Heros honored

It was standing-room only as Monday's City Council meeting began. The crowd was there to watch the Mayor give citations to eleven people who helped save the life of a man who had a heart attack on July 5 at Smith's True Value Hardware north of town. The person closest to him when he collapsed was a City employee who had gone to a session offered by the City on CPR. He started CPR and was quickly joined by two other citizens. The ambulance crew arrived within minutes as did a police officer and four people from the fire department. A helicopter airlifted the man to a Chicago hospital where two surgeries were performed. A week later he regained consciousness and suffered no mental impairment. The Chicago doctors said that the quick response by bystanders and paramedics saved the man's life. For a more detailed account of this part of the meeting, see Wednesday's Rensselaer Republican or view the article on-line here.

Before that exciting and emotional part of the meeting, the Council approved a request by the SJC Alumni Association to serve beer at Brookside Park for its Homecoming and also approved the closure of a block of Susan Street for the Saint Augustine Fall Frolic on September 14. In addition, a new police officer was sworn in.

Almost all the audience left after the Mayor finished issuing the citations. The Council then had a public hearing for several additional appropriations at which no one spoke. It then passed the appropriations. A bit later it approved several transfers of funds.

The gas tracker for August will be a 13.25¢ decrease per hundred cubic feet.

The Council approved the resurfacing of "Mural Alley" between Front and Van Rensselaer as part of the road work for this year. Some road work has started but most of it will not begin until the end of the month.

The Police Department was granted permission to purchase two new squad cars. They will be 2019 models. One replaces a car removed from service and the other a car that was damaged in a crash. The Council also approved the request from the Cemetery Superintendent to trade in an old mower and purchase a new mower.

There was a discussion about replacing the City's three computer servers, which are 12, 8, and 5 years old. The proposal presented is to go to two servers plus storage and in the future replace each server every four years. Most of the discussion concerned whether to lease or purchase the servers, with the City's IT consultant leaning heavily toward the lease option. No action was taken at this meeting except the appointment of a committee to take the matter under advisement and report back at the next meeting.

As the meeting ended, there were several complaints about the railroad crossing at Cullen Street. Alas, this is something that the railroad handles and the City's attempts to get a response from the railroad often end in frustration.

Columns for the entry way to the Monnett/Stadddon Park are rising along College Avenue. The masonry work began on Tuesday and the picture shows the the work as of Tuesday evening.

 Another culvert in the dog park has a new coat of paint.

 The fields just north of Rensselaer that I thought were planted in very short corn are in fact sorghum, as the picture below shows. I do not know much about this grain, though I have seen fields of it in the past couple years on drives to and from Monticello. Here is a bit more about it.

Autumn Trace has tenants for about 60% of its rooms.

The Jumping Frog from Jasper County

Today something a bit different, a book review of Jim Ellis, The Jumping Frog from Jasper County: Hoosier Boy Lands on Madison Avenue. Abelard-Schuman Publisher, 1970. 240 pages, no index.

Almost no one in Rensselaer recognizes the name James Ellis (1893-1978) but few people from Rensselaer had a bigger impact on the nation during the first half of the twentieth century. We know about his impact from his professional biography, originally titled From Billboards to Buicks and reissued as The Jumping Frog from Jasper County. The book discusses his personal life only when it affects his professional life. The only information we get of his first marriage is on page 131: "I had been a widower for two years."

The book begins with a few details about the author's early life in Rensselaer. His mother died when he was seven and after her death the family ate its meals at a local hotel. (It was the Makeever House.) His father ran the Ellis Opera House, which hosted the many entertainers who traveled from city to city in the days before movies. His father was mayor of Rensselaer for eight years, but the book makes no mention of that. When his father died in 1915, Ellis returned to Rensselaer to take over the family business. Part of the business was a small billboard company. Ellis discovered that he could claim billboard franchise rights to 31 communities around Rensselaer, which he did, erecting new billboards. After finishing the expansion, he left the running of the business to an employee and returned to school at the University of Chicago. While there he heard that advertising copywriters could earn large salaries and decided to enter that field.

His first job in his quest to become a copywriter had no pay but he took it to gain experience and credibility. Jobs with several small agencies followed as he learned his craft. At the end of 1928 he joined Erwin Wasey in Chicago, his first large agency. In 1935 the partners of Erwin Wasey had a falling out and one of them, Art Kudner, split off to form his own agency. Ellis followed Kudner and spent the rest of his career with the Kudner agency, eventually heading it. Over the years the Kudner agency handled many accounts. For most of them the agency not only wrote ads but also planned the ad campaign. Early in the book Ellis wrote that the challenge was to find in your client's product something that would get the public to want to buy it and then tell the story in a way that intrigued the largest number of people. The plan would set the theme that the individual ads would follow.

During the Ellis years the largest account of the Kudner agency was the Buick account. Before the agency got the account, Buick was selling poorly and GM was considering dropping the line. Ellis believed that he and Kudner, both of whom worked closely with Buick management, were partially responsible for the subsequent revival and success of Buick. By the late 1930s Buick was the fourth most popular automobile in the United State, surpassed only by Chevrolet, Ford, and Plymouth, the cheapest and least prestigious brands of the big three automakers.

Although the Buick account gets far more pages than any other account, Ellis did not believe the Buick advertising was his most significant professional accomplishment. Rather, discussing the advertising for the Association of American Railroads, he stated, "I wrote the plan and practically all the advertisements—and I felt that this was the greatest single accomplishment of my advertising career." (p 164). The reason for this opinion is explained later on page 202: "I felt that, in the case of the railroads, I may have headed off nationalization of American industry during World War II." He convinced the railroads to tout their accomplishments and improvements rather than complain about their problems, and he believed that this public relations campaign significantly changed the public's perception of railroads.

Another case in which Ellis strayed from product marketing was the 1952 presidential election. Ellis presented a marketing plan to the Republican National Committee that he believed was largely adopted by the Eisenhower campaign, though that campaign did not use the Kudner agency. The traditional plan, the one used in the Dewey campaign in 1948, was to maintain the base and appeal to the independent voters between the parties. Ellis suggested that instead of trying to win the independents, the campaign reach out to the almost 50% of the electorate that had not voted in the 1948 election. Voter participation increased in 1952 and although Stevenson received more votes than Truman had in 1948, Eisenhower won in a landslide.

Ellis was contemplating retirement in 1944 when the unexpected death of Art Kudner changed everything. Ellis stepped up to take control of the agency. He reorganized the company and instituted a profit sharing plan. In the late 1950s, worried about who would take over when he retired or died, he hired a man who he thought would be an able successor. He misjudged. His planned successor led a rebellion when new management and problems at Buick led Buick to switch advertising agencies in late 1957. Ellis was put into a position where resignation was his best option. With some satisfaction he noted that after his resignation in January of 1958, the agency floundered and a few years later was absorbed by another agency.

Ellis eventually came to the conclusion that his ouster from the agency was not the curse that he initially thought but was rather a blessing in disguise. He was diagnosed with ulcers and heart problems and if he had continued his workaholic way of life, he might have missed the warning signs and suffered the early death that a number of his colleagues suffered.

James Ellis wrote millions of words that were read by millions of people, but only a few insiders recognized his accomplishments. In the 1950s he helped launch several television shows by connecting advertisers to program ideas but again his role was behind the scenes and received almost no recognition. (His obituary mentions “The Milton Berle Show,” “Your Show of Shows” with Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca, and the “Jackie Gleason Show” as shows he and his agency brought to television.) There are many others who have had a profound impact on the nation that we do not recognize, and for most of them their stories are lost because they did not write a book as Jim Ellis did.

 The book offers insight not only into the world of advertising but also to the history of the automobile industry during the first half of the twentieth century. However, it is not an easy read. Focused on his professional life, it jumps around chronologically as it discusses various clients Ellis served. It is filled with names of people who were important to Ellis but mean nothing to the reader. Ellis comes across as a workaholic. He constantly mentioned how many pages he wrote for various plans and how he often worked long into the night and on weekends to finish work.

James Ellis retired to Reno, Nevada and Hot Springs, Virginia. He died on June 12, 1978 in Virginia and is buried with his brother John and his parents in Weston Cemetery in Rensselaer, Indiana.

Above is a picture of James Hervey Stewart Ellis Jr from the 1911 Chaos Yearbook. (Available here.) The very first Chaos yearbook was issued 1911 and Ellis was the editor. (Did you know that in RHS had a girls' basketball team in 1911 that was undefeated until the final game, when they lost to the alumni by a score of 2-6?)

Below is his draft registration card for WWI.

James Ellis will not be featured on this year's Weston Cemetery Walk that is scheduled for September 21 at 3:00 pm. He is not buried in the area that this year's walk will be touring. He certainly has a story interesting enough to make him a candidate for some future walk.

Tickets for this year's walk are now available at Brown Garden and Floral Shoppe, Willow Switch, and Jordan's Floral. The price for adults is $10 and for children under 12 $5. If there are any tickets available the day of the event (space is limited), the prices will be $12 and $6. Last year there were four golf carts available for those who have difficulty walking. This year there will be eight.

Comings and goings

On Tuesday a new trailhead marker was being constructed along the College Avenue side of the Monnett/Staddon Park area.

 Below is the finished result. There are holes for the foundations of three entry ways to the park and as of Thursday they had rebar in them. They may be filled with concrete by the time you read this.

 As things were going up at the parks, a house on Jackson Street was being torn down. Going,

 going,

almost gone

 and gone. You can see a doorway at the back of the basement (middle left in the picture) that was the entry to what seems to have been a bomb shelter. The excavator was on top of it as it knocked down the house and did not damage it. It had, according to the person who purchased the property to demolish the house, 18 inch concrete walls.

 With the structure down and the debris trucked away, the hole was filled.

 After this is smoothed and grass is planted, there will be no evidence that there was once a house here.

I think most of the neighbors are happy that the house is gone.

The Tourism Board met on Friday morning. They heard a proposal from the SJC alumni group asking for assistance with the September golf outing and homecoming event. It is scheduled for September 27-28. The Board cut their request in half and approved it. The Board also agreed to be a sponsor of this year's Memories Alive Weston Cemetery Tour on September 21. (Other sponsors include Beaver and Beaver Attorneys at Law, eMbers Venue and Station, Steinke Funeral Home, Rensselaer Monument, Inc., and also Jackson's Funeral Chapel, The Law Office of Clifford M Robinson, and Brown's Garden and Floral Shoppe. In addition, the Jasper-Newton Foundation has given funds to support golf carts at this year's event for people who feel they cannot walk the route. By the way, tickets are now available at Willow Switch, Jordan's Floral, and Brown's Garden and Floral Shoppe.) (I am one of the people who are planning this year's walk.)

Other items: DeMotte will host a softball tournament next year that will bring in a dozen teams for a weekend. The tourism director is exploring the possibility of a Jasper County bicycle ride for next fall. There was a discussion of establishing a committee to explore agri-tourism possibilities. Because of Fair Oaks Farms, we already have a lot of agri-tourism but is there more that Jasper County and its neighbors could do? A candidate was suggested for a vacancy on the Board and the September Commissioner's meeting may have that on its agenda.

The RENARTWLK mural project is finished for this year, but I noticed a number of small additions have been added in the past week or two. I hope that the people who have added them have had permission from building owners. I am not sure I like them. A few of these small, amateurish paintings are OK but too many will detract from the overall project.

 This looks like it was done with a stencil but I do not know what it is supposed to be.

 The purple face is the best of these small additions.

 At least it is colorful.

Early August meetings

The first Monday of the month has meetings of the County Commissioners, the Drainage Board, and the Rensselaer Park Board. All were interesting in August.

Mark Sinclair, head of animal control, had a number of changes he wanted in procedures or ordinances. A new state law requires that animals adopted from animal shelters after July 2020 be spayed or neutered and he was trying to get the adoption fees set to deal with that change. After some discussion and suggestions, the Commissioners instructed their lawyer to work on an ordinance. The Commissioners also approved two appointees to the Animal Control Board.

Jacob Taulman, the prosecuting attorney, received permission to fill a full-time case-worker position left vacant by a recent resignation. He also said that there was the possibility of having some State reimbursement for remodeling done to the former PNC bank building if it is for child support work. He will start working on meeting the requirements needed to obtain the funding.

The Sheriff received permission to fill a position at the jail caused when an officer took a job with the Rensselaer Police Department. He said that because of the outcome of a court case elsewhere in the State, his department will be releasing more information to news media than it previously did. There was a discussion of traffic speeding through McCoysburg and it was noted that for some reason McCoysburg has a 20 mph speed limit.

There was mention that this year's County auction may be bigger than usual because of office moves. No date was set for it.

Trane, which is seeking approval to do more work at the jail, gave a long presentation. The jail was poorly insulated and leaks air. They propose sealing the building and installing insulation in some areas. They want to move to LED lighting, which, in addition to using less electricity, will cut the costs of light replacement. (When lights are in inaccessible locations, they require renting lifts to change.) Trane is currently installing an 18-acre solar farm for the Kankakee School Corporation and proposes installing a smaller, 3-acre solar farm for the County Jail. They seemed to suggest that they can get financing so that the cost of paying for the project will be met by the energy saving that results. They will make a presentation at the County Council meeting on August 20. (The August Council meeting begins the budget process and is always a long one.)

The Drainage Board had two interesting items. One was a plan for a 100 acre industrial subdivision in Newton County near Fair Oaks Farms. The reason the Jasper County  Drainage Board heard the case is that the water from the site will drain into Jasper County and into Curtis Creek. The Board approved the drainage plan with several modifications. At this point I do not know anything more about this project.

The other case involved NICHES Land Trust. They cut what they thought were private tiles at Fisher Oaks but in fact they were mutual tiles, draining not only NICHES land but other land as well. The neighbors complained. NICHES was told to repair the tiles.

The Rensselaer Park Board and Park Corporation met Monday evening. Bids that came back for the construction of ball fields at Brookside Park were deemed too high by the Parks for People campaign because although the campaign has raised $1.3 million, much of that is still in the form of pledges, not cash that can be spent. So the ball park project has been scaled back and is being rebid.

Though no vote was taken that I remember, the group was favorable to a suggestion to name the shelter nearest the pool as the McFall Shelter. It currently has no name. (The drowning death of young Jimmy McFall in the 1940s convinced the community to build the pool.)

There will be a lot of work done in the Monnett/Staddon Park in the next few weeks. A trailhead should go up this week. There will be three entryways, the most impressive of which will be along College Avenue. Benches, planters, and some exercise equipment have been ordered.

About 30 people have registered their dogs for the dog park. There was discussion of keeping it free beyond this year and using some sort of fundraiser to raise money to cover the park's costs. There are still complaints about the brightness of the lights at the dog park. The obstacles at the dog park are being painted.

The park department has an internet domain name that currently links to the park Facebook page.  The Board approved paying a hosting fee so that the url  <rensselaerparks.com> will link to a website under construction.

A fourth early August meeting was that of the finance committee of the Jasper County Library Board held on Friday morning at the Rensselaer Library. Their budget recommendation will go to the full Library Board meeting on August 19. Because the recommended budget does not exceed the 3.5% growth quotient set by the State, the budget will not need County Council approval, though the Council will review it in a non-binding review.

The Library has installed LED lighting in exterior fixtures and this has cut the cost of replacing bulbs. The Library would like to replace interior lights with LEDs and one reason is that the architects designed the buildings with a multitude of different kinds of lights, which makes ordering new bulbs more work than it should be. The Library pays close attention to their cash and tax payments are not always predictable, so expenditures such as those for lighting only happen when the cash situation is favorable.

People rely heavily on the wifi in the libraries and not so much on the wired computers, so the Library plans to reduce the number of computers available to the public. This will cut the cost of  their service contract with the company that maintains and services the computers. I had not realized that the Library added color copiers last year. The Library plans to cuts some magazine subscriptions that have only one person using the magazine.

Anticipated expenses for the future include a new roof for the Wheatfield Library, new carpeting for DeMotte, and a redesign of office space in Rensselaer.

On Tuesday I was in Lafayette and found myself on Wabash Avenue where Lafayette is having murals done. A number are on houses. I did not have time to take more than one picture, but I did recognize the work of some of the people who contributed Rensselaer murals.

 This was not a mural.

There have been some changes in Rensselaer's medical providers. Dr. Garry Brady has joined the Sheets Family Practice.

Sharon Johnson, a family nurse practitioner, has joined the Clinic of Family Medicine.

Dr James Wakefield has been deployed to the Middle East and his patients are being seen by several doctors who are filling in for him as time allows.

Valley Oaks, formerly Wabash Valley, is having an open house on Thursday, August 15, from 4:00 to 6:00 pm.

Autumn Trace grand opening and other news

On Saturday Autumn Trace held its grand opening for the public and many people attended. I went back to see how much had changed in the ten days or so since I had toured the building. (See here.)  There was furniture around the entrance to the building.

 The private dining room had been finished and furnished. It looked much different than it had ten days earlier. Residents will be able to reserve this room if they want to entertain family or guests. They can have food brought in or prepared by the chef of Autumn Trace.

 The dining area will operate as a restaurant. Residents will order their meals the day before and will be served when they arrive.

 The club room, which has a full kitchen, looked ready to use. Residents will be able to cook and bake here if they desire.

 The theater room was an empty room ten days ago. Now it is decorated and ready.

 There is a lot of furniture in the hallways. There are many places where residents can sit and visit or rest if they need to as they walk from one place to another.

 The hallways have been given street names such as McKinley, Drexel, College, and Clark. So rooms will have addresses that look like street addresses. There are colorful pictures of scenes from around Rensselaer in the hallways.

Below is the cafe. It has no doors so it will always be open and will have snacks and beverages for residents.

 The cafe and many other common areas have large TVs. Wifi is provided, but not TV cable or phones. They can be obtained from NITCO or CenturyLink.

When I got to the chapel, my camera battery failed. I had another camera, but after a few pictures, it also gave me the dead battery sign.

Below is the game room. I did not take a picture of it on the earlier post because it was then just another empty room.

 The same was true of the beauty salon/barber shop.

 A couple decades ago my mother moved into independent/assisted living. She was no longer able to keep up with mowing and snow removal and her driving was questionable. She really enjoyed the move, largely because there were so many people to socialize with. Autumn Trace decided to keep the size of their units at 44 because at this size there are enough people so that everyone should be able to find others who are compatible but it is small enough so that everyone can get to know everyone else.


On Friday Brookside Park was busy as Teen Mission held its community day. This year it was joined by Stuff the Bus and others to give away school supplies. About 200 students enrolled in Rensselaer schools participated. Pool admission was only $1.00 for the day.

 Wednesday was another busy day in the park. The evening saw another round of garbage can painting. Then there was an evening swim with an admission of $1 and finally the showing of the movie "Goonies."

 The small mural that was part of a practice wall keep changing.

 Some of the inspiration for the mural on the side of Janet's Kitchen came from knickknacks in the windows of Janet's Kitchen and Tension Tamers. I am pretty sure the black cat is Rensselaer's most famous cat, Stout.

Addendum: One of the businesses giving out school supplies was Cascades, Inc. They bought Urban Forest Products late last year. Their plant is located near the Newton County landfill and they make egg flats and cardboard cup holders.