Homecoming and harvest

 Homecoming parade

This past weekend was RCHS Homecoming and on Thursday the school held its annual homecoming parade. I stopped by the line-up to take some pictures because I never know how well the pictures at night will turn out. I was surprised to see so many old cars ready for the parade, but I later learned that the grand marshall was shop teacher Walt Brown who co-founded the JC Cruisers.

In the lineup I took pictures of a couple of floats that I did not capture during the parade

I am not sure which class belonged to each of the class floats.

The FFA had its own float.

The band marched by quickly and my camera did not focus on them well.

At the end of the parade the very loud fire trucks carried the members of the football team.

Lots of candy was thrown to the delight of small and some big kids.

The football team won the game.

October Commissioners meeting

The October Commissioners meeting may have been the shortest of the year, lasting only about one hour. After approving minutes and claims, the Commissioners approved a simple bore request in Keener Township for a fiber optic cable.

The Commissioners and Council have discussed reorganizing the public-defender program for the past year. At this meeting a public-defender plan was presented to the Commissioners for their approval. It was based on a draft that came from the State public defender office. That draft had some changes made in various meetings. It will have a chief public defender officer who will do paperwork currently done by the Courts or the Auditor. The budget should be on the agenda of this month's Council meeting. The Commissioners approved the plan and thereby established the office of the chief public defender.

The Commissioners approved the meeting calendar for the Commissioner meetings in 2025 and also the 2025 holiday schedule. It approved a rezone of 83 acres in Walker Township from A1 to A2 in Walker Township. The owner decided that the land was not worth farming and would be better used for housing. An animal shelter shed was on the agenda but was pushed to another meeting for more information. Community Corrections received approval to replace an employee who left. 

The Sheriff reported that his food vendor is increasing prices by 4%. Also, a service a medical provider was providing free will now have a cost. He submitted and the Commissioners approved a conflict-of-interest form so that one of his employees can be hired to fix a car damaged by a deer. 

NIPSCO is planning a gas-fired peaking plant on its Wheatfield property and has agreed to pay for an analysis of an economic agreement with the County. The County has approved this but has not gotten a final word back from NIPSCO.

The harvest is in full swing and the fields are dry. On the advice of the local fire departments, the Commissioners approved reinstating the burn ban for the next seven days. Bids for various supplies for the Highway Department are going out to be opened in January. The Commissioners approved the contract snow plowing for the same subdivisions that had it last year. The Prosecutor was given permission to fill the position of a deputy prosecutor who is leaving. The meeting was continued to Tuesday, Oct 22 at 8:30 if needed. If the Sparling Annex room is unavailable because of construction, the alternative will be the Commissioners room in the Court House.

Drainage Board meeting

The Drainage Board meeting that followed the Commissioners meeting lasted longer than the Commissioners meeting, which is very unusual. The first item after approval of minutes was an adjustment to the drainage plan for the Genova south parking lot in Rensselaer. They will add a pond and the adjustment was approved with a hold-harmless agreement.

A landowner who has been getting water near the Davidson tile thinks there is blockage in the Davidson tile and would like assistance in finding the blockage. There was a long discussion that followed. The tile is from 1902. No action was taken and he was told to carry a petition to maintain or reconstruct.

The next case on the agenda was from a person who bought a 2+ acre lot in a subdivision that has a house. However, most of the lot is a retention pond that he must maintain and cannot build. He was not at the meeting and no action was taken.

There were two items involving NIPSCO. About a year ago they had received permission to make a temporary crossing of a County ditch on their property to do some work. The work is now done and they would like to leave the crossing, thereby making it permanent. The Board approved contingent on them getting the required permits from other agencies. The second item was a request to cross another ditch with a fiber optic cable. That was also approved.

There was a request for a variance to build a pole-barn building on North McKinley that will be over a tile. Several existing buildings are already over this tile. The request was granted but the owner will now be responsible for that section of the tile and must sign a hold-harmless agreement.

At a meeting on reconstructing the Kelly-Denton tile, the landowners decided they would like the tile replaced with a ditch. The Army Corps of Engineers said no to the ditch but the tile can be replaced because the ditch would drain a wetland. A new public hearing was scheduled for 10:30 on December 2. The location is uncertain because of upcoming remodeling at the Sparling Annex.

Two bids were received for cleaning the Claude May ditch and the lower bid was accepted.

Finally someone in Rensselaer wants to build a garage on a County right-of-way. The house is already on the right-of-way, as are some other homes. The variance was granted with a hold-harmless agreement.

Odds & ends

There were multiple Facebook reports on Tuesday morning of reports of people seeing the Northern Lights.

Steinke Funeral Home shared some pictures of their building when it was the Granlund Funeral Home. I had never heard of name. The Jackson Funeral Home began in 1944 when John Jackson bought the Worland Funeral Business and then in 1949 it purchased the Wright Funeral business. The Wrights were the only funeral home in most of Rensselaer's early history.

The brick streets have fancy new trash cans.

I have seen some harvested fields in the past couple of weeks but on Tuesday I saw a combine harvesting a soybean field along Sparling Avenue.

It stopped and unloaded into a large trailer.

Another sign of fall is the appearance of large preying mantises. For some reason this one thought my bike tire made a good perch.

I have more to write but this post is long enough. More later when I get to it.