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Lucky to Share

It’s fair to debate the pros and cons of having a Walmart in a small community like Guilford, based on factors such as the large retailer’s contributions to our tax base versus its drawing customers away from smaller local shops. But whenever a large business leaves town, it’s news; and, our economic development director, Sheri Cote, addressed the event in a Courier article on May 12 [“Economic Development Emerges from the Pandemic”].

Two of our fellow Guilford residents responded to Walmart’s store closing with letters to the editor [June 2 letters “Support Our Community” by Keith Michon and “Must Wait and See” by David Roberts]. Oddly, both took issue with Cote. Reporting on Walmart’s decision to close, Ms. Cote said she, like most of us, is sad to see a major business leave Guilford and hopes to see the vacant space filled soon. Not exactly a radical view.

Yet, one of the letter writers [Roberts] goes on to make this gratuitous, nasty remark: “The best I can see in this article is that we only pay half of Ms. Cote’s salary as she is shared with Madison—sorry, Madison!” Why take such a snide shot at Ms. Cote? It’s a shame some people today can’t express their own point of view without attacking someone else personally. Such a personal attack on Ms. Cote is senseless and rude.

As an Economic Development Commission member who has worked closely with Sheri Cote on several projects, my firsthand experience is Ms. Cote is a consummate professional, hard working, highly regarded, and consistently effective—in short, a terrific asset to Guilford and Madison. Both towns are lucky to share her talents.

Michael Meisel

Guilford