To the editor:

I recently went to Kinney Drugs in Lake Placid and asked if I could put up a flyer for our Paint & Palette Art Show in Saranac Lake. I was told that management wouldn’t allow it because it wasn’t held in Lake Placid. It seemed like a small thing to ask to help us support our local art. Now I know why, in the past, I’ve put up our flyer only to go back and find it had been taken down. It’s a shame when they draw a “line” between two small communities. Aren’t we “neighboring” communities? Communities that support each other for the benefit of all. Visitors to our area who see these flyers help not only us as artists but all local businesses as well.

On reading Kinney Drugs’s mission, it states (in short):

“We are only as strong as our community and we should strive to make our community a better place to live.

“We are guided by our own value and our ‘community spirit.’

“Those beliefs and values guide our relationships with our communities.”

Kinney Drugs in Saranac Lake has always allowed local and adjoining communities to post event and benefit flyers. They have the true “community spirit.” If only Lake Placid’s policy would promote the same. They don’t realize how much response these flyers generate from the public to not only support the local arts but local sports, fire and rescue, the need for volunteers, and to help families in time of need, just to name a few. That’s what “community” is — coming together to support all.

I would like to thank those businesses that do allow us to post our flyers and for supporting the local arts.

Karen Gatus

Bloomingdale