Today I witnessed democracy at its worst. Upon going to a meeting at the Madison County Commissioners Court regarding putting a Dollar General at the corner of 1550 and St. Rd 9 outside of Summitville. My family, among others, live near this location and are vehemently against putting this store here. 

To begin with, there are other locations in the town of Summitville and around to put a Dollar General if they want one so bad. On the other hand, just a few miles down the road in either direction are Dollar Generals. In fact, there are 19 of them in a 20 mile radius of us. 

The placement of a store at this location raises safety concerns. Stores near us have a history of being robbed, and having a store in the middle of nowhere can only allow for those situations to occur more frequently. I worry about gun violence, robberies and the general higher amount of people to this area. We have had people come and try to break into our homes already just being on State Road 9. There are also many traffic incidents due to hills in the area and bad weather in the winter. An increase of traffic could only bring about more incidents. 

It was proposed that this location would be beneficial for Summitville residents who drive their golf carts. 1550 is a direct route to R&R as well as the Ethanol plant where semis are frequently driving - do we want and uptick of golf carts on a road with semis? 

It is felt that there has not been enough research done or attempts at finding a better location than this rural one. We as the residents in this area like the privacy of rural life, the quiet of rural life. We moved out here to not be in the city. A building of any store leads to building of more. How long until the whole field is rezoned to accommodate new restaurants, more stores and housing? 

It was said that this store would benefit the community of Summitville, but I, and others, fail to see how when this would cause a disruption for so many of us. Please sign so we can take this to the city before they begin this project.  

***IMAGE: Pink indicates all of the properties and therefore PEOPLE who would be affected. (plus more). Red is the approximate location of proposed dollar general.