A last post for February 2025

 A new business

Rensselaer has a new business, a drink bar on Vine Street. It opened at the end of January and is called B&B Teas and Sips. It is filling the void left when Sblendid closed.  It is located in a tiny shop that previously housed hair salons. 

Here is their menu. I learned what bobas are.

And here is a look at the interior.

City Council meeting

The Rensselaer City Council met Monday evening with a short agenda. After the usual preliminaries, they discussed a fee schedule that had been tabled at the last meeting. No changes had been made and a couple of Council members thought that some fees were too high and there were too many fees. Mr Davis responded that the reason there were so many fees is because the zoning code is very complex. The Council sent it back to the Plan Commission for some simplification.

The Council made a final vote to vacate an alley way north of vine near the Maxwell Ditch. This was the second vote so the result is final. The Council also made second and final approval of new Districts. They also quickly approved a FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act) request and approved Shelby Keys signing a USRDA report after the mayor approved the final document. The next item was a contribution of JCEDO but the director of JCEDO was not present so the item was tabled until the next meeting. Finally there was a brief discussion of an accounting issue. The City accounts on a cash basis and the utilities account on an accrual basis..

In comments by the superintendents, the repair of the Melville sewer line is still in the permitting stage. The line seems to have been installed in the 1930. Closure of the Scott Street rail crossing has begun. The water main along US 231 south of town has had multiple problems. There is the possibility that Rose Acre will expand and will need upgraded gas service. Office furniture has been moved into the new Park office in the light plant.

JC BZA meeting

Later on Monday the Jasper County BZA and Plan Commission met. The first two items on the agenda were variances for lot width, one in Wheatfield and one in Walker Township. In both cases the owners want to divide off a few acres behind the existing residence. Both were approved. The third item on the agenda was a special exception for a cell tower in Union Township. However, the person who should have been explaining the tower was not present, so the matter was tabled until the March 17 meeting.

JC Plan Commission meeting

The Plan Commission had four items on its agenda. The first was from the people who had received a lot-width variance in Wheatfield Township in the BZA meeting. Their request for a two-lot subdivision was granted. The next item was a request for a rezone from A1 to A2 in Walker Township. To build a house on A1 land requires ten acres but only four in A2. It was sent to the Commissioners with a favorable recommendation. The third request was for a rezone from A2 to A4 so a young man can establish a landscape business. He said he would not do retail, only park trucks and store supplies on the lot. It was sent to the Commissioners with a favorable recommendation. The final item on the agenda was a request for a two-lot subdivision in Walker Township. It was approved.

There have been rumors that Jasper County may be considered for a data center. They use large amounts of electricity and water. County officials are working on a data-center ordinance that would specify what requirements would be placed on any future center.

More odds and ends

A grandson had a birthday a few days ago. We called his watch to wish him a happy birthday. I do not think that I had ever before called a watch.

I enjoy watching the report of ice cover on the Great Lakes. After being below the average for most of the year, the cold weather last week created a spike that broke through the average. Now with warmer weather we are again below average. You can access some of that data here.

Rensselaerians can now sign up for Rensselaer's alert system.

Finally, congratulations to the Lady Bombers Basketball team who will play for the State Championship in class 2A on Saturday.

Miscellany Mid-November 2024

Some SJC news

On Wednesday the Rensselaer Chamber of Commerce held its final luncheon of the year at Strack & Van Til with a presentation from Ernest Watson about programs at SJC. He talked mostly about the building-trades program that recently started. That program has had problems finding high school students because of scheduling (the students need a three-hour block of time and some schools cannot provide that) and the foundation courses that are needed are not there. The program does have a student from the Indiana Ag and Tech school who would be willing to work every day if it were permitted.

It has taken a while, but SJC is now focused on hands-on training. Mr Watson commented that it has gone from higher education to hirer education, a focus on providing skills and certificates that make students ready for jobs. There is a demand for people in the trades and not enough young people are entering them. The CDL program limits classes to four students, much less than some programs north of us. The students learn on manual transmissions because then they can drive any semi. Students who learn on automatic transmissions cannot drive manual transmission trucks. 

SJC has developed useful relationships with WorkOne and United Way of Northwest Indiana, both of which have funding to help people upgrade their skills. SJC will have an open house on November 21 from 6:00 until 8:00 for anyone interested in knowing more about their program.

There is a chance that SJC will host a school for training linemen. Let's hope it happens. Saint Joe has its winter newsletter on-line. The subdivision that will gradually emerge west of Halleck Center now has a name, the "Waugh Estates".

Finally, the recently-hired CEO, Rachel J. Lattimore, who was hired this past summer, is leaving. She gave her notice in September and will leave before the end of November. I talked to her briefly and she said her vision of the future was not the same as the vision of some Board members. She did not go into details, but my guess is that she is interested in exploring new opportunities while some on the Board still want to resurrect the past.

Annual Prairie Arts Council Holiday Sale

The Prairie Arts Council Holiday Sale began on Thursday and will end on Saturday. There is a lot of stuff for sale—the gallery is packed with things. There are several jewelry exhibits.

Of course there are paintings.

I am not sure what these are.

More paintings and glassware.

If you have not stopped by, Saturday is your last chance.

The Celebrating Photography show that was scheduled to run through December has been canceled because of building maintenance.

A mystery tree/bush

This summer I noticed a strange little tree or bush that was growing in my yard next to the street. I used to be able to identify almost all the trees around town, but this one was a complete mystery to me. It had very ordinary leaves but strange pink-red fruit that was oddly shaped.

My curiosity finally made me search for it. It is a European Spindle. It is not native to North American but so far has not spread enough to be declared an invasive species. Its berries pop open and reveal a hard seed. The whole plant is poisonous. You can find more here and here.

Rensselaer Redevelopment Commission meeting

The Rensselaer Redevelopment Commission met Thursday afternoon. On their agenda was a public hearing for a resolution that would a) enlarge the Drexel/Fairgrounds economic development area, b) establish the Van Rensselaer Residential allocation area, and c) amend and restate the Drexel/Fairgrounds economic development plan. There were several people who asked questions about what this meant. The Drexel/Fairgrounds TIF district connects via roads two areas, one on the east side of US 231 across from SJC and the other west along SR 114 from the old City limits to the Interstate. Any property tax revenues from new development in these areas goes to the Redevelopment Commission and they are supposed to spend them to provide infrastructure such as roads and utilities. The resolution establishes a new TIF area, a two block tract north of Van Rensselaer and a strip along Elm Street east of Melville Street. This is a residential TIF, something new allowed by the State.The resolution both expands the area in which the Commission can spend money and the things on which the Commission can spend. After the comments, the Commission passed it and this is the final vote that it needed. (The City Council previously approved it.)

The Commission continued the Façade grant program with funding at $100,000 for 2025. It loosened the timing of the spending, so more than $25,000 can be spent in one quarter if it is taken from another quarter.

Finally, the Commission approved a 2025 spending plan. During that discussion, Superintendent Craig from Rensselaer Central Schools reported on how the $25,000 given to the Schools last year helped the Corporation's pre-school, which enrolls 43 kids this year. There is no State funding for pre-schools. This year the Corporation is requesting another $25,000, but for school supplies instead of pre-school. The State gives schools $156 per student for supplies, but Rensselaer spends more than that. I am not sure if the vote to accept the 2025 spending plan also approved that request or if it needs a separate approval.

Odds & ends

Saint Augustine had its annual turkey dinner and bazaar on Thursday. Preparing dinners for hundreds of people takes a tremendous amount of work and I respect those who do it.

Below is the finished window painting on the window of Gallina Insurance. (The previous post had the sketch.)

On Monday and Tuesday there are some County meetings that may have substantial audiences.

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.

A graveyard mystery

Gas Utility work

The Gas Department continues work replacing the regulator next to McDonalds on South College. The old regulator has been dismantled and some temporary lines are feeding gas into the distribution network. At the regulator station the gas pressure for residences is lowered from 100 psi to 30 psi. Some gas continues at 100 psi and goes on to the regulator station on Lincoln Avenue. The 100-psi line at one time also fed the power plant.

The old regulator is gone but there is still equipment lowering the pressure. 

I find it amazing that they can do this kind of work without interrupting the gas supply.

A mystery

I talked briefly last week to a woman who probably knows more about local cemeteries than anyone else. I asked her for the name of the Indian boy who died at the Indian School and is buried in Mount Calvary Cemetery. His name was Frank Hendricks and I found a notice of his death by searching the Hoosier State Chronicles. I attached the notice to his findagrave memorial.

Doing a bit more digging, I found two other death notices of pupils at the Indian School who the paper reported were buried at Mount Calvary. However, they are not recorded in the records that I have access to. The first is from the Rensselaer Republican of April 26, 1894 and the second from the same paper of October 11, 1894.

There seem to be three possibilities. The paper may have been wrong and they were not buried in Mount Calvary. The paper may have been right and they were buried there, but are not in the records that I found. Or they may have been buried there but were later disinterred and were reburied elsewhere. I suspect there is no way to find out which is correct.

Plaques

The post reporting the ribbon cutting at Blacker Fields had pictures of some of the new plaques in the parks. There are more, including two at Foundation Park.

Back to the Blacker Fields, here are the two plaques showing the names of small donors.

Three new benches have been added to the parks. Below is the new bench in memory of Jared Valentine, who was murdered in 2018 at Arby's.

In front of the bench is a stone with an engraving that is hard to read unless the light is just right.

Another bench has been installed by Roth Field in memory of Michelle Effinger. I am not sure where the third one is, but I will find it.

Jasper County BZA and Plan Commission meetings

On Monday evening the Jasper County BZA met in the Circuit Court room. The Commissioners room was, in the words of one person there, full of junk. The County is having the floor on the second floor smoothed and polished, and the various things that were there were moved into the Commissioners room. 

The BZA had only one item on its agenda, a request for a variance for a lot width on a parcel in Keener Township. The required frontage is 250 feet but the owner wanted to split the lot, with a 50 foot access road to the back half. He had no plans to build but wanted that option for the future. There were several people in the audience who spoke on the matter, some for and some against. Concerns were that the road already had too much traffic and adding another driveway would only increase it, potential for groundwater contamination and effects on wildlife. The variance was granted with one member of the BZA opposed.

After a short break, the Plan Commission met. The first item on the agenda was a matter continued from the August meeting in which the applicant had requested a two-lot subdivision. The Commission had continued the matter because the applicant had built without a building permit even though he knew he needed it. The Commission had imposed a $2500 fine and mandated that the owner hire an inspector to make sure the building was up to code. At this meeting the Planning officer reported that all the conditions had been met and the two-lot subdivision was approved.

There were two more two-lot subdivisions approved. The first was in Walker Township where two two-acre lots were being carved from a larger plot, and the second was for the person who had requested the lot-width variance in the BZA meeting. The last item was a rezone of some land in Jordan Township from A1 to A2, The land is a flood plain and not buildable. The owner wants to use it for hunting, which apparently is not an approved use for land zoned A1.

Jasper County Council

The Jasper County Council meeting on Tuesday was long but not especially interesting. The Sheriff had made a job offer to a person who decided not to accept the day before he was to begin. The Sheriff has found another person for the position, but wanted input from the Council about starting pay because the new person has several years of experience in law enforcement. 

The Council approved several additional appropriations. One was for Community Corrections Renovations and was listed on the agenda for $500,000.00. The Council decided that an extra zero had been added and approved it for $50,000. 

The Budget was then read and approved on first reading. There will need to be an approval for a second reading before it is adopted. If you would like to see the budget, you can find it at the Indiana gateway here.

Next on the agenda was a review of non-binding reviews. No reviews were done. Rather the message to whatever units of government that are included here was to stay within the state growth factor.

There were four reviews of binding taxing units: Rensselaer Central School Corporation, Airport Authority, Northwest Indiana Solid Waste, and Iroquois Conservancy. There were presentations for each and the approval of the budgets will be voted in the October meeting. The Airport Authority budget is slightly lower this year and it was a busy year for crop dusters. The solid waste district has a slight increase in its budget, but it has no taxes. Its revenues come from the tipping fees at the landfills.

The most interesting part of the meeting came at the end when the two commissioners who were attending the meeting were asked for comments. They are working with the City of Rensselaer to attempt to get City utilities west of the Interstate. The State controls the process for carbon capture, so the commissioners are telling people with concerns that they should share those concerns with their state legislators. The commissioners cannot stop the project, but it will need 70% of the landowners involved to agree. Rein Bontreger said that the landowners should hold out for top dollar and if the project ever moves forward, the County will try to extract as much money from BP as possible.

Notes

The dome for the arena at the Connection Center in Demotte has been installed.

Dollar Tree had its grand opening in its new location on Thursday. A lot of people were in the store shopping. Most prices are $1.25, but there are a couple of aisles of things from $2 to $5.

The Jasper County Historical Society paid to restore the monument to George Spitler in Weston Cemetery. It was leaning and in danger of falling over. It is located at the east edge of Weston Cemetery and is the tallest monument in that area.

There is no surviving obituary for him; the papers from those years were destroyed in a fire. However, you can read about him here. (Start at the bottom of the page.)

This week's Rensselaer Republican has an excellent article about the Memories Alive Cemetery Walk. It also has the press release from Jasper County Economic Development about the upcoming façade grant program.

If you are a fan of maps, you may enjoy browsing this site.

A very busy weekend

Ribbon cutting Blacker Fields

On Friday, September 15 the Park Department held a ribbon cutting ceremony for the Blacker Fields. The actual cutting was posed with the sun behind people, so my pictures of the group did not turn out well. However, the cutting was accompanied with some glitter cannons and that made an interesting picture.

Before the cutting, several people spoke, including the daughter of Rex Blacker. I do not remember a bigger crowd for a ribbon cutting ceremony.

After the ribbon cutting, there was a ceremonial first pitch, which I did not capture.

Newly installed are six plaques. One of the two on the pillars holding up the Blacker Fields sign tells a bit about Rex Blacker, whose large gift to the Park inspired the Parks for People campaign.

On the other pillar are names of donors who have things named for them.

On the RestRoom/Concession building are four plaques with the names of donors. The first has the really big donors.

The second has medium sized donors, and the last two, not shown here, have the small donors who gave between $100 and $2000. There were a lot of them.

The ribbon cutting took place a couple years after the fields started being used, but the purpose was to honor those who contributed to the Parks for People Campaign and to mark its successful conclusion.

Cemetery Walk

The sixth annual Memories Alive in Weston Cemetery event took place on Saturday with ideal weather; not too hot or cold, little wind, and little sun, which was important in the afternoon because the part of Weston Cemetery covered this year has lost its ash trees. There were two performances. The first in the morning was held in the Hall Shelter. It appeals to those who do not want to walk or who have something else they want to do in the afternoon. I think about 40 people attended.

Something special this year was that attendees could grab a free book. One of the featured descendants was the wife of John Blue, who wrote several books. Not all of them sold so his daughter used the event for inventory reduction. The blue book tells the story of the Blue family as they came from the east and settled in Jasper County. Then part of that family continued west. This is a very common pattern of families that settled here.

In the afternoon performance the attendees were divided into seven groups that rotated around eight stations in the western part of the cemetery. Below is Judy Kanne portraying Margaret Mckinney Lewis, who taught in a couple of early schools. She had three sons, one born after her husband committed suicide because he was afraid that he was going insane, something that had happened to his father and sister. One of the sons was a very successful farmer near Remington and the other two went academic, earning PhDs. One taught briefly in Maine before returning to farming and the other ended up teaching biology at the University of Texas. 

Another person featured was Nora Daugherty Parkison who was a Red Cross nurse in WWI. She was portrayed by a distant relative, Kathy Parkison, who told how nursing developed as a profession, aided a lot by wars.

Others featured this year were Emory Harrison, Dewey Biggs,  and Madelene Sayler Speaks, who was portrayed by her granddaughter Susie Lintner Rayburn.

A comment left on the post from September 8 asked why Frank Clair, the Canadian football coach, was buried in Weston Cemetery. His wife was Patricia Bausman who grew up in Rensselaer. It is not uncommon for people to be buried in places where they did not live but relatives did. 

I am not sure how many attended the afternoon performance but my best guess is about 80. The program for the 2023 Walk can be viewed here.

Fall Frolic

On Saturday evening the annual St Augustine Fall Frolic had a new venue, Potawatomi Park.  I stopped by to take some pictures. The dunk tank attracted a line of kids.

There were a couple of food trucks.

There were several kids' games. Along the path you can see where a new pad has been installed. It will be filled with a bench honoring Jared Valentine.

One of the unusual games was bowling using pumpkins as bowling balls. The bounce houses are alway popular.

There were two sheep for people to admire. They did not seem to be happy to be there.

Quick notes

Other events this past weekend were festivals in Francesville and Wheatfield, a SJC homecoming, and Rock the Arts at Carpenter Creek Winery.

The Gas Utility is replacing the regulator station that is next to McDonalds on College Avenue.

The building that last was leased by Frida's has a new owner, Kentland Bank. 

NuBloom Naturals is gone and the space is again for rent.

Last week Bunkum Road from the Cemetery to Airport Road was being paved. 

There is the feel of fall in the air. Some of the corn looks ready to harvest. Days are getting shorter. The equinox is approaching and the sun will be rising due east and setting due west. Some leaves are starting to turn color. Nights are cool and the days are no longer hot.

Dollar Tree is busy moving into the old Walgreens building and should be opening on Thursday. I enjoyed shopping at the closeout of their old store.