Food Stamps Can Buy What Workers Can’t Afford Letter Of The Week: From Jan. 25

As a cashier at a small grocery store in a low-income neighborhood, I long ago lost my compassion for those like Sherrie Rowden (“Quit bashing those on assistance,” Letters, Jan. 19).

Every day I see food stamps pay for items that I, a struggling college student, cannot afford. Is it fair, Rowden, that my taxes pay for your candy and pop while I live on soup to make ends meet?

Is it fair that you have access to free rent, food, medical care, birth control and a college education while I work full-time in a low-paying job in order to pay for my rent, medical bills, food and tuition?

The repeated notion that only a small percentage of those on welfare misuse the system is a crock. Why are so many on assistance able to afford cigarettes and alcohol on a daily basis? Why are so many capable men not working? Why don’t people wait until they can afford to have children, instead of making taxpayers take on the financial responsibility?

Rowden says, “We people on welfare are humans, just like you.” Then why not go out and support yourself like I do? Then, maybe children, who learn most from example, will learn responsibility instead of freeloading.

I work and go without simple luxuries so that others can sit and reap the benefits. I have every right to criticize a system that rewards laziness and irresponsibility at the expense of taxpayers who have chosen the narrow path of morality and ethics. Pamela M. Bergin Spokane

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