ACT 1 was preparing to open its spring show. The Vinton-Shellsburg Jazz Band was celebrating its second place finish at the Jazz Festival, and its invitation to the Iowa High School Jazz Championships in April.

Warning: contains warm sappy thoughts about a dog... Yesterday we put the website to a sort of test, asking for help in locating our dog. Thanks to everyone's help we were able to locate him within a couple hours of the e-mail being sent out! We had comments sent in with information about him and a detailed phone call, thanks to everyone who had spotted him and told us about it! It's amazing how big a dog can look when he's trying to crawl up in your lap, or when he's putting his head on your lap for attention, or he's nudging your elbow while you are trying to type stories on your computer and how annoying he can be when he wants you to just touch him so he can sleep on the floor at your feet.

  By Robert Spangler Iowa Council of the United Blind      Few people think about students' rights - especially those of the disabled.

      Water pump (I think) for a tractor.     Fuel pump (I think) from a similar machine.     Lid for a tool box.

Gas is going up...not news. Groceries are going up, shouldn't be news. Everything else is following...news I hate. I have to admit, when it comes to saving money, I know how to do it, usually.

       Loyal readers of my columns (all three of them) may remember reading some of these words back in January, when gas was "only" $3.

I remember the days, a looooong time ago that we had the fun job of picking out baby names. We had always talked about names we'd use, we loved certain ones, and tossed them around before we needed them.

       "Put your 'John Henry' here."      My dad used to say that.      I used to think he was the only one.

       For many people, there are places, or dates, that they will always remember.      The park where you hit your first home run.

        I was, by chance, one of the first people to complete all the holes of the 2011 Vinton Unlimited Mini-Masters.      Or as golfers as bad as I am should call it, the Mini-Mediocres, at best.