KJAM runs the headline, "Madison Bin City to Hold Grand Opening Next Week." For a moment, I was afraid those hustlers had taken advantage of my exile to resurrect the thrift store they tried to get taxpayers to buy for them last summer.
But no, it's just a new grain-drying business started by American Edge Grain from Fargo (let's hope they are better at grain-drying than Web presence). As owner Terry Wastweet (hey, any relation to new SD Deputy Agriculture Secretary Trudy Wastweet?) comes on the radio to sing Madison's praises, he also preaches what sounds like a mix of prosperity gospel and Clintonian socialism:
One of the reasons we selected Madison was because of the people [we] came into contact with that have been just amazing. I guess that's what's the sign of a town that has God and a community that has a lot on the ball as far as accepting new businesses.
It takes a community to raise a child, right? I think it's really the same thing as it takes a community to raise a business [my transcription; Terry Wastweet, interview with Sure Bergheim, "Madison Bin City to Hold Grand Opening Next Week" KJAM Radio, 2013.09.18].
I'm not sure how God works into our business climate, but Republican friends and free-market fundamentalists, you should be cringing at Wastweet's contention that communities, not individual Randian hero-entrepreneurs, raise businesses. Perish the thought! Next thing you know, Wastweet and Mayor Lindsay will be walking arm in arm down Main Street, shouting at business owners, "You didn't build that!"
Dang: no wonder Jerry Johnson and Clark Sinclair didn't build that thrift store. As Terry and Barry say, it takes a community to build a business.
Did you notice that American Edge Grain paid for that website?
A DSU freshman could design better website that actually does something—like, oh, say, tell us how to contact the company—after one week of intro to web design.