To the editor:

The article in Tuesday’s Journal-World about health officials challenging Americans to get moving reminded me about a similar story that was published by The Associated Press 25 years ago. In that article, Federal Highway Administrator Norbert Tiemann predicted that, in the future, American cities will have to prohibit private cars from congested downtown areas. He advised us to park the cars and start walking.

Now here we are 25 years later, dealing with the same problem, only it is more severe. Government officials should work hard to find a solution. I believe suburban sprawl is responsible for this problem and there are two world-dominated firms that played a key role in creating the problem. They can be identified by their initials WM and GM. One builds large retail stores on the outskirts of cities encouraging people to drive cars to do shopping, which of course benefited the initials GM.

People should pay attention to where they spend their money. It could also improve their health.

Lester C. Marsh,

Lawrence