This and that on a holiday Monday

Two ways to mark MLK Day. Tipmont shows who’s up next for rural broadband. Fundraisers follow fatal fire. Signs of life for women's basketball at Mackey. And more ...

Today’s edition of the Based in Lafayette reporting project is sponsored by Purdue University’s Presidential Lecture Series, featuring a Feb. 1 conversation with Kenneth R. Feinberg, who oversaw the historic 9/11 victim compensation fund, and Purdue President Mitch Daniels. For details, scroll to the end of today’s edition.

Welcome to a new week. How about a little of this and a little of that on a holiday Monday? Starting with … the holiday.

MLK DAY: TWO COMMEMORATIONS

Here a couple of ways to mark Martin Luther King Day today and Tuesday.

Today: The Tippecanoe County Public Library will move its Martin Luther King Day event to the Long Center for the Performing Arts, 111 N. Sixth St., in downtown Lafayette. The 11 a.m. Monday event will feature a keynote address from Natalie Murdock, music led by James Dekle of the Purdue Black Cultural Center and a poetry reading by library director Jos Holman. The event will be livestreamed on the Tippecanoe County Public Library’s Facebook page.

Tuesday: Purdue will host David K. Wilson, president of Morgan State University, will give the keynote on the West Lafayette campus’ Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Lecture. The lecture will start at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 18, in Loeb Playhouse at Purdue’s Stewart Center. The free event also will be livestreamed. Purdue’s Black Voices of Inspiration will perform. Wilson has been president of Morgan State, a historical Black university in Baltimore, since 2010.

NEXT UP IN TIPMONT’S RURAL BROADBAND PUSH

The maps of where Tipmont REMC/Wintek planned to stretch fiber internet lines in 2022 started hitting members’ mailboxes over the weekend, likely to some cheers across the utility’s eight-county region.

“And probably some boos,” Rob Ford, communications director for Tipmont/Wintek, said.

The Linden-based co-op since spring 2019 has been rolling out fiber internet, following existing lines in an electric service territory to get rural broadband to its 24,800 members in parts of Tippecanoe, Montgomery, Fountain, Clinton, Carroll, White, Benton and Boone counties.  

A $100 million project was expected to take eight years, Ford said. Bolstered by $20 million in grants from the state’s push to expand rural broadband – getting fiber lines available to one-third of the co-op’s membership, so far – the rollout is looking to be done by 2024.

“And we know that’s not fast enough,” Ford said. “Our members tell us that all the time. Access to broadband, we know, is a necessity and not a matter of convenience anymore. … I guess what we’re saying is that we hear their need, almost daily.”

So, who’s next? (Read: Who’s cheering? And who’s not?)

Here’s a map Tipmont/Wintek released late last week. The areas in light blue are in line in 2022.

(Source: Tipmont REMC/Wintek)

They include:

• Manson, in Clinton County. Construction started in October 2021 and is expected to be ready for service in March.

• An area Tipmont labeled as Layton. Work will include two phase, starting in February just south of Williamsport and Attica and in March in a section near Covington and Veedersburg. Those should be done by July and August, respectively.

• Several parts of Montgomery County, built in three phases expected to be done between August and October.

• Klondike North, in Tippecanoe County. That will start in September and get done by January 2023.

Ford said Tipmont has been determining where to go next by grant funding from the state and from federal sources, because it allows the co-op to work quicker. He said engineering work is being done on other parts of the service area expected to get service in 2023 and 2024.

FUNDRAISERS AFTER FIRE TAKES TWO GIRLS

What devastating news out of Clinton County late last week. Several fundraisers and collections emerged in the hours an early Friday morning house fire in Clinton County killed Shea and Amelia Heid, the 12- and 5-year-old daughters of Brandon and Telia Heid. The investigation into the cause of the fire continued this weekend. As of Sunday morning, a pair of GoFundMe accounts set up for the family had raised a combined $73,000 to cover funeral expenses and material possessions lost in the fire.

Here’s a way to the first one and to the second one.

TONES OF HOME PAINTING, HOW MAY WE HELP YOU?

How did this business naming opportunity not happen in Lafayette first? Blind Melon drummer Glen Graham spotted this painting crew in Raleigh, North Carolina, with a name snagged from a single off the band’s 1992, self-title debut – not to mention a go-to headline whenever the conversation turned to the Tippecanoe County hometown of late Shannon Hoon, Blind Melon’s lead singer.

Blind Melon @BlindMelonBand

Spotted by Glen Graham in Raleigh, NC. "I spoke with Heather, the owner, who is a huge fan as are her crew. They were flabbergasted." #BlindMelon #melonheads

The reaction from a Melonhead business owner in Raleigh …

And then direct from the source, this blast from the past …

FINALLY, THIS FROM MACKEY ARENA

The J&C’s Mike Carmin, who has been covering Purdue women’s basketball through thick and thin for decades, had a good look at a tough loss Sunday against Indiana, a team having one of its best seasons in ages. Purdue, which has been going through some mighty thin seasons in recent years, took IU to overtime before losing 73-68. Carmin provide some context on a day when more than 8,500 people were in the stands and Mackey Arena showed signs of life for a program that once was a powerhouse:

“Sunday had the look and feel of when Purdue ruled the Big Ten and was a candidate to reach the Final Four.”

No one was going overboard Sunday. Carm, included. His story, full of context, is worth a read.

Meanwhile, here’s first year head coach Katie Gearlds on expectations for the Boilers. It’s also worth hearing.

Purdue Women's Basketball @PurdueWBB

The message to the team from @katiegearlds4. You'll want to hear this 👇

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Thanks, again, to Purdue University’s Presidential Lecture Series for sponsoring today’s edition. For details about Purdue President Mitch Daniels’ Feb. 1 conversation with Kenneth R. Feinberg, whose work with compensation funds from 9/11 to the Sandy Hook Elementary killings to the stage collapse at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in 2011, click the graphic below.

CLICK TO LEARN MORE.

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