Starting the 200th year

Indiana is celebrating its 199th birthday today, which means it is now in its 200th year. There will be many activities in the next year linked to the state's bicentennial. There were at least three local events kicking off the bicentennial year. The Jasper County Public Library had small events in each of its branches. The Rensselaer branch featured cake and punch.


After halving my cake and eating it too, I had some time before the next events. I got involved in a math problem and was not watching the clock carefully enough, so I was a bit late to the dual flag raisings, one at the Court House by the county officials and the other at the fire station by city officials.



The county had its bicentennial flag up and the group was posing for a picture as I got there. In the background you can see the fire station and second flag raising. If I had been there in time, I might have found a vantage point from which I could have gotten a picture with both groups clearly visible--a missed opportunity that will never come again.

As I was on my way over to the fire station, the flag was being raised. By the time I got in position for a picture, it was up but the group was still intact. The bicentennial flag is the mostly white flag below the State of Indiana flag. (Here is a picture from someone who was there.)


In other news, a few days ago the Governor announced that I-65 would be expanded to three lanes from south of Merrillville to the Lowell exit. It is clear to anyone who travels on I-65 that it should be three lanes in each direction, so any progress to achieving that is welcomed.

I saw on Facebook that Republic Services will be closing its Morocco service center at the end of 2016. That is a blow to the economy of that area. I hope that someone will find another use for the building.