News

By Annabelle Newton, Co-ReporterOn Tuesday, February 16, the Vinton-Shellsburg FFA chapter had 5 of their 8 chapter officers attend the Legislative Symposium. They headed to Ankeny early in the morning, where they visited the FFA Enrichment Center on the DMACC campus. While at the Enrichment Center, the state officer team prepared the 200 FFA members both present and virtually attending for the day ahead.

Update on the bill:At this time, the Subcommittee recommends the indefinite postponement of this bill. It's been almost a year since iVinton officially went live. In that year, the city has added over 800 customers to its service. The network has been put to work during this last year with many people working from home and students learning from home.

Union HS Musical Theatre Named All-State Again!-The tradition continues The Union High School Fine Arts Department has again achieved the highest honors possible with Iowa High School Speech Association. All three Union musical theatre entries have been named All-State Honorees. The three groups are “How To Succeed in Musical Theatre without Really Trying” with performers Sunshine Gray, Audrey Kline, Sophie Winkelpleck, Grace Johnson, Kylea Neuendorf, and Joe Bistline; Chicago with performers Laura Rempe, Cora Klein, Carlie Spore, Cybil Timm, Sarah Roberts and Jacob Hill; and Scrubs with performers Tyson Fleshner, Elle Hookham, Madelon Rathe, Rebekah Dickerson, Matt Carlson, and Hayden Spore.

Virginia Gay Hospital will not be making any changes in our patient screening, masking or visitation protocols in response to the enhanced public health measures effective Feb 7th through March 7, 2021. In keeping with a commitment to patient safety, we will continue to follow CDC and IDPH guidelines. While we have seen hospitalization numbers decrease, visitation in Nursing & Rehab is not allowed if the county positivity rate is 10% or above.

Josh and Kari Burkhart of Urbana suffered a house fire on Sunday afternoon. Josh is one of the county employees that clears our roads during the winter. Kari provided daycare in their home that they share with their 3 children. In a recent post the couple thanked the community for their love, prayers, donations. "Every single donation is being used for necessities like replacing medications, personal hygeine and immediate clothing needs.

By Josh Wiley, Co-ReporterComing up on February 22nd through February 26th, the Vinton - Shellsburg FFA Chapter will be participating in various FFA activities throughout the week. This week is known as FFA week across the country where every chapter will be participating in various activities. The school dress up days are Monday: Hunting/Fishing, Tuesday: ‘Merica, Wednesday: Blue and Gold/Official Dress, Thursday: Mullets and Flannels, and Friday: Career Day.

If you happened to stop in at the school on Monday, you would be able to see how hard the year has been on the children and teachers. Everyone aged to 100 years old!Of course, it's part of the celebration of the 100th day of school. Pictured below are the Tilford students of Ms. Martinez's class.

Vinton lost one of its sports heroes this week. Merle Roths an inductee into the Iowa Wrestling Hall of Fame passed away on Monday at the Lutheran home. In 1941, Roths won the 105-pound wrestling championship. He was also a three-time place winner at the state level for the Chickasaws 1940s.He was unbeatable in 1940 until he reached the state finals.

 The Benton County Soil & Water Conservation District is once again offering trees and tree seedlings for sale.  This might be your opportunity to replace windbreaks or shade trees impacted by last August’s Derecho or to establish new windbreaks, shade trees, or wildlife habitat. This program will offer both evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubs for sale as either potted stock or bare-root seedlings.

By Josh Wiley, Co-Reporter On Friday, January 22nd, Carson Brincks and Avery Hanaway visited our chapter and led the students through various leadership and knowledge activities. Carson is a state officer, representing the northeast district of the state of Iowa. Avery is a district officer on the northeast district officer team representing the southwest sub-district of the northeast district, where our chapter is located as well.