Review of Music on Main Street

A review of Music on Main Street, which featured Bucky Covington:

http://www.southsidervoice.com/top-stories/main-street-rocked-with-music

Singer Carly Brooke in Southside Times

Beech Grove resident, 14, plans to move closer to Nashville, Tenn. Story in the Southside Times:


http://ss-times.com/carly-brooke-beech-grove-singing/

Sarah T. Bolton historical marker in need of repair/UPDATE 8-4-16)

This historical marker sits facing the street at 107 S. 17th Ave.

The gold lettering is fading. Besides being a poet, Bolton was an advocate of women's rights.

FOLLOWUP (Aug. 2, 2016): A representative from the Indiana Historical Bureau, which maintains the markers throughout Indiana, told me repairs will be made soon. He also mentioned the possibility that the marker will be moved to Sarah Bolton Park. According to Casey Pfeiffer: "... our agency, the Indiana Historical Bureau (IHB), oversees the Indiana State Historical Marker Program. I have been in communication with the property owner where this marker is located and she sent me some updated photos showing the marker. IHB staff are looking to repaint this marker in the near future. It looks like it is also in need of a new post. We are considering moving the marker from its current site to inside the Sarah T. Bolton Park. Several years ago, staff discussed moving the marker, but plans never made much progress. We will continue to look into this in the coming weeks to see what would be best. We want to make sure the marker is in a safe and accessible location, where it can help educate many on Sarah Bolton’s contributions to our state and the location in the park may increase visibility."

FOLLOWUP (Aug. 4, 2016: From Suzanne Koester Harris : I've been working with the Indiana Historical Society (sic) since June and gave my approval yesterday for the Beech Grove Parks Dept to remove the sign from my yard. IHS will clean the sign & paint the blue background. The sign will be placed on display at the Indiana State Fair on the 18th and 19th in the Bicentennial Pavilion and the public will be encouraged to hep paint the gold letters. Once the sign has been restored to its original condition, it will be installed in the Park.

From the Blue Guide to Indiana, a satire by Michael Martone

Excerpt from The Blue Guide to Indiana, by Michael Martone, a tongue-in-cheek look at Indiana places. FC2 published the book in 2001.

The Mothball Fleet of Garbage Trucks

Beech Grove

To this suburb outside of Indianapolis come the retire garbage and trash hauling trucks declared as surplus or redundant by municipal entities and sanitary districts nationwide. Here, stripped of their more valuable electric components, gleaned of their hydraulics, drained of fuel and fluid, the trucks’ tires are removed and the remaining frames and bodies are placed on blocks at sabotage-discouraging intervals, The vehicles are prepared for indefinite storage in anticipation of future reactivations during expected, though undesirable, cartage emergencies. The retired trucks may also serve as sources for needed spare parts, cannibalized by skilled teams of roving technicians. The humid climate of these former soybean fields south of the capital city, provides a pristine environment for such mothballing, assuring a fleet of heavy duty trucks in a ready reserve.

Walking tours of the site are available, where the visitor will be amazed by the variety and ingenuity displayed in the handling of kitchen garbage, rubbish, ashes, sawdust, and trash of all description.  More poignant are the remains of decorative display such as cartoon characters, beloved names and names of beloveds adorning their air-brushed images, and scripts of catchy slogans applied to the cabs of the trucks by their zealous crews. “Litterbug,” “Stuff It!” “Outta Sight, Outta Mind!” Stenciled along the flanks of fender after fender are icons representing countless missions performed. Here, affixed to a rust-specked grill by means pf twist ties, the remains of a teddy bear or doll baby rescued from a bin. There, a playful hood ornament of eight ball, cookie jar, or electric fan, handiwork of a bored driver stuck on line at the scales of some remote landfill. Picnic areas with cook stoves are scattered around the lots as well as latrines and potable water spigots, but note that the facility has no trash receptacles, and everything packed into the site must be brought out again by the hiker.