Dear editor:
The walls are rising, the asphalt applied, greeters and associates employed; Wal-Mart is about to open.
It will be another step towards an unwelcome mediocrity, a world dominated by cheapness and easy accessibility.
All of this will be made possible by legions of women and children who make our underwear and garments for pennies, and others available for employment at substandard wages.
Eventually, those businesses that have been the backbone of our small community will fail, unable to compete with Sam’s World and their rapacious business practices.
Farmers will be squeezed to sell their produce at ever-lower prices, and local manufacturers, unable to compete with offshore operations, will shut their doors.
This has happened all over America, transforming a country, which once was a beacon of hope for the world, into an economic wasteland, producing very little, importing almost everything, and leaving millions of poor workers groveling on Black Friday for a few cheap trinkets.
This will occur here, too, in time. Should we be proud however to welcome our new corporate citizen?
I think not.
I will continue to buy from the same stores, which now adequately serve my needs.
Hugh Pepper
