Letter: Former Iowan grateful for video coverage

Sunday morning, I sat at my home in Las Vegas wondering how bad the flooding was at my 80+ year old mother's farm near Vinton. Unable to reach her or family, I was fortunate enough to come across a video posted online of downtown Vinton.

I reached out to Calcam AP who posted the video. Caleb Howard, the owner, had returned to Cedar Rapids, but he took the time to locate another Iowan, Scott Kositzky, who also is a drone enthusiast. Kositzky went out of his way to drive to Vinton to capture video footage and photos for me.

He sent me a preliminary video and sure enough, there was mom's house, surrounded by water and tops of trees. While all this was going on, I was fortunate enough to have reached my mom. In 2008, she ended up with cattle on her deck and water several feet into her first floor so you can understand my concern.

During this ordeal, Howard and Kositzky kept me updated and provided well wishes via Facebook Messenger. These two individuals didn't ask about politics or race, they didn't quote me a price for the video, they only asked one question, 'what's her address?”

I am an Iowa farm boy born and raised and these two embody the spirit and heart of what it truly means to be an Iowan! That in the end, all that matters is that we look out for each other.

Chase Lough

Las Vegas