TO THE EDITOR:

On Feb. 25 we lost a small treasure in North Branch. Creative Treasures was forced to close its doors because of theft in the thousands of dollars. This was by check (from neighboring towns) and by shoplifting - all by adults.

Creative Treasures has incurred this loss in less than a year! It takes a lot of time and money to open a specialty shop in a small town. It also takes a community to support an independent store like this and to show that North Branch welcomes new retail stores.

We want to shop locally. We want more local stores in which to shop. But with theft like this, who would want to come to our area and open a new store?

Not only did we shop Creative Treasures for gifts, scrapbook and craft supplies, we had weekly card-making classes. There were other classes and groups as well.

Our group consists of 12 women of all ages who met on Wednesday mornings for class. We enjoyed this so much. Afterwards weíd go across the street for coffee and more fun. These mornings were a priority for each of us. While in town some of us did other errands and shopping. For scrapbooking on Friday nights we ordered food locally. So this also is a loss to the local businesses.

All this is gone. It has been stolen from us and from our community. It will be missed very much. We, as a group, will continue meeting. We have too much fun to just give up. Weíre not sure where weíll go since thereís no place in North Branch that we know of. And the sad thing is that where we go, our money goes.

We, as a group, tried to ìshop locally,î but it just didnít work out because others had their selfish agenda.

Theft certainly affected us and theft affects the entire community.

Diane Brown
Judy Gourhan
Geri Jakubowski
Joy Johnson
Jeanette Kampfer
Nanc Klesk
Brenda Lillion
Bonnie Nelson
Patti Peterson
Marge Steininger
Jeanie Sunderman
Barb Weisz