Van Horne City Staff

Greetings Van Horne area residents!

The new city sign is up and hopefully by the time you read this it is completely functional. Keep in mind we are still taking donations towards the sign, if interested please contact Linda at city hall. Thank you.

Pets, Pets, Pets.

Come on people, we are having more complaints all the time --dogs unleashed, dogs biting, dogs pooping, and my biggest complaint, unregistered pets. It is getting to be the biggest problem in town. We have been nice long enough, and when I get enough complaints about something, I need to do something about it.

We will start a strict enforcement enactment. If a pet is outside unleashed -- I don’t care if is in your lawn -- if the neighbor takes a picture and shows it to us, your pet is gone. If we have a report that you have a pet and it is not registered, it is gone. If you don’t clean up after your pet, it is gone. If you get my drift, I am not very happy about this situation, and if the pet owners don’t take responsibility for your pets’ actions, then the city will.

Summer has not even begun and we have had numerous complaints. Also, there is a pit bull in town. That is illegal. If it is seen outside again, it will also be gone.

Enough of a rant. Just take care of your pets and be courteous to your neighbors.

Events

We have a couple of events coming up in June. The first will be the county cancer walk held at the track on Friday, June 10. Join in if you can. The other June major event will be the next night, June 11. Van Horne special events will host Music Fest. Again, it will be held on Main Street. Volunteers are always needed. Get involved. Van Horne is also looking for a volunteer to be our representative for the Community Foundation. This group accepts and distributes the grants from the gambling revenues, maybe three to four meetings a year. Call Linda if interested.

Thought for the month from Will Rogers! “Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there." Thanks and have a great rest of the month. Your Mayor, Marty.

Dates on Deck

May 22 Benton Community High School Commencement at 2 p.m. at high school gymnasium

May 30 Legion and Auxiliary Memorial Day Service at 8:30 a.m. at Community Center

May 31 Senior Citizen Luncheon at noon at the Community Center

June 6 Adult Coloring Group at 9:30 a.m. at the Library

June 6 Library Board Meeting at 5:30 p.m. at the Library

June 9 Adult Book Club at 3:30 p.m. at the Library

June 10 ACS Relay for Life at Benton Community High School Track 6 to 10 p.m.

June 11 Music Fest

June 11 Lions Breakfast at the Community Center starting at 8 a.m.

June 13 Adult Coloring Group at 9:30 am at the Library

June 13 Council Meeting at 6:30 p.m. at VH City Hall

June 20 Adult Coloring Group at 9:30 a.m. at the Library

June 27 Adult Coloring Group at 9:30 a.m. at the Library

June 28 Senior Citizen Luncheon at noon at the Community Center

June 30 First date of Thursday Garbage Pickups!

July 17 – 21 St. Andrew’s Vacation Bible School 6 to 8:15 p.m.

JOIN OUR TOWN'S MUSIC FESTIVAL CELEBRATION

Saturday June 11. Start with our 5K Rock N Roll Run/Walk at 8 a.m. Pancake Breakfast at 9 a.m. Slow Pitch Tourney at 10 a.m. Bags Tourney at 10 a.m. Music on Main Street 5 p.m. to 1 a.m.

MEMORIAL DAY SERVICE

The Van Horne Legion and Auxiliary will host a Memorial Day Service on Monday May 30, beginning at 8:30 a.m. at the Van Horne Community Center. Speaker will be Timothy Casey. Continental breakfast will follow.

ACS Relay For Life

The Relay For Life of Benton County will be held on Friday, June 10, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Benton Community HS track in Van Horne. This is an opportunity to gather and honor all those who have or are battling cancer. Luminaries may be purchased in memory or, in honor of loved ones, Luminaria forms may be obtained from Sally Donald (228-8148). Join in this fight against cancer.

BELLE PLAINE SWIM

Swim lesson and Wednesday open swim busses will once again be provided. Booklets can be picked up at City Hall.

LIONS NEWS

• LIONS BREAKFAST on June 11 (Music Fest) at the Community Center beginning at 8 a.m. and serving the runners and the public. Everyone is invited! Free will offering.

• Need any garbage bags? Contact 228-8348 for a box of 100.

• During each month, a Van Horne youth, Oceana Papake collects cans and bottles from the two Lions receptacles in order for Lion members to sort and deliver to the Can Shed. Profits from this endeavor go back into community projects. Thank you Oceana and all contributors.

• Recently Lions members have been doing vision screenings (free of charge) for children six months to school age at day care centers and preschools.

REC NEWS

• BYSA Fall soccer season has ended. Thank you to all the residents of Van Horne for working with us during this season. Also, thanks to the BYSA for organizing another season of learning and fun for our kids!

• Summer ball season has now started with games and practices! Good luck to all of our Pony League, Little League, Tball and Pee Wee Tball teams this year. If you would be interested in umpiring games or working the concession stand this year please email us at: vanhornerec@gmail.com. We can’t continue to have a successful program for our kids without the help and support from the community. We appreciate it!

• Late last fall we were able to get one last goal of ours crossed off our project list. We installed a new playground at the Rec fields! Thank you to everyone who donated and helped with this cause! It will be so nice this Spring and Summer for our kids to play on! Please got to the Van Horne Rec website to see photos! https://sites.google.com/site/vanhornerec/

• As always, we are looking for new committee members to help out at the various activities for our kids! Please contact vanhornerec@gmail.com if you want to be added to the email list as a committee member.

• If you have any ideas or suggestions for us to look into for this coming year please email us at: vanhornerec@gmail.com

LIBRARY NEWS

ON YOUR MARK, GET SET, READ!

We are gearing up for our Summer Library Reading Program, so get ready to read for prizes. Children are encouraged to stop by and pick up a reading log and begin keeping track of their reading minutes after June 1. Prizes are available for two hours of reading time, oneprize per week per child. Programming will be during the month of July.

CHECK IT OUT!

Children’s titles - Under the Sea by Mike Berenstain, Raymie Nightingale by Kate DiCamillo, The Pirate Jamboree by Mark Teague, On Bird Hill by Jane Yolen, The Most Important Thing by Avi, Big, Bigger, Biggest Book

Adult fiction Titles - The Last Mile by David Baldacci, Til Death do Us Part by Amanda Quick, Hide Away by Iris Johansen, The Obsession by Nora Roberts, Fast and Loose by Fern Michaels, Extreme Prey by John Sandford, The Inheritance by Michael Phillips, What was Mine by Helen Klein Ross, Wedding Tree by Robin Wells, Bride of a Distant Isle by Sandra Byrd, Back in the Saddle by Ruth Logan Herne, Most Wanted by Lisa Scottoline, Family Jewels by Stuart Woods, The Doll-master and Other Tales of Horror by Joyce Carol Oates, As Time Goes By by Mary Higgins Clark, The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson

Non-fiction Titles - When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi, The Gift of Friendship