Editor, The News:
Re: ‘Yes’ to homeless shelter (Letters, Sept. 9).
I totally agree with everything that Brigitta Schneiter wrote and my only regret is that I waited for somebody else to say it first. I cannot add to her already eloquent words other than to say that I am a customer of one of the services protesting the shelter ... Intolerance can be bad for business too, not just homeless people.
I know there are more caring people out there. Let’s follow Ms. Schneiter’s lead and make our voices heard.
Heather Dickson
Maple Ridge
‘Drug shelter’
Editor, The News:
Re: ‘Yes’ to homeless shelter (Letters, Sept. 9).
All I can say is “no” to the ‘drug shelter.’ It has nothing to do with helping the non-addicted homeless.
The proposed structure has little to do with helping the ‘homeless’ and everything to do with providing housing, transitional housing, and treatment opportunities for drug addicts and people with severe mental disorders ...
Drug addicts and those with severe mental disorders are not required to seek, or accept, help, live by any rules except their own or to change their lifestyle in any way. We are simply making their lives more comfortable while they are permitted more time to find ways to secure the drugs they crave, regardless of the affect on neighbors, local business, or the city ...
Until the courts can demonstrate that the rights and security of society are more important than the rights of drug addicts to continue living their lives of destruction without any accountability for their acts, my answer will always be “no.”
Graham Mowatt
Maple Ridge