Easterday Construction lost another long time employee last week. Leroy Bean worked for Easterday Construction Company for over 43 years, His funeral was last Friday and not only featured an ECC hat hanging by the casket, but his time with Easterdays was mentioned throughout the ceremony.
Leroy’s family has had an outsized connection to Easterday Construction with not only Leroy’s long legacy, but both of his grandsons, at least four of his nephews and one great nephew working for us at one time or another. Nephew Bob continues with us and has been here with a tenure rivaling Leroy’s. He also has a similar career path, moving from truck driver and laborer, to skilled trades to job superintendent today. Listening to the impact Easterday Construction had on Leroy and his immediate family was humbling. ECC has always been a family business and that extends to employees and their families as well.
Leroy had an outside impact on ECC and the Culver Community. Active in several local organizations while working for ECC, he continued that through his retirement. (See the adjacent obituary.) It’s obvious that not only will he be missed by his family, but also by the ECC family and the Culver community too.
We used to do a newsletter called the Easterday Parade. in volume 1, No. 6, October 1990, there was an employee profile on Leroy. Here’s the text of that profile:
Leroy William Bean has been an employee of Easterday Construction Company since 10/01/62. Nearly 20 years ago, Leroy was hired by Russell L. Easterday as a truck drive, to work and make deliveries out of the shop. He held this position working under Cubby Bair for approximately 3 years, until the office began receiving too many complaints about Leroy from the job sites. Apparently, Leroy was such a hard worker, that the superintendents wanted to keep him on site.
Leroy went from truck driver to laborer to labor foreman under Denny LaRue to Job Superintendent. The first major project placed under his control was the Saemann Building downtown in Warsaw. This was the renovation of an old building under the Historic Preservation laws in 1982 and 1984.
While on the jobs, Leroy was shortened to Roy, which is how many of us still know him. Avon Murray, an electrician that worked for ECC in the past, did this bit of editing for him. Apparently, Avon thought Leroy was too long to remember.
Leroy was born in the Chicago area on May 7th, 1941 and grew up around Culver. Margaret, Leroy’s wife was from Winamac. They were married on July 22nd, 1961. They have lived in their current residence, in the town of Culver, for the past 22 years. They have spent loads of time and energy remodeling and recently won a civic award from the Culver beautification committee. This effort is still continuing, with Leroy spending much of this summer remodeling their kitchen with new cabinets made by “Uncle Bud” Cripe.
Leroy and Margaret have two daughters, Kim and Cheryl, both in their late twenties. They have three grandchildren, Kim’s 8-year-old son, Roy Lee, Cheryl’s 6-year-old son, Mogan and 4-year-old daughter, Amy.
I’ve mentioned several times in previous posts that I am concerned about Culver’s lack of movement on the new Comprehensive Plan. (Here and here if you want to see a few past comments.) At the December Plan Commission meeting, they set up a work session to discuss accessory dwelling units (ADUs).
During Citizen Input, I commended them for tackling the ADUs, but reminded them that was only one of a myriad of changes suggested by the Comprehensive Plan. After the 2014 Comprehensive Plan, then Council President, Ginny Munroe, immediately formed a committee that created a Strategic Action Plan (SAP) and a Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) to implement key points in the plan. This fostered the creation of an entry-level housing committee that ultimately resulted in Culver achieving Stellar Community Designation. A few of the results included, 72 new housing units in the Sand Hill Farm development, the new Damore Amphitheater in the Park by the lake, the new Cavalier Park by the school and another trail extension.
Looking from the outside, the current town council has not done much to implement the new plan. The Culver Redevelopment Commission (CRC) is making some moves toward implementation, but it really needs to start with the Plan Commission and the Town Council. Many of the recommendations will require changes to the Zoning Ordinance and that is a function of the Plan Commission.
Section 5 of the 2024 Comprehensive Plan talks about implementation and includes a Priority Action Plan. While many of the recommendations require action by the Town Council, even those should be pushed by the Plan Commission as technically, the Comprehensive Plan is a Plan Commission document, adopted by them prior to adoption by the Town Council. For the ones specific to the Plan Commission, here is a short list:
Further emphasizing the need to look at the existing Zoning Ordinance, one of the things highlighted in the Future Development Character Map, Page 58, (right) was the creation of “Entertainment Corridors”. These were designated for Lake Shore Drive, Main Street and Jefferson Street. This was an acknowledgement of Culver’s Tourist and second home resident focus. In the discussion of these corridors, the conversation revolved around walkability, mixed use (commercial/residential) and diversification of our economy for year-round attractions.
Bringing these corridors to fruition, could be handled several ways, through modifications to existing districts, creation of new districts or through some form of overlay district. All will require more in-depth analysis and some rezoning to make them happen. This mixed use focus, could allow changes preventing problems such as were created with the rezoning of 303 Main Street. There is a definition of this district on Page 59 of the Comprehensive Plan, but not to the level of a Zoning District.
The Future Development Character Plan also looks at expansion of the “Employment Center” which would be Commercial/Industrial in the current ordinance and an expansion of the “Regional Commercial” area, which would be C2 under the current ordinance. The Plan Commission should contemplate how they want to foster these community goals.
In any case, there is a lot that should be on the Plan Commissions plate and rather than letting these things languish, they should start to tackle them. If they can break these down and address them in pieces, they’ll make progress. As the old saw goes, “How do you eat an elephant? – One bite at a time…”
This post tangentially, convolutedly, connects to the recent Hello Darkness post on sign lights. At least it connects for me, the way my mind works…
The Culver Charrette that was done in 1998 promoted the idea of continuing themes in Culver. One of them was the use of field stone. The Culver Chamber of Commerce embraced this with the field stone and limestone Welcome to Culver sign at the intersection of 10 & 17 as well as covering the wall at the Lake Shore Drive curve across from The Original Root Beer Stand with field stone. Some development in Culver has embraced this and some hasn’t, but it’s nice when it happens. Sand Hill Farm used this in the entrance sign at Jefferson Street and The Paddocks embraced it as an accent on the townhouses in that project.
Another theme that the Charrette suggested was “Utilize a uniform decorative lighting standard throughout the linkages in Town.” This was done along Lake Shore Drive and Main Street. It was continued part of the way out on Jefferson Street with the trail. It was also recommended as part of the Complete Streets discussion. (I couldn’t find the Complete Streets Ordinance on the Town of Culver website, but Kevin Danti, Town Manager, was kind enough to share a copy with me.)
While the lights were installed to follow the bike and walking trail out Jefferson Street to Sand Hill Blvd, neither the lights or complete streets designs were used in the last street Culver put in, Cavalier Drive. The lights were not used along the trail as it goes south from the downtown area of Main Street out to the Masonic Cemetery. I assume per these standards, Resolution 2018-007, Sec. 3(b), will be applied in The Dunes subdivision, though I am not privy to the negotiations on that project infrastructure. They could well have been waived as they were for Cavalier Drive.
I think the consistent themes suggested by the charrette, add to Culver’s character and contribute to Culver being a memorable destination. The lights are not inexpensive, but their ability to be functional and add charm should not be ignored. As with the lighted signs at the edges of town, it would be good to consider a phased spending plan that adds these fixtures to all the main entrance streets. I would also suggest that they be included along the new trails as they go through town as well, since the trails are part of Culver’s destination marketing. They would make the trails more accessible, safe, and using these lights create a more walkable scale than where there are the taller utility pole mounted fixtures.
The lights contribute to the character of Culver that sets us apart. What we locally take for granted, makes us standout to visitors…
I don’t know about you guys, but I’m so thrilled with the time change and darkness at 5:00. Ha! I saw a meme that inspired this post title that was a play on the Simon & Garfunkel song, “Sound of Silence”. (Though I do kind of like this cover by Disturbed.) The meme went “Hello Darkness my old friend. Soon you’ll start at 5:00 again…” If you read what I post here, you know I’m against the time changes whichever the direction, and I would be fine with it dark at 5:00, if it just gradually happened naturally as it should. Whichever time we’re on, here in northern Indiana, I would be going to work in the dark and returning home in the dark anyway.
But one of the things this has brought to light (pun intended) is Culver’s welcome signs have gone “Dark Skies” on us. The lights on the limestone Culver Sign (above) at the east intersection of 10 & 17 are out. The internal light in the relatively new electronic sign at the end of school street (left) has been turned off. And in a “Made You Look” moment, I checked, so you didn’t have to, and the welcome signs at the west end of Jefferson Street and Mill Street were never lit.
I made an enquiry about the two signs that had lights and was told no one else had notice (or said anything) about the limestone sign lights. The light in the top of the electronic sign was turned off because the neighbor complained. Keeping with the song theme, apparently, “She was Blinded by the Light” per Bruce Springsteen. (Though again, I am partial to this cover that was done by Manfred Mann’s Earth Band.)
I’ve discussed the electronic messaging sign here often, and I wondered about the neighbor when it was installed. It doesn’t surprise me that it’s obtrusive. I think the flashing, changing message (often with a white background) is probably actually more of a problem. That could be solved only using messages with a colored background. Most of those are the affirmations, so that should be easy to change. For the upper sign, most of these lights would have the option for dimmers, but if that’s not possible, a screen could be added to the interior of the sign on the east side to reduce the light. There are various screens that reduce opacity that would do the trick.
Not much to say about the limestone sign. I assume it needs new bulbs, but we installed those fixtures decades ago and it would probably make more sense to replace the fixtures with new LEDs that use less energy. If I get a vote, something could be done in a soft off-white light that brings out the stone and not a harsh white. As far as the west entrance signs go, it would be relatively inexpensive to install a solar (Oh my goodness! I said that word!) sign lights that would mount to it and light up the faces like the one here for $15.95 (right). Pretty inexpensive even if it has to be replaced often.
Culver doesn’t have much of a highway presence, so all of these signs are important. I doubt they’re going to inspire anyone to make a sudden turn into town. They would help with someone trying to find us though. They also might inspire a stop at a later time, if someone was just passing by. They are already here, we should make the most of them. Light ’em up!
Disappointing…
February 10, 2025
Kevin Berger
Commentary, Culver
Community, Comprehensive Plan, Culver, government, Plan Commission, Volunteering
The February meeting of the Culver Plan Commission has been cancelled because “there are no agenda items”… This is a missed opportunity to tackle the myriad of suggestions from the the new (last year) Comprehensive Plan.
For Example, this would have been a great opportunity to invite Donny Ritsema from MACOG to come speak about areas of the new Comprehensive Plan that fall under the plan commission’s purview. Donny lead MACOG’s group (along with Olivia Nix) that helped coordinate the comp plan steering committee, helped organize much of the public input and produced the final plan. I’m sure he could have helped define a plan of attack and weeded through what needed addressed by the Plan Commission on their own and for some things, in concert with the Town Council or other Town entities.
I would suggest that the Comprehensive Plan should be a standing agenda item for the Plan Commission as a reminder that there are things to address. When there is a pressing agenda that takes a lot of time, then it would get passed over, but when there is a short agenda or like this month, nothing coming before them from outside, then it could be picked up and moved forward. Incremental advances are better than nothing. As always, I respect that the Plan Commission members are volunteers and appreciate the time they put in. It’s often a thankless job. The comp plan items should be easy items to move forward though. Those items have already gone through community review, plan commission review and town council adoption. Now we just need to implement them.
For some of my previous thoughts on this, see my Implementing Culver’s Comprehensive Plan post.
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