Dear Editor
I am very disturbed by your article on the behaviour of our citizens in downtown North Battleford. I am sure most people realize the underlying causes are poverty, homelessness and addiction issues related to mental health.
Rodney Dangerfield used to say, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 get no respect.鈥� Are we giving them any respect? If you are treated like you have leprosy, and at the tine you have a pounding headache and you are feeling desperate, how would you react? I am sure giving money to panhandlers is a bad idea, but saying, 鈥淪orry, I don鈥檛 have any cash on me,鈥� would be accepted as it is a plastic society now.
Making the downtown pretty is not likely to make people who have the choice of steal or starve feel kind towards people who obviously have money.
A big issue for many people is fetal alcohol syndrome. People with this issue do not learn from their mistakes and their ability to control anger is seriously impaired. There are solutions, but people with money don鈥檛 care for them. Poverty exists not because there is not enough money, but the rich never feel they have enough money. The City of Medicine Hat decided they didn鈥檛 want homelessness issues so they eliminated it.
June Newsham
North Battleford
