My turn: Home town girl brings new life to former general store

When I was an elementary school kid at Dora, we had two locations where we could spend our “store money” each week.

Our parents could get a full service gasoline fill-up at stations on each end of the village. The cafe was open most days for hamburgers and fries. If Wilcher’s Farm Store didn’t have the part you needed, you probably didn’t really need it.

Only a few decades later, most of those places are boarded up, and fuel comes from an unmanned pump. But much to the delight of those of us who frequent Dora, the general store reopened last fall, and after a month-long Christmas break renovation, is up and running again this week as the El Coyote Mercantile and Grill.

Owner/operator Kathy Paiz graduated from Dora in 1978, moved from the area to pursue other dreams, but came back to help out her folks a couple years ago. With a family background in good cooking (her parents ran the old Josie’s Caf