Kris Bex at Culver Kiwanis

by

I had the opportunity to introduce Kris Bex of The Remnant Trust to the Culver Kiwanis yesterday.  The Remnant Trust is an organization that collects and preserves documents from the 19th century and older.  They concentrate their collection on documents that promote the concepts of Liberty and Dignity.  They currently have 1206 cataloged works with more being added to their collection as important works become available.

Kris has been President of The Remnant Trust since its inception in 1997.  He explained how the idea for the organization came about for this group in the late 80’s/early 90’s.  He also spoke about how they came to be located in Winona Lake.  It is obviously very much a personal mission for him and he explained how some of his family inspired the creation of the trust.  He has  board of directors that he reports to which he said, “Limits his Indiana Jones style adventures…”, but he does travel the nation with examples of the works held in their trust.

One of the unique things about their organization is their belief that these documents should be shared with the public.  Members of the Kiwanis Club were afforded the opportunity to see some of these documents up close.  The opportunity to actually see an original copy of the Federalist Papers is a unique and exciting event.  That document was included in the samples brought for the club to examine.  Authors represented in the trust include Aristotle, Adam Smith, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, John Milton, Plato and Alexis de Tocqueville among others.

The Book Vault at The Remnant Trust in Winona Lake

Kris spoke about the care that is taken in preserving and presenting the documents under his protection.  He kindly acknowledged our help in creating their facility in Winona Lake and briefly discussed the systems in place to protect them.  Not unlike the protection systems some of you may have seen in the movie Angels and Demons, humidity and temperatures are controlled tightly and a specialized fire suppression system is employed that will squelch a fire by removing oxygen from the room while avoiding any residual chemical damage to the books.  Unlike those books and documents in the movie, The Remnant Trust believes their collection should be shared with the public.  Access is obviously controlled, but they do hold public events.  If you are interested in attending one, there is a list of public exhibit dates here.

You can find some additional information on our part in constructing The Remnant Trust facility in Winona Lake here in our blog.  Just search for The Remnant Trust in the search box on the right.  It was also interesting to learn that Kris attended Hillsdale College, though the group has no affiliation.  Some of you may recognize the Imprimis, a publication of Hillsdale College that I have included in the miscellaneous links in the side bar of this blog since its origin.

This is a project we’re extremely proud to include in our portfolio and I was pleased to be able to bring a piece of it to Culver for my friends at the Kiwanis Club to experience.  Thank you Kris for making yourself available to give an interesting presentation.

Career Day 2012

by

Wednesday was Career Day at Culver Middle School and I agreed to speak again this year.  I think this is the third year that I have done this and I’m going to recycle my stolen Batman cartoon… just because I really like it!  Ha!  I didn’t have Batman to compete with this year, but Jeff Kenney was discussing the glamorous life of a journalist, so I’m guessing I was shown up.  (Last year it was the police dog handler that I had to compete with.  I’m sure he would have given Jeff a better run for his money!)

I spoke about my degree in Landscape Architecture and my current career in construction.  I discussed the importance of math, verbal & written communication and art in my career.  I discussed the changing community standards and how Landscape Architects influence them.  I discussed why Landscape Architecture is a licensed profession and what that requires.  I also took them through a rough site development plan, so they got a taste of how all those things come together.  I tried to relate that to the various maps in the room since I was presenting in the Geography room.

It’s hard to find time for these things, particularly in the current business climate, but that doesn’t mean they’re not important.  I know that I didn’t know what a Landscape Architect was until I went to college.  (Somehow I don’t think Rob Schneider’s show “Rob” is helping our cause any either, when he starts to describe his job as a Landscape Architect to his new mother in law and she cuts him off with, “Yeah, I get it.  My daughter married a gardener.”)  Hopefully my talk planted a seed in some of their minds that will help them make a decision for or against pursuing a similar career. 

As usual there was a mix of interest in the room ranging from rapt attention to dozing.  I gave the same (similar?) presentation to five groups and the teacher monitoring the class said it was interesting to see where I veered off from the previous presentation.  After doing this the first time I figured out that having at least a rough outline was important since after three or four it gets hard to tell what I’ve said to what group.

All and all it was a good experience.  I would recommend considering accepting if you’re asked to speak.

Oh, and by the way, it’s National Landscape Architecture Month!  I’m sure you knew that, but if you didn’t, I’ve fulfilled an obligation to the profession as well.

Culver Redevelopment Commission

by

The Culver Redevelopment Commission (CRC) met for their first 2012 meeting on Wednesday, March 21st.  There are two returning members, Grant Munroe and Jerry Ney.  There are three new members, Brandon Cooper, Rick Tompos and Ralph Winters.  (Cooper was absent.)  They reorganized with Munroe as Chair, Winters as Vice-Chair and Tompos as Secretary.

Members brought two issues before the commission as projects to consider for the year:

  1. Munroe suggested that the group continue their consideration of facade improvement grants as were discussed extensively last year.  I suggested that they approach Trent Bennett regarding participating in a Task Force or Sub Committee in order to complete this project since he was so heavily involved in it the previous year.  They thought that was appropriate and planned to contact him.  They are going to consider this at their next meeting when they have a better handle on financing.
  2. Winters suggested that the group consider funding or helping to fund a sidewalk project which would extend the sidewalk along the west side of Lake Shore Drive from where it stops up to the intersection with S.R. 10 and then west along S.R. 1o to the Family Dollar store.  He  suggested this due to the number of Culver Academies students that walk this route to the Park ‘N Shop and to the Family Dollar.  Obstacles concerning this were discussed including that part of the area was not in the TIF District and part of the area would be on INDOT Right-of-Way.  They are going to consider this at their next meeting as well.

I presented a proposal that they consider participating in funding of a new Culver Comprehensive Plan.  (See 20/20 Vision for Culver)  They agreed that this would be a good project as it did impact the TIF District, but they felt it would be appropriate to partially fund it rather than be the sole source of funding.  I explained that this suggestion originated with Kathy Clark, a former chair of the CRC.  I also explained that I have vetted the idea with Jennifer Laurent, Marshall County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC) Executive Director, and she had indicated that it was a common use of Redevelopment funds and outlined some steps for them to take.   They are going to consider this at their next meeting as well.

They plan to have updated financials for their next meeting so that the new members can familarize themselves with the funding and available funds.  They’re behind this year since this was their first meeting, but it sounds like they intend to hit the ground running.  Their next meeting will be April 18th at 5:30pm.  They are changing their meeting dates to the 3rd Wednesday of each month at the new 5:30pm time.