Home Care In Shellsburg, IA

VINTON — Abby Davis’ replay button got a severe workout last week.

“I’ve been watching game film and reliving it,” she said.

Can you blame her?

It was a moment, nine years in the making, that brought out some unexpected reactions from Vinton-Shellsburg girls’ basketball players.

And staff.

“I hugged a lot of people,” head coach Rich Haisman said, about the aftermath of the Vikettes’ Class 3A regional-final win at Grinnell. “Some of them, I didn’t even know. They could have been from Grinnell, for all I know.”

It was a moment that Haisman visualized for this group, even when they were too small to get the ball to the rim as third-graders, when they were absorbing losses by scores like 40-2.

When the other team would steal the ball, let this team catch up, so the other could team could work on its half-court offense.

Still, he believed in these girls, when they were 9, 10, 11 years old.

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“He told us that someday, we were going to be difference-makers,” Davis said. “He said we were going to be special.”

Haisman saw it then. Now, everyone sees it. And whatever happens next, the Vikettes have fulfilled their promise.

A former girls’ basketball giant, which went dormant for more than a decade, Vinton-Shellsburg is in its first state tournament in 24 years.

The 10th-ranked Vikettes (17-7) face defending-champion, top-rated Estherville-Lincoln Central (24-0) in a Class 3A quarterfinal at 5 p.m. Monday at Wells Fargo, Des Moines.

“We are a confident team right now,” Haisman said. “I guarantee this: Neither team is going there to lose.

“It’s going to be a heck of a battle, and I wouldn’t ever want to go to fight without these guys. They’re just built differently.”

Alyssa Griffith said, “Just making it was never our end goal.”

The regional-final win was Saturday, Feb. 18. The Vikettes celebrated through the rest of the weekend, soaking in a community’s adulation.

Then it was back to work.

“We got to Monday, and the focus was back,” Sophia Kreutner said.

Ashlie Davis said, “We’ve probably practiced the hardest we’ve practiced all year. (ELC has) quick guards, and we’ve got to be ready.”

Harold Shepherd built an elite program at Vinton, then at Vinton-Shellsburg. Conference championships came regularly. The Vikettes went to eight state tournaments between 1978 and 1999, winning a six-player championship (1984) and a Class 3A five-player crown (1995).

Vinton-Shellsburg won a Wamac Conference title in 2004-05, then came decline.

In an eight-year span from 2011-12 to 2018-19, the program won 22 games and lost 154. That’s one win for every seven losses.

“When we were younger, we would come to the home games, but we’d get bored, sit in the corner and play games,” Brylee Bruce said.

It would have been 2015-16 when the current senior class began playing (sort-of) organized basketball, as third-graders, under Haisman. His daughter, Molly, was on that team (she now is involved in dance and serves as a basketball manager).

In fourth grade, the team started to win a little bit. By fifth grade, they started to win some tournaments.

A seventh-grade math teacher, Haisman was hired as middle-school coach when this group hit seventh grade, then took the varsity job when it came open in 2019.

This class went 10-2 in seventh grade, 11-0 in eighth.

“They became a confident team,” Haisman said.

The year before this class entered high school, Vinton-Shellsburg was 4-18.

The next year, with six freshmen on the varsity roster and Haisman in charge, it was 12-11.

“When they were freshmen, they didn’t care that they were freshmen,” Haisman said. “They were going to compete with the juniors and seniors for playing time. It was like, ‘We’re here, and we’re ready to fight as hard as we can.’”

Those six seniors have stuck it out. Griffith, Davis, Kreutner, Meyer and Bruce comprise the starting lineup, with Kalie Burke joining junior Julia Johnson as key reserves.

The Vikettes have won seven straight games.

“Since Christmas break, we’ve flipped a switch,” Bruce said. “There’s three parts to a season ... before break, after break and the postseason. Once the postseason came, it was do-or-die time.”

Vinton-Shellsburg will be a decisive underdog against ELC. The Vikettes don’t care.

“I don’t think that means anything,” Burke said.

No matter what, they’ve fulfilled Haisman’s early observations. They’ve been difference-makers. And yes, they’re special.

“Sports at Vinton-Shellsburg had been pretty ‘meh,’” Burke said. “We’ve brought some life back.”

Meet the Vinton-Shellsburg seniors:

BRYLEE BRUCE (5-11, forward)

Stats: 4.6 points, 7.2 rebounds per game, 376 career points.

Future plans: Will play volleyball at Cornell College.

She said it: “When we were younger, we would come to the home games, but we’d get bored, sit in the corner and play games.”

KALIE BURKE (6-0, center)

Stats: 3.7 points, 3.6 rebounds per game; 280 career points.

Future plans: Will attend the University of Central Florida.

She said it: “I think our legacy is that we’ve brought life back to Vinton-Shellsburg sports. They had been pretty ‘meh.’ We’re underdogs (Monday), but I don’t think that means anything.”

ABBY DAVIS (5-6, guard)

Stats: 10.9 points, 2.7 assists, 2.4 steals per game; 586 career points.

Future plans: Plans to attend the University of Northern Iowa.

She said it: “We really wanted to leave a legacy here. ELC is a great team, but they don’t scare us. I think we’re prepared to play a high-level team.”

ALYSSA GRIFFITH (5-11, forward)

Stats: 12.1 points, 6.3 rebounds per game; 911 career points.

Future plans: Will attend the University of Iowa.

She said it: “I don’t think just making it was our end goal. We’ve thought all along that we were going to be state champions.”

SOPHIA KREUTNER (5-8, guard)

Stats: 6.9 points per game, 444 career points.

Future plans: Will play softball at Kirkwood Community College.

She said it: “If we play our best game, anything can happen. We play better competition. We get to see a state-level team (in the Wamac Conference) every week.”

ASHLIE MEYER (5-11, forward)

Stats: 6.8 points, 4.6 rebounds per game; 440 career points.

Future plans: Will attend the Des Moines Area Community College.

She said it: “I’m so grateful. Every year, I’ve been out there, just watching and wishing we could play there ... We’ve known Coach (Rich Haisman) for so long. He’s easy to communicate with, and will listen with an open mind, but he won’t accept low effort.”

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BENTON COUNTY — The historic bridge at Shellsburg's front door is showing its age. The balustrades on the approaches are crumbling and some of the spindles are half gone. But it seems to be holding up pretty well for having reached the century mark.

Shellsburg was the third town site surveyed in Benton County in 1854. Its plat had 24 lots and two streets, Main and Pearl. One of its early pioneers, John Sells, wanted to name the town Shellsburg. Town officials compromised with the elderly man and decided on Shellsburg with a Sells Street.

The Shellsburg News in July 1871 reported that 'a future, bright with prosperity, awaits Shellsburg, none will question who have investigated the location of the town and the vast natural resources surrounding it. Occupying one of the healthiest and finest town sites in Iowa, it is surrounded by as productive a farming country as the sun ever beams upon. Indeed it would be hard to pick a flaw in it, or discover where nature might have made an improvement.'

Shellsburg boasted a population of 550 in March 1915, when Benton County commissioners approved the construction of a new bridge to replace the Pearl Street bridge over Bear Creek. The cost of the project was estimated at $6,000.

Alfred Vinall and his five sons came from Davenport to build the 60-foot span with a 24-foot roadway and 20-foot wings on each end. Vinall also was the contractor for the Ralston Creek bridge on Kirkwood Avenue in Iowa City the following year.

Work on the bridge began in June, but it was a rainy summer. Wet weather kept the work from proceeding as planned. Hiring workers seemed an ongoing problem as well. Vinall advertised for laborers in The Gazette's want ads for most of the summer.

The closed-spandrel cement arch bridge with cement spindles was completed in September 1915, but wasn't yet ready for traffic. It took another month for the approaches to be filled in. After that, the road leading to the south end of the bridge had to be widened.

While that was happening, Shellsburg's Booster Club considered whether to light the bridge with boulevard lights.

The annual Old Settlers' Reunion in Shellsburg had to be canceled in 1915. When the festival resumed in 1916, The Gazette reported, 'it was Shellsburg's annual gala day, lacking but once in the last thirty years, and that when the progress of the town had resulted in a tearing up of the main streets to such an extent that heavy traffic was impossible. Today Shellsburg has a fine new concrete bridge to show for the wait and for her progressive spirit ...'

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The bridge had served Shellsburg uneventfully for more than 80 years when it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in June 1998.

Nowadays, the creek is often referred to as Wildcat Creek, although maps of the area still designate it as Bear Creek, and the bridge is known as the Sells Street Bridge.

An inspection in May 2012 rated the bridge deck as fair, but its superstructure and substructure merited poor ratings.

RAGBRAI passed over the bridge last Thursday. The town's officials planned a birthday party for the bridge as part of their RAGBRAI celebration.

Author's note

I visited with Lonnie Speckner of Speckner Insurance Agency in Shellsburg recently. Although he denies being the town historian, Speckner has a room in his office he calls the 'Shellsburg Room.'

'It's really just a storage space,' he says, but it is impressively filled with photos, documents and other memorabilia of the history of Shellsburg, some of which are reproduced here. His hope is that the publicity that comes with the RAGBRAI stop will carry over into funding for repairs to the century-old bridge.

SHELLSBURG — A new restaurant making a lot of dough has reopened in a former Shellsburg bank after a seven-year hiatus.

Cranky Hank’s Pizza Bank, formerly known as Cranky Hank’s, with locations at Lindale Mall and what used to be Donutland at 2606 Williams Blvd. SW in Cedar Rapids, opened Jan. 7 for weekend dinner service.

The new location happens to be a fitting revamp for the restaurant that also started with a figurative pile of dough — cash dumped from a pillow case.

Owner Keith Hazen of rural Shellsburg started distributing frozen Mama Bosso pizzas from Rock Island, Ill., throughout Cedar Rapids with a tow-behind generator and trailer in 2003, eventually growing his business to a 29-foot frozen Mack truck. Every night after work, he was moonlighting as a Quad Cities-style pizza salesperson, until he had a new idea.

“Gosh, if they love this stuff frozen, wouldn’t they love it fresh,” he asked his wife.

Hazen made an offer to Mama Bosso for the pizza recipe, but the restaurant wanted twice as much as he wanted to pay. After some negotiation, the recipe owners still wouldn’t budge.

So Hazen got a loan at the bank for the amount he wanted to pay for the recipe, filled a pillow case with cash, walked into their office and poured it onto the desk. At first, the sight still wasn’t enough to persuade them to sell the recipe. But after Hazen started to put the cash in the pillow case to walk out the door, the offer reluctantly was accepted.

That moment birthed the first Cranky Hank’s location on Cedar Rapids’ Williams Boulevard SW in 2005, a second location in the basement of Lindale Mall, and a third location in the food court of the mall that sold slices. By December 2014, the restaurants had taken their toll and Hazen decided to close all of them to take a break.

But at 62, as most folks think about their retirement plans, Hazen’s passion for the pizza is heating up again.

“My wife would tell you I’m crazy,” Hazen said. “I’m really happy that I’ve done it. I’m glad to be back.”

What: Cranky Hank’s Pizza Bank

Address: 114 Pearl St., Shellsburg

Hours: Friday and Saturday from 5 to 10:30 p.m.; Sunday from 2 to 7 p.m. May close early if sold out.

Phone: (319) 365-4265

Website: facebook.com/Cranky-Hanks-Pizza-Bank-410526410622/

Details: Cranky Hank’s offers a variety of Quad Cities-style pizza options in addition to calzones, Italian sandwiches, pasta, salads, margaritas and craft beer options.

This time around, Cranky Hank’s menu is a bit more concise, specializing in all the Italian classics it did best before closing: pizza, calzones, Italian sandwiches, pasta and salads. With the Quad Cities style that is cut into 1.5-inch strips perfect for eating with a fork or inhaling with one hand, Hank’s pizza with dough made from scratch has a slightly different flair: the crust is sweeter and the sausage is spicier.

Get your fix with a large variety of specialty options including taco pizza, Hawaiian, Reuben, fajita chicken, Tater Pie, cheeseburger, stromboli, and Kitchen Sink. Kitchen Sink, true to its name, has 13 toppings thrown in.

Beverage options include Hank Juice, described as “margaritas with a serious kick,” as well as seven types of craft beers, including flight options.

Located inside a former bank building that has long been vacant, Hazen renovated the building at the suggestion of Shellsburg Mayor Lonnie Speckner a couple of years ago. Retaining the bank’s features, Cranky Hank’s continues to process a lot of dough near the old bank vault, which was converted into a walk-in cooler.

How’d he come up with that name?

Cranky Hank’s was named in honor of owner Keith Hazen’s late father, a drill instructor in the Marine Corps.

“I never saw him smile, never heard him laugh,” Hazen said. “He was a very stoic individual.”

Having to shut down the restaurant at 5:30 p.m. — due not to a supply chain disruption but intense customer demand — has been a nice problem to have, he said. He thinks sentimental memories of the pizza and its comfort is partly to thank for the resurgence.

Off-site pop-up offerings in recent years after his old locations closed also helped keep demand fresh. Each pop-up, capped at 120 pizza reservations, would sell out in 15 minutes.

“The response has been overwhelming,” Hazen said.

Eventually, the owner aims to expand from weekend dinner service to full weekly hours and other locations.

Correction (Feb. 3, 2022 at 10:15 a.m.): A previous version of this story misidentified the address of the former Donutland that Cranky Hank’s opened at in 2005. Cranky Hank’s initially opened at 2606 Williams Blvd. SW, not on Center Point Road NE.

Comments: (319) 398-8340; [email protected]

A taco pizza gets garnished with Lettuce, tomatoes and corn chips after coming out of the oven and being cut into slices at Cranky Hank's Pizza Bank, 114 Pearl St., in Shellsburg, Iowa, on Friday, Jan. 21, 2022. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

Diners sit at tables at Cranky Hank's Pizza Bank, 114 Pearl St., in Shellsburg, Iowa, on Friday, Jan. 21, 2022. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

Robert Hunter tosses pizza dough into the air as he stretches it in the kitchen at Cranky Hank's Pizza Bank, 114 Pearl St., in Shellsburg, Iowa, on Friday, Jan. 21, 2022. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

Angie Hazen carries a pizza to a table at Cranky Hank's Pizza Bank, 114 Pearl St., in Shellsburg, Iowa, on Friday, Jan. 21, 2022. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

Angie Hazen pours tomato sauce into a dish at Cranky Hank's Pizza Bank, 114 Pearl St., in Shellsburg, Iowa, on Friday, Jan. 21, 2022. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

A T-shirt worn by one of the workers at Cranky Hank's Pizza Bank, 114 Pearl St., in Shellsburg, Iowa, on Friday, Jan. 21, 2022. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

Ryan Stephenson cuts a Hot Head pizza, one of the specialties, at Cranky Hank's Pizza Bank, 114 Pearl St., in Shellsburg, Iowa, on Friday, Jan. 21, 2022. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

Beer tappers are seen inside one of the bank vaults at Cranky Hank's Pizza Bank, 114 Pearl St., in Shellsburg, Iowa, on Friday, Jan. 21, 2022. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

SHELLSBURG - A fully equipped, round-the-clock fitness center may seem unlikely in a town with a population of just under 1,000, but Kristine and Bob Shultis found a niche in their corner of Benton County.

'We have a bit of a rush in the mornings, before work,” Bob said one morning this week at Train Station Family Fitness in Shellsburg. 'Some come after work, and then kind of scattered through the day we get a bunch of young people, self-employed people who work odd hours.”

Train Station grew out of Shultis' frustration over the inconvenience of working out at a Cedar Rapids fitness club - about a 30-minute drive - after the couple moved to Shellsburg 11 years ago.

There was a privately operated gym in town, but its hours were unpredictable.

'I've been driving by this building and I never saw cars outside it,” Kristine recalled. 'So I approached the owner about whether he was still running this gym. He said, ‘Kind of, but I've moved to Des Moines and my parents are kind of taking it over.'”

Kristine Shultis has worked as a massage therapist since 1997, specializing in treating chronic conditions such as fibromyalgia, arthritis and migraine headaches. She incorporated her practice, Whole Earth Natural Health, into the new venture.

'I work with a lot of people who, after their workouts, need a little to recover,” she said. 'I do a lot of rehabilitation for knee replacements.”

The Shultises bought the facility in late 2015. They renovated the gym, added some equipment and opened Train Station Family Fitness Jan. 1, 2016. They're the sole employees and staff.

'The equipment that was already here was generally pretty good,” Bob noted. 'We've added some amenities. Most of it was cosmetic.”

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'We painted and cleaned up the place,” Kristine added.

Bob, a self-described 'gym rat,” has been an avid weightlifter, including some competitive events, 'pretty much my entire adult life.” Before launching Train Station, he worked as a parts-supply manager for Clipper WIndpower in Cedar Rapids.

Train Station draws from Palo, Atkins, Vinton and Urbana, according to the couple. The facility is open 24 hours - members have card-key access when it's not staffed - and offers classes in gentle yoga, Tai Chi, meditation and Tae Kwon Do, in which Kristine holds a black belt.

'Most people want to kind of do their own thing,” Bob said, although he often advises members on weight training.

'People do ask for certain classes, but it just isn't cost-effective or in time when you've got one or two people,” he said. 'We like to get four or five people to make it worth the time.”

Video workouts played on the training room's large monitor are one solution.

'You can bring in your own videos and do them in here,” Kristine said.

She also devises workout routines distributed to members via social media.

l Know a business that's been around for more than a year that could make an interesting 'My Biz”? Let us know at [email protected].

AT A GLANCE

l Owner: Kristine and Bob Shultis

l Business: Train Station Family Fitness

l Address: 202 Smith St, Shellsburg

l Phone: (319) 521-4185

l Website: trainstationfamilyfitness.com

Industry leaders call for increase in government support so workers can be paid more

Erin Murphy

Closures

These Iowa nursing homes have closed or are in the process of closing since late last year, according to the Iowa Health Care Association:

• Touchstone Healthcare Community, Sioux City

• Big Creek Nursing & Rehab, Polk City

• Morningside Care Center, Ida Grove

• Good Samaritan Society- Newell, Newell

• Valley View Specialty Care, Eldora

• Nelson Manor, Newton

• Heritage Care Center, Iowa Falls

• Petersen Commons Assisted Living, Davenport

• Rock Ridge Assisted Living, Shellsburg

• QHC Humboldt South, Humboldt

• Manilla Manor, Manilla

This article has been updated to reflect that the number of nursing homes that have closed since late last year in Iowa is 11. Due to incorrect information provided to The Gazette, the number was slightly overstated in a previous article.

JOHNSTON — Nearly a dozen nursing homes in Iowa have closed since late last year, largely due to financial stress from inflation, supply chain issues and workforce shortages, the leader of a statewide health care organization said Friday.

While many businesses and industries are facing those same pressures, Brent Willett, president and CEO of the Iowa Health Care Association, said nursing homes cannot respond to those pressures in the same way other businesses can.

Because of that lack of flexibility, many nursing homes, especially in rural areas, face closing, Willett said.

Willett made the comments Friday during taping of this weekend’s episode of “Iowa Press” on Iowa PBS. He was joined on the program by Di Findley, executive director of Iowa CareGivers.

‘Extraordinary’ pressure

Willett called the inflationary pressures “extraordinary.”

“Medical supplies are up 30 percent, 35 percent, certainly wage pressures are significantly higher than that and across the spectrum,” Willett said. “And again, long-term care facilities just don’t have the option that the rest of the economy does, which is either limiting hour — we can’t shut down — (and) we can’t raise our prices because those prices are controlled by the federal and the state government.

“And so we are incurring ongoing and devastating financial losses, which, unfortunately, has begun to result in the closure of nursing homes across the state of Iowa. We’ve seen (11) closures in the last seven months in Iowa, and we’re fearful for more.”

The recent closures, according to the Iowa Health Care Association, span Iowa, from Davenport to Sioux City, and have occurred in large cities and small towns like Shellsburg (population 800-plus).

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Willett said rural nursing home closures can be particularly stressful for that community’s residents, because they must seek that care for themselves or family members elsewhere, often miles away.

Even where nursing homes that are staying afloat, many are being forced to reduce their services or available beds, Willett said. According to a recent survey of his group’s members, at least 45 percent of Iowa nursing homes are limiting or freezing admissions because of a lack of staff, he said.

Help needed

Willett praised Iowa state government for its investment in Medicaid and Medicare programs, which help support nursing home operations.

However, he and Findley both said more government investment is needed, particularly by raising reimbursement rates so facilities are able to offer better wages and benefits to staff.

“There’s a lot of mouths to feed when it comes to the state budget, but we are facing a crisis of access to care in Iowa that I fear will get much worse if we’re not able to reinvest in the system and continue the job and finish the job that the Iowa Legislature and Gov. (Kim) Reynolds have championed over the last few years,” Willett said.

Findley said she is pleased to see federal funding being used to help nursing home and in-home care workers, but she worries that assistance is a one-time, short-term fix.

“We need long-term, systemic change,” she said.

The Iowa Health Care Association represents Iowa’s nursing homes, assisted living centers and senior living communities. Iowa CareGivers represents direct care workers like certified nursing assistants and home care aids.

“Iowa Press” airs on Iowa PBS at 7:30 p.m. Friday and noon Sunday, and at 8:30 a.m. Saturday on PBS World. It also can be viewed online at iowapbs.org.

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