[mom-from-missouri]

Small town, and the business owners tend to band together, along with the fact that the same man owns both service station and the only C store, another man owns the paper, runs the license place and the grocery store.....Most of the business owners here own 3-4 businesses.
Will your MM accounts let your write a check for under $250??? Ours, nor the ones at the other banks around here wont. Its even printed on my MM checks, below the signature line, not valid for amounts under $250. They also want to maintain a $1000 balance in the MM account or there are fees to pay. It is also custom around her to charge $12 for every online or wire transfers. My personal checking is at US Bank--to avoid some of those charges & to have a debit card. But the other 3 banks in this town, and those in the surronding towns are owned by local families. They offer little in the way of services, other than accounts and loans--no debit cards or ATM cards. But, this is a farming community, and most of their farmers are not interested in that stuff.
We even had to wait for internet service, because the phone company server only offers so many lines at a time. There are times I can't get on because the server is too busy. Our phone company is privately owned too. Some times I feel like I am living in Mayberry. In fact, I have seen the sheriff at the bowling alley (4 lanes) bowling in uniform, gun and all, with his deputies. He and his wife live at the jail, and his wife is the cook and matron.