To the Editor:

In the past few weeks it seems to me every company in the United States that is having financial difficulties is trying to get a piece of the bailout “pie.” So I thought, since this company pays taxes and has been for 37 years, I would ask for a slice myself.

With the rising cost of everything, we had to cut back to the bare necessities. Cut back on hours. Cut back on benefits. Starting in February the cost of our health coverage is increasing 3 percent a week, causing some of our children not to have health insurance. Dominion Power just increased our rate per kilowatt hour by 27 percent, from 7.26 to 9.37.

We are trying to keep the company in its present location by making the monthly payments on the building, but it’s a struggle some months. The cost of shipping and handling on everything has increased, making it more costly to get products to our location. Our vehicles are older models and in need of repairs. The luxury of newer ones is out of our budget at the current moment. And, last but not least, we do our educational programs “in-house,” and of course the cost of books and supplies has gone up.

So, in closing, the A.A.W.F.U.S. Co. is requesting a bailout check in the amount of $84,716.32. This would bring us out of debt, and we then could proceed, once again, to stimulate the economy like all the rest of the AAWFUS’s (An American Working Family of the United States), the backbone of America.

Calvin Boyce

Branchville