August is here

High school parking lot art

The class of 2023 has been decorating parking lot spaces in preparation for the new school year. (Classes start August 11.) One that surprised me was the one below with a Latin inscription, "Palms no sine pulvere." I took four years of Latin about 60 years ago when I was in high school, but had to look that up on the Internet. It very roughly translates as "No victory without effort." And it should be palma, not palms.

I am not sure if this one was finished.

Some have messages without pictures.

When I stopped by on Sunday morning, there were a couple of students still working on their spaces. The whole thing is very colorful.

Miscellany

The County Fair ended with fireworks on Saturday evening. In the past there have been quite a few people watching from Brookside Park. This year I was alone.

Digitizing equipment has been in the Jasper County Historical Society for a couple of weeks. I think Family Search is digitizing some of the records that the Society has for their geneological site.

Sweet corn was available at the Farmers Market on Tuesday evening.

With the start of the school year on the 11th, the LaRue Pool will no longer be open during weekdays. It will be open for the 13-14 weekend and on evenings on Tuesdays and Thursday until the 18th. 

Have you seen that the parking lot of what was Jordan's Floral has been repainted. Someone has a vision of a future use of the building. Keep your eyes open to see what comes next.

Below is the bio that I omitted from the pervious post.

The Park Board meeting scheduled for Monday evening at the Iroquois Park Shelter did not have a quorum. Those attending discussed possibilities for fencing around the classroom building used for activities for kids. The most interesting bit of the evening came as the meeting ended and a woman came out of the restroom and asked what the meeting was for. She then went into a rant about how she was homeless and Rensselaer needed to do more for the homeless and addicted. She said there are six to ten homeless people currently in Rensselaer, sleeping under bridges and in park shelters. Most or all of them have addiction problems. 

August Commissioners meeting

The Commissioners met for their August meeting on Monday morning. In the first part of the meeting they heard from Steele Benefits Services and Apex Benefits. Steele provides a platform that helps employees understand their benefits. Apex is in the health insurance business. I do not know enough about County benefits and insurance to fully understand what they are offering.

The Commissioners passed an ordinance that updates the fees that the Health Department charges. Included are fees for body-art even though the body-art ordinance is still being prepared. The Commissioners granted Main Street Rensselaer permission to use the Courthouse lawn for Oktoberfest (Sept 24). The Marion Township Trustee gave a brief update on EMS services. The Remington ambulance is up and running. The State still has not certified the central ambulance service. (Later in the meeting someone noted that the State is having problems hiring and that delays of various sorts are common.) The County DA received permission to replace an employee, the victim outreach coordinator. He also discussed some proposed security measures (bollards and heavy planters).

Carol Lockridge had two applications for buried cable permits. The City wants to run 1200 feet of gas line to Flatland Pigs south of town. It will not cross any regulated ditches or drains, so does not need Drainage Board approval, just Commissioner approval for crossing County roads. The other extension is east of Rensselaer for a grain handling system and will need Drainage Board approval in addition to approval that the Commissioners gave for crossing County roads.

The Sheriff, who is losing a couple of dispatchers and possibly a third, was given permission to fill the positions. The Coroner said that they had had five cases in 72 hours and he would like to add a full-time employee to his department. The public meeting was continued until August 16 at 8:30 if needed and the Commissioners then went into executive session.