Reports: Dollar General will impact our town

To The Eagle:

I was extremely disappointed in Richard Erickson's recent letter to the editor. Instead of chatting with the leaders of Clatskanie and Rainier about Dollar General he should have been using Google to find out about real communities who have lost their businesses to Dollar General. And if he had used Google, he would've found out that Cathlamet is nowhere near the populations of both of these towns in Oregon and therefore cannot be compared. One town even has a Safeway store. These larger communities can somewhat absorb a business like Dollar General coming into their community. Cathlamet cannot.

I had the opportunity a while back to speak to the owner of the property who was selling to Dollar General and I asked him why a member of this community with a successful business as his, as well as being a public servant for many years, that he would sell to Dollar General. It was quite a conversation. Basically he said it was his right, and of course that is true. But he also stated that he thinks it's going to fail. Why would anyone want that to happen in the first place? Why would we want an abandoned building on the highway near the entrance of our community greeting potential tourists? Dollar Generals do not fail; they wait out the demise of the town they have so calculated.

Our commissioners stated there was nothing they could do about this even though it was pointed out there was a possible way to stop it, and they chose to ignore the process.

So if you are wondering why, after it is built, how this could possibly happen, look no further than next door.

Kristin Lee

Puget Island