Meet George Cuddy

On Saturday afternoon around 2 p.m., the Rensselaer Library will be hosting George Cuddy, who is spending his summer biking solo across the country from Boston, Mass. to Portland, Ore.

Cuddy is using the trek to build support and raise funds for a rowing program in his home community of Brighton, Mass. to benefit physically and mentally challenged athletes.

You can learn about the rowing program through a short online video. You can also follow Cuddy's trip online, via his Cross Country trip blog.

Cuddy contacted the library several weeks ago to see whether we would be interested in having him come talk about the program and about cross country cycling.

We hope if you are interested in either topic, you can find some time to duck out of the heat and stop by.

Note: He is leaving from Denver, Ind. and coming 65 miles before stopping in Rensselaer. That's definitely a day's work.

General Milroy Open House July 2

July 2010 commemorates the 100th anniversary of the Milroy Statue erected in Milroy Park by the Jasper County Historical Society. The Civil War military career of General Milroy provided notoriety for Jasper County, and the Rensselaer Library houses a collection of items dating back to Milroy’s military career and life in the library’s Genealogy Room.

In keeping with the centennial anniversary of Milroy’s memorable contributions to our country, the Rensselaer Library is inviting the public to attend an Open House in his honor, held on Friday, July 2 from 1-3 pm in the library’s Genealogy Room, where selected items will be available for viewing and staff will be available to answer questions about Milroy, his life, and his military career.

Refreshments will be served. No registration is required, and all ages are welcome to attend. This Open House is held in conjunction with the Historical Society’s centennial celebration of the Milroy Statue on July 4 in Milroy Park. For more information, visit or call the Rensselaer Library at 866-5881.

To learn more about General Milroy online, visit the library's official Robert H. Milroy Collection online, where you can view pictures and read his wartime correspondence.

Splashes of color - DeMotte Library Community Garden

Three years ago, the DeMotte Library began growing a Community Garden, filling it with perennials that added color to the library’s landscape. After 3 years, it was time to extend and thin out the garden, and with the help of the Purdue Master Gardeners from the Jasper County Extension Office, the library’s Community Garden has been expanded outward and the design thinned out and arranged so that the beauty of each plant in the garden stands out in colorful array.

The DeMotte Library thanks each and every member of the Purdue Master Gardeners for their hard work and dedication to this project, and invites everyone in our community to view the finished project, which beautifies the library from the outside, but may be seen from within the library as well.

We’d like to once again thank each and every person who donated their time and energy to this project and invite flower lovers from our community to enjoy the splash of color created by our Community Garden.

Legal forms at the library

Did you know the State of Indiana has provided several easy-to-use forms for common legal needs including divorce, child support, small claims and appeals? These forms, available in the library's Research Resources collection, start with a web page that asks you a few basic questions and fills in the actual legal form based on your answers. You can then print this from home or at the library.

The Indiana Self-Service Legal Center, part of the Indiana Judiciary, is not intended to replace an attorney or legal advice, and the library strongly recommends patrons read all the information on the website carefully.

The Research Resources collection can be found two ways: the link on the front page of the library's website at http://www.myjcpl.org/ and as a folder on the desktop of any public Internet computer at the library, as well as on the library catalog computers.

If you're looking for other legal forms, from lease and rental agreements to living wills and more, be sure to look at our broader Legal Forms database, also available in our Research Resources collection.

Summer Reading

The heat wave this week is the surest sign that summer is finally here (though the anxious faces on the kids finishing their final weeks of school was another dead giveaway).

Summer reading signups are underway now for kids and teens at the Jasper County Public Library. Adult programs will be held this summer also.

Children can enjoy programs including a bubbleologist, a magician, the Silly Safaris crew and more. Teens will have gaming parties and food events. Adults have their own selection of programs including a local history presentation on the Grand Kankakee Marsh.

And though we know the reading itself is reward enough, there will be prizes to keep you motivated to keep turning those pages all summer long.

So this summer, "Make a Splash at Your Library," “Water Your Mind: Read,” and don’t miss the chance to “take a mental vacation” this summer by escaping into a good book! For more information, visit our summer reading page on our website at http://www.myjcpl.org/ or call your library at 987-2221 (DeMotte) 866-5881 (Rensselaer) or 956-3774 (Wheatfield).

Yard Sales and Scavenger Hunts

May 1 is the town wide yard sale in Rensselaer, and most of the community will be out hitting the streets in search of a good deal.

Of course we know one of the best deals in the community are the free books, movies and services provided by the library, but you can rest assured we'll still be here when you're done shopping, or when you're ready for a break.

Tomorrow, we expect, will also introduce a new crowd to the library. Just for the fun of it, a group of local businesses have arranged a scavenger hunt to go on during the day. Proceeds will benefit local organizations including the Jasper County Animal Shelter and the Crisis Center.

Without giving anything away, we can say we are a stop on the scavenger hunt trail, and we hope to see you tomorrow. For more information about the hunt, look for signs in participating businesses, or check out the website at http://www.huntrensselaer.com/.

Good luck to all the teams hunting tomorrow, and for those doing their own special deal hunting.

Happy April Fools Day

Did you know penguins could fly? They can with the magic of the British Broadcasting Corporation and an expert team of skilled video technicians. If you visit the JCPL Kids Zone in April, you can find the video and read more about April Fools Day.

Did you know the BBC also once aired a video about the endangered Swiss spaghetti harvest, back in 1957?  You can also see this interesting video clip via YouTube.

Using television (and other means) to pull practical jokes on friends and the public at large is a tradition that may go back to our primal roots, when early cultures praised the actions of the clever human tricksters that braved the gods and brought us stories (Ananse - Africa), or fire (Prometheus - Greece), or light (Raven - Native American).

Most people know of someone who has been "gotten" by an April Fools Day prank, but those done in good humor and with a good heart are bound to provoke a laugh no matter how long ago they were pulled, and how ludicrous they might seem today.

For an interesting roundup of April Fools Day pranks, check out the Museum of Hoaxes, which has created a user-friendly list of the Top 100 April Fools Day Jokes.

May your spirits of jest always be in good cheer!