Don’t want to lose the lights

In December, my wife and I were going to Sacramento to pickup our daughter from the airport and on the way we passed by Jackson, Sutter Creek, Amador City and Dry Town. It was dark and most of the local businesses had Christmas lights and decorations up. It really made me feel good to be living in this special mountain area this time of year. Small towns have a way of making the holidays very special.

On the way home that evening I also happened to notice the lack of lights and decorations on Wal-Mart and Kmart. The next day driving by Lowe’s I noticed the same thing. It’s pretty sad that the retailers who make the most money and do the most Christmas advertising do nothing to brighten up our community. But the much sadder thing is, it’s not just the Christmas lights.

I never see management or the owners from these “big boxes” helping at the charitable events, don’t see them at the service club meetings, don’t see them at the livestock auction, don’t see them donating their time and money for those in need. I do see the small business owners, you know the same ones with the Christmas lights. The fact is there are businesses and business owner’s who care about the community and those who care about the stockholders.

There is a huge amount of new retail space, including more big boxes, going into our county with very little population growth; I just hope that all the Christmas lights don’t soon disappear.

John Wiens

Jackson