(TIM BRINTON, Chicago Tribune / February 13, 2014)

Letters to the editor from Bartlett, Wheaton, Glen Ellyn, Hinsdale, Lyons and Elmhurst.

College tuition

With college tuition numbers reaching stratospheric heights for young adults, a question for these institutions of higher learning needs to be asked. Colleges should be required (by law) to guarantee a job that earns the equivalent of what was charged to earn that degree. If your four-year degree costs $120,000, then the college needs to guarantee the student will earn $120,000 upon graduation.

It only seems fair, and in this day and age, it's all about fairness.


John A. Belluomini, Bartlett

State taxes

Every Illinois taxpayer wants to know what's going to happen this year to the soon-to-expire temporary increase in the Illinois income tax. With only modest growth in our state's economy, it's clear that the additional revenue that has been raised is still needed because of the state's dire financial condition. If additional revenue is critical to stabilizing the state, I believe it would be far fairer for the tax to be graduated.

Mary F. Warren, Wheaton

Biking benefits

There have been letters in the Tribune attacking bikers, and I have had enough. Are they really serious? Because if they are, I must be living in an alternate universe.

I have, over the years, had the extreme pleasure of biking thousands of miles, mostly on the Illinois Prairie Path. Not once, despite constantly crossing paths with other drivers, walkers and bikers, have I ever experienced a cross word from anyone. Meanwhile, I've been able to enjoy the flora and fauna of the changing seasons, including numerous deer, raccoon and even a giant turtle. I have also had all the health benefits while using the pollution-free fuel of physical exercise.

In contrast, the cost of driving in deaths, accidents, health and pollution is astronomical. If you survive, unless you are extremely lucky, the average driver faces a lifetime of costly, harrowing experiences for the simple act of transporting from place to place.

Now I'm not disparaging drivers or glorifying bikers, but I would like point out the reasons we bikers attempt to occasionally escape from the rat race and enjoy the peace, tranquillity and good health offered by biking, a welcome alternative to the automobile. To those detractors I say: Try biking; you might like it or perhaps be a bit more tolerant.

Ken Kramer, Glen Ellyn

Dealing with allergies

I take offense with the front-page Feb. 11 article "Allergies fly under radar; Girl's food reactions spur mom to seek clearer airline rules," most notably such comments by Amy Wicker as the following: She's "always uncertain about whether flight attendants and fellow passengers will cooperate to keep her daughter safe," and "I'm sure change would come if someone actually died of anaphylaxis on a flight."

I am sympathetic to Wicker's daughter's medical condition of severe allergies to nuts, milk and eggs. Surely no one would wish this condition upon anyone, much less a child. But for this mother to take the position that her daughter's problem is everyone else's responsibility is just another repetition of the "we're all victims here" approach to life.

Must flight attendants refuse to distribute nut-containing snacks to passengers within two or three rows of the child? Must passengers seated nearby who brought snack bars and trail mix for themselves and their children now be required to purchase food from the airline instead? Whatever happened to personal responsibility?

I have a granddaughter who is allergic to strawberries — not quite as severe an allergy as a nut allergy but one that, nevertheless, resulted in a very dangerous close call and trip to the emergency room several years ago. Must airlines create a "strawberry-free" seating zone? Must airlines cease including strawberries in their salads? Must all passengers seated nearby refrain from eating strawberries, lest one somehow finds its way into my granddaughter's mouth?

Again, I acknowledge the seriousness of Wicker's daughter's nut allergy, but I suggest that she stop making demands of everyone else and simply purchase a good quality respirator for her daughter to wear during the occasions this family "rarely" flies.