The only quadrant left is a farm. When that guys sells, AmeriStop will come running.

        I never thought milk and bread was a multiple-choice question.

        In Milford, close to my house, the plan is to bulldoze a trailer park to make room for a Lowe's. That's OK, I guess; we can never have too much plumbing.

        But Lowe's would be right next to Furrow, which is across the street from Kmart, which is a half-mile from Meijer, which is just up the road from the Kroger shopping center.

        Next to Meijer, they're putting in a Home Depot. Apparently, we have a pent-up demand for deck sealer out this way that I wasn't aware of.

        When we moved here 12 years ago, we wondered if our little subdivision was too distant. Now, we're being Mason-ized. Paved over and office-park-ed. Traffic-ed to the brink.

        Why we need three places to buy ice and bread, I don't know. Someone thought it was a good idea.

        Does this sound like where you live?

        In the crosshairs is Joe Purcell, Elder '67, proud and tireless owner of J.P.'s., one of the soon-to-be-three convenience stores. His is different, though. J.P.'s is a reason you move to a place like this.

        He works 70 hours a week. He knows his customers' needs and wants. More important, he knows our names.

        You can go to Joe at 10 on a school night and buy a couple sheets of poster board that your 14-year-old forgot he needed for a school project he just remembered is due the next day.

        “I hope what I do is different from what UDF does,” Joe says. “Independents have a tough time making it anymore.”

        Nothing against UDF. But everyone's got one. This UDF will not be a part of the community's soul the way J.P.'s is.

        When underage kids come to J.P.'s looking to buy beer, he'll card the whole carload, not just the kid buying. When a frantic mom comes in seeking baking cups for the six dozen cupcakes she has to make for her daughter's soccer team, Joe's there to point her to Aisle 2.

        “As long as I treat my customers right, I believe they'll do the same with me,” he says. “But eventually, I know my number's going to be up here.”

        Eventually, the growth will stop for lack of places to go. All the farms will have been subdivided, with anything left going to mega-this and super-that.

        Three convenience stores will be at least one too many. A sort of consumer Darwinism will occur.

        UDF is familiar. It has what you need. It is clean and unobjectionable. Next to J.P.'s, it will cut a more handsome figure. If you're new to the neighborhood, you'll likely go to UDF.

        If UDF is lucky, it will have workers like Joe Purcell, who greet you by name every time you walk in. Who have the poster board and know where the baking cups are.

        We like to live in places that make us feel, if not unique, at least a little different from the cul-de-sac'ed 'burb the next exit up. We want to cling to the notion that our community does more than close its automatic garage doors after dinner each night.

        We need guys like Joe Purcell, and the store he runs. Otherwise, we're just like everyone else, in the checkout line at the mega-mart, buying stuff we really don't need.

       Contact Paul Daugherty at 768-8454; fax: 768-8330.

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