Shelter at Norton

* I read with dismay the article regarding the possible use of Norton Air Force Base as a mega-homeless shelter rather than a commercial airport (Sept. 26). As a business owner in nearby Redlands (five miles from Norton), if this insanity happens, I’ll move my business out of the area and probably out of California altogether.

There is only one way to deal with the homeless problem: Ignore it. We have a homeless problem (and a poverty problem and an illegitimacy problem, etc.) because we subsidize them. That is, our society makes it profitable to be homeless, poor or to have babies outside of marriage. Only when we stop this madness will people wake up and take responsibility for themselves. Until then, guess what: The number of poor and homeless will continue to grow and the number of productive taxpayers coerced into subsidizing them will shrink.

Alas, there is no free lunch (or free food, free housing, free health care).

GARY C. WHITWORTH

Redlands