The Great Race

The program for the Jasper County Historical Society on Tuesday evening was "The Great Race." It was presented by Jeff Hermanson who has participated in the race and is a native of Jasper County. His parents once ran the Nash-Rambler dealership. The Great Race is a weird race where the winner is not determined by who crosses the finish line first but by how closely you hit check points in set times. Too fast or too slow incurs a penalty, and the team with the lowest penalties wins. New cars are not allowed and there are bonus points given for really old cars. Mr. Hermanson drove a 1939 Ford ½ ton pickup. It was parked outside the JCHS museum. I did not stay for the entire program but left to attend the County Council meeting.

The County Council approved the budgets of the Rensselaer Central School Corporation, the Jasper County Airport Authority, and the Northwest Indiana Solid Waste District. It also needs to approve the budget of the Iroquois River Conservancy, but because of glitches, it did not hear their budget until Tuesday evening and it cannot approve the budget at the same meeting as it hears it. There will be a special meeting on October 28 at 4:15 to approve this final budget.

The Sheriff requested an additional appropriation of $18,000 for utilities. This has been an annual request. There was hope that with the installation of the solar park it will no longer be necessary. He also informed them of his desire to not fill an vacant dispatcher position but rather hire an additional corrections officer. The Commissioners had approved this change earlier this month. The Council approved the changes in the budget needed for this restructuring. Councilmen had questions about other issues. The jail recently passed state inspection. It has a capacity of 112 and averages 80 inmates. Very few of the residents of the recovery house east town have been from Jasper County. It draws from a much wider area. There was a lengthy discussion of the Spillman software the Sheriff wants. It will make pulling data from the files much easier but it is expensive and the Sheriff is trying to get other County departments that will use it (police and fire mostly) to contribute to cover the initial cost.

Animal Control was granted permission to take $1000 from its donation fund to pay for bug-proofing its animal food storage. They have had 525 intakes this year, up about 70 from last year. They have had slightly more cats than dogs. Sixty dogs and fifty cats have been adopted.

The Council approved a transfer for mowing grass (grass has grown well this year) and approved an ordinance establishing a Jasper County Recorder Access fund that will allow people to pay for records obtained on-line. This topic was previously addressed and approved by the Commissioners.

The leaves on a few trees are starting don fall colors.

 Walnut trees seem to have had a bumper crop of nuts. Every walnut tree I see has lots of nuts beneath it.

 The Saint Augustine rummage sale has begun. This year it is a three day event. It begins at 9:00 in the morning and on Saturday will close at noon. Fill a bag for $3.

 For now the dirt movers are gone from Brookside Park and the men building the concession stand are busy.

Newton County is going to have a cemetery walk, though with a very different format than the Weston Cemetery walk.