News

SOLON– They’re just taking care of family.
And veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces are the biggest family you’ll ever know, Brad Storck explained.
Storck is a co-founder of Iowa Veterans Outdoor Experience (IVOE), a homegrown non-profit which hosts a group of disabled veterans twice a year for an exclusive hunt on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ground at Coralville Lake.
The group has been around for seven years, staffed by volunteers from the Solon American Legion and supported with contributions from area businesses and organizations.

OXFORD– Seventy percent of family farms will change hands in one form or another over the next 15 years.
Those landowners are closing in on retirement age, but the majority don’t have a farm succession plan.
That’s a problem for rural Iowa, according to accredited land consultant Mike Downey.
Downey was the featured speaker at a farm transfer workshop, hosted by Practical Farmers of Iowa (PFI), at the Johnson County Conservation Education Center at F.W. Kent Park near Oxford.

SOLON– Solon area families are invited to participate in a "Kids Can Do it Too " program being held Monday, Jan. 20, from 9-11 a.m., at the Solon United Methodist Church. The Martin Luther King Day program is a "come and go" event. Kids of all ages are welcome to participate with mom or dad's help and supervision.
Participants can bring an optional donation of the following: a food item for the local food bank, unused trial size toiletries for local domestic violence shelters, new or used Dr. Seuss books or a lightly used pair of shoes for the Soles For Souls program.

SOLON– This is exactly what he wants to do.
“I’m really excited to be here,” said new Solon Recreation Director Tom Harder. “This is a job that I’ve been picturing myself in for a long time.”
Harder, 26, started his position Dec. 16, replacing Ben Flaherty, who served in the job from September of 2018 to Nov. 7.
A native of Iowa City, Harder attended West High, and stayed in town to attend the University of Iowa (UI), obtaining both his undergraduate and master’s degrees in sports and recreation management.

SOLON For now, there will be no short-term rentals in residential areas.
The first reading of an ordinance limiting such rentals to commercial areas was passed at a Dec. 18 meeting of the Solon City Council.
Council members were asked to consider allowing the alternate lodging in residential zones by Michelle Bennett, of Solon, who has been offering short-term stays in a house at 113 E. Elm Street.
Council members stuck with the recommendations of the citys Planning and Zoning (P&Z) Commission, but left the door open to future modifications.