Letters to the Editor
THE Classic solution
On Nov. 2, the mayor and most of the trustees of Antioch voted to increase utility taxes. On Nov. 3, the voters of Virginia and New Jersey elected new governors primarily because of economic conditions and unemployment.
I guess that the Antioch mayor and all the trustees but one (Scott Pierce), don't understand that when most of the citizens must dip into their savings to survive we don't expect Antioch to start building a reserve (read savings account). Perhaps a 10 to 25 percent pay cut for employees would be more in keeping with the situation.
Social Security retirees will not get a cost-of-living increase in January, but will see an increase in their Medicaid payments. That's a pay cut.
Mayor Hanson and trustees Poulos, Crosby, Wolczyz and Jozwiak haven't figured out that Antioch's declining revenue is due to people and businesses cutting back in these troubled times. Rather than also cutting back, Antioch has taken the classic governmental solution of raising taxes on precisely the people that can't afford the tax raise.
Mayor Hanson, et al, I'll remember you in the future when I next vote on your incumbency.
George Dooley
Present problems
I am perplexed that our president would hesitate on sending more troops to Afghanistan for protection for the people and our military. What is going on? We have so many czars, but I do not believe any of them know what's going on.
I think our president needs to quit campaigning for other candidates and work on the problems that exist in our country. They would like it if Fox News would quit with the facts. This happens to be freedom of speech yet, is it?
No jobs, unemployment is at a high of 10 percent or maybe more. Food prices and gas prices are out of sight and you see no increases in wages and, of course, Social Security.
If our government would have left Social Security alone and handled Medicare better we would not be in this mess. Do not blame other presidents because President Obama is now in the driver's seat.
He shouldn't fashion himself after President Franklin D. Roosevelt or any other past president. Handle the present problems of today. Pushing for a public option is not the answer when the government can't handle Medicare.
Listen to the voters. The president currently is not.
Sylvia Abercrombie
Skeptical recycler
Am I naive or just a skeptic? For years I have been separating my recyclables -- papers into one blue container; plastics, metals and glass into another. Until recently, the Onyx/Veliola recyclables truck driver came down my street every Tuesday and dumped them into two separate containers in his truck.
The other day I watched him dump the contents of both blue boxes into the same container. When I phoned Onyx, Christy told me I no longer have to separate my recyclables. "Veliola does that now in Kenosha," she said.
Does that make economic sense? Should I believe that it is more efficient to mix all the recyclables, only to later somehow separate the papers from the rest?
A new report by the Solid Waste Agency of Lake County says Lake County is running out of garbage disposal sites. I suspect one reason is that Onyx/Veliola may be dumping recyclables in landfills with the rest of the garbage. Or am I being too skeptical?
Jack Flynn
