Signs

The great toilet paper panic has emptied the shelves of some Rensselaer stores. Despite limiting customers to only two packs, the shelves were almost empty at Strack and Van Til.

 I think this is where the toilet paper is supposed to be at Dollar Tree.

 Walgreens and Save-a-Lot still have toilet paper. Save-A-Lot was limiting purchases of bottled water, but they seemed to have quite a bit in stock.

Restaurants have shut their dining rooms. They will serve take-out but you cannot order and sit in the restaurant and eat the meal. The sign below is at McDonalds.

 The Library is closed. If you have books to return and do not want to touch the handled of the book return, you can use your feet to open the doors.

 The Fendig Gallery is closed. The Middle School Art exhibit is scheduled to open this week and I wonder if the public will ever get an opportunity to see it.

City Hall does not want you to come inside.

 Court House cleaning has been taken up a notch. Last night I went to the Planning Commission meeting and there were two women doing a very thorough cleaning, even wiping the handrails on the stairs.

There is a County Council meeting tonight and it will be live streamed on Facebook. If you are interested, go to the Facebook page of Kendall Culp, Jasper County Commissioner.

Thursday is the Vernal Equinox. It is very special this year because it is something that will not be canceled.

People are being forced to change the way they do things because of the Chinese virus. Some of them may find that the new ways they discover are better than their old ways. It will be interesting to see if there are detectable long-run changes that result for the shutting down of so many things.

Not all the signs are depressing. Gas prices are down. They are below $2.00 in some parts of the state.

 Daffodils are getting ready to bloom. I suspect crocuses are already blooming, but I have not seen any yet.

 Walmart was ready to fill its garden center on Saturday as light snow fell most of the day. Fortunately, most of it melted as soon as it fell.

The R&M Market is now permanently closed. If they had waited a couple of weeks, they probably could have sold a lot of their merchandise that they ended up moving.

The Law Office of Lori S. James now has window signs. 

I think I have seen this sign before.

 Here is the back.

Have you noticed the murals behind eMbers on the second floor? 

 The lady on the back of the Yallaly building now can watch a dumpster being loaded. Demolition inside the building next door has started as part of the renovation of that building.

As mentioned above, the Jasper County Plan Commission met Monday evening. The interesting item was a rezone from A1 to I1 for a 117-acre tract to the east of Advance Auto in Carpenter Township. There is a distribution center of some kind interested in locating there, but it is also considering other sites. The distribution center would not use the entire property but the rezone to I1 would make it easier to attract other future enterprises. The area will probably be annexed soon by Remington, and any future rezoning would be their responsibility. The Board recommended to the Commissioners to approve the rezone.

If the company interested in the site chooses it, construction will start this summer.

The Board also approved and sent to the Commissioners adjusted fees for the Planning Office that are comparable to those charged in area Counties. Jasper County fees were lower than those being charged by other counties.