According to a short piece in the States New Service, the small Vermont community of Waitsfield has sent a large message to Wal-Mart: keep your money! Wal-Mart offered a $5,000 grant to a local environmental group known as the Mad River Path Association. Normally Wal-Mart makes a hoopla over every penny it dishes out — but not in this case. That’s because the group refused to accept Wal-Mart’s money because the Chairman of the Mad River Path Association, Harrison Snapp, said he would resign rather than accept the grant money. Snapp said that accepting Wal-Mart cash would seem like an endorsement of Wal-Mart’s big box retailing practices.
Once again Vermont leads the way. Maybe Wal-Mart’s sprawl policy is the real “Mad Path”, and it took a group like Mad River Path to look the gift horse in the mouth. Hundreds of other groups have taken Wal-Mart money with no questions asked. Harrison Snapp drew the line.