Letter to the editor: Looking out for Pa.'s seniors

To be a senior citizen in Pennsylvania is an honor and a privilege. There are all sorts of programs whose financial rewards go directly to benefit our seniors. Unfortunately, there have arisen some programs that are eating away at those benefits in a big-time fashion. In his op-ed “So-called ‘skill games’ drain millions from senior programs” (Feb. 21, TribLIVE), Pete Shelly warned us about these games whose generous payoffs come from funds meant for seniors and relied upon for years now.

Sadly, many of our seniors, like myself, are restricted in our ability to get around, thus making our day-to-day exposure to what’s happening “on the streets” out there quite limited. We must rely on others, like Shelly, to tell us when such threats arise to funds meant for seniors, such as the drain on the money that has been set aside by the Pennsylvania Lottery.

Come on, folks: Let’s get behind people like Shelly who watch for people helping themselves to funding that has been ours for a good, long time now.

Ed Collins

West Newton