Posted By: formernewyorker @ 09/16/2008 3:25:35 PM
Comment: II should not have been surprised. Trust newsweek to take a situation and distort it to fit its agenda. Columbia Missouri's program of children walking to school is a FITNESS program called the "Walking School Bus". It was not started as a response to rising fuel costs but if it can serve parts of town that are impacted by reduced bus routes that is wonderful. The author's intentional failure to mention the origins of the program as a Fitness for kids plan and misrepresent it as an environmental evolution is poor journalism. The most shining example of misreporting is the quote of the poor first grader in the last few sentences who has to take the "long morning hike" on a "really big hill" that the reader is led to believe is being forced to walk due to high costs and budget cuts. The fact is that the child's parents voluntarily signed him up for this walking program and that if he waits another 10 minutes he could take the bus that will pass right by his house. It is a great program that was poorly represented by an author that could probably use a good walk.


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