Highlights from meetings

This morning the County Commissioners met for their monthly meeting. As always, much of the meeting is taken up with routine things that are of little general interest. Below are a few things that I thought were interesting.

The people organizing the City Wide Garage Sale on May 3 wanted permission to use the county parking lot (where the old jail stood). They would mark off space and sell them, with the proceeds going to the fire department. The Commissioners approved their request.

A representative from EasyWater, an Indiana company, wanted the commissioner's permission to look at the water system at the county jail with the intention of making a proposal for installing one of their no-salt water softening systems. The rep stated that Motel 6 uses their system nationwide to soften water. He got the Commissioners' approval.

The Sheriff had an update on the tower that he is interested in purchasing or renting. It is a 360 foot tower near 100W and 300N that is currently unused. He had a tower inspector look at it and it is in good structural condition but does not currently meet FAA regulations. To bring it up to those regulations, either it would have to be painted and the burned out lights replaced, or a new strobe light could be placed at the top. The Sheriff wanted permission from the Commissioners to contact the company and see if a deal is possible. There are apparently about 10 acres of land attached to the tower and one of the commissioners thought that this land might be more valuable than the tower. The sheriff is interested in the tower because at present radio communication to the fringes of the county is poor. If purchased, the tower could also be used by other agencies such as the highway department and fire departments.

The jail renovations/repairs of the heating and cooling system are almost complete and the system should be in full operation by the end of the week. However, in doing the repairs, three other problems involving control systems and wiring were discovered and the Emcor company had a proposal to fix them. The Commissioners thought that the repairs should be done but were uncertain of how they would be funded.

There was a request from the Little Cousin Jasper group for the use of Court House grounds for the festival. After a bit a of discussion about exactly what the was open to them, the request was approved.

On Tuesday at 7:00 there will be joint meeting of the Commissioners and the County Council at the Fairgrounds. The meeting is open to the public.

After the meeting was adjourned, I went home for lunch, stopping to admire the icicles at the Library. The bright sun and the cold temperatures are ideal for the formation of icicles.

After lunch, I went back to the Court House to see what would happen at the Drainage Board meeting.

The first item on the agenda was a public hearing on the Roth Ditch. This is a short, two or three mile long ditch east of Donaldson's. There were a number of people present eager to discuss the issue. Several of the people who are affected by the ditch had petitioned the Surveyor to take action, but before he did, they cleaned most of the ditch by themselves, each clearing his portion. There were several parts not cleaned, and those who cleaned their sections did not want to be taxed to clean the rest. After discussion, the Board agreed that a reconstruction of the ditch was not in order, but that a maintenance fund be set up to keep it cleaned. A maintenance fund collects money for four years and then if the money has not been spent, it stops collecting. The landowners in the watershed will pay $2 per acre each year with a minimum payment of $5.

The other item of some interest was not even in Jasper County--it involved something in Newton. There are two pipelines carrying refined petroleum products that cross somewhere on the Fair Oaks Farms. The two companies want to build an interconnection. To do that, they want to build a gravel road on the easement of a ditch that Jasper County maintains. After some discussion, it was agreed that everyone could benefit, so the Commissioners approved it with the condition that a clause be put in the legal document that Jasper County would not be held liable for any damage they caused in using the road (for cleaning the ditch). The road would only be accessible to the pipeline companies, Fair Oaks Farm, and the County Surveyor.

The meeting ended after there was a mention that a letter would be going out about the Stackhouse Ditch. I am not sure what that is about, but I suspect it will be a subject in some upcoming meetings.

Selfies

The Oxford Dictionary word of the year for 2013 was selfie. I had not been aware of the word until I saw an announcement of that honor, but since then I have seen it repeatedly. Yesterday (Friday) the angle of the sun gave me an opportunity to take a selfie. I am waving to myself as I take the picture. It should be pretty obvious where I was.

 Today (Saturday) I went out to SJC to check out the science fair. I must have been there at a bad time because there was not a lot going on. There were eight high school teams in the competition and eleven middle school teams, including Rensselaer Central Middle School. The Rensselaer Central High School team was off to Lafayette for a competition hosted by Ivy Tech. The web page for the SJC event is zinc.saintjoe.edu/sjcscioly/. It may take a day or two, but it should have the results of today's event.

Did you know that Ivy Tech has begun offering a few classes at Morocco? They have just a few courses there but I cannot find which ones on their website.

While out at SJC I noticed that pictures were being hung for the Regional High School Exhibit. Next week I will probably do a post on what I found interesting, but since here is a preview--an interesting variation on a selfie. Part of the picture is a photograph (that reflects the background and thus is not as clear as it should be) and part is drawing.

In other news, the Rensselaer Library is still not open. The Community Garden group had its organizational meeting on Monday (which I missed because I went to the Park Board meeting) and they promise a community garden that is bigger and better than last year. If you are interested in joining the fun and obtaining a plot, you can attend the meeting on March 13 at the extension office at 6 pm central time. This meeting will feature a class on beginning gardening and pest control. If you cannot wait that long, call the extension office at 219-866-4961 and ask for Brian.

Over in Pulaski County

Some new Youtube videos have been posted highlighting three Pulaski County businesses, Adaptasoft, FRATCO, and Braun corporation. They are produced by Extraordinary Indiana, which seems to be an offshoot of Savor Indiana. Adaptasoft is a software development company in the unlikely location of Francesville. Here is the Adaptasoft video:

Here are links to the FRATCO video and the Braun video. All three have been released in the past few days. There are also two other videos highlighting Pulaski County.

I suspect the videos were paid for by the Pulaski County Economic Development office. Savor Indiana has done a number of half-hour shows that play on area PBS stations. They have done two area counties, Pulaski and Carroll, as well as two on the South Shore Visitors and Convention Authority, one of which includes bits about the Dairy Adventure and the Pig Adventure. To view them, go to their website and click on Episodes. (You do not have to watch the whole half hour--they have chopped the film up into shorter episodes.)

If they ever do an episode on Jasper County, what should be included?

Update: Fair Oaks Farms announced the upcoming Pig Education Adventure Center, which should be ready in about a year. It will be located to the west of the Birthing Barn. 

Halleck display

Last Saturday when I stopped by the Historical Society Museum to see if they had their post-card display up yet, I noticed a display of Charles Halleck items on a table.

 It was a collection of items that were being prepared for a display in the Library. You can see the newspaper with the story of the Eisenhower visit for the laying of the cornerstone of Halleck Center. I thought the most interesting item was the cover of Time Magazine from June 8, 1959.

The post-card display was being assembled and the map exhibit was being put away.

The Historical Society has been having an identify-the-picture series on Facebook. The one they posted today was the only one that I instantly recognized.

Another snow day (Updated)

Last night and this morning we got another six or so inches of snow and with the blowing in the country, most of Jasper County is shut down again. Most area schools are closed and SJC canceled morning classes. (How many days do the Rensselaer schools have to make up? Will they get out for summer before the 4th of July?)

The city streets are in pretty good shape--the snow plows were out in force.

 The wind blew the snow as it fell and on some south facing roofs there are little "snowcicles".

 The window of the new location for Ardent Papers Photography got signage a few days ago, and I realized I could take advantage of the reflection that normally disrupts pictures of windows.

 Owners who left cars parked in the street will have to work to get them out. If the snow from the plows were just a little higher, you might not notice the car in the picture below.

 The most impressive snow pile in the downtown is the one by Fifth Third Bank. It's ten to twelve feet high. How did they get it that high?

 There is a river down there but you might not know it if you did not know that this picture was taken from the Talbert Bridge.

Spring will eventually come. By the end of the month, which is only about three more weeks, the days will be an hour longer. Always look at the bright side of life.

Update: SJC canceled classes for the afternoon too.

Update Thursday: Here are a few more pictures for those readers who are in Florida, California, Arizona, or Texas. I am sure that they will make you wish you were enjoying this fine weather with us.

This Red Cross trailer has 100 cots, 100 blankets, and other supplies for emergency shelters. Let's hope that we do not need to use them.

 Below is the south end of the Walmart parking lot. You can see the top of the (snow-covered) Farm Credit building over the top of the snow piles to the left of the light pole. Since there are no above freezing temperatures in the forecast for the next five days but there is snow, these piles will probably get a bit higher. How long will it take for them to melt?

 Although the sun was bright, the temperature never got to the double digits today.