The Bedlam Corners General Store is important to my town, West Hebron. It is an old and historic building. Rumors have it the first electric potato peeling machine in America cranked up in the store. The people in town need it, especially the elderly and long-timers who live around it. The town is cranking up fund-raisers and benefit dinners, and I have offered to give a talk/reading and donate photographs, books, notecardsd and cash. Details to come on that.

The store has had its ups and downs, and in recent years, Maria Mulligan, the owner was struggling to make such a small place work in the Corporate Nation, where Wal-Mart mentality sucks the life out of every small business for miles around. The fire at the store has made us all realize that we want the general store, and that we need it. The owner, Maria, feels the same way and is determined to rebuild and re-open, even though she had little in the way of insurance. The town is behind her, speared by Rev. Debbie Earthrowl and the Methodist Church.

I’m hopping aboard this train as well and will post details on any reading or activity, if I’m asked. If you want to contribute to the fund, you may send contributions to Marie Mulligan c/o Glens Falls National Bank, Main Street, Salem, N.Y., 12865 or to Salem United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 412, Salem, N.Y., 12865 (please note that it’s for Maria Mulligan and the General Store.) Thanks. More details to come.

Please do not feel any obligation to help. Every town has its own needs and emergencies and money is tight. If you like the idea of supporting a general store, it is, a blow for individuality in a world of bigness and greed. Rural life is in trouble all over America, and I want to help make a stand. General stores are important, as are family farms.