[Mr.Kimball]

I meandered a bit too much in my post. The point that I started to make is that people typically think of mom and pop grocery stores when they hear "family owned business," but retail stores are the tip of the iceberg. Large companies, especially manufacturing companies, support all sorts of small businesses besides retail stores. Engineering companies, janitorial services, machine shops, auto mechanics, temp services, and other family owned businesses have suffered huge hits as this country's manufacturing base has declined.

Wal-Marts do tend to suck the life out of small towns but I have noticed in larger towns and cities, their competitors like Target, Best Buy, and even K-Mart do pretty well and still leave enough business for the smaller stores. I miss the days when Paintsville had neither a Wal-Mart nor a McDonald's.

One of the things that I like best about the area where I am living now is the large number of family-owned restaurants. I have never lived in a place before where I could drive through and order pan-fried trout or order a catfish sandwich at a real drive-in with curb service. Mississippians are the fattest people on average in the country for good reason. :biggrin:

Are you trying to say you're gonna have to cut weight to wrestle this weekend?:biggrin: