Swat the Homeless Away Like Bothersome Flies?

    Would they toss the homeless out? Are the people camping on the streets of Salt Lake City on the verge of being evicted?

   Evicted from the streets? Who would have ever thought: You get evicted when you have an apartment, a place to live, but evicted when you don't even have a home?

   The cry against the homeless grows stronger, Listen to its voice: "You see drug abuse occurring. Needles on the street. Drug-crazed people staggering down the street," says John Gardiner, one of the business leaders who sees a need to remove the campers. Gardiner, being quoted in a Deseret News article, goes on, "Piles of garbage all over the place. Intoxicated people, and -- important to note -- violent people who threaten public safety."

   "We cannot stand by and continue to watch our capital city deteriorate," chips in former U.S. Attorney John Huber, also quoted in the DesNews article. The "lawless feeling" has to end, he says.

   One sits back and wonders. Crime is not good. Of course we are against it. But, must we kick the homeless out? And, if crime is the concern, do we blame it all on the homeless? Two key city leaders last week said they believe that overall, crime is down. Now, surely the homeless are a part of the crime. Certainly in breaking into buildings, and urinating in them, etc., they are the chief offenders.

   Still, let us find a way to take care of them -- even if it means providing them no more than a place on the streets. 

   Make the homeless even more homeless? Swat them away like bothersome flies?  I wonder if we could approach it differently.