The smelter in East Helena blew down their two stacks on Friday. The town is now looking for a new identity without its iconic smoke stacks to mark the city. It reminds me of Ruston's struggle a decade ago; back when we were embracing our blue collar roots while rejecting the white collar culture of the big city next door to wondering if there would ever be closure to the Superfund designation so the community could move on.
There are not too many left in Ruston that were here when our stack was imploded, much less who worked at the smelter that was once our life-blood. But our history is intertwined with this same transition from blue to white collar, from a company town with fierce loyalties to a more diverse workforce, from working poor to higher income with higher expectations... It's been an interesting ride and I wish all the best to our counterparts in East Helena.
Karen
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