Everybody wants a raise. They want a cost of living raise every year. The price of everything is going up, up, up. I remember Marlboros at 50 cents a pack. I remember when you could get five loaves of bread for a buck. Milk used to be 95 cents a gallon.
But, everybody wants more money, and to get that money, the price of everthing goes up. Fuel costs, labor costs, lumber and screws costs go up. Anyone that shops on a regular basis knows this.
The Oldtown Toll Bridge has not had a rate increase since 1993. The cost of repairs and upkeep has increased about 300 percent in the last 20 years. The owners have asked for a rate increase, from 50 cents each way to $2 each way, and initial approval looks like it will be $1.50 each way. That is a 200 percent increase. I think they should have gotten a “cost of living” increase to match the price of repair and upkeep.
I use the toll bridge on a regular basis. My children and my camp are on the other side. My husband’s job and family are on the other side. I don’t like the thought of having to pay more, but I will. I understand economics. The bridge is a business, like any other. Now there is talk of closing it, because of all the people who want everything, but don’t want to pay for it.
I’d rather pay $1.50 each way than go all the way around. I’d rather pay $1.50 each way than to see the bridge closed. Some, it would seem, would rather make a fuss and lose it all together than just accept the fact that everything costs more, for everybody, including the bridge owners. So suck it up and be thankful that there is a bridge, before it becomes “bad business” to keep it open. There are still some of us who still find the bridge “cost effective” in time and money, and we would like to continue to use it!
And, yes, my husband works across the bridge, for one of the owners, and contrary to some people’s belief, he also pays the toll.
Rita Glaze
Oldtown
Opinion
Users of Oldtown Toll Bridge should be willing to pay more
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Freedom isn’t exactly what he thinks it is
In the June 2 Times-News, R. Steele Selby (“Just how free are we?) defines freedom as “the capacity to do whatever he or she wants to do” and asserts that this definition is “most likely nearly universal.”
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What Maryland calls the Fair Share Act isn’t fair at all
The Fair Share Act was passed in 2009. This law allowed for service fees to be part of the collective bargaining process.
The law does not mandate that service fees be negotiated, it simply provides that they can be. -
It’s not new
America’s governments have always afforded us what’s called “a double-edged sword” — one that cuts both ways — when it comes to the contrasting ideas of openness and security.
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We have lots to show for our education dollars
I would like to take this opportunity to respond to Judith Weller’s latest anti-education diatribe, “The money they already have isn’t being spent wisely,” (June 3).
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Western Md. Veterans continues its mission
My name is Dan Brashear, I am the founder and director of Western Maryland Veterans.
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Maybe the cyclists and casino workers should be armed
Again, unfortunately I have to remind Don Carns Jr. of Beans Cove, Pa., on his latest repeatedly inaccurate letter published June 10 in the Cumberland Times-News (“Township is nothing like either Pittsburgh or Philadelphia”).
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Let’s all kick in $1 to help save Frostburg’s Palace Theatre
As a former resident, I have many fond memories of the Palace Theatre (“Theater wall crumbles: Palace exterior collapses, unfit for entry: officials,” June 6 Times-News, Page 1A).
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Develop the waterway
Since the debate over removing the dam started about four years ago, I have been concerned about the effect the dam removal would have on the area’s welfare.
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Living center marks national nursing assistants week
Golden Living Center will join in the celebrations honoring the hundreds of thousands of nursing assistants across the country during National Nursing Assistants Week, June 13-20.
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West Virginia, Johnny Cash, coal miners honored on stamps
While this most likely won’t fall under the category of the most earth-shattering letter to the editor you will read today, it is still big doings for those of us here at the U.S. Postal Service.
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Freedom isn’t exactly what he thinks it is
