Pictures

Highlights from the commissioners meeting

The county commissioners held their monthly meeting on Monday morning. There were many things on the agenda, but only a few seem worth mentioning here.

The people organizing the Fall Festival at the Fairgrounds wanted permission to have a beer garden. The folks at the South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority told them that they thought a beer garden would make the festival more attractive and increase attendance. The commissioners approved their request.

Also at the fairgrounds, there seemed to have been a misunderstanding between the Retired Iron club and the management of the fairgrounds about the use of the Retired Iron Building. The problem was discussed for about ten minutes. Once a building is erected at the fairgrounds, it becomes the property of the commissioners representing the county. To reserve a building, one goes through the extension office. And the Retired Iron building is built almost on the property line. There is a five acre section that seems part of the fairgrounds and that is used for parking that is actually privately owned and rented by the fair board. (You can check it on the GIS map.)

Those were the two items that I thought were most interesting. There were a lot of other things discussed, such as the need to do repairs on the court house, and yet another update on the heating and cooling systems of the jail (the repairs should be finished by the beginning of June), and a new law that will keep more convicted prisoners in county jails which most sheriffs do not like but which was pushed by the Indiana Department of Corrections.

Odds and Ends, May 6 2014

Remember the storm and possible tornado that we had last November? It severely damaged buildings of the L&P Body shop on North McKinley Street. Both buildings were demolished some time ago and now all that remains is a concrete slab.

 Construction is underway by the Interstate on a future Taco Bell. I drove past the site last week and took a picture, but it is too fuzzy to share.

The semester is in its final week at SJC with graduation on Sunday. I recall the graduation speaker, who graduated a couple years after I came, though I do not think I had him in class. He has had a very successful career in China.

Speaking of China, over thirty students from Hong Kong and China will be on campus this summer for summer programs. Some will arrive mid May, and others at the end of June.

This past weekend the music department presented their last concerts of the school year. The small orchestra had a light attendance. Several pieces were performed by their alternative string orchestra using electronic violins, violas, cellos, and bases. It was very different from the usual classical fare, such as this piece.

 The choir had a large audience as they performed a wide variety of music. In addition to the large choir, there were other groupings, such a male acapella group, shown in this video.

 Downtown Rensselaer has some changes going on. The photographer is gone from the Horton Building and soon it will become a day care. The open house will be, according to window, May 12 from 4 to 8.

 The windows of Home Sweet Home, around the side of the building, have "for rent" signs in them, as do the windows on the second floor of the Odd Fellows Building. I think those are the windows of Ryan and Ryan Consulting.

Funks seed corn

When I arrived in Rensselaer almost 40 years ago, there was a Funks Seeds based in Kentland. One of my acquaintances at the time, an accounting faculty member turned business manager of the college, left the college for this company and a few years later I recall that it was purchased by a larger company.

Last week I spent a day in Bloomington, Illinois and was surprised that there was a Funks seed business there as well and that it was not connected to the Funks at Kentland. Doing some quick research on the Internet (see here, here, and here), I found that the Funks Brothers Seed Company in Bloomington was much larger than the Funks from Kentland, and at one time was one of the big three. It faded in the 1970s when it was bought out by Ciba Geigy and when the Southern Corn Leaf Blight hit. Its hybrids lacked a genetic factor that would have protected from the blight. None of the Illinois Funks are still in the seed business, but one of the Kentland Funks still is, with Frontiersman.

 The reason I bumped into the Bloomington Funks was that I visited a gem and mineral museum that one of the Illinois Funks had assembled. The guide was very enthusiastic and was full of information and praise for the Funks. The museum claims to be the largest one man gem and mineral collection in the world.

In the entranceway are four windows on which slices of translucent gems and minerals are glued. When backlit, they are beautiful.

The museum is free and worth every bit of the cost of seeing it. If you like rocks, it is a must see in the Bloomington area.

The museum is southwest of Bloomington, very close to the Interstate 55 and historic route 66, which parallels the Interstate around Bloomington.

There is not a lot on the Internet about these seed companies. I noticed that the Newton County Historical Society has a museum or building along US 24. I hope that they will have the foresight to collect what they can of the story of the Funk Seed Co. (I could not find a web link.)

Rensselaer makes a top 15 list

Rensselaer has arrived--it made a list of Top 15 Small Cities in Indiana. And it was number 3. But before you get too excited, the description of our little city is full of errors:

During the PBS segment, Nunemaker introduced the French Lick Railway that passes through Rensselaer. Locals and tourists alike still ride the century-old train through the Hoosier National Forest, but the historic transportation route also has a charming surprise in store for passengers who ride select weekend trains. Modern-day rail workers and actors immerse unsuspecting riders in an interactive reenactment of a historic attack by horseback bandits.
Terry McKnight, a Rensselaer local in charge of the “rangers” who stage the robbery and charge the train, explained to PBS that the reenactment always ends with a dramatic faux chase and shoot-out, delighting families and educating youngsters about the small city’s history.

When I rode the French Lick train, one of the highlights along the route was the boyhood home of Larry Bird. I do not recall that it passed through Rensselaer, though. But who cares. We are number 3, even if the person doing the ranking has no idea what he is talking about.

On to other things. The Crazy D's gas station at the mile 205 Interstate interchange is now an Amstar gas station. It remains the only business at that intersection.

There is a student art show at SJC for a few more days. I did not find anything of great interest.

 I was out of town for most of Wednesday, and when I got back the road over the new culvert looked like it was almost ready to be resurfaced. The pile of big rocks probably will be used to stabilize the banks so the sides do not erode.

 If someone crashes through the barricades now and somehow avoids the excavator, they might not crash and die.

The Dollar General store will have some masonry in front. Maybe we are getting the deluxe model. (Someone told me that Dollar General has four standardized plans for stores.)

The trees are starting to leaf out--we finally have some green in the groves of trees in the country. Quite a few people have already mowed their lawns. Are you ready for summer?