Garbage-to-ethanol plant would change town

SCHNEIDER -- Carl Studer pulls out a dog-eared folder from behind the counter at Studer's Corner Service at the intersection of U.S. 41 and West 241st Avenue.

He leans on the counter, sleeves rolled up, in a red shirt with his first name embroidered on the front and starts to flip through the folder's contents.

Studer's dad opened the gas station in 1956. Carl has owned it for 44 years.

The building hasn't changed much in all that time. A freezer full of ice cream bars still holds a prominent place by the front window like it has forever; a car sits high in the adjacent one-hoist repair shop; and regulars wander in and out of the small store for their smokes and their soda pop.

From the tattered folder Studer produces yellowed photos and a school yearbook. They tell the story of a rural town of 300 people whose lives may never be the same again if a $285 million, first-of-its-kind garbage-to-ethanol plant becomes a reality.

The vast majority of Schneider's populace hopes it will. Businesses come and go, struggle to stay alive in and around this burg that hugs the Kankakee River and, while most residents work outside of town, many are unemployed, they say.

Town 'slowed way down'
It's Thursday, the day after Powers Energy of America came to town to formally announce that of three communities under consideration, it chose Schneider to locate its plant, promising more than $15 million a year in taxes and royalties and more jobs than there are people in town.

"We've got to wait and see what happens," Studer said. "This town sure could use the money from the taxes."

Studer, 65, slides out a photo of the town's old grain elevator, the tallest building for miles around. It's dated 1912/1913, when the building was under construction. The former railroad town started to lose businesses and jobs when the railroad went away and when the Federal Government rerouted U.S. 41 in the 1950s. The grain elevator finally closed a few years ago.

"The town kind of slowed way down," said Studer, who was raised a mile-and-a-half away.

He graduated from the old Schneider School, a hulking building high on a hill, surrounded by trees, that was torn down decades ago. A community building with a branch library sits there now. The old Echo restaurant, closed for years, reopened last year as Babe'z, the only eatery left in town besides the bar.

There are about a dozen businesses total, a couple of churches and a post office. Studer's, although it's technically outside the town limits because it's across the highway, is the last surviving gas station. There used to be five.

The small, red brick town hall also houses the police and fire station. The town has a marshal and deputy marshal, and the West Creek Fire Department operates on a volunteer basis.

Life could change quickly

That could change, residents, say, if Powers' bioethanol plant actually comes to fruition, but in the meantime, people are playing a waiting game.

"People are positive, but not getting overly excited. I think people are still wondering, 'Will we really get it?'" said Studer's wife, Tonie, Schneider's PMR -- postmaster replacement -- who was filling in for the postmaster Thursday. "When they see the first tractor coming in, they'll probably have a street party. Hopefully, it will be a good thing for the area."

Tonie Studer hears the chatter at the post office and when she opens the gas station for her husband at 4:30 a.m. and the locals are asking if the coffee's done.

"People are looking forward to it creating more jobs, but I think they're still thinking they'll believe it when things start happening."

Sandra Hofrichter, who's lived in Schneider for nine years, picked up her mail on the way home from her job at Saint Anthony Medical Center in Crown Point.

"I think it will give some people jobs and maybe a little self esteem," Hofrichter said. "They're excited and anxious to get back to work."

The fact that Powers Energy has committed to hiring Schneider people first is not lost on the residents.

"They've got car payments, house payments, families to feed and insurance to pay," Hofrichter said. She hoped the plant would also help existing businesses prosper.

Tonie Studer hopes so, too.

"We feel it over there at the station and we feel it here, too, big time," she said. 'People aren't mailing like they used to. Little by little, business is dropping off."

Bob Steele, manager of Regional Truck, has been with the company for 36 years.

"I think it'll be great," Steele said of the planned plant. "This town has been shrinking and people are moving away because there's nothing here to hold them. Everybody thinks this is going to be good.

Some are less positive

While the town's residents overwhelmingly voted to support the plant, not everyone is totally convinced.

"I voted for it, and I still don't know if it's a good thing," said Jack Gerner, 78, drinking coffee at the counter in Babe'z.

"I hope it is," said Gerner, who was born in Schneider. Gerner said his concern is that the pilot plant on which the Schneider plant will be patterned processes only 1.5 tons of trash a day, compared to the 10,000 tons a day Powers plans to send to Schneider.

"What's this 10,000 tons going to do? I don't know," Gerner said.

Jack Cable and his dad, Jack Sr., who sat at a booth across the restaurant, were cautiously optimistic.

"I'd rather see them do that with trash than see it go in the ground," said Cable Sr., of Roselawn, who drove a garbage truck to the Newton County landfill for seven years.

"I think it's a good thing. I work in Chicago and I'm tired of that drive," Cable said. "Hopefully, it will be a good economic booster for the town, as long as they don't pollute the ground. It takes a thousand years for it to biodegrade. I run E85 in my truck anyway. As long as the EPA does its job, it's a great thing."

source: post-trib