All Hallows Eve 2023

 Ceremonial groundbreaking

On the afternoon of Thursday, October 26, the Fire Department had a ceremonial groundbreaking for a new building that will be built on its training site. The building is funded by the State of Indiana.

The day was dark and rainy, making it difficult to take good pictures. I saw some on Facebook that turned out much better than mine.

Before the groundbreaking there were several speeches that thanked numerous people involved and recounted the development of fireman training, beginning with almost none forty years ago and gradually increasing until now training is being done in Rensselaer.

Before the event concluded, the Rensselaer firefighters posed for a picture.

The last farmers market of 2023

Rensselaer had its last farmers market of 2023 on Saturday morning. There were fewer vendors than a few weeks earlier. Kids coming in costume were able to get candy from the vendors.

There was a limited amount of food for sale. These butternut squash were bigger than most of the squash I was able to grow.

I had not seen Indian corn at earlier markets.

I think the parking-lot site used this year worked very well and I hope that the market continues there after the brick streets are redone.

Halloween

Kids had plenty of opportunities to collect candy this year. In addition to the City approved trick-and-treat hours on October 28, various organizations and churches had other days and hours for distributing candy. On the 29th St. Augustine had its trunk-or-treat event. It did not have as many trunks as their event last year had.

Some of the trunkers had interesting costumes. 

This t-rex costume needed a battery to keep it inflated.

I did not stay to see who won a costume contest, but this was the cutest costume that I saw. I am not sure what it was supposed to be.

There were some games inside, a way to get even more candy.

I noticed that one of the trucks offered potatoes. I do not think any of the kids were interested.

An alternative cemetery walk

In September the Jasper County Historical Society sponsored its sixth annual Weston Cemetery walk. It featured presentations about eight people with interesting stories who are buried in Weston Cemetery. There are enough interesting stories in Weston Cemetery to keep the event going for many more years. Perhaps the time will come when the event might move to other local cemeteries, such as Mount Calvary or Memory Gardens. What might such an event look like?

According to Findagrave.com there are almost 8000 graves in Weston Cemetery and about 1600 in Mount Calvary. The oldest burial in Weston is 1841 and in Mount Calvary 1867, so Mount Calvary does not offer much insight into the earliest days of Rensselaer. Most of the early Catholic settlers seem to have been farmers, with few in government or early businesses.

Here is a selection of eight candidates for a Mount Calvary Cemetery Walk, with some comments on each. I have tried to get people with a wide range of stories, few of which overlap. (If you click on the names, you should be taken to their findagrave memorial where there is more inforation.)

Frank Hendricks (1875-1892) was a Chippewa Indian boy who died at the Indian School. We know almost nothing about him but he could tell the story of the Indian School.

James Maloy (1841-1908) fought in the Civil War for the Confederacy, something that I did not expect to find in this cemetery. (Weston Cemetery has two Civil War veterans who fought for the South.)

Alfred Donnelly (1857-1928) was a pioneer in the onion business in Jasper County and who was known during his lifetime as the Onion King. Onions were once an important crop in Jasper County, growing on the muck soils.

2nd Lt Edward Schmidt (1917-1943) was killed in WWII and his body was never recovered. A cenotaph for him is in Mount Calvary. (The Weston Cemetery walk honored a person with a cenotaph several years ago, Thomas Parkison.)

Rev William Bernard Hordeman (1877-1948) There are no C.PP.S. priests buried in Mount Calvary; the many priests who served at Saint Joseph's College are buried in Ohio. However, there is a priest in the cemetery, Fr. William Hordeman, who was part of a family that was once important in the Saint Augustine parish. He served for 40 years as the pastor at Frankfort.

Conrad Kellner (1871-1959) was mayor of Rensselaer from 1938 to 1946. He worked at and owned a variety of businesses.

John Earl Worland (1893-1974) ran the Worland Funeral Home 1921-1938. Catholics buried in Mount Calvary did not play a large role in Rensselaer businesses, and he is one of the few who did.

Alfred Richard Hentschel (1916-1988) There are many people who worked at Saint Joseph's College buried at Mount Calvary who have interesting stories, but I do not think any have a life more interesting than Alfred Hentschel who served in the German army in WWII and was a prisoner of war in Russia. After the war he was a carpenter and head of grounds at SJC.

It would be easy to put together other lists of people with interesting stories. If you want to suggest a candidate with an interesting story, use the comments on the blog to suggest him or her.

(There are logistical problems for a walk at a cemetery other than Weston. Brookside Park provides parking and how parking would be handled in another location would have to be decided by whoever put on the event. Brookside Park also provides a shelter house that is used for a non-walking performance. That non-walking performance might have to be abandoned or conducted far away from the cemetery.)

Notes  

Daylight savings time ends Sunday. The sun will rise and set earlier. 

On November 1 the day lasts 10 hours 28 minutes and 33 seconds. We will lose a bit more than an hour more before the winter solstice.

Remarkably our first widespread frost did not occur until the night of October 30. The temperature dipped into the low 20s. My trees were raining leaves on the morning of October 31.

Fall colors

 Maple trees are showing their fall colors.

Health Fair

On Thursday, October 19 there was a health fair at the Jasper County Fairgrounds sponsored by Vaccinate Indiana. It has been several years since there have been health fairs in Rensselaer and because I found them useful in the past, I decided to go to this one.

I was there early and in the time I was there, few other people entered. Perhaps attendance picked up later.

This fair was a bit different from past fairs. The only testing that I saw was for blood pressure by the County Health Department. Most of the booths provided information about their services and gave out a variety of freebies. I was disappointed that I did not get the testing information, but I enjoyed all the freebies. There is another Health Fair scheduled for April 23, 2024.

Mayoral Debate

The Chamber of Commerce sponsored a Mayoral Debate on Thursday. It had a rigid format and the Chamber had requested that questions be submitted before the debate. Each candidate was given an opportunity to respond to the question in a very limited time. Among the questions asked were questions whether bulk pickup could be done twice a year, what improvements each would like to make, what they would do to clean up the city and yards, how high speed internet access can be insured and if the City should become a provider, how they can get businesses to move to Rensselaer, what they could do to deal with homelessness, whether they would consider going back to the the trash stickers instead of the monthly charges. Other questions asked what can be done with Saint Joes, what can be done with the drug problem, to explain why the power plant was shut down, what is the biggest problem facing Rensselaer, and what they thought of CO2 sequestering. 

After these questions were asked and answered, there was still time so the audience was invited to ask questions. Candidates had suggested Rensselaer needed more housing and one question is whether we also have a need for more apartments. One person asked if they would support expanding recycling to more types of plastics and another wanted to know what we could do to promote Rensselaer tourism. Another asked how Rensselaer can keep its young people from moving out and another expressed disappointment that there was only one family restaurant.

The whole event was very well run and if you are interested in how the candidates answered, the video of the event is on Facebook here.

Last City Council meeting of October

In the City Council of Monday evening, October 23, the first item on the agenda was an amendment to the zoning ordinance. Noelle Weishaar thought that one part of it, which restricted new construction and possibly remodeling to be consistent with existing styles was vague, possibly subject to abuse, and would raise the cost of building. After discussion, other members of the Council agreed and the item was sent back to the Plan Commission for reconsideration. 

The Council did pass a revised ordinance that increases the fee to those who use the Rensselaer Police to monitor their alarm systems by two dollars. The justification was the cost to the Department has risen. The fee is less than the fees of private security companies that monitor alarm systems. After discussion, the Council approved a new salary ordinance that incorporates a number of salary changes. There was agreement that these changes should be decided when the budgets are submitted.

Work on water connections is finished on Weston Street and has moved to Front Street. Patching the holes from the construction will begin soon. Metal is arriving at the site of the new water tower near the I-65/SR-114 intersection. The City will find out this week if it will get a recycling grant and if it does, it will be used for a new leaf vac. The Park Department received approval to replace a 20-year-old tractor that is having mechanical problems. The meeting was adjourned at 6:50.

Wildlife sightings

I saw this little snake on the Washington Street Bridge. I think it was taking advantage of the warmth from the concrete. It is the only snake I have seen this year.

I have seen four praying mantises this year. Here are the last two, both in my yard.

Because they have been different sizes and colors, I suspected they might be different species. I did a quick Internet search and found that there are three species in Illinois, which probably means there are three in Indiana. One is native and the other two introduced.

Notes

RCHS graduate Eli Kosiba has been selected to compete in the Pan American Games. The Rensselaer Republican had an article about him on its front page last week and this week there are posts on Facebook fundraising for the trip.

There are a couple of new businesses in town. First Hometown Mortgages is now in the TopLink building (former REMC and County Annex building.) It is a branch office of the DeMotte location and does not make the mortgages itself but serves as a broker connecting customers with firms that do make mortgages. It is open Tuesdays through Thursdays, 9:00 until 5:00, and by appointment.

The other new business is called Simply Blessed and sells home decor and more. It is open Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 10:00 until 4:00. The reason for the limited hours is that the owner has a full-time job. It is located in the Chamberlin Building on the corner or Weston and Kellner. 

I had not seen any Facebook posts from Not Your Typical Wingz lately, and stopped by to see if they were still in business. They are not offering food right now but are working on renovating the space next to Mount Hood Pizza. They expect to have all the regulatory steps completed and hope to open in early November. Boneheadz BBQ, which in the spring was working outside of Mount Hood Pizza, has decided to focus on festivals and has abandoned Rensselaer.

The Kankakee Welcome Center on I-65 is now open.

The Jasper County Historical Society had a presentation at its last meeting about postcards. You can view the video here.

The shelter house at Filson Park now has the floor for what will become the restrooms.

Carbon capture is a now a local issue with many citizens opposed to using Jasper County for a proposed project. Here is an article about another project, one that was abandoned because of citizen opposition.

Another SRO Commissioners meeting

Fire Department open house

The Rensselaer Fire Department held an open house as part of Fire Prevention Week. It attracted a lot of people, most with children. On display was a boat that can be used in rescues.

The bounce house was popular with the kids.

There were snacks available. These cookies as well as hot chocolate and popcorn were provided by the Fire Department.

I had to ask what this was. It was carmel for apple slices and was provided by McDonalds. Alliance Bank also gave out food, their usual ice cream bars.

A helicopter from Lutheran Air attracted a lot of attention.

When I first saw this vehicle I thought it was from the National Guard. It is the Sheriff Departments Tactical Response Truck. The Department has had it for about ten years.

More pictures can be found on the Fire Departments Facebook page.

Continued Commissioners Meeting

At their regular October meeting the Commissioners heard many public comments opposing BP's proposed carbon capture and sequestering project that may be partially located in Jasper County. They delayed signing a road-use agreement, moving the item to a continued meeting on October 16. On Monday that continued meeting also had a standing-room-only audience, and it may have had more people attending than were at the initial meeting.

Before the road-use agreement was discussed, the Commissioners had several other items on their agenda. The County switched health insurance brokers this year and the new brokers had promised they could find savings for the County. The new brokers shopped the various policies and said they had found $672K in savings with no reduction in benefits. The Commissioners approved the changes.

Two bids for a new roof on the prosecutor's annex building were reviewed but no decision was made because there may be a third party who will make a bid. The Commissioners approved a change in the holiday schedule for the Highway Department. A jail correctional officer has resigned and the Sheriff was given approval to replace her.

Then it was time for the big item, the road-use-agreement. BP had agreed to end the testing on October 30 and will allow the County to hire an expert to review the data. There were a number of public comments. The first person wondered why the public had not been allowed to vote on this issue. Another person recognized that the County can do little to stop this project if the State gives it a green light and is organizing to change the legislation. The legislation that takes the permitting of this type of project away from the counties is House Bill 1209 that was passed in 2022. A person from Porter County who is running for Congress urged the County to look for opportunities to disrupt the process. It is federal tax credits that make this project viable; without federal support none of these sequestering projects would be profitable. A retired 3M person said that contaminates in the fluid that will be pumped into the ground might react chemically with the rocks and that no one knows what the long-term risks of this project would be. In the end the Commissioners signed the agreement even though I am pretty sure that they agree with the audience that the County does not want the County to be used for carbon dioxide sequestering.

They passed a resolution to gather information to be used for a future ordinance governing seismic testing on County roadways.

County Council meeting

The County Council met Tuesday evening in a long meeting, lasting about two hours. Rensselaer Fire Chief Kenny Haun told them about the addition to the Rensselaer training center that will be built with State funding and is expected to be finished in the Spring of 2024. However, the Department needs to provide some infrastructure and Haun would like to have the County contribute for this. No action was taken and the request for funds will be discussed at the joint Council-Commissioners meeting in November.

The Council approved an ordinance that allows the Drainage Board to secure a line of credit to help finance the cleaning of the R. E. Davis ditch. It also approved an ordinance that allows money from the Recorder's Perpetuation fund to be used for supplies and salaries. This ordinance was recommended by the State Board of Accounts and does not represent a change in what the County has been doing.

Next was a long discussion about a resolution establishing an Economic Revitalization Area in Walker Township that will allow a tax abatement for a proposed solar park. This project has been mentioned at various County meetings over the past few years. It will use 470 acres and have a 60 megawatt capacity. The abatement will be decided next month. Offsetting the abatement will be an economic development payment that the company will make. Unlike the tax revenue that is divided into various funds, this money can be spent in whatever way the County wants. After reading the resolution, a vote was taken and it was approved by a 3 to 2 vote. However, one of the Council members was attending via Zoom and his delayed vote as a no, so the vote was tied 3 to 3. Council president Jordan then broke the tie and the final vote was 4 to 3. I am not sure if the negative votes were cast because the members do not like abatements or if it was a protest against solar power. (Voting for were Jordan, Fritts, Norwine, and Risner. Voting against were Armold, Kidwell, and Moore.)

The Council then approved a number of transfers of funds, none very large, and moved on to additional appropriations. Most were for the Sheriff's Department. All of the additions were approved except one for Community Corrections, which was tabled because the Council wanted more information.

The Council President then read and the Council approved five budgets, those of the County, the Rensselaer Central School Corporation, the Airport Authority, the Northwest Indiana Solid Waste District, and the Iroquois Conservancy. Discussion of these budgets had been held at the previous meeting. The budget of the Northwest Indiana Solid Waste District is approved by Jasper County because Jasper County has the largest assessed valuation of any of the counties that the District serves.

The Prosecutor had some salary adjustments that should be made and they will be taken up in January. For reasons that I did not understand, Walker Township could not approve its budget with the normal process and the Council finished the meeting by approving its budget.

Notes

There was a partial solar eclipse on Saturday. It was unnoticeable here because of the heavy clouds, but some people in the west got to observe it as an annular eclipse. However, next year there will be a total eclipse that will be visible in Indianapolis. It will be in April, a month that has a lot of cloudy days. More info here and a map here. The view of the annular eclipse from Nevada is here.

Mount Ayr now has a mural. It was painted by Rensselaer native Trenton Musch.

Early voting for Rensselaer offices can be done at the Court House on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:00 until noon and 1:00 to 6:00. The voting is on the second floor, and it you have questions you can ask the security guards for information.

The railroad crossing on McKinley (US 231) is getting new pavement and the road will be closed for a few days.

The video about the Domestic Arts building at the Newton County Fairgrounds can be viewed on youtube.

What keeps the lights on? Graphs showing how much electricity is generated with various sources can be found here. I was surprised at how dominant natural gas is and how variable over the day coal is. The good thing about solar power is that it is generated during the times when electrical use is highest.

Short meetings and a lot of pictures

A lot of homes have Halloween decorations. The picture below is the decoration that I find the most impressive. 

The house has two of these. Here is the other.

Board of Public Works

The Rensselaer Board of Public Works met Monday and approved four invoices. Two were for the new lift station and unsewered areas project: a pay request #17 from Theineman for $125,737.60 and an invoice from Commonwealth Engineering for $2,282.48. The other two were for the water utility improvements, one from Maguire Iron for $61,750 and the other from Grimmer Construction for $382,939. Mcguire Iron is building the water tower by the interstate that has the foundation and underground piping finished and Grimmer Construction is replacing lead water lines on Weston and Van Rensselaer. These two invoices are sent to SRF (the State Revolving Fund loan program) for disbursement. The other item approved was a promotion for a fireman from intern to probationary status.

City Council

The Rensselaer City Council also met on Monday evening. It approved the 2024 City Budget and also the gas tracker for October, which will reflect a 21¢ increase per hundred cubic feet of usage. 

In administrative comments it was reported that the railroad will soon begin work on the McKinley Street crossing. A committee to prepare the salary ordinance for the next meeting was appointed. Water in Weston Cemetery has been shut off for the winter. Mr Armold wants a person from Baker Tilly to attend a meeting and give a presentation about budgets for the utilities. The Capital asset assessment is a couple weeks from being finished.

In superintendents' reports the Police Chief announced that one of his officers was leaving and he would start the search for a replacement. A lawsuit has been filed in court about a Front Street property that was discussed at a recent Council meeting. The Planning officer reviewed an ordinance that comes from the Planning Commission about swimming pools, lots, and residences in business districts. It will be presented to the Council for approval at the next Council meeting.

The Fire Chief asked the Council to approve $3900 for design planning from Commonwealth Engineering. It will do everything needed to be ready for bid on the local contribution to the new fire training tower that the State will build behind the Fire Station. The cost to the City of the foundation and the water main needed is about $250,000 and the Chief has commitments for most of that amount. The State has changed the design of the tower to be built. It will now be bigger than originally planned. This Thursday from 6:00 to 8:00 the Fire Department will have an open house for Fire Prevention week.

Lenny Larson was honored with the Frank F Rudolph award from the Indiana Muncipal Electric Association and the Mayor read the award. Rensselaer is one of 19 finalists from some recycling grant.

New sidewalks have been poured along Weston Street from Rutsen to Grace and the street has been milled and is awaiting repaving.

Airport Authority meeting


The October meeting of the Airport Authority was unusually short. Repainting of runway markings is complete. There will be a Trick-or-Treat-at-the-Scairport event on October 21 from 1:00 until 3:00. There are now two flight instructors giving lessons. The members discussed fees for aerial applicators (crop dusters) and that will probably result in an item on the agenda of the next meeting. And there was a discussion of a replacement for a member of the Authority who will be resigning in the near future. 

At the Fendig Gallery

The new art exhibit at the Fendig Gallery is the "Fendig Inspired" Jasper County Art League Member Show. It runs until November 2. The Gallery is open on Tuesdays from noon until 4:00 and on Thursdays from 2:00 until 6:00.

Notes

The Tourism Commission did not have an October meeting. They could not get a quorum.

The Carnegie Players is holding auditions for its next play, A Christmas Carol.

Saint Joseph's College has a new newsletter available that has some interesting items.

Mt Ayr is dedicating a disc golf course.

Remington is ready to move into its new town hall. The town remodeled a bank building.

We have had a couple of mornings where temperature got low enough for some patchy frost.  However, it did not get cold enough to damage any of the frost-sensitve plants in my backyard garden.

The concrete floor has been installed in the shelter at Filson Park and when I was by on Tuesday work had started on the plumbing for the restrooms. Here is a picture from Wednesday.

Finally, here are a few more pictures from the Scarecrow Trail. The first is from the Little Cousin Jasper Festival and it cackles at you. (There is a witch behind the window.)

Bombers for Academic Excellance.

The Rensselaer Fire Department.

From Donaldsons

From Psi Iota Xi

A tale of four meetings

Commissioners meeting

The October Commissioners meeting had a standing-room-only crowd on Monday morning. The meeting began with the usual routine matters: approval of minutes, claims, payroll and three simple buried cable requests. The Commissioners then approved filling a vacancy in the Clerk's office and a holiday schedule. The Juneteenth holiday will be moved to July 5 to prolong that weekend, a change some other counties are also making. Then the meeting got to the item that had attracted the crowd, the BP road use agreement.

The Commissioners had held a special meeting in September to iron out details of the agreement. (See here.) 

The major concern at that meeting was that either BP repair any damage caused by their testing or that County be compensated for any damage and BP agreed to provide a $3 million guarantee to satisfy the County. There were other provisions that were agreed on, and the final details were to be ironed out by the lawyers. The finished agreement was to be approved and signed at this October meeting.

The crowd was uniformly hostile to BP's plan of carbon sequestering in Jasper County and wanted to prevent BP from continuing testing in hopes of derailing any future development of this project. There were suggestions that the County revoked its approval of road use that was made on September 12, though this might result in a lawsuit that could cost the County a large amount of money. Many in the crowd did not care about this possibility. Some complained that a special meeting should have been held to discuss the road agreement and when told that there was a special meeting, they said it should have been publicized. (I could tell a lot of the audience does not read this blog, which is the only source of news of much that is happening in County government.) One speaker said that BP was not abiding by the agreement and it was testing too close to culverts. There was the suggestion that BP thought that they only had to maintain distance from concrete culverts, not all culverts. There was concern about what the effect would be of punching holes in the cap rock that overlays the sandstone that BP wants to use for holding CO2, and concerns about possible effects on groundwater and wells. Some citizens said that the Commissioners should have taken the approach of Newton County, which seems to have blocked the testing. And several speakers said that the testing should not have started under a verbal agreement. BP did not have a spokesman at the meeting; their point man on this had a serious health issue in the past few days and was in the hospital.

The audience seemed to be aware that the County will have a limited ability to fight this project if BP decides to move forward because by the Feds and the State in favor of carbon sequestering and the State legislature passed legislation that takes regulation away from the Counties and puts it with the State. The Federal Government has incentivized these programs with financial rewards and it was reported at the meeting that some large landowners had approached BP saying they wanted to sign up to get the carbon capture credits. The Commissioners then explored options for about half an hour. At first they were leaning towards signing the agreement and then trying to watch for violations and perhaps trying to shut them down based on violations. However, in the end they decided that because BP was not able to sign that day, neither would they. They tabled the matter and will continue the meeting to October 16 at 8:30 when BP can be present and will then vote on approving the agreement. This decision received applause from the audience.

Some of the audience then left and the Commissioners returned to more typical items. The Treasurer wanted an ordinance increasing the fees for checks that bounce because of not sufficient funds from $12 to $25. She said that the banks charge the County $15 and then there are expenses sending certified letters. The ordinance passed. The Commissioners approved hiring a part-time worker in the Recorder's Office to replace an employee who is retiring.

Rensselaer Fire Chief Kenny Haun requested financial help to finance the local expenses of a new fire tower that is being built by the State behind the fire station. He estimates the cost will be about $250,000 and stressed that the training would be for all first responders, not just firemen. He was asked what amount he was thinking and said $50,000 to $75.000. The Commissioners took no action but said they would include the request for the joint Commissioners/Council meeting in November.

The Commissioners approved a rezone from A1 to A2 that had been passed in the September Plan Commission meeting. I think I misunderstood what the purpose of the rezone was at that meeting. As presented to the Commissioners, the owner wanted to rezone so he could split off a four-acre parcel with a house. If the land is A1, the lot size would have needed to be ten acres.

As mentioned in the previous post, Mark Sinclair has resigned as head of Animal Control. The Commissioners appointed Tori Stroup, who works for Animal Control, as interim director. The structure of the department is not changing at this time.

A final bit of business was passing a new flood-plain ordinance that makes it consistent with the federal model ordinance. The update was needed to make sure residents can get flood-plain insurance.

Drainage Board meeting

Thankfully the Drainage Board meeting that followed the almost three-hour-long Commissioners meeting was short. They approved two ditch maintenance certificates and transferred some funds. Newton County wants a meeting of the Joint Jasper-Newton Drainage Board and two members volunteered to attend. There will be a pre-bid meeting for cleaning the R.T. Davis and Sands ditches on October 19 at 9:00 at the Surveyor's office.

Rensselaer Redevelopment Commission meeting

In the late afternoon the Rensselaer Redevelopment Commission met in City Hall. Under old business it was reported that Titan Construction is preparing a report on soil testing and demolition of the former R&M building.

There were three items of new business. Rensselaer Central Schools requested $25,000 to help fund its pre-school program that is held at the primary school. Currently it has two classes and about 30 children are enrolled.The State does not support pre schools and the School Corporation has been using Covid money to help fund it, but now that money is going away, leaving a deficit of about $25,000. The Redevelopment Commission opened the possibility of using TIF money for education when they gave money to Apple Seed, with the justification that child care and early education were important in attracting employees and employers to Rensselaer. The Commission approved the $25,000 for next year. (It had maxed out what it could give this year for education with its grant to Apple Seed.)

The School Corporation then requested another $25,000 to help fund textbooks and device costs. The State Legislature decided to abolish textbook rental fees and in return gives school districts money to help compensate for the lack of those fees. However, Rensselaer Schools will receive about $210,000 from the State but the textbook cost is about $75,000, the cost of student computers is about $175,000 and there are classroom costs of supplies and other things of about $50,000. The Commission agreed to fund this for the next year and the remainder will be funded from the rainy-day fund.

The final request was from the Rensselaer Parks for $25,000 to help fund the summer programs. These programs have grown each year since they began a few years ago and to maintain them and to grow them the Parks need to find funding. The Commission approved the $25,000.

The Commission approved paying Baker Tilly $1750 to prepare the annual TIF Report and there was some preliminary discussion of planning for a new Park headquarters building. Three quotes have been obtained to do the design work and engineering studies and they will be reviewed before the next meeting.

Park Board meeting

The Rensselaer Park Board also met on Monday evening. In the February Tourism Commission meeting Greg Whaley had asked if funding might be available to bring a miniature train that was manufactured in Rensselaer back to Rensselaer.

The Miniature Train Company moved to Rensselaer in about 1947 and was located where Sealy Springs is today. It produced trains used in amusement parks and similar venues. In the mid 1950s the company was sold and the factory was relocated to New York. Mr Whaley believes that bringing one of these trains manufactured in Rensselaer back to Rensselaer would be a tourist draw and would enhance the Parks. What he wanted from the Park Board was their blessing for his project, including permission to locate the train in a park and for the Park Corporation, which is a non-profit organization, to handle finances, most importantly, to accept grant money. The Board endorsed his idea and formed a subcommittee to coordinate planning. Mr Whaley had found a non-working train for sale that includes an engine with four cars and eighty feet of track. The project does not include restoring the train to working condition. If the project is completed, the train will belong to the Park Department. The Tourism Commission is unlikely to approve more than 50% of the cost of the project so money from other sources will also be necessary. (A bit about miniature trains is here.)

Six tournaments are scheduled for the Blacker Fields for 2024. There has been a lot of vandalism in the parks lately and that delays other work the Park Department needs to do. Work has resumed on the Filson Park shelter house.

Scarecrow Trail

The Scarecrow Trail is up in Milroy Park. White Castle welcomes you to the Trail if you enter from the northeast.

Browns continues its tradition of very decorative exhibits.

This scarecrow from the Carnegie Players has a sign that says, "Do you know this scarecrow? A Christmas Carol coming soon! to a stage near you!

Chief Industries is back again this year with something produced by a plasma cutter.

The big eyeball scarecrow is from Evans, Taylor, and Finney Eye Care.

The headless horseman did not photograph well because of the light. It is from Tri Kappa.

I will have more pictures later.

Notes

Last week the City's Gas Utility completed hooking up the regulators that control the pressure of the gas supply. They still have some finishing up to do, but the new regulators are on-line.

Mainstreet Rensselaer hosted the annual OktoberFest in front of City Hall on Saturday. The first band to perform was the one that played mostly German music.

I had not heard anything lately about the proposed wind farm in Carpenter Township. The project is still alive because last week's Rensselaer Republican had in its legal notices from the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission. It was a Legal Notice of Evidentiary Hearing in the matter of the petition by Carpenter Wind Farms LLC for certain determinations with respect to the jurisdiction over petitioners activities as a generator of electric power. 

Finally, I could not resist taking a picture of this cute fellow or gal.