Town's charms should be celebrated, not torn down

I am a high school senior in Sandpoint getting ready to go off to college. I would love to return as I have lived here my whole life and can't imagine a better place to live. Yet it saddens me to see what kind of turn this town has taken in the past few years.

I may be unlike others my age, for I would rather live in a town with a "Dirty Harold's" than a massive shopping mall or office complex. I would rather have a cup of coffee at a downtown diner with the "regulars" than at a coffee chain. I'm a small-town girl and, last I checked, that's what Sandpoint claims to be.

If that's the case, do we really need 10 new residential developments in the area with expensive homes? Or a golf course so exclusive that the real natives of Sandpoint can't afford to play?

It seems to me that the reason most people came here in the first place, the beautiful area, is being covered up in hopes of making a few more dollars. The Wild Rose Foundation has come up with money to fund a college in Sandpoint. If they are interested in expanding our educational opportunities, why not start with a new high school and then think about constructing a college in the future.

I know that expansion, for the most part, is inevitable. This is a beautiful place, who wouldn't want to be here? But why can't we leave it like that, and appreciate the real Sandpoint for what it is, not for what it can be?

JAMIE DIEHL

Sandpoint