A Letter Brings a Point to Light

Kathy Blackwell, the Massachusetts woman who wrote President Bush about the slowing economy, said Tuesday night that she was speaking for families with small children in the Cape Cod region where she lives.

Bush read from her letter in his State of the Union address to Congress as he acknowledged that there is “genuine economic distress” in parts of the country.

In a telephone interview, Blackwell, 37, said that her work as a liaison official between child care centers and public schools in the town of Sandwich brings her into contact with many families who are feeling the effects of the recession.

“Your people out here are hurting badly,” she wrote Bush. Although Sandwich schools have been hit by budget cuts, she said, her own city job is not at risk. Cape Cod, dependent on tourism, has seen a decline in visitor traffic in recent years.

“I just hope the President and Congress will do something for us,” she said.