We had a good crowd last night in front of the board of trustees. Several people told the trustees why we oppose the plan to allow a Sam's Club to develop and give the developer millions of dollars in tax revenue. I apologize for likely misspellings below.

• Gary Graves talked about the problem with the Sam's in O'Fallon and disagreed with giving money to a for-profit organization.
• Mike Chamberlain noted that tax breaks given to Lowe's helped Lowe's put the Do It Center (which did not get tax breaks) out of business. Sam's will have the same impact.
• Phil Jarsik told the trustees that Glen Carbon should not be in the business of giving money to businesses.
• Jeff Corbin mentioned that Wal-Mart has taken huge amounts of money in tax breaks all over the country, making its primary owners very wealthy. He added that Sam's should pay its own way to come to Glen Carbon.
• Susan Hamil said that Sam's will not be a benefit to the community.
• Steve Strayer questioned the Sam's traffic study that shows the store will have only 33 cars per hour coming to the store.
• Grace Garin reminded the trustees that small businesses deserve the same treatment given to big businesses in Glen Carbon.
• Kenny Wilhelm asked why Glen Carbon should welcome a company that treats employees so badly and threatens other stores' abilities to survive.
• Kathy Starch told the trustees that it doesn't make sense to spend money to bring a store to Glen Carbon that doesn't sell anything not currently available in Glen Carbon.
• Mark Martin told them that Glen Carbon doesn't need a Sam's.