To the editor:

A while back in the Journal-World’s 125 year ago column, there was mention of Bell’s Music Store. My first job was at Bell’s working for the band instrument repair shop in the summers. The year was 1966, I was paid $1 per hour, and it marked my first contributions to Social Security. 52 years later on my 65th birthday, at noon, we all headed to 23rd Street Brewery, had lunch, I walked out and began what I had dreamed of essentially my whole life. Retiring with dignity, mainly thanks to Social Security. Although I worked in several different jobs through the years, I always knew it had to be contributing to SS. It’s a pretty fair system really. If you mainly worked for cash and didn’t contribute to SS, you don’t get as much. Really, it’s your money.

Now, the president and his minions are spreading their seeds of destruction to SS by saying it’s rife with fraud.

Don’t get rid of it. Make it and our tax system fairer, and if there truly is some fraud then fix that. It takes 3 experienced carpenters about 6 months to build a house. A moderately experienced backhoe operator can knock it down in a morning.

Chris Phelps,

Lawrence