Odds and ends, 02-06-2013

I have noticed lots of little things in the past few days, like a new transformer next to the power station. It is part of the 69K line installation.

I did not see any demolition on Monday or Tuesday when I stopped by the Monnett School, but this morning the excavator was chomping on the entrance to the school.

 It was separating the metal from the other building materials, so demolition was slow.

 Another excavator was busy at the Tractor Supply site. The city is installing the water supply for the building. The trench that they are working in is deep, so they have to use a metal cage to prevent wall collapse and they were busy pumping water, probably because the water table was above the bottom of the trench.

 Yesterday there were a lot of these ice chandeliers along the river. The icicles seem to form from the river water because they are just above the water level and every so often the water touches them.

I checked my Rensselaer Adventures e-mail recently. The lay minister at St. Peter's Episcopal Church wanted publicity a for Valentine Card Making Workshop on Saturday, Februrary 9 at 5:30 pm. The cost is $5 for supplies per 5 cards. This event will be taught by "Close to my Heart" consultant Anne-Marie Lessner.  All are welcome!

I had an exchange with Donna Wetzel and learned that she writes things at a website called hubpages.com. Those who like Rensselaer history will enjoy her reminiscing about Joe Sheldon's Produce.

The Jasper Foundation is hosting another Community Conversation on March 7 at 8:30 am. They would like an RSVP for anyone who wants to attend. Call them at 5899 or respond to jasper at liljasper period com.

The Jasper County Economic Development Organization sent me their February newsletter. They have a new on-line guide to Jasper County that is full of information. Did you know that Jasper County is the leading agricultural producing county in the state with a market value of product sold in 2007 of almost $300 million? The publication has the 32 largest non-retail employers in the county. The top five are Jasper County Hospital, Kankakee Valley Schools, Advanced Auto Parts, NiIPSCO Schahfer Station, and Rensselaer Central Schools. To see where the other firms place, visit the JCEDO site at http://www.jaspercountyin.com. In 2011 the mean wage was $17.00.

It also had data on worker commuting patterns. Jasper County exports workers. 2549 people commute to work from Jasper to Lake County, 1009 to Porter County, 459 to Illinois, and 319 to Newton. 741 commute to Jasper County from Newton County, 338 from Porter, 313 from White, 254 from Pulaski, and 242 from Lake.

In other JCEDO news, Emily Gross, who for me has been the face of JCEDO, is leaving for a job at the Kankakee Iroquois Regional Planning Commission. I had not heard of this group before. It is headquartered in Monon, which is a bit strange since they are not in the Kankakee or Iroquois watershed. From their website it seems that they try to help local governments in Benton, Carroll, Jasper, Newton, Pulaski, Starke, Warren, and White Counties get grant funding for whatever projects that they are pursuing. They have a downloadable publication with lots of information on the region.