The big, bad box stores are at it again. This time, the global predator is Home Depot. Using all the bully-boy tactics that money can buy to squash local competition, since the Big Orange steamroller has rolled into town, more than a dozen Conejo competitors have closed their doors for good.

Remember Holiday Hardware, Treeland, Robb's Hardware, Conejo Hardware, T.O. Tile, Color Tile, The Greenery and Ace Hardware, just to name a few?

Like Do It Center, the present Home Depot target for closure, most were long-established "mom-and-pop" stores dedicated to serving the local community, quintessential examples of small-town entrepreneurism, so vital to the American way.

Locally, a perfect example of this big-box store megalomania is the mailbox overkill generated by Home Depot in opposition to the popular traffic initiative on June's primary ballot, Measure B. It is behind a developer- and land speculator-driven campaign that is playing a clever shell game in their shrill effort to defeat the popular traffic reduction measure designed to check supersized developments in the city by placing restrictions on congestion using the ballot box.

With their frenzied phone calls and scare-tactic mailers, they do a disservice to our community and demean the intelligence of Thousand Oaks voters.

What do they take us for? Do they expect us to accept the political babble and distortions contained in their deceptive fliers designed in a flaming-red, stop-sign motif to strike fear into our bones? What silliness.

Lordy, Lordy, to believe these fright-mailers one would think the sky was about to fall in. Or maybe Los Robles Hospital & Medical Center might crumble into dust, or the city go bankrupt.

Heaven, forbid. Even the luxuriant flow of tax dollars into that grand citadel of bureaucratic big-time spenders, City Hall, might be slowed. Fees at the golf course might have to be increased and, worse yet, less flashy, fuel-efficient vehicles might have to service the city fleet of vehicles instead of high end SUVs.

It's even been reported that some opponents of Measure B get downright biblical and reportedly pray for divine intervention to promote more gridlock in town and defeat Measure B. Wow, if that's not sliding toward the deep end, I don't know what is.

Most of us aren't lemmings or sheep out here. We don't adhere to the good ol' boy herd instincts anymore. We've learned to know political wolves in sheep's clothing. We don't scare so easy either. We ask questions. We're good ol' American skeptics. We do something called critical thinking. We've learned to suspect corruption in government at every level. Duh, I wonder why?

The moronic PR campaign hastily designed to defeat Measure B also does a disservice to Home Depot itself by, unfortunately, placing the mega-retailer in the unenviable position of being the big bully on the block and out to destroy the good American business practice called competition. With the economic downturn in full swing and Home Depot about to close 15 stores, one would think its regional management might have been more circumspect about alienating local communities by opposing such highly popular initiatives as Measure B.

Remember, a no vote on Measure B is agreeing that you want more traffic that comes with the millions of more square feet of development waiting to be jammed down our throats. A no vote is agreeing that every last inch must be developed without public scrutiny or oversight.

And, please remember, along with more mega-developments come tens of thousands of cars, trucks and tractor-trailer rigs every day, spewing exhaust and degrading our air quality, not to mention the traffic gridlock that frustrates and robs us of precious time that can be better spent with our families.

Vote yes on Measure B. It means less gridlock and pollution. Plus, it's in the best interest of the entire community to keep an eye on these slick rascals down at City Hall by putting critical development issues to a vote of those they most seriously affected — Thousand Oaks residents.

— Charles Kuenstle lives in Thousand Oaks.