To the editor:

I want to thank the Adirondack Daily Enterprise for bringing details about what is sold at the Grateful Toad to the community’s attention. An opioid-like substance (kratom, likely to be made illegal in the near future), glass smoking pipes, electronic cigarettes, sex toys and skateboards? As a parent with a middle-school-aged child who enjoys skateboarding down to the skatepark after school, this was important information for me to have. As a matter of fact, it caused me to have a long-overdue conversation with my son about the store and why I don’t want him to ever step foot in it.

An overdue conversation that was. I found out that he has already been inside (“Mom, they have some sick decks,” he tells me), even though there is a sign on the door that says you have to be 18 to enter. He tells me that he was told, “As long as no one else is in the store, it’s OK.” Well, Grateful Toad, it is NOT OK. As the Enterprise’s weekend editorial points out, you are luring kids into your store with “sick decks” (skateboards) and then exposing them to adult products that they have no business seeing. That is not “OK,” and the sign on your door obviously means nothing.

Saranac Lake, as a community I believe we have an obligation to fully consider the negative impact that businesses such as the Grateful Toad are going to have on the health of our residents, including our youth, and to create a plan for minimizing that risk. If you agree, please join me at the next village board meeting, Monday, Oct. 26 at 5:30 p.m., when I plan to voice my concerns and ask the village board and Community Development Office for guidance on identifying solutions to what I see as a big problem. I hope you’ll join me there. In the meantime, please make sure you talk to your kids and visit Northern Adirondack Health Watch on Facebook to stay informed on this issue.

Ann Morgan

Vermontville