'A choice of principles and people over profits and prestige'

Letter from Dr. William J. Reid III to Mayor Abernathy and City Council

November 19, 2008

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am writing to implore you to act as the servants you were elected to be by voting to refuse to allow a Lowe's store to be built on Issaqueena Trail. Clemson University and the town itself, as our Bob Edwards stated every chance he could, is a truly “unique” place; and it is such because countless men and women like him have chosen principles and people over profits and prestige. Therefore, I am begging those of you who have not already made up your mind to either defy or defer to the will of people, and to take the only practical and principled action in order to maintain Clemson’s uniqueness.

For you and I both know that a Lowe's on Issaqueena Trail will do nothing to lower my taxes or enhance my services or increase my property values. What it will undoubtedly do is increase our taxes and increase our crime and increase our noise and increase our traffic and congestion; and most importantly, it will continue the “progress” of turning our quaint little hamlet we call home into just one more upstate city whose only pride is its past.

Finally, to those of you who have fought these abominations from the very beginning, I and my family wish to extend our many thanks; and to those of you who have chosen the dollar over duty, I’ll refrain from saying more; and finally, to those of you who are still sitting on that narrow fence between selfless service and self-service, I wish to paraphrase my typing instructor by imploring: Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their community. I am,

Most sincerely yours,
Dr. William J. Reid III