A count of missing 'Libby Bucks' might take a couple months

By JOHN BLODGETT

The Western News

The case of the missing “Libby Bucks” — $10 certificates the Libby Area Chamber of Commerce sells to promote spending at its members’ businesses — likely is “going to take a little while” to proceed, Lincoln County Sheriff Roby Bowe said Wednesday.

“We need to see how much is missing,” Bowe said. “Once thats coming in we’ll have a better idea of what’s going on.”

When the Chamber acknowledged the missing certificates in a Dec. 27, 2017 news release, it also announced a new tracking system that includes assigning serial numbers to each certificate.

To spend or deposit unnumbered Libby Bucks after March 1, people or businesses must validate those certificates by taking them to the Chamber’s office at 905 W 9th St. in Libby, where staff will assign each one a serial number and log it into the new tracking system.

How many Libby Bucks are missing will hopefully be determined after this validation process is completed, said Chamber President Amber Holm.

Bowe said it was “still a little bit early” in the investigation to have any suspects.

“We can speculate but I would hate to do that until we have some pretty hard evidence what’s missing and how much is missing,” he said.