To the editor:

In response to Jesse Dutton Miller’s letter (Public Forum, Dec. 22) calling local business owners a “menace” and greedy for vocalizing the need for some type of restraint on the destruction of property and panhandling by our homeless population, I would like to say he has completely overlooked some compelling facts.

In a recent survey of small businesses: 60 percent offer discounts to nonprofit groups, 52 percent are involved in annual charitable fund raisers, 63 percent prefer to donate cash while 32 percent opt for in-kind contributions, 53 percent annually contribute $500 or more, and 77 percent make regularly timed charitable contributions.

Small business is the backbone of the U.S. economy. Most small business owners have risked everything that they have to build a business. Most are excellent corporate citizens and give back in cash or time. All they would like in return is the ability to have a safe environment for themselves and their customers.

If someone showed up at your house and urinated on your door or spray-painted thought-provoking slogans on your walls you would ask for help too. I would say to all those people “raging against the machine” that they are only raging against Mom and Pop.

Joe B. Jones,

Lawrence