Winter kindness

This is the time of year to bring out the hats, coats, and gloves, but for one Plains resident, the frigid weather is also a time to help others.

A local woman, who wished to remain anonymous, tied nearly two dozen scarves around seven lampposts along Railroad Street in Plains sometime last week. With each scarf was a note that read: "I'm not lost. Please take me with you if you are cold. God Bless."

The woman had purchased a batch of the scarves at the Little Bitterroot Thrift Store on West Lynch last week, but Lores Porter, an employee at the store, said that some of the scarves on the lampposts looked to be handmade. The scarves could be found along the main street from the Blackfoot Telephone Company building to Colleen's Country Store. The woman put three or four scarves on each lamppost. As of Saturday afternoon, two scarves had been taken.

"It was a kindness thing she was doing. She saw it somewhere else and thought it was a good idea," said Porter, who has lived in Plains most of her life and had not seen anything done like this before. The woman told Porter that she hopes others will follow with similar acts of charity and "spread the warmth," said Porter.

Plains Chief of Police Shawn Emmett said there are people in the community that could use the scarves, but he doesn't believe there are presently any homeless people here, although he said there have been in the past. "Because of the weather, we don't have a lot of people passing through this time of year," said Emmett.

"It is certainly possible that there are people in need of additional warm clothing during this winter season and any efforts to help them are admirable," said Mayor Dan Rowan. The Assembly of God Church on the Move in Plains has a clothing bank that is open each Tuesday.