Voluntary librarians? Oh, please

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Updated: February 14, 2012 8:12AM

Some are suggesting that volunteers can run the libraries on Mondays. Why stop there?

When the CTA makes cuts, why don’t we just have volunteer bus drivers? I have a driver’s license and I’ve always wanted to get behind the wheel of a CTA bus, so sign me up! I attended the Chicago Dance Festival this past summer and I see they are seeking donations for the 2012 festival, so why don’t we just get volunteer dancers? In my day I took a few dance classes and can put together a little number that I am sure will be show-stopping.

I am pretty good with a garden hose and I have my own ladder, so I am willing to do the job if we have to start laying off firefighters. I don’t have firearms training, but I walk the streets late at night with my trusty dog by my side, so I am sure I could be a volunteer police officer.

I am not sure if I could be a volunteer alderman since the job seems to require silence when it is most important to speak out and I am a little outspoken. I am still hopeful, however, that the aldermen will do the right thing here and speak out and protest this issue of shortened library hours in a meaningful way. If they don’t, I think they will have rendered themselves irrelevant for the duration of Mayor Emanuel’s term.

Patricia Conroy, Portage Park

Give Hostess a hand

My grandfather worked for Hostess cupcakes back in the ’50s, when everyone ate white bread and loved cupcakes. Right now, it is hard to compete with other companies’ prices because Hostess has to pay benefits to their workers, a pension and a livable wage when their major competitors do not. This is where the American public can step in and help a company to survive by supporting Hostess brands and not the others that only use their employees and don’t really care about them beyond minimum wage. Shoppers fail to see that by supporting non-union shops they are undermining the quality of American life now and in the future.

Meanwhile, maybe Hostess should go back to its old recipes instead of trying to go low fat, etc., because that is what worked in the past.

Marie E. Roman, Tinley Park

Double standard at Fox

Hasn’t anybody noticed the irony in Fox challenging the Federal Communications Commission’s fines for indecency while Fox News rails against the very same indecency that its sister station broadcasts? Rupert Murdoch owns both stations. Yet the hypocrites on Fox News don’t have the guts to call out their owner for broadcasting the sort of “filth” Fox News’ commentators claim to deplore.

Daniel Lauber,
River Forest