Now's a good time to start 'buying local'
By
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To the editor:
I was really amused by Jeremy Shaffer's article in The Highland County Press encouraging people to purchase locally.
When he was mayor of Lynchburg, council passed a resolution to purchase locally to help business. My daughter, Sandy West, is a council member and works for Murphy Hardware.
During the next monthly meeting of council, after passing the resolution, the payment of the bills was read and passed. One of the bills being paid was for a padlock purchased at Lowe's. After the meeting, Sandy asked Jeremy, "I thought we passed a resolution to buy locally?" Jeremy said, "Lowe's is kinda local."
One statement in his article was "The impact of purchasing goods locally goes unrealized much of the time."
Being a businessman in Lynchburg since 1972, I have seen the full impact of residents going elsewhere. Many people driving through Main Street often wonder what happened. Over the years, I have seen many of the village's elected officials rarely patronize local businesses.
I always liked the line when they say "We need more businesses in town, our business district looks bad."
At a TEA Party meeting a couple of years ago, Tom Horst was present and urged those in attendance to buy locally so the county would receive more income from sales taxes. He said the county doesn't get any money for what you spend in Eastgate. So, if Jeremy and Tom think residents should shop locally, I am sure Shane Wilkin would, too.
Who controls a lot of spending in Highland County? The county commissioners. If they encouraged all county agencies to purchase locally and not export our money away to other markets as Jeremy said, I am sure the local janitorial supply company would appreciate more than the 19 percent of the county business that he now receives.
If $45 of each $100 spent locally stays in the community, wow! What an impact the county commissioners could create for the local economy. Isn't now a good time to get started?
Sincerely,
Charles M. Spaeth, Jr.
Lynchburg[[In-content Ad]]
I was really amused by Jeremy Shaffer's article in The Highland County Press encouraging people to purchase locally.
When he was mayor of Lynchburg, council passed a resolution to purchase locally to help business. My daughter, Sandy West, is a council member and works for Murphy Hardware.
During the next monthly meeting of council, after passing the resolution, the payment of the bills was read and passed. One of the bills being paid was for a padlock purchased at Lowe's. After the meeting, Sandy asked Jeremy, "I thought we passed a resolution to buy locally?" Jeremy said, "Lowe's is kinda local."
One statement in his article was "The impact of purchasing goods locally goes unrealized much of the time."
Being a businessman in Lynchburg since 1972, I have seen the full impact of residents going elsewhere. Many people driving through Main Street often wonder what happened. Over the years, I have seen many of the village's elected officials rarely patronize local businesses.
I always liked the line when they say "We need more businesses in town, our business district looks bad."
At a TEA Party meeting a couple of years ago, Tom Horst was present and urged those in attendance to buy locally so the county would receive more income from sales taxes. He said the county doesn't get any money for what you spend in Eastgate. So, if Jeremy and Tom think residents should shop locally, I am sure Shane Wilkin would, too.
Who controls a lot of spending in Highland County? The county commissioners. If they encouraged all county agencies to purchase locally and not export our money away to other markets as Jeremy said, I am sure the local janitorial supply company would appreciate more than the 19 percent of the county business that he now receives.
If $45 of each $100 spent locally stays in the community, wow! What an impact the county commissioners could create for the local economy. Isn't now a good time to get started?
Sincerely,
Charles M. Spaeth, Jr.
Lynchburg[[In-content Ad]]