Editor -- In his December 15 Open Forum piece, ``We Kill Them With
Kindness,'' Earl Rynerson is ``shocked, shocked to find'' that General
Assistance money is being given to addicts and alcoholics. He then
proposes several draconian measures to correct this problem.

The problem he does not recognize is this: alcoholics and addicts used
to sleep indoors, as did the unemployed, the mentally ill, those whose
finances were wiped out by catastrophic illness and the victims of
racism and poor education.

Booze and drugs have been around forever; astronomical housing costs
are the new phenomenon. Whether they are actively using or newly
sober, addicts/alcoholics are the pit canaries of the housing market.

Are we to withhold General Assistance from the illiterate until they
learn to read? How about monoglot immigrants? Let's test their English
skills as a requirement for assistance. Schizophrenics? let 'em go
hungry until they pull themselves together and stop
malingering!

Of course, in the long run, helping sober up anyone willing is by far
the most cost-effective action.

In the mean time, let's put the drunks and junkies where they belong,
under a roof.

JOHN COFFIN
El Cerrito