The newspaper welcomes brief letters (generally no longer than 400 words) that express an opinion on a currently newsworthy topic. The writer’s contact information must be included for verification. Letters that contain defamatory comments, open letters, third-party letters, letters sent to more than one publication, and letters that would more appropriately be advertisements, including Cards of Thanks, are unlikely to be published. One letter generally is allowed per writer per calendar month.

Two kinds of green

To the editor:

I really enjoyed the story last week about my old friend, Bob Hoopes, and his bicycle riding.

Besides all of the reasons Bob gives for riding a bike he is also lowering his carbon footprint by riding a bike rather than driving a car. Bike riding is good for those of us 70 years and older providing steady low-impact exercise that keeps the body limber and burns calories.

I have averaged 7,000 miles of biking a year for the last 11 years and average about 200 days a year when I do not drive or ride in a car, while still owning a car. We have reduced car miles to less than 10,000 miles a year mainly for trips out of town.

Living in Madison, a city that has developed around 100 miles of bike trails and numerous marked bike lanes on city streets, enables more and more people to enjoy biking while reducing traffic.

Last week’s editorial, “Who’s Paying for all This Pay,” seems to take on the issue of working people and the pursuit of a living wage.

The Marion County website states that the average wage is $28,000 a year, which is just above the $25,100 per year salary that is considered 100% poverty guideline by KDHE for a family of  four.

The editor branded the Marion County Commission’s attempts to deal with the low salaries as “socialism,” a term that Trump Republicans use for any measure that wants to deal with health care, wage inequality, and taxes.

Maybe the county workers should organize and form a union to address the wage problems. After all, even college professors have “professional organizations” that represent them in wage negotiations, which, in the case of University of Illinois, result in $95,000 per year salaries.

Harry Bennett
Madison, Wisconsin

Editor’s note: Salaries of tenured faculty members at the University of Illinois are not subject to negotiation nor does any sort of professional organization represent them.