To the editor:

Recent letters in the Journal-World about the negative effect Wal-Mart stores have on our community caused me to look at the big picture to find a realistic solution to the problem.

Wal-Mart and other big-box retailers may not suck the life out of our community, but they do cause our life to become unhealthy. They accomplish this by building stores on the outskirts of our city, which encourages citizens to do their shopping via cars. The more time we spend in our cars, the less time we have for physical activities.

News reports over the past two years tell us that 61 percent of Americans are suffering from obesity, which is due to the lack of physical activity. Obesity also is affecting our teenagers.

As we look at our neighborhoods, we see two or three cars parked in the driveways. There was an article in the Dec. 8 Journal-World about the air quality that is affected by a large number of automobiles and trucks, which of course affects our health.

So, how do we solve these health problems? The first step is to decrease our shopping at the big-box retailers. The second step is to tell our local, state and federal politicians what we want them to do to encourage more retail stores in our neighborhoods so that we will be able to walk to these stores. This will improve our health and we will become better acquainted with our neighbors.

Lester C. Marsh,

Lawrence