Enhancing the lives of our community members by providing access to information.
Several years ago, three ladies came into the library in the summer, all sisters—one from UT, one WA, and the other from the South. Their grandfather and father had lived in Salmon; their family had become scattered and had lost contact. They wanted to get information on them, and we helped them check newspaper records and referred them to Claire Wiley, our local historian. Claire knew that this family was distantly related to our own Vicki Monk, volunteer here at the library. When we called her, Vicki came right over, and there ensued a joyful, tearful, amazed reunion!! The ladies left with Vicki to spend time together. When they all returned home, they sent a bouquet of flowers to Ramona and Anne with a card—“Thanks for helping make our dream come true!”
A lady was traveling back to Missoula when her car broke down in Salmon. The garage told her it would take a week to get parts, so she was stranded here. We called the radio station, and Leo Marshall put out an announcement for anyone going to Missoula who could give this lady a ride. Someone called right away, and she was headed back home before she knew it!
We have had several men passing through town on fund-raising journeys, walking to raise money for a cause. We connected them with the radio station and newspaper to make their causes known, and even helped them with lodging for the night.
| This Week | Last Week | Fiction Title | Weeks On | REQUEST to order / RESERVE for pickup |
| 1 | – | STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS,by Alan Dean Foster | 1 | |
| 2 | 2 | THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN, by Paula Hawkins | 52 | |
| 3 | 1 | ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE, by Anthony Doerr | 88 | |
| 4 | 3 | ROGUE LAWYER, by John Grisham | 12 | |
| 5 | 6 | THE NIGHTINGALE, by Kristin Hannah | 45 | |
| 6 | 4 | SEE ME, by Nicholas Sparks | 13 | |
| 7 | 7 | CROSS JUSTICE, by James Patterson | 7 | |
| 8 | 5 | THE BAZAAR OF BAD DREAMS, by Stephen King | 10 | |
| 9 | 9 | GO SET A WATCHMAN, by Harper Lee | 25 | |
| 10 | 14 | FATES AND FURIES, by Lauren Groff | 5 |
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Doig’s final book, Last Bus to Wisdom follows 11-year-old Donal Cameron in a coming-of-age journey across the west and back again. A transported Huck Finn, Donal inhabits 1950s Montana and instead of a river, finds his adventures on a “dog” bus. His fellow passengers include an astonishing array of villains and heroes and a runaway great uncle.
Characters spout insults – if brains were talcum powder, he wouldn’t have enough to sneeze – while the protagonist tells fibs and collects green stamps and autographs
If I have a complaint, its that the voice of Donal is much older and more mature. It is the echo of the man looking back at this pivotal journey rather than the wide-eyed awakening of a boy. Also, the cast of characters is so amazing – from cops and criminals to nuns and soldiers – that at times, it suspends belief.
Often compared to another western writer and author of a famous memoir, Wallace Stegner, Doig is less subtle but often more humorous.
If you are a fan of this prize-winning author, than this sweet farewell will please you. If you haven’t experienced Doig, may I suggest you start with my favorites, English Creek and its follow-on, Dancing at the Rascal Fair. Or join other Lemhi County readers at the February 18 installment of Lets Talk About It, where the scholar-led discussion reviews This House of Sky: Landscapes of a Western Mind.
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Who in this town has dropped off cans in the box behind the library? I have, and I’ve always wondered who collects them, and how on earth they get all the way to a recycling center where money somehow goes to the Ronald McDonald house. Turns out the story goes back 25 years.
In 1991, Marlene Grissett had recently retired from the army and wanted to buy a horse. Her husband Robert was working and she had free time, so she started collecting cans. It became something of a passion to find recyclables, break them down into their individual parts, and bring them to a recycling center where the metals, paper, and cardboard would eventually be used again. Ten years later, Pacific Ranch and Steel had stopped recycling, and Marlene offered to take cans from the Salmon Public Library. The library in turn offered the proceeds to the Grissetts, and they agreed to send the money to the Ronald McDonald House in Boise.
Now that they are both retired, what started as a hobby for Marlene has become a huge service to the Salmon community and to the Ronald McDonald House, which offers a place to stay for families of children who need medical care. The couple spends hours every day crushing cans, sorting, cleaning, and disassembling recyclables. They make regular trips with their truck and trailer loaded to the brim to Western Recycling in Idaho Falls, where the center sends a check directly to the Ronald McDonald House.
Robert makes rounds almost every day to collect recyclables, and people even flag them down just to offload a bag of paper or metal. They pick up newspaper, metals, cans, pull tabs, iPods, car hoods, and more from organizations and individuals in Salmon. Miners Glass, the library, and many other businesses in town take special care to see that they give their recyclables to them because they know it’s going to a charity they appreciate. The North Fork Forest Service office delivers bags of cans from the river runners during the summer. Marty Sheff at Coach Works sends them all their radiators and unwanted car parts, and Marlene says she “got so fast she could take a radiator apart in minutes”.
Recycling isn’t always so fun and games, however. Robert and Marlene have both had to get stitches from stray pieces of glass and sharp edged metal, and although at one time they had a working can crusher, most years they have done it all by hand. It’s hard work, and Robert says “I’ll tell you for sure, from experience. You can retire, and you end up working more than you did.” This year was a low year at 19,500lbs donated, but some years they get more than 4,000 lbs of just aluminum (the lightest recyclable metal). They say it’s all worth it, just to know that what they do helps the community and families in need.
