Back at Work

[Wayne and Carolyn Mathews]

It was nice to learn that Keystone's production is up 25% and that some laid-off workers have been recalled to work. Our daughter's fiancee, who was laid off from Barrett Minerals/Minerals Tech here in Dillon on January 23rd, was called back last week. He was told the job would be part-time and probably temporary, but since returning, he's worked every day, 10 hours a day. We're so thankful he's back at Barrett's. Jobs are non-existent in our town of 3,000, and several businesses have closed in the last few months. David is one of the lucky folks who were able not only to return to work, but to return to a decent job that pays more than minimum wage.

Carolyn

[Tom S.]

I suspect that Keystone's success has had a price though. The reason their sales are up may be because there are less brands to choose from now since many companies did not weather the economic storm.

[Wayne and Carolyn Mathews]

I suspect there's some truth in that observation, Tom. I know I'm buying a lot of brands of food I never bought before simply because our local Safeway has quit handling a lot of my old favorites.

The health of Barrett Minerals/Minerals Tech is tied to some extent to the auto and space industry. Barrett's is a talc mine, and talc is used in the manufacture of new cars, tiles for the space shuttles, and, of course, to dust that gum we unwrap from the rectangular silver wrappers. When auto production went south, so did Barrett's. Things have picked up a bit, however, which resulted in Barrett's recalling several crews over the past 6 weeks or so. We just hope the trend holds steady or continues to pick up a bit. I'm sure talc is used a lot of other places, too, but I'm not familiar with those.

Perhaps some of the better (quality) RV manufacturers will be able to reorganize and reopen one day. I have the feeling that Keystone's workmanship and reputation helped them weather the storm so far. Things may never be the same for a lot of us--disposable income is an endangered species for the time being, I fear.

Carolyn