Opinion : Vinton Today causes ripple effect

Everyday we wake up and think, "What are we going to put on the website before the e-mail goes out at 11:45 ..."

Usually we don't wonder if the news we put on the site will go further than the folks that know and love Vinton, because those are the only ones we care about serving.

Sometimes our chief writer gets a bit irritated when I see something some place else and say, "Hey, did we get this on the website?" I should know by now not to ask such a stupid question.

The answer I get is met with a roll of the eyes, a heavy sigh, and I can see him mentally counting to 10 before saying, "About a week ago." Usually it's "About a month ago."

I usually don't pay much attention to when our story runs, and then someone else picks it up. But I thought just for the fun of it, let's see how one of our stories started a ripple.

I thought I'd do the story about Roy's closing, since I had seen that referred to in other stories.

The story started on Vinton Today, on February 28th. Then it gets fluffed, and later it gets turned into MORE than just ROY'S so it can go all over.

After we published it, it went first to the Times on the 4th.

Then the Gazette on the 10th who must have a connection to AP who then ran with it.

On March 10th, the story started going crazy. It went to the McClatchy-Tribune Information Service, a group based in Washington D.C., who ran it on the 10th on the Seeking Alpha website.

March 12th it went to the Chicago Tribune and the Quad City Times, KTIV out of Sioux City, channel 4 reported it, WOWT channel 6 out of Omaha, NE.

March 13th The Hawkeye ran it, yesterday it came across via an e-mail from Topix.

They say that when folks copy you they are complimenting you.

Thank you, folks...

This week we will break our 1 million mark in visits to the site...so folks at your newspapers, sitting at your desks, we have another news flash for you, but I doubt anyone will be brave enough to run with it.

A brand new idea is making ripples, right here in eastern Iowa, right here in Vinton. It's called Vinton Today, probably the first online ONLY newspaper in Iowa, who has been in business 1 year and will have their 1 milionth hit in the same week...all without some big guys backing us up, and without receiving a single penny of taxpayer money...REPORT THIS....after all, it's one of the best things to have happened in the area in a long time!

To sum this all up, I guess we can honestly say, "You heard about it the FIRST TIME on Vinton Today!"