Opinion : Vinton Today: Just the news, not the paper

I was walking into work one day with a colleague.

Ahead of us, another co-worker was walking to her office.

"I don't know what's wrong with her," said my peer. "She just does her job and doesn't come to our meetings."

When we got to the upstairs office, there was another meeting going on.

"Dean," they said. "Are you going to come to our meeting, or are you going to just do your job?"

Then I woke up.

Later, I laughed as I told others about my dream. I remembered the times at my previous job when I was required to leave Vinton to go to meetings in Waverly, Oelwein, Cedar Falls or Independence.

I hated those meetings. I hated most meetings. No. I hated them all.

I hated them more after the non-Vinton person in charge told me at one of those meetings that I needed to tell Vinton people that if they send stories to our competitor, we would not put them in our paper.

I said "No," although I must confess that is not all I said.

I don't say much about my previous employment because I want you, the Vinton Today readers, to focus on what we do now.

But it turns out that I do need to say something. We got an email from a man who told us that he brought his stuff to the newspaper office and was waiting and waiting and waiting to see it on Vinton Today. He was disappointed that he had not yet seen it.

I had to explain to him that Vinton Today is not associated with any newspaper in any town.

In fact, with the exception of the Iowa Independent, which is part of a network of Independent statewide online-only newspapers, I believe Vinton Today is the only online-only newspaper in Iowa. There are other sites, but most of them are connected to other media organizations that also have newspapers or radio or TV stations.

After a year of bringing you the news at Vinton Today, most people know about us, and they know the difference. We have many readers who tell others about the web site (thanks!).

But just so you know: Vinton Today is not connected with any newspaper. We have actually referred people TO the newspapers when they mistakenly contacted us. I have even told people how to send stuff to the newspaper because they have friends who do not have computers and wanted them to read a story. Don't call the newspaper and ask for me; it seems they have lost my number. If you want to reach us, call me at 319-202-4126, or email us at vintontoday@hotmail.com. Our mailing address is Box 7, Vinton IA 52349.

And as always, thanks for being part of Vinton Today.