To the editor:

Although the City Commission decided at the 12th hour to approve a homeless shelter near the Douglas County Jail, it wasn’t, as we know, without a struggle. It’s lamentable that it took so long, lamentable that it was so hard-fought and, in the end (and we all hope this is the end), they settled on a less than desirable location in the city limits. Now that this Pyrrhic victory has been won, I urge the City Commission not to drag its feet any more.

Yes, you might say that I don’t have a dog in this fight, but, in a way, I do. You see, I have lived in my modest three-bedroom rancher in southwest Lawrence since 1993, and I would not object (and I can only speak for myself) to a shelter being here provided that we had assurances it would be supervised at all times and given adequate security.

What people fail to realize is that many people are not homeless by choice. Who would be?

Since January, I have taken into my home a 56-year-old woman whom I barely knew, who was on the verge of losing her trailer because, on her minimum salary job, she could afford neither the rent nor the utilities and had been living without heat and electricity for two years! She is no trouble at all, and I am more than glad to provide a temporary home for her. Can you do likewise?