Odds and Ends, Oct 1

Longs Gifts and From the Needles Point are closing because the owner is retiring. Rensselaer has other gift shops but no other sewing/fabric shop. There were long lines checking out on Saturday morning. They will be open Sunday and I do not know what happens after that.

Another business that has left is Greene's Antique Mall. The JECDO monthly newsletter highlighted it as a property for sale or lease. Greene's Furniture remains open.

I intended to go to the SJC Homecoming but the weather was miserable with light rain so I skipped it. The new location of what had been the bookstore opened Friday afternoon. It sells clothing and other things with the SCJ logo, so it was important to be open for Homecoming. I did not see any books in the store when I went by on Friday morning. I asked what would happen to the space where the bookstore had been and was told that the registrar's office would move there.

I appears that the ground is being prepared for construction  on Melville Street between Maple and Merritt. Perhaps it is another storage building that will be similar to the one already there.

As I was approaching this site, I saw a train going through town and it appeared to be BNSF engines pulling ore cars. Maybe the Magnetation plant at Reynolds is not going to shut down.

There is a bill in Congress supported by all the Indiana Congressmen to change the designation of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore to Indiana Dunes National Park. I do not think it would affect much other than name, but a National Park would draw more tourists than a National Lakeshore. It already draws more visitors than a number of out-of-the-way national parks.

I also saw something about a proposal to put a wildlife refuge west of Newton County in Illinois. The local farmers were opposed because of concerns about drainage. They feared that the wildlife refuge would disrupt the drainage tiles and ditches.

The JECDO annual report has been released (though I cannot find it yet on the JECDO website). It mentioned a few projects that I have not written about or touched on only indirectly. Remington is constructing a $4 million 1.7 million gallon per day water treatment plant that should be up and running in early 2017. Belstra Milling in Demotte is completing a $14 million animal feed plant. Casey's opened a General Store and gas station in DeMotte. There is a huge, new church  east of Demotte, the First Church at the intersection of SR 10 and US 231. Reinforcements Design west of Rensselaer added 1500 square feet to its building. Remington Farms completed a 22,000 square foot office and shop facility. Remington Seeds is finishing a 75,000 square foot distribution center. And finally, Town and Country Paving of DeMotte added 1150 square feet of office space.

This past week a lot of work was done on the high rate treatment plant on Lincoln. There may be some urgency to get as much done before the colder weather arrives. I suspect that the wet summer put them well behind schedule. The smaller of the two circular structures now has a concrete floor and forms are rising to construct walls.