Mr. Butts and Mr. Bike duke it out in the baggage car. Rick Harnish in a letter to “Chicagoland Bicycle Federation News” (June/July): “Amtrak has made a big step by recognizing that bicycles represent a valuable market. As its smoking policy became more restrictive, however, Amtrak lost a significant portion of its ridership to air and auto travel. In contrast, the Vermonter, a train that has been outfitted with roll-on bike racks for at least a year, has apparently seen little usage by bicyclists. Amtrak’s decision to provide a separate smoking area instead of more bike racks was based on market indicators like these.”
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“The $4,400 paid for each Earnfare participant getting a job [after the General Assistance cutoff] is $200 more than Edgar is proposing to pay per public school student yearly for education,” writes Doug Dobmeyer in “Poverty Issues…Dateline Illinois” (May 30). “The legislature is demanding more accountability from schools, while the Edgar Administration doesn’t feel it has to provide the same accountability for Earnfare….The state cannot tell if the people are still employed because they have no tracking mechanism.”
PR people without a clue. First line of a letter from the American Dairy Association of Illinois: “Rollerbladers step aside. The grilled cheese sandwich of the ’90s is the next trendsetter.”
But mom, I have to carry these old chicken bones back inside to compare! On selected days this summer, the Field Museum will offer visitors “an outdoor picnic supper of fried chicken” in conjunction with its dinosaur exhibit. “Afterwards, [visitors] can compare the bones to bird-like dinosaurs and learn why some paleontologists think that dinosaurs and chickens may be distant relatives.”
