Miscellany 7-8-2016

We have a big weekend, with lots of events on Saturday.

Meanwhile, paving work is finishing on US 231. On Thursday the crew was paving the approaches from city streets to the highway.

The west-facing facade of Halas Hall is now undergoing demolition and rebuilding. The east side is still not finished.

The building at Washington and Weston is now empty. Recently it was a tattoo studio. Before that it was Elks Investment and the Elks Investment sign is still in front. Many years ago it was Hickman Ice Cream store and someone on Facebook was looking for a picture of it when it was Hickmans. Do you have one? (The ice cream was excellent--I was sorry it only lasted a few summers.)

At the other end of the block sits a magnificent old house that has been vacant for years. I do not understand why someone keeps a property and does not use it. The annual property tax is almost $800.

Wagner Lumber has put up a sign. No mention of seeds.

On the corner of McKinley and Merrit there was until recently a small craft store. I did a post on it when it was Dees Custom Art. The sign in the window says, "2nd Home has moved to Jasper Junction. Look for the red booth!"

Just to the south of this in part of the old Chrysler-Dodge building, a company called Sydney Jacobs Auto LLC is setting up shop. I do not know anything about it but they are celebrating their opening on Saturday with free hot dogs starting at 11:30.

There are many pictures of the Thursday night's performance of The Wizard of Oz on Facebook.

Dollar Tree opened today (Friday) at 10:00 am.

Park Board meeting 7-5-2016

The Rensselaer Park Board and the Rensselaer Park Corporation met on Tuesday evening in the old Monnett building once known as Rensselaer Hall. (For an explanation of Board and Corporation, see here.) After some preliminaries, they discussed and approved a re-roofing of the gazebo in Hal Gray Park.

It was noted that former head of the Parks Department, Hal Gray, was celebrating his 90th birthday.

A discussion of soccer focused on the lack of response from the soccer people. They have not signed a lease for using the fields nor have they presented proof of liability insurance. The Park Board wanted to sponsor the soccer program but it is still being sponsored by Saint Joseph's College even though the college no longer provides facilities for them. The Board decided since the lease had not been signed, they could change it. If the soccer program wants to continue as a SJC program, the lease will be $1000 plus utilities rather than $1 plus utilities. The question was then how would it be enforced if the soccer program ignored the lease. That discussion was not conclusive but the Board was adamant that the program needed to show proof of liability insurance or else there would be no soccer this fall. It will be interesting to see how it shakes out.

The transfer of Staddon Field is still not complete. It just drags on and on and on and on and on and on. I am sure there is an interesting story here but I doubt if the many lawyers involved will ever share it. Because the property is not in park hands, fundraising for improvements has stopped. There was then a lengthy discussion of fundraising.

The Board continues to be frustrated by the lack of communication and cooperation with the Blacker Trust, which contains funds to improve the parks. Having watched this frustration for a couple years, I think the Park Board needs to realize that they are never going to see money from this trust and move on.

Glen Allee proposed that the Park Corporation hire a part-time program director who would be charged with developing programs that use the park. The pay for the person would be partly determined by how successful he or she was in developing programs. The members attending agreed to begin with an informal search for candidates for the position and if they cannot find anyone, the search would be publicized.

The Board approved purchase of a mule vehicle and some metal frames for picnic tables. The park currently transfers old wooden picnic tables for various events but they are heavy and subject to rot. Tables with metal frames would be lighter and less subject to rot.

Meetings 07-05-2016

The Jasper County Commissioners met on Tuesday this month because the first Monday fell on a holiday.

Midway through the meeting a somewhat humorous issue arose. While paving a street, a roller from the county highway department hit the net of a baseball hoop and bent the pole. Most basketball hoops along roads are portable, but this one was not--it was set in concrete. The owner had made several calls to the highway department asking for reimbursement. He will get a letter from the county attorney noting that because he had no permission to set an obstruction in the county right of way, the county will pay nothing. The Commissioners could have ordered him to remove it, but they hesitated because there are so many mobile hoops and if they told him to remove his, they might have to tell those with mobile hoops that they could not place their hoops next to the roads.

(The discussion reminded me of a story I heard quite a few years ago about someone whose dogs were hit by a car and he wanted to sue the driver for damages. The attorney told him he could not win because he was supposed to have his dogs confined, not running on the highway, and that if the driver suffered any damage to his vehicle, he, the dog owner, was liable.)

Back to the dry details. Two residents from the Deer Park subdivision wanted stops signs on one of the entrances and were concerned with semi trucks that other residents had in the subdivision. Approval was given to Animal Control to hire two part-time employees and to two new members of the Animal Control Board. CDC Resources, which receives some county funding, said that they have been trying to be more efficient in how they use resources, adopting new technologies. They also are working on wellness issues. Their cliental uses an average of five more medications than the rest of the population and is three times as likely to be overweight. They also said that they were exploring options for locating a thrift store in Rensselaer. (Jasper Junction is no longer owned by CDC Resources.) The Commissions approved a rezone that the BZA passed.

The Commissioners approved the order to vacate a road that bisects land NIPSCO owns and this was a step in getting an agreement signed by NIPSCO to give money and land to the county to construct a replacement road to the east. (Some of the back story is here.) The Commissioners agreed to provide a letter for the Little Cousin Jasper Festival to support their request for a gaming license so they can run a raffle. (It is kind of strange that the state discourages gambling with tight regulation but also promotes it with its lottery. Or perhaps not--it makes money from the latter and does not want competition.) At 9:00 there was a public hearing for placing a speed limit on the stretch of CR 1100N between CR 1100W and CR 1200W. The 35-mph speed limit passed. The Jasper County Historical Society thanked the Commissioners for past support and said that they will need future support to replace logs that are rotting in the log cabin at the Fair Grounds.

The Sheriff received permission to replace a deputy who has been called to military service and will leave for Afghanistan. The sheriff reported some problems with the 201 interchange on I-65. Trucks cannot get back on going north and that has caused them to take alternative routes not meant for trucks. In response to a question, he noted the cost of a new deputy is about $100,000, including training and equipment. (That may include the car.) It takes about a year before they are up to speed and know all the rules and procedures.

There was a discussion of the procedures needed for the county to purchase land in Rensselaer. A question during the break revealed that the land in question is land the Fair Association currently leases on the west side of the fairground for parking. The procedures are spelled out in stature and do not allow much leeway. Someone noted that the toilet in the jail cell on the third floor of the Court House, which is rarely if ever used, was emitting a horrible stench. The Commissions approved the new fire station as the polling place for Marion II even though it is well west of the district.

After the break, the Commissioners discussed roads. The County has now inventoried and rated all the county roads and is prepared to seek matching grants from the state to improve them. There followed a long discussion of individual roads and how to apply for the grants that I could not follow, so I left the meeting.

In the afternoon the Drainage Board met. First on the agenda was the Town of Remington seeking to replace a tile that is no longer working and as a result causes flooding in their city park. Since it was not a county tile, the Board said that they had no jurisdiction.

There was a discussion of the Gangloff tile, the tile east of town that was damaged by the installation of a fiber optic cable. Only about 2400 feet will need to be replaced. After discussion of various options, the Board decided that the fiber optic cable needed to be a foot away and not above the tile.

There was discussion of two other tiles, the Amsler tile and the Price tile, that drain relatively small areas and although they will be expensive to clean or replace, the landowners want them fixed. A public hearing will be needed before anything is done.

Finally, a lawyer representing White County wanted signatures on an agreement. The Hoosier Lift east of Remington, which I believe no longer operates, had some lagoons that were not maintained and that have partially filled in. Because White County wants to promote development along US 24, it has agreed to take over maintenance of the lagoons. They drain into Carpenter Creek, and that is why Jasper County is involved. The details were hammered out in a meeting about a year ago and this document made them binding.

Some pictures: the Court House tree has it 4th of July decorations.

The hammering continues on Lincoln as the excavator breaks into the bedrock.

Fireworks and more

The Jasper Fair Association put on a very nice fireworks display on Saturday night. I watched with a couple dozen other people from Brookside Park.

 The Visit Rensselaer Facebook page has a video of the fireworks.

 Meandering around town on Sunday I noticed that the old Chrysler-Dodge dealership had temporarily transformed into a fireworks store. Judging from the amount of noise the past few nights, it must have done a good business.

 I missed the open house for the fire station. In front is their 9-11 memorial, moved from the old station.

 Behind it are two benches. One was in celebration of the Indiana bicentennial. (In the early years I tried to get pictures of all the plaques around town. I can add this one to the collection.)

 I was actually more excited by what is in this picture.

 There is now a sidewalk in front of Kirby Risk. The sidewalk extends from Monroe Street past the Fire Station. Unfortunately, there are no decent sidewalks from Monroe to the east.

I did not see anything about a ground breaking ceremony for the expansion of National Gypsum, but they clearly have broken ground. Lots of dirt has been moved but there is no actual construction yet.

 If you are unsure of where National Gypsum is located, it is across the road from the Rensselaer Solar Park.

Odds and ends, beginning of July

I spent a few days this week out of town. When I left, I noticed that Comfort Suites was open.

I missed both City Council meetings this month because of travel. The minutes of the first meeting I missed are here. (The minutes of the second meeting will not be publicly available until after they are approved at the first July meeting.) I also missed the Rensselaer BZA meeting with the old Biggs farm item on the agenda.

The JCEDO newsletter for July devoted much of its page to the designation of the Kankakee River as a National Water Trail. The designation does not change much but will give the river more publicity as place for recreation. For more, see here.

NICHES has some upcoming events in our area. There will be a viewing of the video “Fisher Oak Savanna Nature Preserve” at the Jasper Foundation (Carnegie Building in Rensselaer) on Tuesday July 12 at 6 pm CT and guided walks at Holley Savanna on July 6 at 5 pm CT and another at the Fisher Oak Savanna on July 24 from 2 until 4 pm CT.

The sign for the soon-to-be-opened Dollar Tree is in place and on Friday workers were busy stocking shelves.

At SJC Halas Hall is getting more than a new roof. It is getting a new facade.

See this picture for an earlier view.

Also at SJC, management of the College Bookstore is being transferred to Sodexo, the company that manages food service. There are new administrators being hired--I do not think any top administrators who were there when I retired in 2010 are still there.

When I returned from my latest road trip, I returned via US 231 to see what progress had been made. As of Thursday almost all the resurfacing had been completed. There were still a few approaches of side roads that needed work. Nothing had been done on the strip of highway that crosses Mount Calvary Road. Perhaps work will wait until the highway is moved a bit to the east to make the intersection less dangerous.

The farmers market has seasonal veggies for sale. I was told that a vendor with blueberries had sold out and left before I arrived. I was impressed with some enormous cabbages.