Dear Editor: This is Progress?

Dear Editor,

Recently, driving into Whitehall from the Interstate, I felt like I was in a scene from It's a Wonderful Life when Jimmy Stewart's character sees his town as if he had never been born.

I was born and am living, but, the town that I was raised in does not exist anymore. The area North of Yellowstone Trail and West of Main Street was once called Pyferville, after my Mother's family. There were families and homes.

Today, a truck stop has swallowed up everything but four original homes. The Chamber of Commerce office, Baycroft's Property Management, the home next door to it, and the home on the East side of Cliff's.

With the schools so close and the Interstate also, will it be easy access to drug and sex trafficking? This is progress?

Thanks for the privilege of expressing memories and concerns.

Arcylle Shaw

Cardwell, Montana