Reader supports Sonico, small business

As a small downtown business owner, I rely on area companies like Sonico to provide family wage jobs, so families can shop, live and stay a part of our community. I need great businesses like Sonico that supports 40 local families and brings in business from around the world. A company that has invested 33 years in Moses Lake should be treated fairly by the Port of Moses Lake (POML), not called in one day in February and told you have to move... Sonico would need to find/build a building and move their entire company & inventory, they were given six months...period.

At the April 22, 2013 POML meeting, Sonico asked for an extension. Desperately looking in this area since February for a building if they are forced to move, they can't find one locally. They want to build on land they own at the airport, that takes time with permitting, FAA approval and moving. The POML said they would let them know by May 6 if they approved an extension to allow them time to build. Now it is June and still no word from the POML, so stressful not knowing.

If the POML doesn't give them time, Sonico and the 40 family wage jobs will be leaving Moses Lake. It is a monumental expense to have to move let alone build a new building in these tough economic times. It seems crazy that they are being forced to move for no good reason. So why is the POML in such a hurry to get Sonico out of that building? As a small business owner, I would like to see the POML encourage local business, not destroy a company that has invested 33 years into our community.

Laura E. Mayer

Moses Lake