I have been asked why I oppose Walmart. My short answer is, “Walmart is predatory.” Walmart aims to run competition out of business. I regard this as anti-competition and very un-American.

A few folks from Warrenton tell me it is none of my business what the Warrenton City Council wants to promote. If that is the case, then why do Astoria and Warrenton combine their chambers of commerce?

All of the business communities in our North Coast area are interconnected and depend upon each other. What Warrenton does – especially something as huge as a Walmart Super Center – has a very big impact on every other business district in the area. The entire county has only around 36,300 people. How many more huge retail stores can be built before our home-owned businesses disappear?

One thing I have always loved about the North Coast is our attraction and support for the arts, nonprofits, education and small businesses and industries. I read the names of more than 200 people and businesses that donated $63,000 to the Knappa Scholarship Foundation. I also see where the Astor Street Opry Company raised $49,000 towards the purchase of their playhouse. Those dollars came almost entirely from local contributors. If a Walmart comes in and wipes out local stores, there will not be that circulation of money, because Walmart will be getting it, and they will send it off to headquarters in Arkansas to help keep the Walton children billionaires.

Last week my husband found a local leatherworker who could recover an antique camera for us. When a computer problem arose, I walked into a locally owned business and got excellent help. Then just around the corner I went to the bakery for a fresh apple fritter. A friend told me that our local building supply stores stock a special kind of metric size bolts that even our new big box building supply fails to carry.

Local businesses stock for local needs. My cousin visited from North Carolina and was totally amazed to count 26 coffee places within a half hour’s drive and as many beauty shops and small cafes. She said we are very special to support so many different choices in our community, and this looks like the real U.S. All my cousin has in her town are the big box stores, asphalt and fencing.

All of these marvelous donations came from small businesses or companies and individuals willing to share their knowledge and wealth in support of community causes. If a Walmart moves in we will lose much of that financial and people support. Please look at our Web site www.c-r-a-w.org for facts, studies and sources to further learn the downsides to Walmart. The decision to allow Walmart in the North Coast lies with the Nygaards, the Warrenton City Planning Committee and the Warrenton City Council. The repercussions affect all of us.

SARA MEYER

Astoria