And they found more than 1,400 fellow citizens who want a chance to tell the big-box retail giant to peddle its cheap wares elsewhere. Put Heber Valley First volunteers gathered that many valid signatures on a referendum petition to put a city ordinance giving the green light to stores of 150,000 square feet on the Nov. 6 ballot.

It's a controversial ordinance that rightly goes to a vote of the people, because there's a good chance that if Wal-Mart were to move in, many small local businesses, the heart of the city, would be forced out.

That would be a shame. Heber City, with its lively Main Street, lined with many prosperous small businesses, is one of the few remaining communities of any size in Utah where shopkeepers don't have to compete directly with Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer.

Nevertheless, the City Council voted to more than double the city's previous store-size limit of 60,000 square feet to accommodate a Boyer Company plan to build a 148,000-square-foot Wal-Mart and a 140,000-square-foot home-improvement store on 11 acres just west of Main Street.

The council argues that Heber is losing sales-tax revenue to Park City and Utah County. But it makes little sense to trade the revenue generated by thriving local businesses that keep their cash at home for a potentially larger pot produced by an international company with little interest in the community.

Wal-Mart's business tactics are shark-like. It is so big it dictates what suppliers can charge, forcing American companies to take operations and jobs overseas so they can manufacture goods cheaply enough to supply its enormous appetite. And it cannibalizes smaller stores.

Independent business owners can't possibly sell hardware, housewares, clothing, pharmaceuticals or bread as cheaply as Wal-Mart. And consistently higher prices, after a while, discourage customers, even loyal ones.

History shows that Wal-Mart's arrival in a city the size of Heber disrupts its retail economy and can destroy its small-town feel.

Thanks to the referendum, Heber residents will have a direct voice in their city's future. They should speak up loud and clear.