Don't push personal 'moral dilemma' onto entire community
To the Editor,

I've lived in Bath for 25 years, and I've repeatedly heard about "visions" and plans to revitalize Bath. Sadly, these have not come to fruition. The small vocal anti-Wal-Mart group, many of whom do not live in Bath at all, use this same rhetoric, but I have yet to see them put forth one viable, concrete idea. If one arises, I would urge them to work to implement it whether Wal-Mart comes into the community or not.

The decline of Liberty Street began many years ago, and the problem of importing foreign goods and sending jobs overseas did not begin with the advent of Wal-Mart either. These are problems fraught with multiple causes and complex solutions. Demonizing Wal-Mart is not the answer. From this perspective, shopping anywhere is a moral dilemma. If you buy housewares at K-Mart, not only are you supporting Martha Stewart, a woman who has engaged in insider trading, the use of PVC packaging, etc., but K-Mart, JC Penney, Sears, and Target actually had an Asian procurement base firmly established before Sam Walton came on the scene. You can't overlook the labels in the three (soon to be four) dollar stores which seem to be proliferating here in Bath. If anyone would like to take up the challenge, can you find even 10% of their products are made in America? The next time you are at the mall, look carefully at the labels on the clothing and other merchandise you buy there. Is this a Walmart problem or an American problem that needs to be addressed?

Trying to keep Wal-Mart out of Bath is analogous to a group of health-conscious individuals trying to run TOPS out of town for selling junk food when nearly every other supermarket in America is doing the same thing. Those who wish to boycott Walmart have every right to do so - but they do not have the right to include an entire community.

Walmart will bring employment, add muchneeded revenue to our tax base, and bring customers in for the existing businesses in Bath. It will allow less affluent families, particularly those who can't afford to travel out of town to shop, to have more control over one of their few adjustable monthly expenses - grocery bills. It will provide them with quality name brand foods and other merchandise they recognize and can trust without breaking their budgets.

Bath needs growth, and I believe that the majority of us who actually live, pay taxes, and vote in Bath will be anxiously watching to see how responsive the Town Board is to this need.

Linda DePaulo-Hargraves

Bath