Letters for March 23, 2017

GEO Group is good

Re “Prisoner of policy” by Scott Thomas Anderson (SN&R News, March 16):

After working for 25 years in state and federal prisons, I have found the GEO Group to be an outstanding company. After retirement, I assisted several teams of people just like me and conducted policy compliance reviews and found every one of their facilities to be in compliance.

Mac McIntosh

Longwood, Fla.

Welcome home

Re “On solving homelessness” (SN&R Online Buzz, March 16):

For starters, it is not legal for families to allow homeless people to camp on their property. As for homeowners taking in a homeless person, that happens all the time.

Before I was first homeless, I learned that my online friend, Steve, who co-blogged “Thoughts Chase Thoughts” with me, also lived in the same city that I did, Sacramento! Steve and his wonderful wife allowed me to spend nights in their spare room on many occasions.

Of course, being a homeless man, I robbed them blind and set fire to their garage—but they forgave me. Whoops. I told a fib.

Actually, I’ve done nothing bad to lose Steve’s trust, and we remain good friends eight years after I was first homeless. While I cannot say how frequently it happens, homeowners take in homeless people they’ve known, or recently befriended, all the time. These occurrences are not something that gets tallied by any agency anywhere.

Tom Anderson

Sacramento Homeless Blog

Trump’s ‘silent majority’?

Re “All for naught?” by Robert Speer (SN&R Editor’s note, March 16):

After millions of dollars were spent demonizing Trump, 88 percent of registered voters didn’t vote. Could it be that those nonvoters support Mr. Trump’s policies? Perhaps they are what President Nixon called “the silent majority.”

Hugh Montgomery

Sacramento

Ballet ‘treasures’

Re “Dance dance evolution” by Mozes Zarate, SN&R News, March 9, 2017:

Though I have no idea the background of the writer, I am glad that your publication is often a better source of information than The Sacramento Bee. I follow many local performing arts. The Bee seems to care little for the arts, and they devote a lot of coverage to sports.

We lost our symphony, and the Sacramento Ballet has never gotten the support they so deserve. Our wonderful company and the current and longtime artistic directors should be retained. They are truly Golden State treasures.

LaRue Brewster-Carnes

Sacramento