Letters

Pay attention to 401(k)

On the Sept. 23 Money page of The News-Enterprise there was an article discussing possible changes in Kentucky’s state tax code. What grabbed my attention was not the food tax option but the option to tax 401(k) plans and pensions from private industries to pay for Kentucky public workers’ retirements.

Vaccination critical to fight meningitis

As students are starting a new school year, the Kentucky School Nurses Association has an important message for parents: make sure your preteens and teens are up-to-date on their meningococcal vaccinations.

The fact is, many are not – public health officials just released a report showing that although Kentucky’s meningococcal vaccination rates have improved, only 55 percent of teens have been vaccinated against meningitis, a rare but serious disease that can kill a child in just one day.

Go Green

As you probably have noticed, the presidential candidates rarely visit Kentucky. The Republican candidate showed up in Louisville to pick up a few bags of money at a private fundraiser and the Democratic candidate scampered across the Ohio River from Cincinnati for a photo with the governor and quickly returned to Ohio.

Benefits are earned

There have been many references to “entitlements” in a variety of media sources over the past week. The various discussions brought to mind information I read years ago in my National Active and Retired Federal Employees (NARFE) magazine.

The article explained that the word “entitlements” is another way of describing, for  active and retired federal employees, earned benefits. They are specified in law and we have legal rights to them. We earned them by devoting many years to our federal careers.