NO NEED FOR DRUG PHONES

Editor:

Re: Joanne Verrecchia's letter of Sept. 29 regarding the city's
decision to remove pay phones on Tranquille Road due to the devices
being used in drug deals ('City should hang up this phone call'):

It is not the drug dealers who conduct their business on public pay
phones, but the drug users who call to arrange the purchases.

Second, the letter writer makes it sound like the entire North Shore
is an impoverished (her word) ghetto.

That is quite a political statement, turning the subject of
pay-telephone removal into an issue of lack of affordable housing.

Furthermore, if a resident of that area of the city has no telephone
of their own (for whatever reason), they are most likely to seek the
assistance of trusted neighbours or even a nearby business before
walking several blocks to the closest pay phone.

Even then, there is always the chance this phone may be in use or even
out of order.

And one still needs a coin to use it. Perhaps not the wisest choice to
rely upon for a possible family emergency.

Bottom line? If any pay telephones are proven to be a detriment, they
must go.

H. W. Druskee,

Kamloops