August 2009 Entries
Wednesday Aug. 26, 2009
“Why is gas so much cheaper on the south side of Elkhart?”
That’s the question posed on a series of fliers stapled to wooden power poles around north Elkhart. I saw them driving around yesterday — a couple on Johnson Street, another...
Monday Aug. 24, 2009
How’s this for a sales pitch: “Cheap house $14,500”?
That’s what the hand-scrawled sign said outside a vacant two-story home in the 200 block of Indiana Avenue in Elkhart. It’s written in black magic marker on a white board and posted alongside the street.
Convinced? Going to buy it? As strange as it may seem, such crude signage...
Tuesday Aug. 18, 2009
The owners of McDonald’s near Six Span Bridge seem to have lost at least one round in an apparent bid for more money from Elkhart County for some bits and pieces of their property.
In light of planned changes at the C.R. 17-S.R. 120 crossing brought on by the ongoing Six Span Bridge upgrade to the north, the county offered McDonald’s $132,650 in compensation.
The C.R. 17 and S.R. 120 entries to the fast-food eatery are to be closed as part of the improvements. Instead, entry will be shifted to two driveways off a...
Thursday Aug. 13, 2009
What do you call an immigrant living here without a proper visa, proper authorization? It seems like everybody has his or her own take:
In the stories I write, I use “undocumented immigrant” or “illegal immigrant,” pretty much interchangeably. I avoid calling them “illegals” in print unless in a direct quote, in part because it isn’t grammatically correct and it seems dehumanizing. I avoid the word “aliens,” as in “illegal aliens,” because that has imagery of someone from outer space and it sounds bureaucratic. On occasion I’ve alluded to immigrants here, illegal...
Friday Aug. 7, 2009
In writing about President Obama’s visit here I did plenty of thinking about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or ARRA, the federal plan meant to get the U.S. economy humming again.
I also learned that Obama’s ARRA isn’t the only one in town:
It’s also the name of “one of the best and largest drawing classic rock cover bands” in the Chicago area, Arra, which plays the tunes of Journey, Boston, Styx, Rush and REO Speedwagon. That’s from their website.
It’s also the acronym...
Monday Aug. 3, 2009
The Wakarusa man who served as poster child for the unemployed here during President Obama’s Elkhart County visit last February had actually voted for Republican John McCain in last November’s presidential vote.
“But now I call myself an independent,” said Ed Neufeldt, an unemployed worker from the RV sector at the time who introduced the president at that Concord High School town hall meeting.
Indeed, he says he now sides more with Democrats than Republicans, in part because of his work with area food pantries, which put him in contact with some of the neediest...