HALFWAY HOUSES GETTING BAD RAP

To the editor:

When are the folks who live in the boundaries of Twin Lakes going to stop
their whining and get on with their lives? When are they going to find out
what a "halfway house" really is, not someone's preconceived notion of what
they think it is? If they don't stop whining, I'm going to start serving
cheese and crackers to go with their whining.

In the first place, they are all ignorant of what a halfway house is, and I
don't think they want to find out, because that would mean their great
leaders of the "covenant" didn't tell them the whole story about recovering
addicts and alcoholics. They might even find out that these men can, and
usually are, better neighbors than those with teenagers who like to party
hardy.

These men are not in any neighborhood to cause trouble, they are there to
help get themselves acclimated to living in a neighborhood with homes, not
cells and four walls. They are not there to recruit the children of the
neighborhood into drugs, sexual misdeeds, nor introducing them how to
drink. I think many children can and do learn that part from their own
parents. None of you even take the time to listen to anybody else, just
those who are against these houses.

I am a Lutheran and proud of it, and I live in a neighborhood where many
houses are well over the $400,000 price range. We also live just a very few
blocks from a halfway house in a home that is surrounded by many homes that
are far more valuable than the houses in Twin Lakes. I am also very proud
of the fact that The Compass Centers are affiliated with ELCA. They are
showing the true spirit of compassion and Christianity. Are you?

I realize this letter to be a bit long, but someone has to speak up for
these men, and in some cases women, who are trying to deal with their
addictions and want nothing more than to get on with their lives. It seems
that almost all of the letters printed in your paper are against this
halfway house in Twin Lakes, and you are taking unfair advantage to the
whole of Federal Way to change people's ideas about halfway houses. When is
your paper going to really look into the halfway houses that are already in
place here in the Federal Way area? Or don't you care, either?

P. Gee, Federal Way