Shelters Should Be Privately Funded
* Re “Battered Women Find a Haven at ‘Laura’s House’ ” (Oct. 16): I have no problem with “safe houses” for battered women. But I do have a problem with government funding of such facilities.
Look at this story: A shelter for only 13 women and 12 kids gets a grant of $420,000. That’s big bucks.
Compare that to an entrepreneur friend of mine who launched a new consumer product last year with just 5% of that amount and we see how casually the government treats taxpayer money. (His product is now distributed in six nations.) Think of it: nearly half a million dollars for a facility that has only a handful of clients!
Why do battered women need to be housed at taxpayer expense?
What about the taxpayers, like myself, who are “battered” to pay for these facilities?
Is it moral for the state to “batter” taxpayers to benefit others?
And what about the men who are “battered” to near poverty by family courts into paying for child support? Do they deserve shelters too?
The churches and private charities should be the institutions involved in the domestic violence issue, not the coercive power of the state.
DON HULL
Costa Mesa
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