Mostly late Feb 2025 meetings

 Old business

The previous post had a picture of a proposed plan for Milroy Park. After I wrote the post, I wondered when those plans might have been made. The picture had the Milroy monument on it, so the plans were after the monument was erected. That was in July of 1910. The Jasper County Historical Society commemorated the centennial of the dedication of the Milroy statue, and the post for that is here.

Searching the Hoosier State Chronicles, I found that the City bought the Milroy property in December of 1902. In 1903 the buildings, once the home and barn of General Milroy, were sold and moved.

When the site for the Carnegie Library was being discussed, Milroy and Weston Parks were both considered. Weston Park was bordered by Franklin, Division, and Plum Streets. The current name of that park is Flat Iron Park. The first mention of it I could find was in 1893, so it might be Rensselaer's first public park.

I found an article in 1920 that said the tennis court in Milroy Park was being repaired.

Commissioners meeting

The most interesting item at the special Commissioners' meeting on February 18 was a presentation of the proposed Marvella women's sports center that is planned for a 110 -acre site just to the south of Fair Oaks Farms. Although it will be on the Newton County's side of CR 1200W, it will have a large impact on Jasper County. The organizers claim that it will be the first sports center dedicated to women's sports. Construction will be in three phases, with the first phase, scheduled to start this Spring, being the most ambitious. Phase1 will see the construction of a massive indoor center that will be open year around. It should be ready to open in late summer of 2026. The other two phases will see the construction of a success center, a museum, and more outdoor fields and is scheduled for completion in late summer of 2027. The center will employ about 200 full-time people and several hundred part-time people. The goal is to make this a national destination.The complex is named after Marvella Bayh, wife of a former Indiana governor. For more about the center, check their website at marvellasports.com.

In other business the Commissioners approved replacing a correctional officer in the Sheriff's Department and two employees in Community Corrections. They also approved a reshuffling of positions at Community Corrections, eliminating a supervisor position to add a caseworker, to balance workloads. They approved a request from the Health Department for $1790 for flu shots for County Employees. They  provided the Fair Board a letter of support for a feasibility study for their proposed show arena. They approved re-allocating allotments for fuel among the various departments to take advantage of the negotiated Keystone rates. They approved a mowing bid and a vacation extension request. 

The meeting had reached the "Other Business" item. The Commissioners approved the signing of two safety grants. The approval was necessary to meet a time requirement. There was a discussion of credit and debit cards, both for routine County business and for unusual emergency situations. The Auditor was asked to figure out a reasonable policy. The former small-claims office in the Court House is being prepared to become the office of the Public Defender. The Commissioners approved a temporary, part-time hire in the Auditor's office to help with payroll. They approved bore under a County Road by REMC and noted that the warmer weather forecast for next week would trigger the Frost Law restrictions on County roads.

Rensselaer Plan Commission

The Rensselaer Plan Commission met Tuesday evening. They elected Jeff Rayburn as Vice President, replacing a member who resigned. They briefly discussed a fee schedule that the Council had tabled, asking for comparisons to other communities. Those comparisons are hard to make, but the community with a schedule most like the proposed schedule is DeMotte. No action was taken and work will continue on the schedule.

The Commission discussed the possibility of zoning out to the limit of the two-mile buffer zone. The reason for considering this is that the City is expanding sewer and water west of the I-65 and may want to TIF the area and that might be simpler if the County controlled all the zoning. There was discussion of the steps needed to do this. There was a suggestion that rather than just focus on the area west of I-65, why not zone all the land that is in the buffer zone.

There was a discussion of when a person should seek a variance of use rather than ask for a zoning change. There was uncertainty how to make people seek the right path without running afoul what the State legislation allows. They also discussed if they should tighten up the meeting procedures and which ones needed to be modified. Discussion will continue in future meetings.

A recording of the meeting is here.

Jasper County Council

The Jasper County Council also met Tuesday evening. The Sheriff had received an additional appropriation to replace chillers in 2024, but the project is still under construction and he needed a new appropriation because the 2024 appropriation does not carry over to 2025. The appropriation was not advertised in time for this meeting so it will be on the March agenda. He also introduced the possibility of hiring an additional school resource officer (SRO) for Kankakee Valley. He has a candidate interested who has experience and the department is currently down in manpower because one deputy is in military service and another is at the police academy. At this meeting he was simply seeing if there was support for the position and there was. He will need to get Commissioner approval for the position and an additional appropriation from the Council. He mentioned that the Department is looking into a grant for infrared cameras.

The Council then considered two pages of additional appropriations. The largest was for $1,826,680 for culvert replacement. EDP, the company building the Carpenter Wind Farm, has paid that amount to the County to replace 80 culverts as part of their road-use agreement. In order for the County Highway Department to spend that money, it needs to be appropriated. The Council appropriated one million of it. Some of the culverts will not be replaced until after construction is completed. Most of the additional appropriations were corrections for individual salaries.

The Council updated the Salary Ordinance. This led to a lengthy and confusing discussion of the Public Defenders' Office, the head of which is Lori James. The issue of confusion was how to account for those who chose to be County employees and those who chose to be County contractors. The Council reappointed members whose terms had expired to two boards. There was a discussion of how much the County might contribute to the proposed Wheatfield Township splash pad. The contribution would be from the economic development payments made by the Dunns Bridge solar farm and the sentiment was that the people who had to deal with the solar farms should get some of the benefit from those farms. There was mention of the Marvella development and how it might impact Jasper County. Its drainage would flow into Jasper County but there should be significant economic impact. It will be fun to watch.

There was brief discussion of EMS funding. The cost of an ambulance is in the $318,000-$325,000 range. Not all of the ambulances in use are fully equipped and one possibility being considered is to lease the equipment.

The Fair Board asked for and received a letter of support for a feasibility study for a multipurpose facility to replace the show arena at the FairGrounds. This year the Fair Board has three capital projects: additions to the poultry and the dairy barns and a fenced walking path connecting the campgrounds.

The Auditor mentioned that Amazon has a special discount program for Counties and she is researching it. One member said the would prefer the meetings being kept in the Court House rather than returning to the Sparling Annex when remodeling is finished.

Elementary art show

The current exhibit at the Fendig Gallery is the Elementary (K-5) show. In the past this exhibit took two shows, one k-2 and the other 3-5. This year they are combined.

There are several walls similar to this one.

I wandered around and took a few pictures that I liked.

This one has an amazing amount of detail for an elementary student.

Not all the pieces are pictures.

There were several that put a face in a grid.

The exhibit runs until February 23, the date of the closing reception. the High School show runs Feb 27 to March 15 and the Middle School exhibit will run March 20-April 6.

Odds and ends

The Rensselaer Central High School girls basketball team are regional champions. This is the first time that the school's girls team has advanced this far. For more information, see the report at the Rensselaer Republican. 

I noticed a familiar style painting in the front windows of the Carnegie Center. They are done by the same artist that did the downtown windows. Because the windows are so high off the ground, she painted on pexiglasa and they are mounted inside the building. The paint used is house paint.

There is a matching painting on the other side of the door.

The very cold weather this week has refrozen parts of the Iroquois River.

Arts and Theater

Carnegie Players to present three short George Ade plays

On June 20, 21, and 22 at 7:00 pm the Carnegie Players will present three short George Ade plays in the basement of St. Augustine Church. Tickets will cost $8.00 and will be sold at the door.

George Ade was an enormously successful writer, becoming quite wealthy from his many books, plays, and articles. He built a mansion east of Brook, which is now owned by Newton County. He was a graduate from Purdue University and was a generous donor to his alma mater, with his name on the football stadium. (He is the Ade of Ross Ade.)

Ade died 80 years ago in 1944 so this may be a good year to pay a tribute to a person who came from our corner of Indiana. Like most authors who were very popular during their lives, many fewer people read him now than when he was alive. In Ade's case, that may be because a lot of his humor was prompted by the popular culture of his time.

I was invited to a rehearsal on Thursday evening. The first play performed was Mrs. Peckham's Carouse. This play's humor comes from poking fun at the temperance movement that led to Prohibition in the 1920s. Mr Peckham is a lawyer who receives a bottle of whiskey from his brother-in-law. His wife is a temperance crusader. There are deceptions and misunderstandings that lead to poor decisions and ultimately to a twist at the end.

The second play, The Mayor and the Manicure, is about a mayor dealing with a woman trying to blackmail him because of poor judgement by his son. The two telephones play an important role in this play.

The last of the three plays, Nettie, was my favorite because it was the least tied to the times in which it was written (and also because it needed the least amount of tweaking before the actual performances). It is a twist on mistaken identities. Ade never married or had children and perhaps this play also reveals a bit of what he thought about women. 

While I was there, the lights and sound system were being wired.

The plays have a cast of 13. Most are in only one play, but several have roles in two of the plays.

I look forward to seeing the finished production, in part to see how much change there will be from this rehearsal to the finished product.  If you like theater, comedy, or tributes to Indiana history, you will enjoy An Evening with George Ade.

Honoring Hispanic Heritage at the Fendig Gallery

The current exhibit at the Fendig Gallery is Honoring Hispanic Heritage and it runs until July 7. It features art,  artifacts, and objects that exemplify and showcase Hispanic heritage.

The paintings on the right above are by Doris Myers from a trip she took to Mexico.
 

Much of the exhibit is made up of small items that are numbered, with a short explanation of what each is on a placard. 

These crocheted pieces are from a very large exhibit from Mexico.

Here is the explanation. Searching for "Etzatian" on the Internet should show you what the whole construction looked like.

There were only a few paintings in the exhibit. This one was for sale.

Gallery Hours areTuesdays: 12pm - 4pm; Thursdays: 2pm - 6pm; Saturdays: 12pm - 2pm

Odds and Ends

The LaRue Pool opened on Monday and despite very cold water and cool temperatures, it had swimmers all afternoon. On Thursday the temperature was warm and there were a lot of swimmers even though the water was still cold.

On Wednesday the Chamber of Commerce had a luncheon at Autumn Trace. After the lunch, there were tours of the facility. It has not changed much since it opened.

Workers have finished pouring curbs on Harrison Street.

There are forms for some of the sidewalks at Filson Park.

Thursday night into very early on Friday Rensselaer received about an inch of much needed rain. 

Real winter is coming

 Board of Public Works

The Board of Public Works had four new faces on Monday evening. Mayor Phillips presided and Jeff Rayburn joined the Board. Rensselaer has a new City Attorney, Todd Sammons. Officer Daniel White attended representing the Police. I do not know if he will continue; Police Chief Matt Anderson was present at the City Council meeting that followed.

As usual, the meeting approved pay requests for City projects.  It approved two totaling about $7750 for Commonwealth Engineering for work on the New Lift Station and Unsewered Areas Project. It approved $167,663 for Maguire Iron Partial Payment Request #7. Maguire continues assembling the pieces for the new water tower near the Interstate and erection of the tower is scheduled for January 18. There was a change order for the Water Main and Water Service Replacement project of $83,209.58 that will allow some additional service replacements. Citywide there are still several hundred lead service lines that should be replaced and the average cost of replacing them is about $15,000 each. Grimmer Plumbing is almost finished with its work and it had two payment requests approved, one for $128,896 and the other for $67,804. Commonwealth Engineering had a pay request for $34,107 approved. 

The Board then had a discussion with a representative from Commonwealth about a City-County project to extend water and sewer to the west side of I-65. This will be done in two phases, the first getting the lines drilled under the Interstate and the second extending them to at least CR 1000W. I am not exactly sure what the Board approved. I think it gave the Mayor authority to sign a City-Council agreement that is being prepared by attorneys.  When the project is completed, residents in the area will get lower  fire insurance rates because of the closer hydrants, the City will get utility revenues, and the County will get increased tax revenue as the land is developed.

The phosphorus plant at the sewage plant is a couple of weeks away being operational. (I tried to get a picture of the building several weeks ago but my camera malfunctioned. The building is red.)

City Council meeting

The Rensselaer City Council began its meeting by electing Noel Weishaar president of the Council. (George Cover had for many years held that position.) The Mayor then swore in the City superintendents. Most were the 2023 superintendents, but there were two that were different. Brett Wilhite is the new electric superintendent and Bryce Black, who had been heading the Street and Water Departments for over a year as an assistant superintendent, was sworn in as the Street, Water, & Sanitation Superintendent.

Below is a picture of the Council before the meeting began. From left to right are Councilmen Rayburn, Watson, Police Chief Anderson, Clerk-Treasurer Keys, Mayor Phillips, Councilmen Overton, Armold, and Weishaar. 

(When I started attending the City Council meetings the people seated at the Council table consisted of G. Cover, E. Watson, F Bretzinger, S. Wood, R. Odle, W. Hollerman, and S Barton.)

The Council quickly approved three items from the Rensselaer Plan Commission: a rezone of some SJC property from RS to R1, a rezone of the Busy Bee lot from R1 to B1, and a revised zoning ordinance that the Council had sent back to the Plan Commission for modification. (In the City the Council has final say on zoning changes just as in the County the Commissioners have final say on zoning changes.) Mr Watson recused himself from the SJC zoning vote. The Council also quickly passed the January gas tracker that reflects a 5¢ increase per hundred cubic feet of usage.

The rest of the meeting was routine. The Council approved a burial-rights request (sold a lot in Weston Cemetery), a PR request for an employee retirement, and a FMLA request. Several people have been working on utility budgets. There is a Court hearing scheduled for Friday about a Front Street property that has concerned the Council. The Building Inspector wants a committee to develop an ordinance about parking in alleys and on sidewalks. The Police Department is going through the steps needed to hire a new officer. The Street Department has a couple of positions open. It was given permission to purchase safety equipment for working in holes. The Electric Department is taking down Christmas decorations and will be working to get electricity to to shelter in Foundation Park.

I missed the City Council meeting on December 26. The minutes are here.

Park Board meeting

On Tuesday evening I had a choice between the Airport Authority Commission meeting or the Park Board meeting; both met at the same time. I chose the Park Board meeting. 

New to the Park Board was Jeff Rayburn representing the City Council. Three members of the Park Corporation, Jannelle Musch, Stace Pickering, and Jenny Boget, were reappointed.  Officers from 2023 were retained.

There was discussion of getting ready for tournaments at Blacker Fields. There will be some girls softball tournaments and they will only take place on Sundays and Saturdays. Attending the meeting was Mayor Phillips who discussed some of the possibilities he is pursuing. He is looking for uses of the old light plant and thought that it might have possibilities for Park usage. He would like to get more trails but needs some grants for that. He is working on getting electricity and lights to Foundation Park. He would like to convince SJC to do something to make their unused indoor athletic facilities available to the public. The minutes from the November meeting, which I missed, are available here. The next meeting is scheduled for February 5.

Chamber lunch

The featured speaker at the January Chamber of Commerce lunch was JCEDO executive director Sara DeYoung. She talked about what JCEDO does and about economic development. She said that before she became director of JCEDO, she traveled through the small towns of the area and noted that some small towns were thriving and others seemed to be declining and wondered why. She has tried to learn from towns that are successful.

An initiative from her office is Yodel, a calendar application and website that she hopes will aid tourism and help County residents be more aware of what is happening in the County. Jasper County tourism has a new website at discoverjaspercounty.com.

Projects that JECDO is supporting or has recently supported include those of White Castle, FBI, Wheatfield Elevator, the DeMotte water expansion, Remington site expansion, a multicounty ag strategy, and child care. Community development and quality of life are now seen as important in economic development, something not true a few decades ago. There are no silver bullets and everyone should do what they can to improve quality of life.

Notes

We did not have snow on Christmas day, but we did get snow on January 6, the traditional day of Epiphany, which for some marks the end of the Christmas season.

Since the 6th we have had repeated rounds of snow and melting. On Tuesday the wintery mix caused a two-hour delay in the Renssealer Schools

Days are getting longer by a little over a minute each day. Most of the extra daylight is being added in the evening. The latest sunrise occurred on January 4.

 From the Rensselaer Vol Fire Department Facebook page: "Our Miss Flame, Alexxys “Nellie” Standish is now your new Indiana State Fair Queen!Since early last year, Alexxys has won the District 9B Miss Flame contest. Next she won the Indiana Volunteer Fireman’s Assco. Miss Flame contest. Then she won the Miss Newton County Fair contest. Now, she is the Indiana State Fair Queen. A clean sweep!   Quite a young lady!"

The first recipient of a JECDO Façade Improvement Grant is Fleming Investments. There will be photos taken on Thursday at 4:00 pm at 120N Cullen St.

The former Busy Bee is now Dowgz in Suds Grooming and will open for business on Wednesday, January 10. It still has Busy Bee signage.

The former R&M building now has a "sold" sign on it.

The City of Rensselaer now has a Facebook page.

I subscribed to the emails from gridbrief.com, which sends me multiple messages each week. Included once a week are graphs showing what keeps the lights on, or how electricity is generated both nationally and in subsections of the nation. Here, for example, is a graph for the end of December into January. Natural gas is the largest source of electricity and because many plants using gas can be turned on or off easily, it picks up the supply when needed. Nuclear cannot be switched on or off quickly, so it is a flat line. Solar only works during daylight and wind is very erratic.

The Tourism Commission meeting scheduled for Tuesday was postponed until Wednesday the 17th due to weather. 

Some rezoning

And then it was gone

Below are two pictures of the Soesbe Building taken on Wednesday.

On Thursday only a tiny bit of the building remained and it was being torn down.

On Friday morning all that was left was on the ground and being cleaned up.

On the topic of demolition, the Catholic Church in Goodland is being demolished. It was closed after Sacred Heart Church in Remington reopened after being repaired. One priest served Rensselaer, Remington, and Goodland and there were just not enough parishioners in Goodland to keep that parish as a separate entity.

 Rensselaer Plan Commission


The Rensselaer Plan Commission met Thursday evening with both old and new business on their agenda. It approved the ordinance that the Council returned to them with one of the paragraphs deleted. The revised ordinance will again go to the Council for approval. A rezoning request for a property along Melville has been discussed at two previous meetings. At this meeting a new map was presented, rezoning the parts of the block in question that are being used for residences to R1. The map also rezoned several parcels that are being used for industrial to light industrial. Included in the change to light industrial is the block that was previously used by the State Highway Department. It has chemical contamination and cannot be used for housing. The Commission approved the Building Commissioner to proceed with notifying people about the proposal. A public hearing will be necessary before these lots are rezoned.

The first item in new business was a request from Saint Joseph's College to rezone a parcel that includes the parking lot west of the Halleck Center and the former softball field from residential suburban to residential. The major change is that the RS zoning requires one-acre lots and the R1 zoning only 0.17 acres. With RS zoning fewer than 15 houses could be build but the College thinks it can get 28 houses built with the R1 zoning. The College wants to start a building trades program and constructing houses will be part of that program. The College would like to start the program in the fall of 2024. The Commission approved a recommendation of approval to the City Council.

The next rezoning request was for a rezone from R-1 to B-1 (Neighborhood business) for the property that has been Busy Bee. The owner tried to sell the business, but found no buyers and now wants to convert it to a dog-grooming business. To make the new business legal, the property must be rezoned. There will be no additions to the building but the inside will be remodeled. The Commission supported the change in zoning.

There was a short discussion of a petition to vacate the undeveloped parts of Prairie Street, which lies north of the very large warehouse north of Merritt Street between Cullen and Weston Streets. No action was taken at this meeting. There was another short discussion of a proposal to update the Zoning Ordinance and the Subdivision Control Ordinance. Finally, the requirements for membership on the Plan Commission were reviewed. The Council appoints three who are officials or employees of the City and the mayor appoints four citizen members, only two of whom can be from the same political party.


BZA meeting

The main item on the Rensselaer BZA agenda was a conditional use variance for a church building in a B-3 zoning district. The petitioners represent a church of about 150 members that is currently meeting in the Church of the Nazarene. They would like to remodel the former R&M building on Kellner Blvd. They do not know how much, if any, of the current building they will keep; that decision will be made by contractors or people who are engineers or architects. Two people from the DeMotte area who have many years of building experience are supporting their efforts. An area of concern was that applicants for liquor licenses within 600 feet of a church property need church approval. The members of the BZA did not like this requirement so they made one of the conditions for approval of the variance that the church cannot impede liquor business in the R-3 district (which includes all of downtown). The petitioners thought remodeling would take about a year. They have not yet purchased the property; they were waiting for the variance before they bought.

Below is an architect's rendition of what the completed church will look like. It was taken from the handout at the BZA meeting.

The Board then discussed the requirements for membership. No one who is an elected official may serve on the Board, so this was the last meeting for Jeff Rayburn, who will become a member of the City Council in January.


Notes

On the way home from the Rensselaer BZA meeting I stopped in the Library to pick up a book. A meeting of the Republican caucus was just getting out and I saw several people I knew. I asked one who they had selected to replace Bret Risner for the County Council and they told me that they had selected Jacob Misch who lives near Wheatfield.

I took a picture of water-towere construction on Thursday. I was disappointed that this picture is not a lot more different from the one I took two weeks ago. The section of the stem that will be between the base and the top is longer.

The Park Department is putting out new trash cans. Their purchase was approved by the City Council in September.

More meetings

Despite a week of very cold temperatures, the Iroquois River did not freeze over. 

Water is slowly rising in the Babcock Quarry. You can compare the picture below to a picture from early November to see the rise. (The platform near the end of the road once held the pump that kept the water level from rising.)

You can see some of the hundreds of geese that are hanging out in the quarry in the picture above. 

The cold weather froze the water seeping in from the western edge of the quarry.

The Rensselaer Redevelopment Commission met Tuesday to adopt a declaratory resolution to enlarge the Lintner Park TIF area. This is the first step of several before the TIF is enlarged. The property the Commission is adding is about 28 acres, presently zoned for agriculture, east of the present TIF area. It is inside City limits and there has been interest shown in the past about the area. It is next to the railroad so a spur line is possible. 

The Airport Authority Board met Tuesday evening. They discussed a five-year Capital Improvement Plan that needs to be submitted to the FAA by February. Their engineering consultant pointed out that the recently passed federal infrastructure act had money dedicated to airports and that the Jasper County Airport was eligible for $159,000 a year for five years. He said that one of the uses they might make of this money is to build a new hangar. The airport has an old hangar that was built in the 1940s and replacement of that building, which is considered a safety hazard because it is too close to the taxiway, has been a priority for several years. Members of the Board suggested other options and the plan was made more vague to include those options. Final guidance on how these infrastructure funds may be spent is not yet available. A major goal of the Airport is to add an east-west runway that would be long enough to serve larger private jets. Some of the land needed has not yet been acquired and there was discussion as to when in the plan it should be acquired. 

The Board approved a request from Work One to allow a client to shadow the Airport Manager. There was a long discussion of the vacation and comp time policy for the Manager. The meeting was interrupted with a Finance Committee meeting, which noted that with the very low interest rates there was not much that could be done to improve the return on cash assets. The meeting concluded with the Board retaining its 2021 officers for 2022.

Several people involved with the invasive species initiative held a Zoom meeting on Monday. They set a date for a call out meeting to get more people involved. The tentative time and place is March 15 at 5:30 at the Carnegie Building. 

On its website but not in this week's edition the Rensselaer Republican reports that SJC has named Chad Pulver as chancellor. Late on Thursday SJC put the release on its website. I do not recall that SJC ever had the office of chancellor. I wish Dr Pulver success in his new position.

On January 22 at 10:00 am Bieser's Gourmet Kettle Corn Factory will have a ribbon cutting ceremony in Morocco.  It is nice to see a new business opening there.

On Thursday evening both the Rensselaer Plan Commission and the Rensselaer BZA met. The Rensselaer Plan Commission approved an amendment to the Schuster Road Platt. The City is planning to develop this road after getting a property donation from NITCO. The BZA approved a conditional use variance for a dog-grooming business on West Lincoln Street. The owners plan to move to a storefront in a few months.  The Rensselaer Plan Commission has another meeting scheduled for February 10. Both groups retained their officers from 2021 for 2022.

The Fendig Gallery is now hosting the Annual Regional Primary Art Show. The exhibit ends January 30. Masks are required for all visitors.

The foundation for new tennis courts is being prepared in Brookside Park.

Foundations are also being prepared for a new, smaller Walgreens where Arby's once stood.

Titan Construction is doing the work. On Thursday they had dug a trench for a footer.

Construction is supposed to be finished in March.

St. Peter and Paul Church, Goodland

A year or two ago the Diocese of Lafayette in Indiana combined many of its parishes into groups called pastorates.  The Saint Augustine parish in Rensselaer was combined with the The Sacred Heart of Jesus parish in Remington and the Saints Peter and Paul parish in Goodland to form the St. Michael the Archangel pastorate. One priest serves all three parishes. The church building in Remington had a fire and the repairing of the building is not yet complete, so Sunday services are currently held in Goodland and Rensselaer. 

I visited the church recently and took some pictures. St. Peter and Paul looks like hundreds of other small Catholic churchs in America. It was built in 1902.

 Below is a look at the inside.

The altar piece is ornate with large statues of the Holy Family flanked by Sts. Peter and Paul. 

Few churches have stations of the Cross as large as these.

The stained-glass windows are rather plain but do let in a lot of light.

The parish is the smallest of the three in the pastorate.

Hope you had a Merry Christmas.

The Kentland mural

I traveled out of town for Thanksgiving and passed through Kentland. I stopped to take some pictures of their new mural, painted by local graphic artist Rein Bontreger. The mural is on the Newton County Historical Society Museum and tells the story of Newton County, Indiana's youngest county. The first part has a picture of the Regal Fritillary butterfly, a rare species found at Kankakee Sands. It mentions that the railroad arrived in 1859. On the door there is a map showing the townships and Beaver Lake, the largest lake in Indiana before it was drained.

Moving to the north, the next section has a meteor that hit east of Kentland.  It shows the current court house and its predecessor. The Pumpkin Vine Fair is the Newton County Fair. The man pictured is Warren McCray, who was Indiana's governor in the 1920s and had an interesting history. He owned a bull named Perfection Fairfax that was famous in its time. Foster Park is a very nice park in Goodland. I believe that the Kent Hotel was owned by the man who gave Kentland its name. On the right are three highways that serve Newton County.

The third section features two notable people who came from Newton County, George Ade and Sam Rice. Ade was a writer and his name is on the Purdue football stadium. Rice was a baseball player and is in the Baseball Hall of Fame. He was born in Morocco. South Newton High School serves the southern part of the County.

The Scott-Lucas House is in Morocco. Fair Oaks Farms deservedly gets a mention on the mural. The Nature Conservancy's Kankakee Sands recently added bison. North Newton High School gets a mention. Jenny Conrad established the town of Conrad, which is now a ghost town. She was a strange character. I do not know why the chestnut tree is included.

Below is what the entire mural looks like.

It is a really nice mural that has a lot of meaning for those who live in the County. The dedication is scheduled for December 3 at noon.

(Update: The Newton County Historical Society published an impressive 12-page pamplet explaining the mural. The text for the pamphlet can be found here.)

If Jasper County ever got a similar mural to tell our history, what would you want to see on it?

On my travels last week I saw a few fields that were still unharvested. On Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I met a combine that was getting ready to harvest the field west of the quarry.

Coming back to Rensselaer I noticed signs by the old Monnett School. The person who owned the building died in August and the contents were sold at an on-line action that ended Tuesday. The auction for the building will end on the 15th. More can be found at Kraftauctions.com. I hope it finds a new owner who will restore it and find a good use for it.

I could not resist the opportunity to check out the auction for contents. I did not buy anything because I do not need more stuff. This picture was not for sale and I think I may have included it in a post several years ago. (Found it here.) The building needs a lot of work. On the upper floor plaster is falling off the walls and ceiling.

The most interesting item in the auction was a whole room full of toys and other stuff. It sold for $15. I think a reason that it did not sell for more is that people looking at it did not know what they would do with all the miscellaneous stuff.

Just to the south of the building, the newest trails in the Jasper Foundation park have been paved.

Black Friday seemed very tame this year. Have the retailers killed it by offering too many sales before Thanksgiving?

Rensselaer Central seems to have gotten a grant for $203,428 to buy a new electric school bus. The grant comes from funds that are part of a settlement that the U.S. government made with Volkswagen.