A quick visit to Goodland

On Saturday I stopped by Goodland for the Frog Hop 5K on the way to another destination. I occasionally pass through Goodland but have never really explored the town. The race started and ended at Foster Park, which is along the highway and is fairly large. It has no ball fields, but does have several horse shoe pits. In the picture below you can see a gazebo or band shell in the distance--I did not check it out.

There is one shelter and it is near the playground equipment.

Also near the playground equipment and the shelter is a memorial bench.

There is a memorial for veterans. In the background is the Goodland library.

 The bell from the old Goodland high school has a place of honor in the park.

 Across the street from the park is the Goodland Community Center and Town Hall in a building that was once a school.

I took a stroll through the downtown. It is like most downtowns—its best years are past. A lot of the buildings seem to be empty and at 8:30 on a Saturday morning nothing was happening. The downtown has a bank, First Financial Bank, which is a branch of a larger bank headquartered in Cincinnati. There is also a second financial institution, Newton County Loan and Savings, which the Internet tells me was acquired by the Bank of Wolcott in 2011. There are also some restaurants and bars, a laundromat, and a barber. The Dressing Room was unusual. It is sponsored by the Goodland Baptist Church and a sign in the window says, "A Clothing Shop Where Everything Is Free". The biggest building in the downtown is a factory, 3D Machine.

 There are signs that some of the old buildings have been demolished.

Below is all that remains of the building that is missing in the picture above.

 I do not know much about the history of Goodland, but I did find this interesting little excerpt. And here is the fire insurance map showing what was in the downtown in 1892.

Finishing April

Another week and most of another month have flown by.

I was out of town on Tuesday evening so I missed the candidates' forum. As I returned, I saw the the fire at a house east of town. I did not get pictures. I later learned that the fire department had burned the house. They posted pictures on their Facebook page.

 In Park news, work on a walking trail at the Jasper Foundation Park, aka Monnett-Staddon, has begun.

 On Friday afternoon at the same park the Rensselaer Urban Forestry Council celebrated Arbor Day with a proclamation from the Mayor. The planting of a black locust tree had been done earlier in the day. The Council is planning to plant many trees this year, with most of them in the parks.

Rensselaer will need to have a lot of trees planted to offset the many dead or dying ash trees that are being taken down. Earlier this week Practical Tree Service was removing trees along Milroy Avenue.

 The ash trees, which have fallen victim to the emerald ash borer, are huge.

 On Friday at noon I stopped by the Jasper Newton Foundation for a workshop on their community calendar. The presenter pointed out the different ways to view the calendar (using the little icons near the top of the screen) as well as how to use filters to focus on only those items that are of personal interest. She also walked through the steps to submit an event. Anyone can submit. Events that are submitted are reviewed before they are posted, and the review usually takes less than a day. Check it out if you have not already.

My yard is full of violets. They are very pretty but they are also a nuisance in the garden.

 I also have white violets. I do not know if they are the same species as the purple ones or not.

The forecast is for a chilly weekend but Spring is definitely here.

Post-Easter post

The grass is green and growing and many people have already begun mowing. The trees are getting leaves and should be much greener by the weekend. There was a girls softball game in Brookside Park on Monday evening with a big crowd. I am not sure who was playing, but it might be middle-school girls. In February parents were given permission to use the field for practice and games.

Construction for the Parks for People Campaign has resumed. Concrete sidewalks and a shelter floor were poured last week for the dog park on Bunkum. A bit more fencing needs to be installed, and then it should pretty much ready for the dogs. At the Monnett/Staddon park grading and stone removal have begun.

Speaking of Bunkum, the early history of Rensselaer has frequent mention of a town called Bunkum downstream along the Iroquois. This past week I learned where it was. The town changed its name sometime in the past and is now Iroquois, Illinois. The town has about 150 residents. (Picture provided by Dave V.)

An April 19 post to the Facebook SJC Puma Pride page by three people who seem to have reliable information discussed issues in re-opening SJC. It noted that without accreditation, SJC needs to partner with another institution to get restarted. That is the role that Marian is serving. They noted that in the past SJC had served in the helper role to get Calumet College started. That took 22 years, so people should not expect that SJC will stand alone for many years. It also noted that time is taking a toll on the buildings and that some will have to be razed and others renovated, and estimates of that cost are in the $20 to $30 million range. Perhaps the most interesting item in the note was that the College is paying half the income from the Waugh land to Farm Credit for an undisclosed number of years to settle the debt.

The Rensselaer City Council met on Monday evening for a short meeting. The most interesting item on the agenda was SJC related, a discussion of a proposed Little 500 cart race that would use Drexel Drive. This had been presented at the previous meeting and tabled. The person who came to the meeting, Ron Kasperian, requested that it be tabled again to the next meeting because he had not been able to contact all the people who might be impacted by the race. Rather than vote on a motion to table, several Council members asked questions and raised concerns. Rick Odle thought that the $2 million in insurance that the organizers had arranged was not enough. George Cover said he saw no upside to the community from the event and Odle agreed. Cover also suggested that closing the streets as requested would set a precedent that the Council should not set and Bill Hollerman agreed. Cover then moved to proceed to a vote and the motion passed as did the motion to deny the closing of the roads for the race.

In other business, the Council approved a transfer of funds within the Clerk/Treasurer's office to pay for renovation for new office space. The Council approved placing a street light on Wood Road. It also approved changing the date of its second May meeting from the 27th to the 28th. (The 27th is Memorial Day.) A request from the Chamber of Commerce for a $100 sponsorship for Shred Day was approved as were requests or flowers for funerals of two mothers of City employees. The Park Department reported that its 1999 Chevy truck was failing and it received permission to get quotes for replacement. A 5-K race with an in-town route was approved for July 20. The Police Chief, responding to a request at the previous Council meeting, reported that when cars parked on both sides of Weston by St. Augustine's, the road was single lane and he will consult with the principal of the school before proceeding further. The City Attorney reported he is working on an ordinance to deal with unsightly properties. The Fire Department has a fish fry on May 3,  the town-wide yard sale is May 4, and the Gas Department Open House is May 3, 11-2. Practical Tree Service has removed about ten of the approximately 80 trees that they will be cutting down.

Uncommon and more

The topic of the Jasper County Historical Society meeting on Tuesday evening was "Uncommon Jasper County." Included as uncommon were things that could be considered unusual, rare, unexpected, unfamiliar, odd, curious, or extraordinary. "Uncommon Jasper County" is also the current exhibit that highlights, among other things, the Chicago Bears Training Camp (1944-1974), the Miniature Train Company (1932-1956), sandhill cranes, Gehring Farms that at one time was the largest spearmint producer in the U.S., the Gifford Railroad, actors Dwiggins (40+ movies), Phillips (134 movies), and Jennings (1 movie), and the RMD track meet that began in 1915 and still continues.

I found results for the third RMD meet on the Internet. It continues to surprise me what can be found on the Internet.

Below is the poster for the bowstring truss bridge. It is the only surviving one of its type in Indiana. It originally spanned Carpenter Creek near Remington, then the Iroquois upstream from Laird's Landing, and now is in the middle of Rensselaer.

In the business part of the meeting, chinking days were announced. These are three days when volunteers are welcomed to come to the fairgrounds and help chink the log cabin. 

I did not stay to the end of the meeting because I wanted to attend the Jasper County Council meeting. I expected a short meeting based on the agenda. It lasted almost two hours.

The Coroner gave the Council pages of reading material and the issue of per diem allowances was left for the next meeting. The Sheriff had three items of additional appropriations. One was for jail overtime, needed because a couple of inmates had been hospitalized and that required guards at the hospital. A second was for the part-time kitchen help fund, which was caused by medical problems of a cook and the need to fill her schedule. A third involved a squad car that was totaled when it hit a pothole. The car was old and the transaction had something to do with the account into which the insurance settlement was placed. 

There was a discussion about the request from Tri-County Schools for a SRO (school resource officer). The position would be 75% funded by the school corporation with the other 25% split between White and Jasper Counties. The details of how the 25% will be split are not yet worked out. There followed a long discussion of the pension fund for the department. Currently the pension plan has 38 participants, 15 drawing the pension and the other 23 paying into it. The plan is currently underfunded according to actuarial tables. Several Council members voiced concerns that the underfunding problems seem to be getting worse with time. At the end of the meeting, in the public comments, the issue of the pension came up again. The plan has been assuming a much greater rate of growth of assets than it has been achieving, which is why the underfunding problem has been getting worse even though the amount that the County has been paying into it keeps increasing. Currently the program is doing OK but the underfunding raises questions about the future. Ultimately the problem is that the plan is a defined benefit program and most of the private sector has moved to a defined contribution program. 

Next up was the director of Emergency Management, Karen Wilson. She had obtained a State grant for $100,000 that was used to purchase two-way radios for several fire departments and a police department. The grant was a reimbursement grant, that is, it would reimburse the County for bills paid. She needed an additional appropriation of $100,000 to pay for the equipment so she could submit the payments for reimbursement.

Commissioner Culp then updated the Council on various things that the Commissioners had been doing. He reported that Hamstra had been awarded the contract to remodel the former PNC building and had begun work. There are lots of little issues and problems coming up but the expectation is that the offices currently in the annex will be moved before the end of the year.

The Court House renovations are nearing completion. On Tuesday much of the installation of a second door to provide an airlock was completed. This will help with heating in the winter and cooling in the summer.

The work on Community Corrections is complete and has been showing good results. The problem was poor building design. At the next Commissioners meeting there will be a discussion of solar panels at the County Jail. The current idea is to install only enough to meet the base load of the jail. Because IMPA buys surplus power at about one half the rate that it charges for power, it does not make economic sense to build with the idea of selling excess power.

The Community Services has had new furnaces installed. The CCMG grant will be used on roads in subdivisions and most or all of that work will be contracted out. The Animal Shelter is raising money for a new building. Planning continues for the Rensselaer Downtown project. Some of the project envisions changes to County-owned properties. Various NIPSCO issues are taking a lot of Commissioner time and energy. There is a dispute about property valuation between the County and NIPSCO that is ongoing. Officials at the State level are aware of the problems that the closing will have on Jasper County. An estimate of the tax loss is $4 million. Other utilities seem also to be planning to reduce their use of coal. A reason that NIPSCO is not shutting down its coal plants before 2023 is that they need to have more capacity in transmission lines and they are currently working on that. NIPSCO is busy lining up wind power because in 2021 the current subsidies or tax credits are scheduled to expire. It costs about $1 million per mile to connect to the grid, which is a reason that Kankakee Township appealed to the solar farm developer.

The recent electronics recycling day was a huge success in the north, with three semi trailer trucks filled. FEMA has or will award Jasper County a large grant for Kankakee River stabilization. There is a match to it and it reimburses, so there will be issues with financing. SJC does not want to drop the covenant on the Youth Center; they want to control what happens to the property. SJC is still trying to repurpose itself and now seems to be thinking the way forward lies in education for agri-business. After the meeting one of the Councilmen told me that not everyone at SJC was happy at that direction because they still had not accepted that the College will never be as it once was. There has been a delay in replacing the culvert on SR 114 because the box culverts are not ready.

And to close on a lighter note, I smile every time I see this car. And every time I see it, it is a bit different. And most definitely uncommon.

Wind controversy subsiding?

The Jasper County Advisory Plan Commission met on Monday evening to consider an amendment to the County's Wind Ordinance. The crowd was very large and the meeting was moved from the Commissioners' Room on the second floor of the Court House to one of the court rooms on the third floor, which the crowd filled. When the floor was opened to public comments on the amendment, there were no comments. After a bit of discussion among the Commission members, the amendment passed on a 7 to 1 vote. It will now go to the Commissioners and will probably be on the agenda for their May meeting. I expect that it will pass with no changes.

What were the changes?  Here are the changes with the new wording in red and the deleted wording struck through.

Each utility grade wind turbine system shall be located at least 1320 1760 feet from any non-participating property line.

Setback from Public Road, Railroad, or Above-Ground Utility. Each utility-grade wind turbine system shall be a minimum distance of 1.1 1.5 times the tip height from any public road, railroad, or above-ground utility.

Setback from Off-site Land Uses. A utility-grade wind turbine system shall be required to be set back a minimum of:
one-third mile (1,760 feet)  Two-thousand four-hundred feet (2,400 feet) from any existing non-participating residential dwellings, multiple-family residential dwellings, or place of worship. The owner of said dwelling unit may grant permission, in writing and recorded with the Jasper County Recorder, waiving the setback requirement to their home. However, under no circumstances shall a utility-grade wind turbine system be closer than (2) two times the tip height to a dwelling unit. 

one-third mile (1,760 feet) Two-thousand four-hundred feet (2,400 feet) from any existing land currently zoned R1, R2, VR, M1, and M2. 

one-third mile (1,760 feet) Two-thousand four-hundred feet (2,400 feet) from any platted residential subdivision with ten (10) or more lots. 

No Turbine Zone.  To protect the Jasper-Pulaski Fish and Wildlife Area and to protect/provide an Aviation Buffer in respect to the Jasper County Airport and established Department of Defense MOA (Military Operations Area) within the county, a “No Turbine Zone” is established for the area of Jasper County that lies north of County Road 1200S Division Road. No wind turbines are permitted in this area. 

Below is the revised map showing in green where a wind farm is allowed in Jasper County.

After the ordinance was passed, the floor was open to public comments and there were two. A resident of Jasper County said that he had driven the roads of Benton County and found them in a poor state. He also thought that it was unwise to allow the wind farm companies to install the large concrete footing that will not be completely removed when the wind farm is decommissioned. I only partly caught what he was saying because he addressed only one side of the room and I was on the other side. The other gentleman was not from Jasper County. He said that the Department of Defense and the FAA had approved wind turbines for Jasper County so the ordinance went beyond what the Federal government required.

I had hoped to see a representative of a wind farm developer after the meeting but he left quickly. I wonder if the proposed project in Carpenter Township is still viable with the increased setbacks. The anti-wind-farm people all seemed to be very happy with the outcome. They lobbied hard and the results show that their efforts were effective.

Before the Plan Commission met, the Jasper County BZA met for about ten minutes to consider a use variance. A person building a home in Kankakee Township would like to keep the existing home rather than tear it down so his 94-year-old father can stay there. (Apparently the land is zoned so that only one house is allowed.) The BZA approved the variance with the provision that it be reviewed in two years if necessary.

In the late afternoon on Monday CDC Resources had a meet and greet for its new executive director. CDC Resources provides services for adults with developmental disabilities in Jasper, White, Carroll, Newton, and Benton Counties. The Rensselaer Center is at the east end of Angelica Street. Her comments were similar to those given at a similar event in Monticello a couple of weeks ago.

I hope people trying to find a restaurant on Drexel Drive do not think this is the restaurant.

Three of the lots that were sold in October at the big auction of SJC properties are for sale.

Below are some more spring flowers. Aren't they pretty?

On Saturday I noticed that someone has littered the grass at Brookside Park with hundreds of bits of colored plastic. I was ready to start cleaning up the mess when

suddenly a horde of small kids ran out and picked them all up. It is wonderful seeing young people keeping the park free from litter.