News

The Vinton-Shellsburg track team began its first practice session of 2013 with an event that does not earn points in any upcoming meet: Shoveling. Several inches of snow covered the track, and the boys began their afternoon by moving the snow.

On Monday, March 11, the Vinton City Council will hold a short special meeting to approve $2 million in bonds for street repairs. Council members said during the regular meeting on Feb. 28, that they hope to be able to to around 20 linear blocks with that amount. City leaders have not yet prioritized which streets to repair but plan to do that soon.

Several staff members at Click Stop in Urbana, including former Vinton-Shellsburg Viking athlete David Urlaub, have created a video tribute to the Starting 5 Vikings. The employees imitate the pre-game introductions of Grant Sagan, Kelyn Rickels, Max Kearns, Max Griffith and Nolan Sagan, and end with words of encouragement for the Vikings, who play Harlan Tuesday in Des Moines.

VPRD is making its final call for registrations for the upcoming Pee-Wee Mini Sports program. This program will be held at the Vinton Recreation Center from 1:30 PM to 2:15 PM on the dates of March 4, 11, 18, and 25. The cost is $13 for the program and is open to any youngsters ages 3-5. Participants will learn basic motor skills such as throwing, kicking, batting and catching.

As the Vinton-Shellsburg Vikings prepare for their State Tournament game vs. Harlan on Tuesday, Viking families hope the rest of the V-S district will join them in flying the black and gold banners.  The flags with the V-S logo can  be seen in several locations throughout the area. 

State Basketball tickets are in!  All tickets will be sold at the High School.  VS-HS students may purchase tickets Thursday or Friday during their lunch mod.  The General Public may purchase them on Thursday from 4:00-7:00 p.m. at the HS Office.  All tickets are $8.00 and are General Admission. 

The children of the Vinton Police Deparment, from 16 years old  to babies as young as one month old, dressed in their dad's uniforms and gathered around (or on) a Vinton police car. There was a serious purpose for this fun photo: Raising money for Badge of Life, an organization dedicated to helping police officers with PTSD.

The Vinton-Shellsburg High School drama department and some local volunteers will be spending much of today scheduling events for the Iowa High School Speech Association State Individual Events Contest on Saturday, March 9. That is also the day when the final two teams play for the Iowa High School State Basketball Championship. With the knowledge that a large part of Vinton's population could be in Des Moines that day, VSHS Drama Coach Eric Upmeyer says that many volunteers are still needed for the event in Vinton that day.

It's that time of the year. The time we reasses the website, see what we need to change, try to find ways to make it better, and find out what just isn't working. This last week, we added Twitter as another way of communication with our great audience.  It has come in really handy in keeping our readers informed of the basketball scores while they continue to dominate the court.

The annual Vinton-Shellsburg Cabaret took place on Sunday afternoon in the VSHS auditorium, with a variety of performances from band, choir and speech participants. The event had been moved to Sunday from Friday evening because of winter weather. Thanks to Nancy Jorgensen for these photos!