<div id="RTEContent"> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Jeff H.,<o:p></o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></font><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">I agree with many of your points in your argument especially when you say,<o:p></o:p></span></font></div> <pre><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p> “</span></font>On the other hand, in our economic system, no business has an <br><font face="Courier New" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">absolute right to exist simply because it exists. A business earns <o:p></o:p><br>its right to exist by meeting customers' needs and wants. A <o:p></o:p><br>successful business must expect to compete - or become
extinct.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></pre> <pre><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">However, a community has the right to help protect the businesses that exist in their communities. Many consumers think about the how they can save a dime now but fail to realize how their actions today will effect what they may want tomorrow. <br>If they end up shopping at “Spence Hardware” a quarter of the time they did before a Supercenter was built they might not realize that they are directly affecting the business of that store and that eventually the small hardware store may close. <br>I can imagine those same consumers saying, “It’s a shame. I really liked shopping there when I needed this or that, and their employee’s always treated me so well.”<br>In retrospect, those same individuals might also say, “I wonder if it was the Supercenter…” <o:p></o:p></span></font></pre> <pre><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-fam!
ily:
Arial;"><o:p></o:p>How many times do you drive through the small towns around here and see all the boarded up businesses. <br>Is this the reality of the business world? Absolutely. But at the same time why not try to keep a community thriving with a variety of businesses? <br><o:p></o:p></span></font></pre> <pre><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">The statistics are out there on what has happened, good and bad, to the cities and towns who have allowed a Supercenter to locate there. <br>I think it’s our job to discuss how a Wal-Mart would impact the local area and then decide, as a community, whether or not we want the changes it would bring. <br>We could decide to let them in and cast our vote through our shopping habits (or lack there of). Or, after reviewing the facts, we may decide to take a stand now, <br>as so many other towns have already done, and tell Wal-Mart they are not welcome in our community.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></pre> <pre><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Keli<o:p></o:p></span></font></pre> </div><p>
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