Some more pictures

 Work connecting the new gas feed into the existing line was completed this week. On Tuesday workers were drilling the holes in the pipes to allow the old section of pipe to be bypassed.

The view from a different angle.

On Wednesday morning one could see the results of Tuesday's work.

Then it was time to cover it up. 

I do not understand the technology that is used to connect gas pipes without disrupting the flow of gas. Reflecting on this connection and the directional drilling used to install the pipes, I realized that there are probably millions of people who have contributed in some way to making life pleasant for us in the early 21st century. Much of the technology behind our affluence is invisible to us because it is used in production. We take for granted the gas that is used to heat our homes in the winter. There is a vast infrastructure needed to deliver the gas that we rarely think about. 

This week the parking lot at the recycling center is being reconstructed.

Site work for the new vet clinic on St. Gaspar Drive is underway.

I wanted to see what building is going on at Genova but could not see anything from the entrance. I did take a picture of the newest house in Blacker Village. It appears to be almost finished.

Rotary introduced the top 20 students from the Class of 2021 at its meeting this week and streamed that part of its meeting on Facebook. There were only 19 of the 20 present, eight males and eleven females. Top pick for a college was Purdue with seven, followed by IUPUI with five and Ball State with three. Other colleges mentioned were Butler, DePauw, Albion, and Northern Oklahoma College. Only two of those are out of state.

I saw on Facebook that Rose Acres is planning to close its Monon plant in June. It may reopen it in the future but has told the State that the layoffs should be considered permanent.

The Boys and Girls Club of White County will have to find a new home. They are currently using a building owned by the Twin Lakes School Corporation, but the Corporation wants to demolish the building and erect something else.

I do not see any frost in the forecast for the next nine days. Is it safe to start putting out tomatoes in the garden?

Almost May

 I went into the Court House today for the first time in a year. The security officer stops you as you enter and asks you to pose in front of a screen that takes your temperature.

This past weekend the Blacker Fields hosted a girls fastpitch softball tournament. I could not find out much about the teams or the organizations, which has both a website and Facebook page. I do not know if there were games on Saturday, but on Sunday only two of the three fields were being used.

There are five more weekends of boys baseball tournaments scheduled:

May 7-9  31 teams
May 14-16  20 teams
May 21-23
June 4-6
June 25-27

On Thursday I found workers connecting the new gas pipeline to the existing line. When I got there and saw what they had done, I initially thought they might have done most of the work. I was wrong. They had gotten the new line under an existing water main, but still had a section of bypass to install.

On Friday the bypass had been installed and over the weekend the assembly was pressure tested. This week the final connection will be done and when all is finished, the old section of pipe will be removed and the line will have the little detour left.

SJC has been cutting down dead ash trees.

The bowling alley has a Facebook page, Pottsy's. On Saturday it posted a picture of cars lined up for donuts. 

The City Council met on Monday evening. It began with a public hearing on additional appropriations, and there were no public comments. The Council then approved an additional appropriation of $3225 for the Police Department (fund from fines, I believe) and $204,000 from the Rainy Day Fund that will be the City's match for the Community Crossings Grant that funds street paving.

The Council approved spending $40,454 to replace a baffle curtain at the waste-water treatment plant. The repair will have to be done without shutting down the plant, which requires divers.

The Council then moved to approving tax abatements. It approved the recommendations of the Tax Abatement Committee for abatements for Conagra (3 abatements), IMPA (2 abatements), and National Gypsum (2 abatements). It had approved abatements for Genova at a special meeting. (The special meeting also established the area as a Economic Revitalization Area, needed before the abatements were granted.) There was a long discussion of the three new abatements that were filed for Indiana Face Masks and American Melt Blown. Indiana Face Masks is building a new building that will cost $375,000 and will add equipment worth $1,713,000, but even though they are part of the same project, the abatements were filed by two different business entities, both with the same owners. The City has a threshold of $500,000 for a project to qualify for an abatement, so there was a question of whether the building should qualify. Spokesmen for the company successfully argued that  it should because it was part of a larger project, and the Council voted 3-0-1 in favor of the abatement. The project is supposed to add 80 jobs.

(The new building is under construction. The roof seems to be finished, but it is near the ground. I am not familiar with the construction technique of building the roof first, then raising it later.)

The Council approved the Mayor's Holiday for City employees for July 2. The Clerk-Treasurer swore in the new building inspector, cemetery superintendent, and fire chief. The seat on the Rensselaer School Board that the Council fills had only one applicant, who will be interviewed before the next meeting. The Council approved removing three more dead ash trees for $1400.

The Police Department is now using the two new cars that were ordered in late 2020. The Department is tagging abandoned or derelict vehicles as part of Clean-up Week, which will be May 3-7. Town and County has begun work on the parking lot at the recycling center. Walsh and Kelly will being demolishing sidewalks on May 3, the first part of the street repaving project. The Gas Department is reviewing their gas rates with the City's financial advisors, Baker-Tilly, and something may come to the Council from that review.

Groundbreaking

 On Tuesday morning, before the snow began falling, RWE Design Build and Rensselaer Pet Care had a groundbreaking ceremony for a new veterinary clinic on St. Gaspar Drive.

RWE Design specializes in designing and building veterinary clinics. The expected construction time is five or six months.

And then the snow began falling.

Walmart protected some of their plants with a cover.

The Rensselaer Tax Abatement Committee met on Monday morning. It reviewed tax abatements given in past years to see if the conditions on those abatements were still being met and approved continuing the abatements for Conagra, IMPA, and National Gypsum. There were four abatements for Indiana Face Masks and American Melt Blown, at least two of which were new. There is a new building being built north of Indiana Face Masks, but the owner is not Indiana Face Masks but a related company. They were approved for a five year abatement. Genova is also building and had been given an abatement at a special Council meeting. This Committee meeting The special meeting also approved an abatement for personal property provided that Genova provides an equipment list. The City Council must approve all abatements; the actions of this committee are advisory.

In the evening both the Jasper County BZA and Plan Commission met and I attended via Zoom. Unfortunately the sound quality was erratic, with some mics not working and some speakers not being close enough to the mic. The BZA approved a variance and a special exception for Calfland LLC, which, as the name suggests, raises calves. Their operation is a bit south of Fair Oaks. They currently have sheds for 6000 calves and if I heard correctly, they will now increase that to 12,000.

The Plan Commission approved a couple of rezones to allow construction or use of housing. The third item on the agenda was a proposal to develop land around a small gravel-pit lake several miles north of Rensselaer. The owners would like to erect cabins for vacation rentals, but what they want to do is not covered in the current planning regulations. The owners did not expect approval at the meeting and did not get it. The Commission voted to not take any action. During the discussion there were concerns about drainage and about whether the project would be able to get State and Federal evironmental approvals.

On Tuesday evening the Jasper County Council met and again I chose to attend via the Zoom option. Sound was better, though the Council's attorney was not near a mic when he spoke and I could not hear what he had to say.

The first item on the agenda was an abatement for a digester for the DeYoung de Jong farm that will be part of a methane pipeline project. The entire project will cost about $8 million and there will be one well-paid employee when completed. This is the first abatement proposal that was filled out using the new scorecard approach that the County approved last year. There is a cutoff date of May 17 to meet some kind of State deadline and there needs to be an advertised public hearing. The Council must also designate the area as an ERA (Economic Revitalization Area?) and pass the abatement. The Council at this meeting voted to move forward and have the needed paperwork prepared and the public hearing advertised. At the end of the meeting they did not adjourn but continued the meeting until May 14.

The proposal from the Prosecutor to have a detective position made full-time was tabled to see what the Commissioners decide on the matter. County Clerk Kara Fishburn presented a resolution that would allow her Election Board to investigate a change from precinct voting to voting centers. This proposal had been given to the Commissioners at their meeting and approved. Forty eight Indiana counties have already moved to voting centers, which allow county residents to vote at any polling place in the county. There will be a period for public comment, probably in June, that will be advertised by the Clerk's office. The Council approved the resolution.

The Council approved an amendment to the salary ordinance that changes some salaries. It also approved a Heritage Barn Ordinance. The State recently approved a measure that allows old barns that are no longer used for agriculture or business to be designated heritage barns and as such the owners pay a $50 annual fee instead of the property tax on the structure.

In public comments, Kendell Culp reported that 15,000 County residents had gotten at least one vaccination.

Despite all the equipment that the room has, sound continues to be a problem. The mics are very directional so that they do not interfere with each other, causing feedback. I wonder why there cannot be just one mic that hears the room in the same way that the human ear hears the room. 

The Jasper County Historical Society also met Tuesday evening. A video of their meeting is here. (Jump to 19 minutes for only the program of the evening.)

The Weston Cemetery Walk is planning to use Eventbrite for ticketing this year. Eventbrite is used by eMbers and Carpenter Creek for their ticket sales. You do not need tickets for the Fire Departments 125th Anniversary Open House on May 8 at 11:00. You will have to pay, however, for their drive-through fish fry on May 7 starting at 4:00.

Viewing the fire damage at Sacred Heart Church in Remington

 On December 28, 2020 a fire damaged Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Remington. The church had an alarm that notified the fire department while the fire was still small and, as a result, the Reminton Fire Department was able to put out the fire before it totally destroyed the building. Nevertheless, there was a lot of damage and there are no church services being offered at the building. The parishioners can go to Goodland for Sunday Mass.

On Sunday, April 18, the public was allowed into the basement of the building to see its current state. Part of the ceiling of the basement, or alternatively, part of the floor of the church's nave, have been removed so that one could look up into the church.

The fire started on the south side of the church beneath the floor, and the part of the floor that has been removed is the section where the fire started. You can see that a lot of plaster has been removed, both in the basement and in the nave. Fortunately, it does not appear that the stained glass windows were damaged. The walls appear to have been stained by the smoke.

Below is the view of the choir loft from the basement.

Below is a view that shows that plaster was removed from the length of the south wall. It is still not clear how much more plaster will have to be removed.

Below is the edge of the the floor that remains. The wood was singed but appears to be structually sound.

I had never been in the basement but was told that it had been chopped up into small rooms. It appears that the small rooms are being rebuilt.

The picture below shows the inside of a basement door. You can see how the heat of the fire blistered the paint.

For pictures of the church before the fire, see here and here.

The Blacker Fields hosted its second tournament this weekend. I noticed that teams playing in the northwest field seemed much smaller than the teams playing in Roth Field, so I searched to see if I could find a list of teams participating. I found it on the website of the organization that organizes the tournaments. There were three different age groups, 13 and under, 12 and under, and 11 and under. Teams in the 13u group were from Valapraiso, Crown Point, Kouts, Chesterton, and two from Lafayette. The 12u group had teams from Kouts, Porter, Frankfort, Bourbonnais, IL, Greenfield, and South Bend. The 11u had teams from Valpariso, Indianapolis, and two from Crown Point.

The fans had really good weather, unlike last weekend. Concessions were being sold by Team Mission Jasper County. While I was there, I saw someone hit a home run.  Also, I wonder if part of the parking problem is due to the lack of asphalt and thus painted lines showing where people should park.

The forecast says we will have a cold start to the week with frost on Tuesday and Wednesday. I hope it does not damage the fruit crop again this year.

The Rensselaer Board of Zoning Appeals met Tueday evening to consider a conditional use application (which is what the County BZA calls a special exception) for an event barn on CR 1000 W across from Wilson's Fertilizer. That is not in City limits, but it is within the two-mile buffer zone. The barn is 85% complete and is 40 feet by 60 feet. It has a kitchen and bathrooms and is designed to host events of up to 100-125 people. It will have parking for 60-70 cars. The application was approved.

How long has Moonshiners been closed? 

A food truck plans to visit Rensselaer every Friday. It will set up in the parking lot of the bowling alley. Its Facebook page is here. 

Pizza Hut is getting a new roof.

A small building that was once part of the VanTobel lumber yard has been removed and the view of the rest of the building is now completely different.

The first ever tournament at the Blacker Fields

The trees are greening. People have begun mowing grass. Trees are blooming. Yet the forecast has lows in the 30s for the next week. I was looking at weather maps last week and saw that middle Alaska had temperatures well below zero.

Spring means outdoor sports. This past weekend the Blacker Fields hosted its first tournament. There were 16 teams and next weekend 18 teams are expected. There will be tournaments on most weekends until mid June.

I did not see any games being played on Friday. On Saturday morning the teams were playing in light rain. 

Some games in the afternoon were canceled but the teams were back playing Sunday morning.

The high school track team was working the concessions booth.

It is clear that parking will be an issue on weekends with both tournaments and big reunions. 

The teams playing at Roth field do not have the fancy dugouts that those at the three Blacker fields have.

I was impressed by how well equipped the teams were. All the players had their names on the back of their uniforms and they all seemed to have big backpacks that went with the team uniforms.

Brookside Park has  a new building to house the equipment to maintain the new fields. 

It also has new signs.

Park teams will use these fields on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Staddon Field will be used by the traveling baseball team and a girls softball team will call Columbia field their home.

There was also a soccer game at Brookside on Sunday afternoon.

On Monday the City Council met. The roll call was interesting—there is a new superintendent at Weston Cemetery, Tony Baltes. He is a long time employee of the Park Department. Apparently there were several people shifting between those two departments.

The gas tracker for April will be a 1.5¢ increase per hundred cubic feet. 

The City awarded a preliminary planning contract to Commonwealth Engineering for a water improvement project. In about four months Commonwealth will issue a preliminary report on options for back-up electric generators for pumps and a water tower at the Interstate. They will also investigate funding options. The Mayor is hoping that the City will be able to get a OCRA Community Funding grant. 

At a recent meeting the City accepted a bid from FBI Builders for a new storage building for the electric department. There was an issue with a downpayment. Apparently FBI Builders wanted one but the City is not allowed to pay one. There has been some back and forth negotiation and the Council approved an agreement with an addendum by a telephone vote. The County ratified that vote in the Monday meeting. The State still must approve the plans before construction can begin. 

There were three requests for money from the public relations fund. The Council approved a request for $1500 for an employee picnic in August. Last year this picnic was canceled. It also approved a request for $500 for a scholarship that the Little Cousin Jasper Festival awards. After that approval, it also approved street closings for the Festival. The closings will be the same as in the past. Near the end of the meeting the Council approved a request for $500 for refreshments for those who work the May cleanup week.

Cruise Night is scheduled for July 10. The City-wide garage sale is scheduled for May1. The Fire Department will celebrate its 125th anniversary on May 8. The Indianapolis Colts football team will be doing something at the Rensselaer-KV football game next fall.

Councilman Watson noted that the Park headquarters is in bad shape and it floods when the river has major floods. There was agreement that there is a need for a new building, probably at a different location, but at present there is no money available. 

The new gas pipeline is in the ground and now must be connected to the current line. I asked the gas superintendent how this was done but I did not understand her explanation. I suggested that maybe I could find a video on the Internet and she told me to search for "bottom out stopper fitting" by the Mueller Company. What I found is here. In another two or three weeks gas may start flowing through the new line.

Street work funded by a Community Crossings grant will begin April 19. The Council approved spending up to $40,000 for sidewalks as part of that project. Twenty five of the trees that the City is paying to remove have been removed and when the rest are down, the company will begin grinding the stumps. The Police Department has received the cars it ordered in November. It has started issuing golf cart permits. The crossing guard at Van has taken a new job and the position may not be filled until the Fall. 

I listened to the latest Roots and Graffiti podcast that discussed the Dunns Bridge project. The company doing the work is Nextera, which is a huge company. Construction on Phase 1 will begin in August and is scheduled to be completed in late 2022. It will be followed by Phase 2, which is supposed to be finished in September 2023. When completed it will be the largest solar farm east of the Mississippi. You can find links to the podcasts here.

Finally, SR 114 is scheduled to be closed in Pulaski County for about two weeks for bridge deck patching and repairs on the bridge over the Hill Ditch.

The usual monthly meetings

There were three public meetings on Monday. But before we get to them, let's look at the really important news. This sign is in front of the bowling alley.

Main Street Bakery of Medaryville, which bought the equipment and recipes from the Claus Bakery, will be opening in the east side of the bowling alley. You can follow them on Facebook.

Also opening in Rensselaer is the "Royal Scoop" in the north part of the Royal Oaks Restaurant.

When I stopped by on Tuesday afternoon the sign said "open" but the door was locked.

The Commissioners meeting on Monday morning had both a live and virtual component. There were twelve or thirteen people attending at the Sparling annex and double that on-line, including two of the commissioners. The meeting got a late start because of technical problems with the microphones and those problems reoccurred occasionally during the meeting. There was one buried cable request, from NITCO to run a line south on Melville to Donaldsons. It will cross the Iroquois River and needs permits from the State, City, County, and the Iroquois Conservancy. The County granted its permit.

There was a request to vacate an alley in Kniman so a person can combine two lots that are separated by the alley right of way. He was told that the process begins by notifying neighbors of the intent and then there must be a public hearing. The Commissioners suggested rather than doing just one platted alley, that the petition be for all of the never-developed alleys.

Little Cousin Jasper Festival received permission to use the Court House lawn for the Festival on September 10-12. The Commissioners could not promise that the restrooms would be open. They also approved use of the lawn and gazebo for a lawn sale on June 22 to raise funds for the festival.

Jasper County Tourism received permission to use County roads for a bike ride called the Jasper Jaunt. It was planned for last year but the lockdown resulted in its cancelation. This year it will be held on August 7. It will start in Potawatomi Park, head out Bunkum to 1000W, then north to Perkins Good Earth Farm where there will be a stop with breakfast. Then it will come back to Rensselaer and stop at Fenwick Farms. The next leg goes south to the Carpenter Creek Winery and a stop with music. It then returns to Rensselaer. Those who do not want to do the entire route will have a shorter option.

The County Clerk is interested in moving the County from precinct voting to something called voting centers, a method used by half of Indiana counties. It would reduce the number of places a person could vote but a person could vote in any one of them. So if a person from Rensselaer works in Remington and it would be more convenient to vote in Remington, he or she could do that. After some discussion, the Commissioners approved letting the County Clerk develop the proposal. The County Council must also give approval to the Clerk to develop the proposal. Then neither body will have any more say in the matter. If the Clerk and her committee decide to go to voting centers, whatever they propose will need State approval. There are now 29 precinct voting stations and that will be reduced to about 10. Staffing the poling places has gotten more difficult and with voting centers the number of poll workers needed will be about 100, down from 150 currently.

Mr Wakeland from Community Corrections told the Commissioners that his building is out of space and that the County needs to build an addition to the current building. He suggested two options, one that would include new dorms and the other room for new offices and utility rooms. The first would be about 6000 square feet and the second 3500 to 4000 square feet. No action was requested. He also told them that fees, which account for a good part of the budget, have decreased. He wondered if the County could get relief from the latest spending bill passed by Congress. He was told that various heads of departments would be meeting on Friday to learn more about what the County can expect and he was invited to attend.

The Commissioners approved a rezone request from A1 to A2 that the Plan Commission had recommended. It will allow the owner to build on a five acre lot.

The County Health nurse received permission to replace a part-time sanitarian. This position has had constant turnover because it has no benefits. The County Health nurse  told Commissioners that she would like to make this a full-time position to reduce the turnover. The Health Department has given 7,000 vaccinations using the Moderna vaccine and 500 using the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. The total number of shots given in the County is 12,000. Although the Governor has removed the mask mandate, the County Health Department has not. They have declared that the mask mandate will remain until Jasper County is listed as "blue." It was pointed out that the County has no mechanism to enforce the mandate.

The County Prosecutor requested permission to replace a part-time investigator who is retiring.  He would like to make the position full-time because it is difficult to find qualified people who will work part-time. He was given permission to fill the position and the decision on whether it will be full-time will wait.

The Sheriff was given permission to fill two vacancies, a part-time position in Court House security and a full-time detective.  The director of Emergency Management was given permission to submit a grant to improve security for the former PNC building. (All grant applications need Commissioner approval.) The City of Rensselaer is planning to run a sewer line along SR 114 and wants to cross the County Highway Department property. They received approval pending final plans. The County will have a surplus auction on this Saturday, April 10, at the County Highway Department. The start time is 9:00 am.

Steven Eastridge gave a quick update on economic development. It is not clear yet what the rules will be for the funds available from the latest COVID relief bill, The County should receive $6.5 million, Rensselaer $1.2 million, DeMotte $870,000, Remington $240,000, and Wheatfield $170,000. The meeting was continued to the 19th, if necessary.

The Drainage Board met in the afternoon. The item of interest was from the City of Rensselaer. It neglected to approach the Drainage Board before beginning to install its gas pipeline and has already installed the line beneath a couple of County ditches. The Board wants to make sure that the pipe is at least five feet below the cleaned bottom of the ditches and also wants a hold-harmless agreement. There will be no meeting in May and it will approve the project retroactively after it gets the documents it wants.

Over the weekend I took a picture of the work along CR 650 S. The long line of pipe will be installed using directional boring.

In the evening the Rensselaer Park Board met and this time they had a quorum so they could elect officers. The first tournament for the Blacker Fields will be this weekend. 15 or 16 teams are expected.

There was concern again about people using the ball fields to run their dogs. The Board suggested installing signs and locking the gates open.The Board approved the use of Potawatomi Park for the start and end of the Jasper Jaunt in August. A donor has given money to redo the tennis courts in Brookside Park. The old surface will be removed and a new one installed, The Courts will also be moved about ten feet to the east. There was enthusiasm for the prospect of a hill in Brookside Park. Someone is excavating a pond and has offered the dirt to the Parks.

Jail time

Trane began working on improving the energy efficiency of the County Jail in 2019 and on Monday had a ribbon cutting to celebrate the successful completion of the project. Before the actual cutting of the ribbon, there were several presentations in the second floor conference room.

The first speaker was Commissioner Culp. He said that the jail had serious heating and cooling problems that were obvious when the jail became operational in 2008. Different parts of the jail had different temperatures so that at times both heating and cooling systems were operating. Over the years there were a number of efforts made to fix the problems but they all failed. Trane and its partner on this project, Solential Energy, finally came through with a solution. A summery of the problems and what Trane and Solential did is contained in a Youtube video here.

The next speaker was Sheriff Willamson. He said that the heat audit that Trane conducted showed where the problems were. One of the failed attempts to correct the problem had given control of the HVAC system to the contractor and the Sheriff was happy that jail employees were now back in control of the system.

The third speaker, State Senator Ron Alting, spoke from Indianapolis via Microsoft Teams. When the State Senate is not in session, he works for Trane. He stressed that the work done at the jail was a collaborative effort between Trane and local officials. 

The next speaker was a solutions manager from Trane. He noted that the first project that Trane did for the County was correcting problems at the Community Corrections facility and their success in that project led to the jail project. Trane took eight months studying the jail before they began work. That time was needed to figure out exactly what needed to be fixed.

He was followed by the CEO of Solential Energy, the company that installed the solar field. The solar array covers 3.5 acres and has 2232 panels. The project is not completely finished. The ground under the panels will be planted with native flowers and grasses that will reduce the need for mowing and will provide flowers for bees. Finally, Mr Culp noted that the County will be able to pay off the bonds used to finance the project with the energy savings that the project provides. The added comfort for the jail inmates and employees is free.

The speeches were finished and everyone got out of jail and walked over to the solar array for the ribbon cutting. The ribbon was cut by the Sheriff, two Commissioners, and three members of the County Council. (I was a bit slow in getting my camera ready so I missed the moment of the cut.)

I hung around for a bit to take a closer look at the panels and hear some comments about the project. 

In many installations the posts holding the panels are simply driven into the ground. Tests of the soil here indicated that the ground had too much give so the posts needed to be anchored in concrete.

I also took the opportunity to take a picture of the jail garden. This gives inmates an opportunity to get out of their cells and enjoy some sun while doing something useful.

WLFI from Lafayette filmed some interviews, though they did not stick around for the presentations or the ribbon cutting. Below is a picture of Kendell Culp being interviewed.

In a totally unrelated item, cars were lined up on Saturday at Brookside Park.

They were waiting to see the Easter Bunny.

It was for the annual Easter egg hunt that this year had no hunt. It was drive-thru. The Lions Club handled it very efficiently and the line of cars disappeared after about ten minutes. I think most of the people who attended came early.

A battle of the seasons

We are ending Lent and approaching Easter, the most important holy day of the Christian calendar. Compared to Christmas, it is less commercialized and secularized. Have a nice and meaningful weekend.

Today is April Fools Day. I did one April Fools post years ago and after that decided I would not do another.

We have a brief relapse to winter—we got a dusting of snow last night but the sun should melt it by noon. We will below freezing again tonight. Not all the snow from real winter has melted. There is still snow (turned to ice) where the City dumped it on Bunkum Avenue. The covering of stone and dirt insulates and protects if from the sun.

There is not a lot happening in my little corner of the world. I did find two virtual meetings to attend since the last post. A week ago the local invasive species group met to continue planning their weed wrangle. It is scheduled for May and will be at the Prairie Border Nature Preserve (south of Teft) at 11713 N 400 E Wheatfield. It will have two components, education and action. There will be several short presentations about site history and management, resources for landowners, and Soil and Water Conservation District programs. Common invasives in our area include garlic mustard, Bradford pear, and Asian honeysuckle. This event will focus on garlic mustard.

Many people do not realize how much work goes into planning even simple events. There are Covid restrictions that have to be implemented. The group discussed who would do the flyer and publicity, whether they needed a port-a-potty, where the pulled garlic mustard would taken for disposal, and who would bring various supplies including release forms, hand sanitizers, masks, pencils, various types of gloves, shovels and hand tools, garbage bags, and poison ivy wipes.

The other meeting is one I found in the Rensselaer Republican, a Coordinated Transportation Plan input meeting. The meeting was conducted by a group called RLS Associates for the Indiana Department of Transportation and is part of the process to writing a planning document that must be updated every four years. You can see the 2017 plan here. (Locally Jasper County Community Services provides a van that can be used from 8:00 to 4:00. People use the van to get to medical appointments and jobs as well as for shopping trips. )

For the plan Jasper County is grouped with Newton, Pulaski, and Stark Counties, and there were representatives from all four counties and also someone from KIRPC attending the meeting. There was a group from Pulaski County sharing the same Zoom screen and most of the time they were very hard to hear. Perhaps the biggest concern was transportation in the evening and on weekends. 

Below is a slide from the meeting showing where people lack automobiles.

The governor's mask mandate ends next week. It will be interesting to watch what happens as a result. The population seems to be very divided on whether to wear masks or not.

A final picture showing the structure in the Fire Department's training facility. It looks more like a house than I remember it looking.