Miscellany 8-26-2016

The elm tree that has its own plaque may be dying. Almost half of it no longer has leaves.

 The streets and roads matching grants that the City and County have been waiting for have been announced at www.in.gov/indot/3570.htm. Jasper County received the maximum possible of $1,000,000 and DeMotte, Rensselaer, and Wheatfield received smaller amounts. Remington is not on the list.

Work has continued on the Hanging Grove School memorial.

 We seem to have water everywhere, but here is one place it is not.

Doggers is getting a food truck--I have not seen it yet. Mount Hood Pizza has gotten their liquor license.

The bells in the SJC chapel are again ringing quarter hours. They had been silent during chapel renovation.

More concrete was poured this past week at the high water treatment plant.

 Below you can see some of the concrete for the square structure.

 I cannot figure out what the front part of the building is for. What vehicles are tall but very short?

 A few days ago the area around Kokomo had tornados. I found some pictures of the crop damage on Facebook.

A enormous amount of clothing was collected to help the families that lost their apartments in the recent fire. Most of it was not needed by the families so a sale was arranged to raise some money for them. I was amazed at how much stuff was in the sale.

 Almost all of what you see below is shoes.

 The tables were stacked high and there were bags under the tables. There was one corner of stuff that never got sorted and put out.

I asked what would happen to all the stuff that did not sell, and judging from the few buyers, there must be a lot. There were thoughts of sending it east to the Kokomo region or perhaps donating it to Jasper Junction.

The huge piles of clothing show two things: a great many people want to help when they see fellow citizens in distress, and much of their effort is completely ineffective.

(A few years ago when I taught at SJC, I told a class of students that most of the stuff being collected for Katrina relief would end in landfills. I was surprised at how hostile some were to my observation, which I am pretty sure was correct. They took it as a personal attack.

If we had a local thrift store, and it is quite possible that we will get one in the next few years, I know how I would like to see situations like this handled. However, lacking a thrift store the current inefficient way may be the best we can do.)