DEAR JOHN: Thanks

To my friend John Montandon of Sherman Hardware:

I’ve been going to your store for most of my life. It’s been a fun place to shop. I have always been able to find something to fix everything. My favorite memory will be the time you let Nicole and me go through every inch of your store looking for things to build her hydrogen car to compete in a state championship race. She took third. The stuff she put the thing together with will always amaze me.

I know the recall effort helped put you out of business and I’m partly to blame for that. You never held it against me; we stayed friends. I was thinking about how many things you and your dad helped fix for people over the hundred years and I think the county should pin a medal on you for the hundreds of tons your store has kept from the landfill.

Nicole and I wish you well.

Your friend,

RUSS McLAIN

Coeur d’Alene