Opinion : Iowa floods a chance for Vinton to help others the way others helped Vinton

I write this tonight from a tiny hotel room in Junction City, Kansas. Angie, Sage and I have been planning the trip for a year and a half, and hit the road this morning (Saturday) to take the long way to Denver, by way of our former home state of Kansas.

From mid-afternoon on, Angie and I read in stunned silence the news reports coming from Eastern Iowa News Online and other sources with the horrifying news that the dam at Lake Delhi had failed and that hundreds of residents down stream along the Maquoketa River were in imminent danger. It seemed impossible that this could happen. But then again, it seemed impossible two years ago that the Cedar River could rise to 24.7 feet in Vinton or could have decimated Cedar Rapids.

But it happened, and now, just miles from here, it is happening again. It is happening to our friends and neighbors and to people we never met. But what is funny about that is that I remember two years ago, when people we never met were suddenly standing shoulder to shoulder with us on Second Avenue while we filled sandbags. And they had no connection to Vinton, other than they were neighbors.

Tonight, today, the people of Hopkinton, Monticello, and possibly in a few days even Maquoketa will face a nightmare of monumental proportions. They will, as all of usdo when the chips our down will grab a shovel and start doing whatever they can to save what they can, maybe fix what is broken.

I urge all Vintonians and anyone who this message reaches to remember two years go, remember what we went through and to remember that we never could have gotten through that without a little help from our friends. And yes, while I realize that we are on vacation right now, we'll be back Friday. If I’m needed, I’ll grab my shovel and go. I urge all of you to do the same.