Document text
Letters, July 18 By Mail Tribune readers Jul 18, 2021 12:00 AM A A Why no help for seniors? In 2021 Social Security recipients got a 1.3% raise. Not only has the cost of living gone up much more than that, but if one’s partner died, their Social Security payments were pretty well cut in half. Two may be able to live almost as cheaply as one, but one absolutely cannot live as cheaply as two. And since COVID, everything has gone up — food, gas, water, power, cable, etc. And now, of course, trash pickup is asking for a 10% increase. Why is there so much help for students (who will reap a lifetime of higher salaries due to their education) but no help for seniors? It’s high time that Social Security correctly increases the cost of living adjustment. And we are not given anything, we earned this by working all our lives! Additionally, the minimum wage has gone up (yet when it does — everything else goes up by at least that much, as businesses recoup their losses), so what is the point? And where does that leave seniors? Sandra Davey Medford Thanks for vaccine column Full disclosure: I disagree with almost everything Larry Mendte writes about in his columns. But, I want to thank him, sincerely, for his piece in the Trib Wednesday about getting a vaccine. As he writes, a life-saving vaccine should not be political, but clearly it has become just that. It is inexplicable to me that people are refusing to get vaccinated when the data demonstrate, without a doubt, that it could save their lives and those in their community. I am very glad that he talked about the common good, so central to this issue, and that he explained how the virus spreads via unvaccinated hosts. I feel it is very important that someone like him, from the conservative community, is sharing the facts and encouraging people to get vaccinated. I hope he will continue to speak out. With COVID cases and deaths now on an upward trajectory in the U.S., and Jackson County with more cases than any county in Oregon Tuesday, I can only hope he has swayed some residents to get immunized. It was a good and convincing effort. Jan Lippen-Holtz Ashland City made the right choice Regarding the City Council, the Medford Police Department and the Fourth of July: I think they made the right choice in having citizens educate themselves on use of fireworks. Most of us are adult enough to know what’s right and wrong. There will always be people out there that don’t go by the rules. Banning anything just encourages those people to do the opposite. Rene Forncrook Medford