Nearing the end of April 2020

The big news in the past few days is that Indiana Beach has been purchased by a man from Chicago. The Saturday Rensselaer Republican has the story and you can find it in many news outlets on the Internet.

Work has begun on sidewalk ramps along SR 114. Crews have marked sidewalk ends with barrels and are digging them out. Some sidewalks marked have recently been put in place by the City of Rensselaer. We will see if they are redone as well as sidewalks that are in terrible shape.

The foundations for crossing gates are in place at the Cullen Street rail crossing but they have not yet been installed at the Jefferson Street Crossing.

Walmart and Strack and Van Til have erected barricades to funnel people into their stores through one entrance only. I think it is to be able to control the number of people in the store at one time. Walmart has most of its garden merchandise outside.

This past Friday's weekly JECDO roundtable was shorter and less informative the first roundtable meeting. I missed the very opening because I was not paying attention to the time but I think I heard most of what Patty Stringfellow, head of the Jasper County Library, had to say. She listed some of the on-line resources the Library has that can be accessed through its website at myjcpl.com. Reopening will not happen until State and local authorities say it is OK. There will be a few days in which staff will have staggered work schedules and will catch up on accumulated tasks. There will be less face-to-face interaction and perhaps a period of curbside service. Everyone will be wearing masks at work. Expect changes.

Next up was Brienne Hooker from the Jasper-Newton Foundation. The Foundation has set aside $50,000 in each county to deal with emerging needs as a result of the shutdown. These are being used in cooperation with several local community service organizations and businesses to fill unmet needs and to make sure local food pantries are stocked. The Rensselaer High School has provided several iPads that are being used by residents in care facilities to communicate with family members. On May 5 there will be another Giving Tuesday and the focus will be on helping non-profits that have been hurt financially by the results of the shutdown. CDC Resources was named as an example. The Foundation is looking for ways to help those in the hospitality/food industry that are suffering from the shutdown.

Those attending the meeting got a chance to share thoughts. Several times the theme of "Shop Local" was raised. Two web sites that were mentioned were philsfriends.org, which provides support to those suffering from cancer, and saintjoearchives.org, which is preserving SJC history on-line. The Jasper County Airport remains open, though events such as the May Career Day for local schools have been canceled. Fenwick Farms Brewing is remodeling and will opening for carry-out on Monday. Ivy Tech plans a full schedule of classes this fall on the SJC campus. A summer class on entrepreneurship will now be done through e-learning.

If the video and audio from this meeting have been posted to the Internet, I have not yet found them.  Video and audio from this meeting are here.

Kendell Culp put up another County update on Facebook, here.

Mostly pictures

On Sunday I took advantage of the nice weather to take a bike ride. As I was almost done, I heard sirens and saw some smoke to the east. I went looking to find the smoke and found it north of the VanRensselaer school. A garage had caught on fire and spread to the house. The Wednesday issue of the Rensselaer Republican has more and also a better picture.

A couple weeks ago there was another house fire on the far east side of town. This past week the debris from that fire, which was located on the east side of Melville Street near the White Castle Bakery, was cleared away.

To the north of this house that burned on Sunday, south of American Melt Blown, a new house has been started. This strip of land is being used by Fuller Center for Housing, which used to be Habitat for Humanity.

The sidewalk that was ripped up on the corner of SR 114 and US 231 was being re-installed on Monday and Tuesday.

On Wednesday it was open for pedestrian traffic.

I talked to some of the workers who are installing cables for rail crossings on both Cullen and Jefferson Streets. I asked what the plans were for the Jefferson Street crossing and he said that it would have a gate. There are future plans to do something on the Mattheson Street crossing, but not in this go-around.

I could not resist this picture from the scrap yard.

In addition to work on the rail crossings, Cullen along the railroad has work being done on the elevator. Earlier this week there were long metal tubes next to Walnut Street and on Wednesday a crane was lifting a man to the top of the structure.

I was happy to see a farmer in the field though I do not know what he was doing.

Crops may not be planted yet, but people are busy harvesting their grass. Wednesday morning I saw a City truck picking up grass clippings and it was full.

There was a ground breaking ceremony recently in Pulaski County near West Central High School for a three-acre green house that will grow lettuce and other salad greens. The company making the investment is called Eden Valley Farms and you can learn more from its Facebook page.

On Wednesday a crew was putting up "Road Work" signs.

I think this is for work on SR 114. Sidewalks along the highway are marked up because the State will be redoing the sidewalk ramps. Here is all I could find in a quick search:

RENARTWAL plans to go ahead with phase 2 of the murals and announced one of the five artists who will participate, Ricky Watts. See what he does here.

The painting below recently appeared on the fence next to Embers Station.

It appeared to me that the dirt in the Town Mall lot has been smoothed and planted with grass.

Many of the stores that are open have gone to curb-side service.

The hospital is not open to visitors.

Folks over in White County are optimistic that Indiana Beach may be re-opening because the word "permanently" was crossed out on the Indiana Beach Facebook page.

Several months ago while looking for obituaries on microfilm, I found this in a September, 1932 issue of the Jasper County Democrat. It has provided inspiration that has kept me occupied for the past couple of months.

However, that is a story that belongs on another one of my blogs.

Famous from Rensselaer

I found the following article as I was reading through microfilm of old newspapers when the Library was still open.

There is plenty of information available about Marshall on the Internet. Wikipedia has a short article, as does the Oregon Encyclopedia. The blog of the Jasper County Library had an informative post about him and it linked to another blog post that was very interesting. I do not know if any of his books are currently in print, but used copies are available both on Amazon and Abe Books. Marshall was successful enough as a writer that he supported himself and his family solely from that occupation.

George Marshall, Edison's father, purchased a lot in Weston Cemetery for two siblings of Edison who died as babies. Also in the lot are two of his aunts from his mother's side of the family. His mother was a Bartoo, a family that settled in the Remington area. One of her brothers published the Remington paper for many years.

His aunt Jessie Bartoo, buried in the Marshall lot, died at the young age of 37. She became a photographer and I have seen pictures of her unusual round photography studio but cannot find any on the Internet. Until I read the long and touching tribute written by her brother-in-law, I had not realized that she was the proprietor of that studio. I had assumed that it was run by a man and I wondered who he was.

The map below is part of a Sanborn insurance map from 1899. I think the yellow building closest to the bridge was her studio. (Yellow indicates a wooden building, red brick, and blue concrete block. None of the buildings on this map survive today.)

I found three of her photographs on the Internet.

Here is one more from a findagrave memorial. It is of two Comer sisters.

JECDO's first weekly roundtable meeting

On Friday morning Jasper County Economic Development Organization (JECDO) hosted a roundtable meeting on Zoom. First on the agenda was County Commissioner Kendall Culp. He said that the health department was short staffed because two of the nurses could not come to the office. He has weekly calls with the governor or the governor's staff. The last property-tax statements were mailed Saturday and property taxes are due May 11. The Courthouse is open afternoons on Thursday after the staff leaves so people can do the paperwork needed to transfer property.  He then switched to his role as a farmer to say that there is plenty of food but there are some spot shortages caused by changed buying patterns and disruptions in some processing plants. He said farmers are hurting because prices have tanked. At this point his audio broke up and I couldn't hear  the rest of what he said.

The next speaker was Mayor Wood. He said that only a couple people are working in City Hall offices. The city employees are keeping the utilities operating. The City is waiving penalties for late bills. There is a drop off box for payments in the foyer of City Hall. The Mayor did not have a video feed because the new pcs that the city bought do not have cameras or microphones.

Mayor Wood was followed by Heather Topaz from DeMotte. One thing that DeMotte is considering it is whether or not they will open their pool this summer. DeMotte has 3 miles of walking trails and lots of people are using them, trying to keep their social distances. It is not looking good for the Little League season this spring. However, building permits have picked up.

At this point the meeting switched to having the 38 participants give updates of what was happening with their organizations or businesses. Those who are part of the Appleseed education movement are continuing to try to bring early childhood education to Rensselaer. Someone I did not recognize said that there will be a complete change in how we do business after the shutdown is ended. A spokeswoman for First Trust Credit Union said that they are operating mostly through their drive-up window. They are looking for sponsorship opportunities to help the community.

A Hamstra Builders representative said that their people are busy with projects. He also said that some of the people are more efficient working from home than they are in the office. Brian Overstreet said there are still spots available in the community garden. The editor of the KV Valley post said that they and people at the Rensselaer Republican are in the office and answering the phone but their offices are not open to the public. Both newspapers are interested in good stories and if you have one, contact them.

The owner of Jasper Junction said that their employees have been furloughed but they would like to be back at work. He urged people to buy local and to buy used. Connie Neininger from White County, who is part of Hoosiers For Renewables, is working with JCEDO on a grant that is ag related. A spokeswoman for Caboose Lake Campground said that they are hosting essential workers but they are closed to others. The Rensselaer Central School Corporation superintendent said that there are busses at 9 business locations with wifi connections for students to use. Rose Acres is giving the schools 200 dozen eggs that will be distributed on Monday. They have sent iPads to nursing homes so residents can communicate with family. The schools 3-D printers are being used to print straps for face masks.

State representative Doug Gutwein mentioned that Melt Blown Filtration has purchased the Green Furniture Store property west of town and will make masks there. I checked the GIS site and saw that the purchase was done in December 2019. Sheriff Williamson reported that there has been a dramatic reduction in calls to his office. They are getting roughly 30 a day instead of the 50 to 80 a day. The population at the jail is down to 53 inmates. He said that there is work in progress to get a women's recovery house sponsored by Oxford House.

Kirby Risk is doing curbside pick ups. The Jasper County Art League has been meeting using Zoom. The Jasper County Library will probably start up first with just staff. It will then go to curbside service. The Jasper-Newton Foundation is dedicating $50,000 to help people affected by the shutdown. Self-employed people providing services especially need help. There will be another roundtable Zoom meeting next Friday morning. (Check JCEDO's Facebook page for info.)

(You can listen to the whole meeting here and see where I made mistakes in my account.)

In other news, the Indianapolis Colts will not be coming to Rensselaer this summer, one more cancelation. Stimulus checks are being received. I stopped by Dollar General this week to buy some garden seeds and asked if their business has slowed down. I was told that it picked up because the stimulus checks are going out.

Yesterday workers were installing the lights at the Blacker Fields. Early this morning they tested them. They work.

 The fields still need to have their topsoil replaced. Right now they are sand.

The work on the Cullen Street rail crossing had a directional driller on site yesterday. I think they had finished drilling when I stopped by. They installed the cables that will make the lights and crossing gates work. See below

 On Wednesday the City was ripping up the sidewalks at the intersection of the highways. I do not know why.

 Here we are in mid April and we are getting snow. The picture below is of Wednesday's snow, which melted quickly. It was replaced on Friday morning with snow that is not melting as quickly.

Update: They had not finished directional drilling on Thursday. On Friday they were drilling for a pipe that would reach from the controls at Cullen over to the Jefferson Street crossing. That means some kind of lights and perhaps even a crossing gate are planned for the Jefferson Street crossing.

More Zooming

Monday's Board of Public Works and City Council meetings were the first of who-knows-how-many Zoom meetings as City government tries to keep social distance. The BPW meeting had only one item on the agenda and lasted only five minutes. The Board approved a pay request to Commonwealth Engineers for preliminary and some of the final design work for the replacement of the lift station and providing City sewer to the unsewered areas. There was mention that Commonwealth needs information from the Army Corp of Engineers about flood plains to site the lift station.

The City Council meeting lasted 28 minutes and every vote was done by roll call. Although Zoom allows for video conferencing, there was no video as people who had video capability kept their cameras off and the host of the meeting did not provide any thing to see. Below is a picture showing what the meeting looked like on my computer. Fortunately the sound was of high quality.

After roll, the Council passed an ordinance to defer the sewage assessment fees for April, May, and June. This is a fee that is paid by those who were hooked up to the City sewer when the sewer line was extended to I-65 and was scheduled to expire in December, 2021. The deferral may be extended three additions months if needed. The idea is that businesses that pay it are suffering from the shutdowns caused by the pandemic. As a result of the ordinance, the expiration of the fee will be moved back three or six months, so the ordinance delays payment and does not eliminate it.

The Council transferred funds to allow the tree removal that was approved at the last Council meeting and it approved a gas tracker increase for April of 2.25¢ per hundred cubic feet. It also ratified a telephone poll of March 20 that extended the pay ordinance approved at the last Council meeting and approved having the Mayor conduct another telephone poll on further extending if it is necessary.

The Council canceled cleanup week for May 4-10. It will be rescheduled for some time in the Fall. In June the Council will make an appointment to the Rensselaer Central School Board and those interested in the position should apply by May 11. The final vote of substance was to approve the claims and they included a payment of over a million dollars to Trunkline Gas for two taps into their pipeline. The funds to pay this were raised in a bond offering and construction should begin in May and be completed in July.

On Tuesday evening the Jasper County Council joined the ranks of public bodies conducting meetings using Zoom. The agenda was very short, with only one item, a transfer for the Sheriff's Department of $2000 from medical testing to insurance. The insurance is to cover the vet bills of the dogs that the Department uses. The Sheriff is in the process of adding a third canine unit and has raised about $18,000 of a goal of $20,000 to make this happen.

With the one agenda item out of the way, the Council discussed a variety of topics. There is concern that the shutdown will delay and possibly reduce revenues. Councilmen wanted to know how much is in the rainy-day fund and were told it has more than $5 million, but that in 2017 it had a bit more than $7 million. Commissioner Culp, who hosted the meeting, said that the County's Departments have been told there will be no new hiring except for public safety. There was a discussion about the availability of various supplies such as masks and gowns. Property tax bills have been mailed in two batches and if you have not received yours yet, it should be arriving this week. The Extension office will not do any in-person events though June. Some counties are canceling their county fairs but ours is still on. The County Clerk encourages people to vote by mail for the upcoming primary election. You can request a ballet by calling 219-866-4929. The May Council meeting will probably also be on Zoom.

The meeting started with a Pledge of Allegiance and I noticed that when several people spoke at the same time, Zoom jumps around from person to person. There were 19 people who attended the meeting, as this screen shot below shows. Usually the person speaking was shown. I took the picture below when the person who was speaking did not have a video feed.

Other things.

The decorated ironwork for the entrances to the Jasper Foundation Park (aka Monnett-Staddon Park) has been installed. The three entrances all have identical arches. The one shown below is at the north end of the park.

 On Tuesday workers were preparing the foundation for a railroad crossing gate on Cullen Street.

Below is the foundation for the gate that will be on the south side of the tracks.

 Rich's Barber Shop has relocated further down Kellner. It is one of several service business that have suffered a one-two punch in the last six months, first the fire that destroyed their building and then the pandemic shut down that keeps customers away.

The weather this week has turned cold with temperatures dipping below freezing at night. This morning (Wednesday) it is snowing.

A week or so ago there was an announcement that both Jasper County and DeMotte received a million dollars in Community Crossing grants. Without the in-person City Council meeting, I did not get a chance to find out whether Rensselaer had submitted an application to this grant round.