April 6, 1975 (Letter from Bev)

I hope that spring has come to Deer Lodge and that your car is running again.  We had a very mild winter with the exception of one ice storm which made driving most treacherous. s The daffodils, forsythia, hyacinth, tulips, and magnolias are all in bloom here and a lot of neighbors are already planting their gardens.  I wish I could be outside working in the ground.  Instead I putter around with my house plants.  It's a small consolation.

Work is going okay.  I was really peeved and highly incensed when I found out that my book budget was frozen before I had spent all of it.  I thought I had $2.000 to spend, but only got to spend $1,200.  If I wouldn't have gone to Budget to see why I hadn't received my copies of purchase orders, I probably still wouldn't know that my funds had been frozen.  I'm going to do my best to spend the $2,000 by January of next year.  I suppose that this is typical of all state funded institutions.  I now have some part-time help.  The area schools sponsor a program for their less-motivated students which allows the students to go to school in the morning and work from 1-3 in the afternoon.  The program is federally funded and the students, called co-ops, receive $2.00 per hour.  My boss' office has a co-op, but she is seldom needed there and then she comes to the library to help me.  I started her typing catalog cards, but I soon took her off that work.  She didn't proofread anything and I was spending n hour or more correcting her mistakes.  I now have her doing most of my xeroxing for interlibrary loans.

The Monday before Easter there was some excitement at the hospital when three men were committed to the criminally insane building, escaped.  They stole one of the aides' cars and tried to take one of the psychiatrists as a hostage, but he escaped.  One man turned himself in later that night.  The other two were shot, one killed, the other injured during a robbery in a Virgina store.  The newspaper has almost daily comment on how the hospital doesn't have the needed facilities to care for the criminally insane.  A new building on the state prison grounds has been proposed, but then a full-time psychiatrist and other mental health personnel would have to be employed by the prison.  What does the state of Montana do with its criminally insane?

I bought some more furniture for my apartment.  My most recent acquisitions are a bookcase, coffee table, and an antique caned sat and back rocking chair.  I saw this chair at a sale on a Saturday and fell in love with it, but at the time I couldn't spare the extra cash for it because my car insurance was due.  On the following Tuesday I saw an ad in the newspaper selling some antique furniture and included was a caned rocker.  Out of curiosity I called the people and they were the same one who had the sale the past Saturday.  The chair was then $15.00 cheaper and so I just couldn't let it go.  The arms need refinishing, but the caning is in perfect condition.  It has become my most prized possession.

My sense of security has been almost completely destroyed.  Last Monday apt #1 was broken into and the lady's color television was stolen -- that was all.  Apt #3 was also entered, whoever went in never even bothered to shut the door.  The police don't know yet if anything was taken because the woman is in Florida.  I don't know if anyone was in my apartment or not.  The door is all marked up around the latch.  But if anyone was in, nothing was taken.

I've still been scared all week and won't feel a bit safe again until a new lock is put on my door. Tomorrow he's to finally put them on.  So much for my false sense of security.

Next month Diane and I are going to Pittsburgh to see Grayce and Brook.  I'm really looking forward to the trip.  I also want to stop in Western Psych to see everyone.  I don't know if they've hired a replacement yet for Mr. O'Mara.  I would sure like to get a job in Pittsburgh, but I doubt that will ever happen.

The hospital has four softball teams, one of which I've joined.  Practice begins this week and the games start in May.  We'll play on Wednesday nights during May and June.  I'm also starting to take tennis lessons in May.  They are on Tuesday and Thursday nights and last 4 weeks.  I'm really anxious to get outside.  This job is too confining.

Are you planing a vacation this summer?  I doubt that I'll be taking any long vacation, no $$$.  But I do hope to spend my weekends at the beach.  The New Jersey beaches are closer to me than the Delaware beaches.  I just hope the weather cooperates with my plans.

Well, guess that's all that's new with me at the moment.  Keep in touch.