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RAISE ROOM RATES

Instead of putting an envelope in each Marriott hotel room along with suggesting a proper amount for hotel guests to tip housekeeping personnel (Jim Hightower, “Marriott’s shameful hotel tipping scam,” Oct. 17), I suggest that Marriott determine what that amount would be on an hourly basis, add it to the housekeepers’ hourly wage, then increase room rates as needed to account for the additional wages.

That way, housekeepers wouldn’t have to depend on guests who may forget to fill the envelopes, not have the necessary cash on them, don’t believe in tipping housekeepers, etc. If this were done, housekeepers would come closer to earning a decent wage at no extra cost to Marriott, and relatively little extra cost to hotel guests. Dick McLane Springfi eld

BELL AGAINST SCHERER

There has been a lot of criticism of late directed towards state Rep. Sue Scherer for her support of legislation that would provide back pay for public employees as guaranteed in their contract. (See Patrick Yeagle’s “Ad nauseam,” Oct. 16.)

Mike Bell, Scherer’s opponent, and his political crony allies are going after Ms. Scherer and hoping voters aren’t wise enough to do their homework on those trashy mailers filling up our mailboxes.

Well, I did a little research, and here is what I found out is contained in the bill that Bell is so critical of:

Funding for the construction of or improvements to Illinois’ National Guard facilities, local libraries, park districts, Richland Community College, St. Mary’s Hospital, the Cancer Care Center at Decatur Memorial, a local senior center and an area VFW. There is also funding for jobs programs, road safety improvements and downstate public transportation to help citizens get to work or to the doctor.

Also included in the bill that Mike Bell is against is funding for improvements to the police department in his own home town of Edinburg.

Yep, these are things that Mike Bell would have opposed. Travis Harrington Decatur

REGAN HAS LOTS TO LEARN

I’ve been watching the race for Sangamon County sheriff and I’ve been surprised that one candidate, Jeff Regan, who talks a lot about his education and experience, has spoken out on four issues and had to be corrected on his facts all four times.

Talking about cameras on patrol and corrections officers, Regan vastly underestimated the cost this project would be to county taxpayers. The numbers he gave were nowhere near what sheriff’s office officials estimate this would actually cost. There’s a little disagreement that this is an emerging technology, but if you’re going to advocate for it publicly, you’d better have your facts straight.

Regan also said we should get rid of the military-style vehicle the county recently got from a federal program. In his argument to get rid of it, he said it’s too heavy for county roads and then said we should add a female detective to the one existing. Problem is, there are already two detectives – not one. Finally, even though he pledged to get rid of a million dollars in overtime, he admits he won’t be able to because that’s the entire overtime budget.

I’m going with the guy that’s served in the sheriff’s office before, Wes Barr, who doesn’t need on-the-job training. There are clearly a lot of things Regan still has to learn about the sheriff’s office. Vaughn A. Whiteman Springfi eld