Editor:
Seniors who rely on Social Security: Are you struggling to make ends meet? Do you run out of money before you run out of month? Do you know there will be NO cost of living increase in 2016? And for some, Part B Medicare will be DOUBLE in cost to you. If you own a home in Rhinelander, do the constant “hits” for referendums genuinely hurt? If you are not one of the “property rich” we constantly hear about then you may be one of the “property tax poor.”

Please, referendum supporters do not tell us we are “anti-student” or are “anti-school.” That is just not true. But we are “anti-poverty.” And please spare us those tear-jerking letters in the papers about Rhinelander becoming a “ghost town” or “committing economic suicide” if we do not pony up again. Spare us also, school board, the nonsense that we need to be “educated” as to why you want more money.

We get it. But we like to pay our bills and eat regularly.

Mr. O’Brien is correct when he says this is a “low-wage” area. It is also an area of many seniors who live on Social Security and are struggling. There are only so many pieces of the pie to go around. What a wonderful world it would be if we all had what we wanted. But the world is not so ordered, and just keeps getting worse for many.
School board: Take an imaginary trip back through time before the referendums became the norm, standard procedure. Can anyone remember that far back? The “pre-referendum era,” if you will. Ok, now pretend that a referendum is not an option on the table that you actually have to work with what you have. Shocking, I know, but that is what many of us do every day….
Robert Orgeman, Rhinelander