Around the nation and around the world, former sand and gravel pits have been restored to wilderness wildlife habitat. In Greenfield, Wal-Mart wants to pave a former sand and gravel pit on French King Highway near Route 2. Wal-Mart wants to build a giant “big box” store and acres of parking lots at the site.

Wal-Mart is owned by the world's richest family, the Waltons. They pay at or barely above the minimum wage in the United States, and among the world's lowest wages at their factories in China.

In Greenfield, residents are fighting Wal-Mart's plan. On October 16 at 7 p.m., activists plan to attend a town council meeting where a vote is scheduled on whether a lawyer who is a Wal-Mart supporter should be allowed to serve on the Greenfield planning board. One of activists who plans to attend is Greenfield resident Al Norman. He can be reached via his web site www.sprawl-busters.com.

More information about how to turn old sand and gravel pits into thriving wilderness parks – including “before and after” photos – is at these two web pages:

www.meduxnekeag.org/gravel_pit.htm (from near Maine in Canada)

www.restorationtrust.org/annual2006.html (Colorado – search the page for “gravel”)

More information about Wal-Mart and its workers is at www.makingchangeatwalmart.org. That site is owned by a union whose local office has a web site with a phone number and other contact info: www.ufcw1459.com.