In the darkest hours of recession in Elkhart, optimists clung to this thread of hope: That in the past, this RV manufacturing economy always led the way into a downturn, but it also led the way out.The mood at the annual Biz-ness Expo this week, as reported by The Elkhart Truth  …

Kari Huus / msnbc.com

Antinio Long, 34, awaits a ride to a new job outside a work release facility where he is serving time because of missed child support payments.

In better times, even those behind bars were better off.

When the local RV industry was booming, low-level criminal offenders in the Elkhart County Jail were routinely cycled through the work release program. Eligible inmates would sign out for work then return to the minimum security detention facility in Goshen after their shifts. With good behavior, they could earn greater freedoms and, eventually, be released to home detention, opening up beds in the facility for other inmates.

But with 15 percent unemployment in the county, movement through the facility has slowed to a crawl. Only about 50 percent of the inmates in the 327-bed detention facility are working, compared to 85 percent in normal times, according to Elkhart County Sheriff Mike Books. At the recession's peak, the number of employed in the facility was even lower -- only 38 percent had jobs.

"It's frustrating," said Books, who is also chairman of the Community Corrections Advisory Board. "It slows the flow back into society."

Even as new data suggests that the economy in Elkhart County has emerged from recession (click here to read last week's Adversity Index report), out comes a new measure of the meltdown's impact on this community: a list of 3,200 county properties with delinquent taxes -- roughly triple the usual figure.

Among the properties on the list are homes, businesses and churches, the Elkhart Truth reports.

Click here to read the newspaper's coverage of the delinquent properties, which can be sold at auction starting Nov. 30 if the tax bill has not been paid.

NBC Nightly News correspondent Kevin Tibbles reports from Elkhart County on signals that the local economy is improving. Click on the video above to watch his report.

Or click here to read a profile of RV worker Marlin Hostetler, featured in the Nightly News story.

Elkhart County's unemployment rate dipped to 15 percent in September, registering its sixth straight monthy decline, according to figures released Wednesday by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.

It may not feel like it for those who are out of work or deep in debt, but Elkhart is one of the 79 U.S. metro areas that was economically “in recovery” in August, according to the Adversity Index, a gauge of economic activity produced by Moody’s Economy.com for msnbc.com.

The index, which is based on government data on unemployment, housing and industrial production, had previously rated the city as “in recession” for 32 consecutive months, dating to December 2006. (Click here to read about the national picture for August.)

The positive signal for Elkhart lends support to pronouncements by local officials that business activity has been picking up in recent months. But it also comes with warnings that the recovery – if it has in fact begun – will be neither quick nor smooth.

Jay Seawell / The Elkhart Truth

Doug Murray speaks with customers Jim and Diane Robinson of Goshen at the Wiener's Circle, the hot dog stand that he runs with his wife, Jacqueline, in Goshen.

With the unemployment rate stuck in the high teens, some jobless residents of Elkhart County are getting creative to keep putting food on the table.

Case in point: Douglas and Jacqueline Murray. When Doug Murray lost his sales job with Bob Evans Farm in April, he and his wife examined a whole host of self-employment options before deciding on a novel enterprise: operating a hot dog stand in Goshen.

Linda Westphal, 61, had already retired when the economic downturn hit. Her husband Bruce, 65, was still working, but the deflating stock market shrunk their nest egg. While Linda wanted to supplement their income, she was worried that finding a job in Elkhart would mean taking a source of income away from another family.

Seeing that she already had sunshine and yard space, Linda instead focused on growing food for her family this summer. She read books, took classes from the Michiana Master Gardeners and set up raised beds and a compost bin in her backyard. In addition to vegetables, which help her stretch her food budget, gardening yielded a sense of purpose.

It sounds like a character from a "Transformers" movie and looks the part. And jubilant neighbors say its departure will certainly transform their lives by removing a dirty, noisy, stinky nuisance from their midst.

The villain in question is the Mega Shredder, a 500-foot-long machine built to reduce automobiles to scrap metal in a matter of moments. For years it has been belching fumes and dust and unleashing the occasional explosion in a mostly residential district on West Lusher Avenue.