Checking out newspaper stories

A week or two or three ago the Rensselaer Republican reported that the county wanted more office space and was thinking of buying a building near the new jail. I only vaguely remembered what that building looked like, so when I was out that way, I stopped to take a picture. The building still has the Ceres Solutions sign on the front. I know that Ceres Solutions deals with farming problems, but nothing more.

In the same complex is the Farm Bureau Insurance office.

The office space that the county finds too cramped is this building, which was once the REMC building. It currently holds the county health department in the back, the extension office, and the prosecutor's office. If one of them moves, I wonder which one it will be.

 Recently the Republican had a picture of the groundbreaking for a new Habitat for Humanity house. Habitat had originally wanted to build two or three miles south of town, but never got the permits needed because the lot that they wanted to build on floods occasionally. Now they have a new lot on intersection of Elm and 8th, south of the old Schumacher Building. I was surprised to see that it was on the north side of Elm. No other houses are on that side of the street. (In the background you can see the Genova Products factory that is at the end of Elm.)

To the west of this site is a large, two-block long track of land that would make a nice addition to Columbia Park (even though Melville would cut it off from the ball field.) I wonder if anyone in the city has ever considered it as a possible park.

Speaking of Columbia Park, to its west is a house that had a recent fire. I do not remember seeing this in the Republican, but they undoubtedly reported it and I just could not place it.