Stormy weather

A strong storm came through Rensselaer early on Thursday morning with almost constant lightning and strong winds. It knocked out power in many places, though I do think Newton County had more power out than Jasper County did. Many branches were down and a few trees. Below is a big one that was uprooted along Park Avenue. Utility crews from NITCO and others were on the scene cutting up the tree and repairing the lines.

We have had a wet, cold spring and the farmers are way behind schedule in planting. Unfortunately the forecast has more days of thunderstorms ahead. The cold spring is not confined to the midwest. My kids in Flagstaff and Nevada both have cold and snow this week.

I attended a couple meetings on Tuesday evening. JCEDO had its final Community Engagement Workshop, this one in Rensselaer. The attendance has been sparse in the other communities and this one also was lightly attended. In his introduction the director of JCEDO stated that the old view that people follow jobs is often not true anymore. Attracting employers who add jobs does not necessarily translate into more population. Now jobs often follow people. People chose where they want live based on the quality of life as they perceive it. As a result, JCEDO is concerned with making Jasper County and its communities better places to live. The workshop did some brainstorming on how that could be done.

As that meeting was concluding, an hour-long executive meeting of the Jasper County Council was finishing up. There was not mention during the regular meeting what had been discussed. The open meeting had a short and not-very-interesting agenda. The Council approved a payment amount for coroner deputy training. It approved a couple of small additional appropriations and then a series of much larger transfers for the highway department. They are needed for matching and spending the Community Crossings grant that the County uses to resurface County highways. Paving for those projects should start June 3. The Sheriff was asked if he had any comments and he remarked that the jail population has been a bit lower this year than last.

On Thursday morning INDOT was paving part of US 231 from Elm Street to Kellner.  Both the milling machine and the paver were in operation.

I asked the flagman how much of the road they were going to do but he did not know.

There are a couple of changes downtown. A new business, New Millennium Mortgage, has an office behind the Beaver Law Office on Van Rensselaer Street.

The space next to the Bakery is being remodeled and will soon be the home of Healthy Haven, a smoothie and juice bar. You can learn more from their facebook page.

In other downtown remodeling, the old Horton building is being totally gutted for a complete overhaul.

Wednesday was the last day of school for the local school corporation though some of the sports programs have not finished their seasons.