To the Readers' Forum:
In regard to child labor ... children under 16 - farm or any other family business (running tractors, equipment).
I am 61 years old. My grandfather and dad were in the logging business. When I was 14 years old, I ran a log skidder, bulldozer and also a chain saw! Did that for 32 years. Amazing, isn't it? I'm still here.
Yes, farming can be dangerous, but not as much as logging. Maybe it's up to the family and what they were taught - upbringing. As an example, look at the Amish. They're done with school in the eighth grade, then they work in real life! I really think that most politicians and agencies don't know what work is! That's why they are in their field.
Let's keep up a work tradition in this country. After all, isn't that what built this country?
My grandfather died one week before he would have been 98 years old, carrying wood into the house. He had nine children, worked, owned a sawmill and worked in the woods, logging. So did hard work ever kill anyone? I don't think so.
Steven Donelson
Ashville