 from Ron’s memorial fund to the shelter.

From his childhood to the day of his funeral, animals have been part of Ron’s story.

“He was adopted as a child, but not until he was age 4,”said Bev. “He said many times that his only companions were his dog, Buddy, and a stick.”

That love of animals stayed with Ron until his death on June 9.

“Ron made it clear two or three years ago that after he died, he wanted all memorials to go to his ‘furry friends,’” said Bev, as she sat at her kitchen table with Donita Casey of the Friends of the Vinton Animal Shelter. Ron’s friends and family gave more than $2,000 in his memory.

New Hotel

June also brought the opening of the new Cobblestone Inn & Suites hotel to Vinton. Company officials joined local leaders for a grand opening and ribbon cutting at the end of June.

Our 1,000th story

Vinton Today also reached a milestone in June: We published our 1,000th story. It happened to be a news release about the September Boomtown event. See that story here (and note the number in the address):

http://www.vintoniowa.org/articles/News/article101000.html

What we learned at Vinton Today during the Summer of 2010:

Vinton Today entered the summer learning two lessons.

First, if you have lots of readers, you need more space on your server.

Second, if you don’t have more space on your server, you won’t have any readers.

Twice in our early existence, we ran out of what in IT terms is called “bandwidth.” Think of bandwidth as a highway. Our highway at VT got to crowded and twice in the summer, we had to make our highway larger. Wes at Monkeytown did this for us. The first time, he made it a little larger. The second, much larger. Thanks to all of our readers for making it necessary for us to build a bigger highway.